Question

Topic: E-Marketing

E-mail Marketing Of Saas Product

Posted by Anonymous on 3/27/2013 at 4:42 AM ET 250 Points
Hi! How can I make up a succession of marketing e-mails for SaaS product? What should every email contain? What is the first step? Where can I read about it?

I found some guides with common information about email marketing, but I failed in finding any "algorithm".

Help me, please!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Moriarty on 3/27/2013 at 7:21 AM Accepted
    Email marketing is something of an art - and usually they're termed "email autoresponders". In any case, it goes hand in hand with my ideas on client sculpting - which is to say how to chip all the pieces away from the block of marble so that you end up with your perfect sculpture (or client!). That is to say, it is an important part of your sales funnel. Most people don't buy on their first visit, typically they buy on their seventh. Allowing them to get to know and trust you is an important step on the way to a purchase - and this is the importance of a sequential autoresponder series.

    I have several series myself, covering different aspects of my work. It also tells them what I don't do and what I am not prepared to do - so that people who are expecting something they aren't going to get from me can unsubscribe. Usually this is the second or third in the sequence.

    So what should you write?

    This is what I put in my own pdf that covers autoresponders:

    You need at least three steps.

    (1) Who you are and what you do.
    (2) What you don't do.
    (3) Your specialty explained.


    At least this is my take on the matter, and the others may have different views on this. It is at least a start. My own autoresponder series run to between five and nine emails.

  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 7:34 AM Author
    Thanks a lot, Moriarty! The information is rather useful for me, it makes everything a bit clearer)
    Btw, are you specialize in SaaS products marketing?
  • Posted by Moriarty on 3/27/2013 at 7:56 AM Member
    Am I a what? I had to look it up on the internet to see what it meant ;-)
  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 8:06 AM Author
    Sorry, I meant type of products, because I interested in features of marketing software as a service products.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 3/27/2013 at 8:12 AM Member
    I'm just a freelance copywriter and marketer. All the things I do for people are quite specifically tailored and don't usually use much in the way of software solutions.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/27/2013 at 8:20 AM Accepted
    Don't focus your emails on specific features of your offering. Instead, focus on the problems that your prospective customers are likely to have, and how your offering resolves them.
  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 8:35 AM Author
    Thank you, Jay!
    But still it's too common, unfortunately (

    I'm looking for sequence of mails more.

    For example: the first mail is about - ...
    the second mail is about...
    the third mail usually contains....

    the seventh (as Moriarty said) - profit!
  • Posted by Moriarty on 3/27/2013 at 10:47 AM Member
    Hi again - the three points I made were emails 1,2 and 3. The point of an email series is to follow up the sort of things that should be on your website - that is to say the questions people ask that your product answers. You don't want to hide them behind a sign-up, as they will attract visitors. The email series really should be about them getting to know you, and you them (by how they act - do they open your emails? do they click through to read the rest of the article because the email was a "teaser"? when do they unsubscribe? who is it that carries right though to the end having a 100% open rate, a 100% click through rate and still wants more ... because that's when they are going to phone you as a genuinely interested "hot" lead and want to put hard money down).

    Getting people to sign up is another thing altogether - you can use the "five myths" idea where you bust open some of the common misconceptions of your niche. I'm sure that given an afternoon you could come up with at least three. You can also use this to determine what your visitors actually want - again have a "teaser" that leads to a fully descriptive article (= a web page that they click through to from your email). Finding out how many people click through to which pages will give you a clear idea of their interests.

    Any help?
  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 10:58 AM Author
    yes! It was really helpful information)

    thx again!
    I appreciate your concern, really
  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 11:15 AM Accepted
    I'd start by figuring out what list you're going to use for these email blasts. Who are the recipients? What do they already know? What are they looking for? Where are they located? What do they do?

    All good marketing starts by understanding the target audience. What are their needs, values, beliefs, habits, practices, attitudes toward and awareness of SaaS, etc.?
  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 11:23 AM Author
    Thank you, mgoodman)
  • Posted by Moriarty on 3/27/2013 at 11:28 AM Member
    Just as a matter of clarification - I am assuming this is about an email autoresponder series that an interested visitor to your website voluntarily signs up for - and may unsubscribe at any moment they choose. As mentioned, finding out who signs up and from where, looking at their activity is enormously powerful in understanding who your best customers are.

    The real problem is that writing this sort of thing isn't the sort of thing you can use software to do. The templates (such as have been described) are usually pretty basic and rather vague - the real power is in communicating your unique position to your best clients.
  • Posted on 3/27/2013 at 11:54 AM Author
    Of course, but I needed at least rough templates to work with and understand a so to say methodology
  • Posted by Moriarty on 3/27/2013 at 4:28 PM Member
    This is getting tough. The things you are looking for aren't really there. Logic exists for computers and software - in marketing logic is a little known phenomenon. Learning how to make sense of situations for which there is no meaningful cause is my daily bread.

    Your first email needs to describe who you are and what you do. It gets people into their comfort zone.

    Your second email should be about what people should expect from your software - and tackle a few issues that it doesn't, or that people think it might but doesn't in reality. Seeing the things your business doesn't do is really very hard, so don't be surprised to struggle with this.

    Your third email should be clear about what your company/software doesn't do or doesn't serve.

    In this instance, emails 2 & 3 are swapped.


    Your real problem is that there isn't a methodology as such. Psychology isn't logical, it is as fluid and dynamic as any individual waking up and falling out the wrong side of bed. Then they can't find the coffee because it's where they always put it - yet it's the last place they look. They get frustrated by its disappearance and go out to buy a coffee down the road. In slamming the door, they lock themselves out of the flat. There are some days like that - and stupid things happen to all of us for just the wrong reasons.

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 3/27/2013 at 6:09 PM Accepted
    How will you convince people to sign up for your e-mails in the first place?

    What "results in advance" will you offer?

    What offer will you provide?

    What does your software do that no other software in your niche does?

    What "one time offer" or "reason why" structure will you use?

  • Posted on 3/28/2013 at 3:46 AM Author
    thnx u all!
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