The Follow-Up Checklist

One of the most effective ways to sell a product by email is to send out multiple emails all centered on that product. That’s because most people need an introduction and multiple exposures to that particular product before they make the buying decision. 

So how do you set up this sort of email series? That’s what this checklist will help you do.

The first step is to figure out the reason for creating this series, and what it is you intend to sell. For example, you might be promoting:

• A tripwire product behind a lead magnet.
• A brand new product.
• An older product that you haven’t promoted in a while.
• An affiliate offer.
• A product for a JV partner.
• A backend offer to existing customers.
• A special promotional offer (e.g., for a discount deal).

Next…

Once you know what you’re selling, then you next need to figure out many emails to send. Typically, you can figure on sending two to seven emails. Ask yourself these questions to help you determine the right number.

• Are you writing to new prospects? If so, aim for a five-to-seven part series. That’s because you’re not only introducing a product, you’re building a relationship with these prospects. 

• Is this a newly launching product? If so, aim for a four to seven part series with emails a week before launch, a day or two before launch, on the launch day, and a couple days after the launch day.

• Is this a premium/high-ticket product? If so, aim for at least three emails in order to properly cover all the benefits, handle objections, and offer proof.

• Does this product require explanation?  If you’ve invented a product, you may need more emails to properly explain it and get people excited about it. In this case, aim for the upper end of the range.

For example, when autoresponders first came out, very few people understood immediately how these tools would help marketers. So those who launched the initial autoresponders had to spend more time educating their audience.

Next…

At this point you know what you’re promoting, and you know how many emails you’re going to send. So let’s look at a typical example of how to set this series up.

For this example, let’s suppose your prospects have requested your lead magnet. Now you’re sending out a series of new emails to your subscribers to promote your tripwire offer. Since these are new prospects, you decided to send five emails. 

Each email should include one tip, one lesson, one step, one “secret”, one resource or one other related bit of information. In other words, each email gives your prospect additional information to solve their problem. And each email promotes your tripwire product as part of that solution.

TIP: Each email should be useful yet incomplete, meaning each email should offer good information, yet lead to your paid product as the solution to the rest of the prospect’s problem.

For this example, let’s suppose the email series includes five tips for losing weight, and you’re promoting a diet guide within each email. Take a look…

Day 1: Tip 1 + promo. About 90% content and 10% promo at the end. Put your promo in the postscript section of the email. Introduce the product, share the top two or three benefits, and invite readers to click the link to learn more.

Day 2: Tip 2 + promo. About 90% content and 10% promo at the end. This time you can put the promo right at the end of your content, so that it naturally flows together.

Example: “If you’d like a really effective twist on this powerful tip, then you’ll want to check out this amazing book…”

Day 3: Tip 3 + promo. About 80% content and 20% promo at the end. Same as the previous day, except you put aside more space in your email to talk about the offer. Be sure to share the benefits. Your prospects are wondering why they’d want this product – you need to be able to answer that question.

Example: I can’t say enough good things about this diet guide. That’s because this is the exact strategy I’ve used to shed my own weight 10 years ago, plus it’s helped a countless number of my clients over the years. It’s the easiest diet you’ll ever try. But don’t take my word for it – click here to find out for yourself!

Day 4: Tip 4 + promo. About 70% content and 30% promo. This time start off the email with the benefits of the product. Then go into the content (explaining your tip). At the end, mention the product again along with a call to action.

Example: Don’t forget to grab your copy of this diet guide now – after all, 3894 satisfied, leaner and happier customers can’t be wrong!

Day 5: Tip 5 + Promo.  About 25% content and 75% promo at the end. This time you share a short tip at the beginning, and then directly lead to your promo. The tip you share and the promo should be tied to one another.

Example: Perhaps you share a tip about using ingredient substitutions to make meals healthier. You can then promote the diet guide, which includes a table of 100 ingredient substitutions, recipes and complete meal plans.

Next…

At this point all you have to do is create the emails that you outlined in the previous steps.  Use this mini checklist as you do:

• Create a benefit-driven subject line for each of the emails. Bonus points if you can arouse curiosity. 

EG., The one diet food you should NEVER eat…

• Be sure your content is useful yet incomplete. The content portion of the email should natural lead to the pitch portion. 

Example 1: To discover even more great tips like this, click here!

Example 2: That’s a crash course on this topic – to get the exact step-by-step instructions, click here!

• Ensure that your content is highly related to the product you’re selling. In other words, anyone who reads and enjoys your email should naturally want the product.

• Check that your content to pitch ratios are roughly what I mentioned above. They don’t need to be exact. But you want to be sure that you are offering more content than pitch in the initial emails.

• Provide a call to action.  Tell people what to do and why.

E.G., Use the same meal-planning app the pro bodybuilders use when they want to lose weight. Click here to check it out—and do it now, while you can still snag an awesome discount!

• Proof your emails for typos and other errors. Check that all links work.

• Send the emails to yourself to be sure they look good across devices and platforms.

• Implement analytics so you can test and track open rates, click-through rates and conversions.

Once you’ve done all of the above, then you can schedule them to start sending!

ConclusionNow that you have a step-by-step checklist for creating your own conversion-boosting follow up series, there’s just one thing left for you to do: put it to work for you!