Tired of 10% Email Open Rates?  Build Facebook Funnels!

Whatever business you’re in, you’ve likely heard the term ‘funnels’ before, perhaps you’ve even given it a go and created a sequence. 

If you don’t know, a funnel is usually set up as a series of emails.  You ‘hook’ people into the top of the funnel, and then take them through a sequence to nurture them, showing testimonials, case studies and promotions to warm them up to convert.

The main problem with email funnels is that you’re relying on your list actually opening them.  If you manage to avoid the spam folder, you’re still looking at around 10% open rate for your emails if you’re lucky.  This massively decreases your chances of then converting people further down the line to actually buy from you.

Another issue is that they come across as really ‘salesy’ and sometimes spammy.  They are often very similar in format, with large blocks of text to build that relationship with the reader, but the problem is, they’re most likely busy when they get your email so don’t have time to do more than scan read it.

So how do you:

1. Increase visibility of your funnel content?
2. Ensure you’re reaching a relevant audience?
2. Cut through the noise with engaging messages and visuals?

Facebook.

Facebook Funnels

I’ve written this blog because I’ve been speaking to several people in the past few weeks, all with this very similar problem.  They have great USPs, are very inspiring people with genuinely good services, but their funnels are struggling to convert at the rate they’d like them to.

And it’s so simple to convert your funnel from email to Facebook & Instagram, here’s how:


1. Map Out Your Sequence

If you’re used to working with email sequences, this step will be helpful for you to lay out what you want to keep included.  Look at what content you are sending out on which day and note it down.  Here is a very rough example funnel:

– Thank you/welcome email – day 1

– More about you and your service – day 2

– Initial offer to join – day 3

– Customer testimonials – day 5

– Case study – day 7

– Stronger offer – day 10

– Newsletters – weekly

 

2. Convert To Ads

Now you’ve mapped out the important content you want to get across to your audience, you just need to convert this to Facebook.  It’s important that you have pixels and lead events in place, as this information will be used to trigger the retargeting emails in the sequence.


Ad 1: Hook In Your Audience

Target: Use interests, behaviours and page engagement to build the audience

Run Days: Daily

Content: This ad would be in any sequence to ‘hook’ people in, except all you need from them is a click rather than an email signup.  We usually still link people to a landing page from this first ad, and try to get their enquiry/conversion here, but it’s mainly to get the click.  They are then signed up to your ‘virtual database’

You may still need a traditional ‘hook’ here, for example a signup to a free cheat sheet, and can still deliver that to them once they click through.


Ad 2: Build Awareness

Target: Custom audience – page visits in the last 3 days

Run Days: 0-3 (schedule to deactivate)

Content: Use this ad to explain more about you and your service, build up the credibility and trust in your service.  Mention any awards you have, or points worth noting that make you stand out.

Don’t be too salesy, the focus here is on building that familiarity.  Video works really well here, as over 90% will be clicking from mobile where videos autoplay and often with sound.  Add subtitles where you can too – check our blog page for a free hack on adding subtitles.


Ad 3: Show The Proof

Target: Custom audience – page visits in the last 7 days

Run Days: 4-7 (schedule to activate)

Content: As per the traditional marketing funnel, your audience is now into the ‘consideration phase’.  This is when you hit them with the proof that you rock!

Bring our your best case studies and video testimonials to showcase in your ads.  This will be at least the 3rd ad they’ve seen on Facebook and Instagram for you, so don’t worry about taking up text introducing yourself again, just go straight in as if you’re on the 3rd or 4th email of a sequence.


Ad 4: The Big Finish

Target: Customer audience – page visits in the last 10 days

Run Days: 8 – 10 (schedule to activate)

Content: So you’ve hooked their interest, explained what you do, showed them why you are the best at your service, now it’s time to close! 

This is where you push a limited time offer to work with you.  You could also link to a landing page with a countdown clock to really add to the urgency and increase the chances of closing faster. 

At the end of the sequence, you could drop them back to the beginning and alter the creatives for each phase, or drop them into your general ads on Facebook and Instagram.  Just try to keep the content fresh, mix up the case studies and add new content to your sequence regularly.

If you’d like more tips on creating your own Facebook funnel, just drop us a message.

Join our Facebook Group

10 Golden Insights from Google Experts

We picked up some amazing Google Adwords tips on our recent visit to Google NYC.  Check out our top 10 tips below…

1. The Magic Number 7

Stick to 5-7 ad groups per campaign as a maximum – too many ad groups can kill your campaigns.  This may conflict with what you (and we) have been told by Google in the past so make sure you move with the times.

2. Location Issues

Having multiple locations in a campaign will give Google a headache.  It is trying to evenly split your budget through the day, but as different time zones come into play, you’ll struggle to get all of the impressions you could be getting.  Split your locations down to timezone to boost impression share.

3. Be Clever with Terms

It may be obvious, but it was interesting to see such a huge difference in auction prices for ‘rigging’ vs ‘moving’, and ‘dog trainer’ vs ‘dog training’ – make sure you’re really testing your terms, and using your budget wisely.

4. Scale Slowwwwlllyy

When a campaign is on fire, the urge to pump that budget up must be resisted as it can trash a campaign.  Try to avoid increasing budget by more than 10-15% weekly so the campaign remains stable.

Join our Facebook Group

5. Copy and Paste

When you want to change your match types, make sure you copy and paste then pause the old terms.  If you change the existing term match type, you’ll lose the historical data for it which is always annoying.

6. Tackle Timewasters

Sick of wasting budget on dreamers?  Try out the ‘price from’ extension to filter out those who won’t convert.  If you have a high ticket product or service, also consider a call only ad, as you’ll be more likely to convert them this way.

7. Get a Google Number

Message extensions are a really handy way to get instant leads – the faster you get back to them the more likely that they’ll convert.  Don’t want to share your mobile number?  Get a free Google number to disguise your personal one.

8. Remarketing Wins

Your past buyers are 5 x more likely to convert than new customers.  Many clients think they don’t have to remarket as customers will just come back.  The truth is we’re a fickle bunch – a free shipping offer, 10% off, or just being in the right place at the right time could sway your past customers to use someone else – grab them back!

9. Lookalikes are Hot Leads 

Lookalike audiences can have a 65% higher click-through rate than other audiences!  As with Facebook, Google knows SO much about all of us to such depth, these lookalike audiences they can build are amazing and ready to be tapped into.

10. Be Ad Smart

In each ad group, you have the ability to show a series of different ads with variations in the message.  Despite this, over 44% of people only have one ad in each ad group!

I will be writing a whole blog on the brilliant dynamic ad opportunities now available to make automatic variations and increase CTRs, watch this space for more!

Check out our other blogs here

THE POWER OF RETARGETING

Are you making the most of the pixel?

You could be retargeting people who have not only clicked your ads, but also people who’ve been browsing your website and convert them into enquirers.

You can also be targeting people who have been searching online for exactly what you offer.

Watch the video to find out more….