What is a Nurture Funnel?

Maybe you haven’t heard, but the word on the street is, funnels are where the magic happens.  Every business coach, email marketing specialist, and digital marketer (and many business owners) can attest to the absolute POWER of having fully functioning funnels in your business.

But what are they? And which one do you choose? Where do you even start?

Can you say overwhelm??

Let’s start by taking a look at all of the different types of funnels (I will be breaking all of these down in further blog posts)

1) Webinar Funnels – This is a sequence of emails sent out when someone signs up for a webinar. Emails begin from sign-up and remind the audience about all of the details of the webinar. When the webinar is over, the emails switch to sales emails with deadlines for sign-ups and bonuses.

2) Tripwire Funnels/SLO Funnels – This is a sequence of emails that get sent out after someone purchases what is called a ‘low-hanging fruit’ offer. It is a mini-offer that helps your audience learn what it is like to work with you. The focus of the emails is to get the person to engage with the Tripwire and then to offer them a spot in your bigger offerings. Tripwires are also great ways to ‘pay’ for your ad space.

3) Upsells/ Downsells – This is a short sequence of emails that can follow a launch or a previous purchase. The goal is to add revenue to your business by upselling people who have recently purchased from you or downsell people who may not be ready to buy your big offering. 

4) Application Funnels – This is a sequence of emails that get sent out after someone applies to work with you. The goal of the application itself is to qualify your leads for your signature service. The goal of the emails is to either tell someone they are not a good fit or if they are a good fit, to get them signed up for your signature service. Calls-to-action in this sequence can be to book a call with you or to pay a deposit.

But my personal favourites are two that go hand in hand, the lead magnet funnel and the Nurture Funnel.

I dug into Lead Magnet funnels last week, so let’s dive into the goal and purpose of a Nurture Funnel and how it can skyrocket your sales.

What is a Nurture Funnel?

A Nurture Funnel is an automated sequence of emails sent to all of your new subscribers to your email marketing list. Do you know how they say your audience needs to know, trust, and like you in order to buy from you? That is EXACTLY what a Nurture Sequence, sometimes known as a welcome sequence, does.  It gets your audience to know, trust, and like you before you ever try to make a sale. It creates connection and engagement with your audience. It makes sure that everyone who enters your business sphere is on the same page. Your Nurture Funnel Sequence will educate, engage, and connect. It will show your audience that you are an authority in your field.  It quite literally turns strangers into fans and moves your audience from know to trust to like.

Nurture Funnels warm-up your audience.  And warm audiences buy.

When is the best time to build a Nurture Funnel?

Yesterday.  

I am joking.  But you really can’t start early enough.  This is a fundamental piece to your Marketing Funnel and it really shouldn’t be underestimated or skipped.

‘Ok. Great, Jenn.  How do I even make a Nurture Sequence?’

Let me break it down for you.

If you have an email marketing system like ConvertKit or Klaviyo, etc. you can build a Nurture Funnel. If you don’t have an email marketing system, get on it! Want to hear me rant about why you need an email list and can’t rely on social media to sell?  CLICK HERE.

When someone gives you their email address, you can set up an automation where they get sent a sequence of emails right after subscribing.  The benefit of setting up an automated nurture sequence is that you don’t have to worry about your consistency in sending out weekly or monthly emails.  It also starts all of your subscribers from an even playing field. This way everyone starts on a solid foundation of who you are and what you do, instead of getting one of your weekly emails where they may be lost in the shuffle from not being subscribed as long as others.

What are the 4 types of emails you need for a Nurture Funnel or Welcome Sequence?

When writing a warm-up sequence, you need to include 4 types of emails.

1) Story -Your audience wants to know about you. Especially if you sell services. The first step in the know, trust, like factor is KNOW. Share things with your audience about you, about the company, what your ‘why’ is, what your struggles are, etc. Storytelling is an incredibly powerful tool.

2) Value -These emails show your audience you are an authority. And they give them a taste of what it is like to work with you. If you can offer some Value emails that really help them solve their problem, they will be more likely to work with you because you have already helped them.

*I will say that so many of my clients only have Value emails. It is good to give your audience a mini break from trying to fix their problem and let them connect with you and feel seen.

3) Objections – These emails are SO important and are often ones my clients have never thought of integrating. You need to get ahead of objections. People will always find a reason to put things off or a reason your offering won’t work for them. Think about the main objections you get from people and pre-empt them. A good tip is to think about the FAQ section on your website and address those Qs in your sequence.

4) Case Study/Testimonial – Social proof is one of the best ways to get your audience to trust you. Show them that you have solved problems for other people just like them. Extra tip: Don’t just copy and paste testimonials, create a story. Talk about where your client was when they came to you and where they are now after working with you.  If you’ve got screenshots or can interview a client on video, even better.

How long should a Nurture Sequence be?

This really does depend from business type to business type, but the minimum is 7 emails.  We want to give it a good run for your audience to get used to you showing up in their inbox and offering them solutions to their problems.  We want you to be top of mind when they are ready to take the leap. If they have researched other companies, let’s make sure you give them all of the information they need to make the best decision for them.

If you know that you are inconsistent with sending out emails, I recommend making your warm-up sequence even longer.  That way you can just set it and forget it while your audience warms up by the cozy fire that is your business.  Hot tip: When you write either long social posts or blog posts, just turn them into an email and tack them onto the end of your nurture sequence so that sequence continues to grow and grow without a whole lot of extra effort.

A Nurture Funnel can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. There is so much more I can say about tagging and sequencing and how to gently sell in your welcome sequence, but for now, just get those 4 emails set up and ready to go. Don’t get overwhelmed by all of the details (that’s my job 😉 ).  Just get started.

If you need help with the tech setup or want a conversion copywriter’s eyes on your welcome sequence content, book a call with me today to see if I would be a good fit to help you warm up your audience and sell on an automated system.