The Right Way to Work a Workflow

Workflows have earned a bad name throughout the years. From sales notifications to irrelevant information, our email inboxes take a major hit.

As an excellent way to "drip" information to potential clients, workflows work to guide prospects through the sales funnel. If exercised in a respectful manner, you can convert prospects to leads and be on the winning end in no time; however, if your strategy is an unjustified and desperate attempt to sell all the things!, then a rude awakening is certainly plummeting down the sales pipe.

Take my advice as I walk you through my experience in receiving an unjustified email drip that left me wanting to tell the world the "right" way to work your workflows.

Email Campaign #Fails

Recently, I received a connection request on LinkedIn from someone I’ve never met. With a similar industry and current city, I thought the request harmless, so I accepted. The feeling of instant regret took over as I was promptly enrolled into a series of emails of which I had zero interest (or knowledge) in receiving - all directed to my personal email. The first email I received, included the subject line "quick question."

Intrigued, I open the email only to discover I was tricked! I was the victim of their next sales pitch. Not only was a "quick question" lacking from the email, but I was confused about why I received this email in the first place. I felt deceived and annoyed by the discrepancy of the subject line and the content of the email.

A few days later, I received a follow up email asking if I could find a 15-minute window to discuss the product of the sales pitch. Since there was not a "Unsubscribe" button, I had no choice but to respond to the person behind the email address and let them know I, personally, was not interested in their product. After being thanked for my "candor", (very funny mister salesman) I realized this poor soul had no idea the pain inflicted on that of a marketer.

Email Campaign #Wins

In order to give email marketing a better name, there are a number of things to consider to make sure your efforts are concentrated in the right places. Distributing information that interests and is relevant to the recipient is crucial. Before you start throwing random darts at your next email campaign, think about the answers to these questions before you hit "send."

Are they interested in my product? Can my product help them? Do they work for a company that already provides this product? 

These questions will help you determine if your prospect qualifies to receive your email.

Additionally, I am opening Pandora's box and sharing with you a few secrets of our email practices. Follow these tips to make sweet progress in the email arena.

DO: Make sure the recipients have agreed to receive your emails and that they are interested in the subject matter. Before every new email campaign we execute with our clients, we send an "opt-in" email. This email simply lets the recipient know that they may receive a few emails from us, and if they do not wish to receive them, they can easily click a button to unsubscribe. No harm, no foul.

DO: Be honest with the recipient. If the email I received had actually been what the subject line implied, I would have been a lot less annoyed. Being deceptive to land a sale isn't really winning - not to mention, it's cheap. At The Squad we are all about transparency and respect. Why would you want to do business any other way?

DO: Include an unsubscribe button. This little gem saves a lot of face. In my case, I was forced to respond to the sender, which provoked a catty response and essentially, poked the bear. By removing the "person" from the middle of the email, you eliminate any undue exchange between you and the recipient.

Bombarding prospects with unsolicited emails is a sure-fire way to scare them off. If you follow these email best practices, you will earn the respect and attention of potential clients. Here at The Squad, we use these best practices to execute these strategies in a respectful manner. Reach out to us today to get started.