Read this if you want to go beyond a single email delivering your Lead Magnet.

These questions will help you write one or more follow-up emails that are sent out automatically after someone has claimed your freebie or lead magnet, so you can improve their engagement with your future emails and increase the likelihood of them buying from you.

Especially helpful if you find it difficult to sell in your regular newsletters, and/or you don’t always have the capacity to send regular newsletters.

Automated sequences are especially helpful for business owners with varying capacity for marketing (because of health conditions, caring responsibilities, binge-and-bust client cycles).

You can invest time and energy once in setting it up, then even if you don’t send your normal marketing emails out for a while, you can know that your are still nurturing and selling to the hottest leads arriving via this lead magnet.

It’s hard to write a templated email sequence for this without knowing your audience, what you’re tyring to sell, and a bunch of other specifics about your business.

So here’s 10 questions I’d ask you if we were chatting about this to help you write lead magnet follow-up emails.

1. What do you want them to buy?

You may have created the Lead Magnet specifically to attract people who would be a good match for one of your offers – so use the follow-up emails to build a bridge between where they are right now towards your sales page.

If your Lead Magnet doesn’t directly line up with one specific offer, consider what services or products you have that would be a good match for them right now.

Don’t keep your offers a secret – even if all you’ve got is a waitlist page, let them know that exists.

Set the expectation that you are someone they can buy helpful things from.

If you sell 1-1 services, be aware that some people who grab your Lead Magnet aren’t really interested in using it, or reading your emails. They gave it a quick skim to see if they liked you, and now they want to be your client – make it easy for these people to become your client.

2. What do you want them to do next?

Skip this if your sales process is: go to sales page –> click buy button.

But if your sales process involves a little back and forth with messages, calls, application forms, then use your automated emails to guide the prospect into taking the next step.

Don’t just plonk the sales page down in one email, and trust the most eager people will do what it takes to buy.

Use the follow-up emails to explain what they need to do next (book a call, fill out this form), what’s in it for them (how this step in the process helps them) and reduce friction (set expectations about what will happen on the call, or how long the form takes to fill out).

3. Do you want to build in urgency?

Do you want to offer a discount, or bonus, or some other limited time opportunity to people who have just claimed your lead magnet?

Be aware that if they don’t buy now there’s a risk that once they’ve seen it at the lower price they’ll resist buying at full price. You can overcome this by offering the lower price again during promotions 1-3 times each year.

4. What’s worked before?

Do you have any existing blog posts, past emails, old social posts, or testimonials that have successfully helped you sell whatever it is you want to sell.

Whenever you automate anything, you want to be automating something that has already been successful when completed manually.

So think about what’s worked before – then consider how to use it in this automation.

5. What question could you ask that would be the start of a relevant conversation?

Ask a question that is easy for the reader to answer, and they have a reason to answer, and you have a reason to ask it.

I know.

It’s tough to do, and it took me a while to figure out how to do this in my own business, so if you can’t do it right now, write this perplexing dilemma on a sticky note, keep it somewhere you can see it, and trust that inspiration will strike you later (usually at a deeply inconvenient time while both hands are occupied and you have no hope of writing your idea down).

Example:

– What’s the least comfy thing about your marketing right now – reply and tell me, and I’ll send back a list of free and not-free resources that will help.

6. What would you like to know about the group of people claiming your Lead Magnet

Over time, your Lead Magnet follow-up emails will be a useful data source. You’ll be able to see which Subject Lines get opened, which links get clicked. You could also add Polls asking people to self-select according to problem, niche, or some other characteristic relevant to your business.

For example, if you sold Speech and Language resources to use with kids, you could include an email that links to three pages: One showcasing free resources for parents, one for classroom teachers, and one for Speech and Language therapists. This helps you create a more tailored experience for the individuals who click on the links, and over time you’ll build up a picture of the audience that Lead Magnet is attracting.

7. How can you make it easy for them to get the value from the lead magnet?

Your lead magnet can only build connection, deliver value, instill trust, and all the other good things you want it to do … IF it gets opened. And even better, if it gets used.

In every automated email, include a reminder of how to access the Lead Magnet, and why they want it – just one sentence that reminds them what it is.

Do the opposite of the unhelpful nag: ‘Did you get a chance to look at The Lead Magnet yet’ – with no info on HOW to access that Lead Magnet. So now they feel nagged, behind, and they’ve got to search their inbox for the original delivery email.

8. How do you want them to feel when they see your name in their inbox?

This is your opportunity to set expectations about what having a relationship with you is like, so that when they see your name in their inbox, they’re eager to open your email.

Make sure every email is reflective of the way you want them to feel when they work with you.

9. How are you handling adding them to your regular email/newsletter list?

Are they getting these automated emails alongside your marketing emails?

Or will you wait until the automation is over before adding them to your newsletter?

Will you add them to a welcome sequence?

Or write a handover email that tells them what is happening next?

10. Do they have a problem that lingers?

Some businesses are only relevant to the subscriber for a limited window of time – wedding photographer, doula.

But if the subscriber has a problem that lingers, considering adding an automated email that goes out weeks or even months later to check in.

The subscriber may believe they have successfully tackled the problem themselves, or their want/need got relegated lower down their priority list.

Your check-in email will remind them that they cared about this, and help is available.

• Book a 20-minute 1-1 with Laura (to talk about your email sequence, or whatever marketing help you need) 
• 9 ways to use Polls in your marketing emails (blog post)
  
• 20 questions to help make your marketing more comfortable (blog post)