Unleash email sequences for your online course
For an online course creator, educating and inspiring others is essential. But you can’t inspire and educate if no one knows your online course even exists. This is where an email sequence can help.
An email sequence is one of the most popular ways to promote content. You can build deep and lasting relationships with your audience by sending a carefully planned series of emails. In this article, you’ll learn four essential pre-sales and sales email sequences that you can use to promote your new online course.
4 Essential pre-sales and sales email sequences
1. Order of welcome emails
This is the first email people who have signed up for your email list or downloaded your app will receive. You’re sending this email to, well, welcome students for join the community.
A welcome email sequence usually consists of three to five emails. In your first email, you not only welcome your new subscribers and users, you can also give them an incentive (a free gift) to join the community. This can help improve conversion rates and revenue. When your email recipients or users receive some form of reward for signing up for your email list or downloading your app, they’re more likely to spread the word. That increases your chances of getting more signups and potential customers. After all, who doesn’t want a freebie?
After welcoming your new subscriber or user, you can introduce your brand in your second email, which will be sent two days after they sign up. So tell them your story. Tell them what you’ve done to help other people. Also emphasize how to address their pain points. In your third email, tell them what to expect when they sign up for your course [1]. Give them an overview of what they can learn as students. Be sure to highlight critical parts of the syllabus.
Also share any support material to help them succeed as they begin your course in subsequent emails. For example, you can include links to other articles or videos [2]. It’s also a good idea to offer exclusive discounts to students who decide to enroll. This email can also give students strategies they can use to improve their learning experience once they sign up for the course.
Finally, have a call-to-action at the end of every email campaign. In this case, you may want to include a link to your website. This will let your new students know where to find more information about the course, and any other courses you offer.
2. Abandoned cart email sequence
Cart abandonment emails are types of email sequences that you should use as well. They are sent to potential customers who have placed an item in their shopping cart but have not checked out. The shopping cart email sequence encourages customers to complete their purchases. The emails can be used to offer incentives, discounts and other promotions.
In other words, if you sell online courses, an abandoned cart email sequence is a must. You can use this sequence as a final push towards conversion. The average e-commerce site sends three to five emails in the abandoned cart email series. You can too. Make sure to mix up your email content.
You can send personalized emails first to remind them of the course they ended up not buying. Give special offers to get them through. For example, add a coupon code to your cart recovery email and limit it to one use per customer. Set an expiration date on your code. This way, your email recipients won’t have too much time to think about your offer and take action.
If that doesn’t work, you can send other product recommendations. Announcing a new content/product launch in the abandoned cart series works. Also, don’t forget to question people who left without buying anything. You want to know more about their concerns about the product they left in their shopping cart.
Make sure you don’t send these emails too often or too far apart – you don’t want your students to think you’re trying too hard or being too pushy. Also, don’t forget to verify email addresses before hitting the submit button. You want to ensure that your emails reach their intended recipients.
3. Follow up email sequence
A follow-up email is a way to reach out to someone who is already engaged with your brand but has yet to complete a specific action. These interactions can include setting up their online course account, answering a quiz so they can move on to the next module, or answering a survey. A follow-up email reminds people of the steps they need to take to complete that specific action.
You can send at least four emails in one sequence, or less. The number of emails to send depends on whether your subscribers respond positively to the follow-up (for example, they take action) or not. Send the first email in the sequence a few days after the subscriber’s previous interaction with your brand. The first email in the sequence should be a “reply” to this interaction.
Imagine this scenario: your email subscriber stopped midway through the personal information form required to create an online course account. Your first follow up email would then be to remind them of the job in progress. Be sure to add a call-to-action button that references the incomplete form. This way your subscribers don’t have to go all the way to your site to search for it. You must make it easy for your subscribers to complete the ongoing promotion.
If that first email doesn’t work, send emails emphasizing the benefits they can get from taking your course. You can send an email with testimonials from previous students as a third email if they still fail to complete the task. Your fourth email should be similar to your first email. Don’t forget to personalize your emails. Use your subscriber’s name in the subject line and their last name instead of “Mr.” or “ma’am.”
4. Re-engagement email sequence
You can use reengagement series to promote your online courses. Send them to people who have already interacted with you, but haven’t interacted since. So, if a customer hasn’t visited their account or clicked on links from the brand, this email sequence can be triggered.
A reengagement email series usually consists of three to four emails. But don’t send your first email in the sequence just a few days after the last brand interaction. Reengagement emails are not like follow-up emails that are sent immediately. Reengagement emails are sent after a long period of subscriber inactivity, from 30 to 60 days. So someone who completed a course but has never interacted with you since can receive these emails.
You can let them know you miss them in your first email. In the second and even third email, you can send them your latest blog posts related to the course they have taken. Or you can choose to discuss any changes in your business. In the last email you can promote your latest course. Emphasize the benefits they can get from completing it. Emphasize that it is a course that builds on the concepts they learned in the previous course.
The goal is to get your subscribers to interact with you again. That last interaction with your brand is hopefully a purchase of your latest course.
To conclude
If you want to promote your online course, there are many options. But don’t get overwhelmed – remember it’s all about building relationships and talking to your customer base. So if you have an online course, promote it with the four email sequences you learned: welcome, abandoned cart, follow-up, and re-engagement email sequences. If implemented correctly, these types of email sequences can help drive online course enrollments. Good luck!
References:
[1] Course Expectations: Why You Need Them and How to Communicate Them