4 Steps to Improve Your Email Marketing By Building a “World” for Your Brand

Wheel Of Time, Lightbringer, Stormlight Archives, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc…

I love reading fantasy novels. The bigger the better.

But, you may be asking yourself…

How could fantasy novels relate to copywriting at all?

Because when you write copy, you are trying to introduce someone to your world. Or your client’s world.

You may have a few sentences, or 5000 words. Or somewhere in between.

In the body of your copy, you have to introduce them to your world and make them want to be a part of it.

Email is especially cool (in my opinion) because of options you have to go deep into your world for your true fans.

While everyone sees the same social media posts, landing pages, sales pages, etc…

You can tailor your emails to different segments of your list.

Meaning you can introduce new subscribers to your world through your welcome flow while giving your VIPs a more immersive experience.

When someone raises their hand and says “I’m Interested…”

You can have automated flows that begin to introduce these people to new characters, more background information, and of course… magic!

There are endless possibilities…

Let’s jump into a couple of foundational pieces you need to have in place and then I’ll show you how I would do this if starting from scratch…

The Two Most Important Flows

The more automation the better. 

Automations are triggered by someone’s behavior or an action that they take. So these automations have the potential to differentiate you message for different subscribers.

They are powerful.

The two most important flows that you’ll want to have in place (when it comes to world building) are you welcome flow and your post purchase flow.

There are other flows that are more important for making money (the cart abandonment flow for example) but these two flows are key touchpoints in your customer’s journey when it comes to building out your “world.”

The first touchpoint is your welcome flow.

This is where you are going to take a brand new subscriber and introduce them to your brand, your products, and your story.

Some people will sign up for your email list just to get the incentive and they will purchase right away.

Most people will need more time to make that first purchase.

This is NOT when you want to bombard them with ALL of your different products and offerings.

What I do for clients is use this flow as the opportunity to:

  1. Deliver the lead-gen promise (discount, free gift, free shipping, etc.)
  2. Tell the story of the founder/brand
  3. Tell the WHY of the product
  4. Showcase ONE or TWO best selling products that are “entry level”
  5. Highlight success stories from other customers

You might do this over 4 emails or 10… doesn’t really matter. The important thing is to use this opportunity to give a gentle introduction to your “world.”

Then, when someone makes a purchase, they move onto the next phase.

They’ve raised their hand and said “I want to be a part of this world!”

And this is where our second flow comes in.

After someone makes a purchase, they should get a series of emails that:

  1. Build excitement
  2. Show how to use the product/care for the product
  3. Tell a deeper story about the brand/product/founder

And yes, the post purchase flow should include some form of upsell or cross sell.

BUT if that’s ALL you’re doing… you’re missing a big opportunity to turn a single purchase into a multiple time customer.

There are a lot of great products out there. Most people will continue to buy from a brand because they like the story of that brand.

For example…

For a long time (when I was playing competitive sports) I ONLY wore Under Armour. I loved the brand story and what they stood for. They also made a great product (but it wasn’t that much better than Nike or Adidas). 

Tell your story in your post purchase flow.

Also…

There should be different tracks. If someone buys from you 3 times, they should not get the SAME post purchase messaging each time.

Have different tracks. Each time someone comes back, tell more about your story. Dive deeper into your world. Invite your customer to become a bigger part of your world…

  • Affiliate programs
  • Facebook groups
  • Apps
  • SMS channels

How to Segment

You’re also going to want to build your world through your weekly messaging.

In order to do this effectively, you’re going to want to segment.

(I’ve got a FREE Klaviyo segmentation course if you want to grab it here)

The two most important ways to segment are going to be…

  • Engaged v Unengaged
  • Buyer type (prospect, one-timer, multiple, VIP)

If someone is not engaging with your emails (opening or clicking) they’ve indicated that they’ve lost interest in your brand and/or your messaging.

They aren’t interested in being a part of your world.

You’re going to want to segment this group out, try to re-engage, and then say goodbye.

Your focus should be on the engaged group.

Who is raising their hand (by opening and clicking on emails) to say “I’m interested! I want to learn more!”

This is the group you want to focus on.

And yes, you are going to want to send “sales” emails and promotions…

BUT, let’s balance those out with the opportunity to build out more of our world.

The second way that you’re going to want to segment is by Buyer Type.

Your VIPs and multiple time customers shouldn’t always get the same messaging as your prospects.

These groups have raised their hands multiple times to be more involved in your world. Treat them as such.

Why You Need More Copy and Less Images

A picture is worth a thousand words…

Or so the saying goes.

But a thousand words doesn’t always tell a story.

If you’re selling a physical product, you are going to HAVE to show the product from time to time.

But if ALL you’re doing is showing off the product…

Then you aren’t telling a story at all.

If you own an ecommerce brand and your emails are highly designed, creative emails…

I understand that it’s going to be difficult to send a text-based or plain-text email.

BUT, trust me when I say… text CONVERTS better than images.

I’ve seen it time and time and time again.

Doesn’t mean you cannot do both.

If you want to tell a good story and build a world for your customer to live in…

You’re going to need more words and less images.

How To Get Started

How would I start this process?

STEP 1 – Build Out And Test Welcome Flow

Your welcome flow is the first place where you get to introduce new people to your world.

It’s the first few chapters of your novel.

This is where we need to set the scene, introduce a few main characters, and highlight the problem that they are trying to solve.

How long should your welcome flow be?

As long as you need.

It could be 5 emails, 7 emails, or 10… there’s no right answer.

STEP 2 – Build Out And Test Post Purchase Flow With Multiple Tracks

This is the next level of building a world for people who have raised their hands to say “I want to be a part of this!”

You can really get detailed here based on how many times someone has purchased, what they’ve purchased, and how much they have spent.

The more committed they are to being a part of your world, the more you want to build that connection.

This is where you build excitement, introduce new characters, and develop emotional loyalty.

STEP 3 – Segment Audience and Plan Out Campaigns

When it comes to campaigns, your audience should be segmented out as follows:

–Unengaged

–Engaged Prospects

–Engaged One-Time Customers

–Engaged Multiple Time Customers

The goal with campaigns is to move people down the funnel. From Unengaged to Engaged. From prospect to customer. And from one-time customer to multiple time customer.

Sending everyone the same blast email isn’t going to accomplish this…

Create a campaign calendar, map out the journey for each group, and be strategic about how you are going to try and move people down the funnel.

STEP 4 – VIP Flow Creation and Testing

Hopefully you’ve heard of the 80/20 principle. In short, 80% of your revenue is going to come from 20% of your audience.

But it goes even further. Because you can go one step further…

64% (80% of the 80%) is going to come from your best 4% of customers (20% of the 20%)

These are your VIPs. Your whales.

The more you can identify and connect with these customers… the easier it’s going to be to grow your business.

Having a simple automation that fires when someone meets the requirements for being a VIP can go a long way towards making this connection and building loyalty with these customers.

What Should YOU Do Next?

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  3. If you need an email list manager for your brand or business, send me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com or fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.
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