Your lead magnet or free offer provides value to your potential clients while also showcasing your expertise.

An email sales funnel could be a highly effective way to nurture leads and ultimately drive conversions.

Here's a simple, five-stage email funnel you could consider to set your business on automation and to potentially get more clients and customers.

The first email is the lead magnet or free offer delivery email.

This is the initial email they receive after signing up to get your free offer. Thank them for their interest, deliver the promised content, and briefly hint at what they can expect in future emails. This email should be short and to the point to make them feel like they won't be overwhelmed being on your email list.

Second to that is the value email.

Over the next few days, send a series of emails providing additional value related to the free offer. This could include tips on how to use it effectively, common mistakes to avoid when it comes to your niche, or inspiring examples of your clients. The goal here is to build trust by delivering useful, relevant information. Try not to send an email every day, but rather send an email every few days. A great start is to schedule the emails out around 2-4 days after the previous email. But, this can vary based on your specific audience type. Some audiences love daily emails, others weekly. This is where you can test and see what results work for you based on your audience.

Next comes the case study or testimonial email:

For the third email, you should send an email featuring a success story from one of your clients. This could be someone who used your services and saw significant results. Ideally, the story would highlight how your services solved a problem for the client, saved them time, or otherwise added value. By doing this, you are going to see more interest in what you have to offer because there will be a slight sense of FOMO (fear of missing out). Again, keep it simple and short, nothing over the top. Let your success story speak for itself.

After this is the soft sell email:

In the fourth email, it's time to subtly introduce your small paid service or core offer in more detail. Explain how your service works, its benefits, and why it's a great solution for your ideal audience. End with a low-pressure invitation to learn more or get in touch if they're interested. This could even be giving away a small handout or piece of your paid offer as a little value add and to sweeten the deal a little. Give them an idea on what it would be like to be part of your world and using your service. As a little extra social proof, you could link out to a testimonial post or include a screenshot of some testimonials showing results and benefits.

And finally, the hard sell email:

This is your main sales pitch. Reiterate the benefits of your service, perhaps offering a limited-time discount or bonus to create a sense of urgency. Ensure you highlight the value they get, reinforce your unique service or value add, and address any potential objections or concerns they might have.

Remember, the key to a successful email funnel is to provide value and builds trust with your audience.

Keep your emails helpful, engaging, and focused on the needs of your audience. Use a friendly, conversational tone, and try to make each email feel personal and tailored to the reader's needs, not a selling sales pitch.

Additionally, you may want to consider segmentation of your email list based on the actions taken by your subscribers

For example: those who opened certain emails, clicked on specific links, or made a purchase, and then send targeted emails based on this segmentation for even greater results. If they are clicking and going to links in your emails, they are interested, so keep up that momentum!

Lastly, it's so important to continually test and optimize your email series.

Be sure to monitor your open rates, click-through rates, and signup rates, and experiment with different subject lines, email formats, and calls to action to see what works best for your audience.

Not sure what email marketing platform to use?

We absolutely LOVE Mailerlite for their ease of use and simplicity, while having just enough features to make your business work on autopilot. We use them ourselves. They also have a free plan. Here's the link to check them out.

Good luck!