Email Autoresponders Are Important Tools for Increasing Conversion Rates
Often the first contact you will have with a franchise lead is through email autoresponders, and you only get one chance to make a good first impression on them.
Not sure what an email autoresponders is? No problem. Wikipedia defines them as a: “computer program that automatically answers e-mail sent to it.” For marketing purposes, an email autoresponder can: “immediately provide information to prospective customers and then follow-up with them at preset time intervals.”
Creating an effective email autoresponder for franchise businesses is not an exact science. Sometimes, it is a matter of trial and error. After setting up and testing the effectiveness of hundreds of email autoresponders, we’ve learned a few lessons on how to increase conversion rates among the toughest of audiences.
Here are some email autoresponder issues you should try to avoid:
- Lengthy e-mails. An effective email should not take over a minute to read! Attention spans of internet users are already short and getting shorter still. Asking them to read lengthy emails is asking for more time than many of your franchise prospects are willing to commit. Try to be focused and concise in your messaging. Provide a snippet of your content and direct them to your franchise website for full details.
Multiple call to actions. “People like being told what to do.” This statement often holds true. If you direct your franchise leads to a specific action – click here for the newest franchises to hit the market for example – you will be more effective in engaging your audience and getting higher click through rates. The chance they’ll actually take any action drops significantly, however, if you provide multiple or non-specific call to actions in the same email. A single directive is more effective and will increase the likelihood of a response. If your franchise email autoresponder asks your prospects to either email or call you, many of them will do neither. Stay focused on one action.
- Including Attachments. At first glance, attaching a list of franchises or a brochure on franchise options might seem like a good idea. But there’s one problem – attachments are often blocked by firewalls or marked as SPAM by e-mail providers. This is especially true for Word documents. Even the most well crafted e-mail will never be seen by your franchise leads if it goes into a spam folder. Instead, include a link to a page on your franchise website where the recipient can download the document you had in mind. This way you don’t have to worry about spam filters and you’re actually driving traffic to your site – win/win.
- Asking for personal information. No one likes sharing personal information online. We have all heard far too many stories about hackers getting into databases and accessing personal information. Putting information online simply doesn’t feel safe, especially financial information. Your email autoresponder should not ask your franchise leads for information too personal – especially financial information.
We’ve learned many lessons when it comes to email autoresponders and we hope you stay away from the above pitfalls.
Remember this important takeaway: insure your e-mail autoresponder is one a franchise prospect doesn’t mind taking a look at.
