When it comes to promoting your virtual summit, email marketing is hands-down the most effective channel for driving registrations. But are you making the most of this powerful tool? If you're not using email marketing strategically (both in your own emails and the swipe copy you hand off to speakers), you're probably leaving a lot of signups on the table.
In this episode, I'm joined by email marketing strategist Allison Hardy, who helps coaches and experts enroll more clients into their courses and memberships on autopilot. She's generated impressive results for her clients, including $100K in course sales through email funnels in just three months.
Allison's breaking down the biggest mistakes she sees summit hosts make in their emails, how to write for different types of buyers to improve conversions, and simple but powerful tweaks that can help you optimize your summit email strategy, boost signups and make every email count.
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Episode at a glance:
[01:24] Allison shares her entrepreneurial journey that began when she was laid off while six months pregnant with her now 11-year-old. With a background in art education and gallery management, she discovered email marketing was an effective way to attract audiences to college exhibitions.
"I got really, really sold on the idea that I would never let anyone else control how I make money... I feel like entrepreneurship kind of like chose me. I didn't really choose it, but I'm very grateful that it did."
[04:10] The top two mistakes hosts make in their summit emails: making the summit seem like too much work for attendees, and not being specific enough about who it's for and why it matters to them.
"While yes, watching the videos is work, and you have to carve out time and all of that... when you lead with that, it's really overwhelming, and it makes people think, 'Oh no, I don't have time for that.' I think that's really one of the biggest mistakes in summit promotion emails."
[06:58] Allison explains how to think about summit registrations as a "conversion event" similar to a sale, even though the ticket is free. She also shares why you need to address different buyer types in your emails: those motivated by pain points, those looking for transformation, relational buyers, detail-oriented question-askers, and no-frills buyers.
"Think about the different ways that people are motivated to buy from you, and their different buying habits. And as you're writing your summit emails, think about those individual buyers, so that you're speaking to the relational person, or the pain point person, and they feel seen and heard through that email."
[09:47] It's not just the buyer types that make an email convert. There are also strategic email components that drive higher conversion rates too. These include: placing calls-to-action in multiple places, utilizing the P.S. section effectively, implementing auto-subscribe options, and tracking data to optimize performance.
"I am a big fan of putting the call to action in multiple places, so not just one call to action at the end of your email... Ask yourself: Are there four places in your email that you could add the call to action? Because that would help to increase conversions into your event."
[15:24] Allison's email strategies can definitely help with improving your summit promotion emails and swipe copy, but it goes beyond summits. She also shares her transition from struggling with the traditional "launch 4 times a year" business model to creating consistent revenue through email funnels, allowing her to make sales every day rather than just during launch periods.
"I started thinking about email marketing it as generating leads and making sales at the same time. Instead of generating all the leads and then waiting until the sales come in, it was like, let's do this at the same time. So that's why I got super interested in email funnels."
About Allison Hardy
Allison Hardy is an Email Marketing Strategist, and she helps coaches and experts enroll more clients into their courses or memberships, on autopilot.
Allison is the creator of the 6-Figure Secrets Podcast, a Huffington Post Contributor, have been featured in YFS Magazine, and was named one of Washington, D.C.'s most influential professionals under 40 by Washington Life Magazine.
Get the $80,000 Email | Check out Pitch Perfect | Connect with Allison on Instagram
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