Conversion Emails 101 for Startups
Slingbot’s Funnel and Templates
TL;DR Check out our conversion (trial to paid) email templates below! Email me at sebastian[at]slingbot.co with a suggestion and I’ll A/B test it using Slingbot!
Over-Optimizing Emails
When we started Slingbot, everything was ad hoc; we drew from our experience working on our previous startup, DapperJobs. I created our conversion email — to convert trial users to paid users — from scratch and have continually optimized it by A/B testing.
For the past two weeks, I’ve ran into the same problem. I’ve A/B tested the templates, but haven’t seen any improved results. This can mean one of two things: (1) either I’ve created the perfect email that can’t be optimized further (which is unlikely), or (2) my brain isn’t thinking outside the box (which is more likely).
When A/B testing as an early-stage startup, it’s infinitely more valuable to pull levers than to tinker with minor changes. Although tinkering may lead to a 5% improvement,pulling levers may lead to a 25% improvement.
We’re in Week 8 at Slingbot. We’re early. Now is the time for radical tests.
Thinking Outside the Box
My first thought was to search for conversion email templates and compare it to our own. To my utter surprise, Google didn’t yield any results.
The top five results were articles on things not to do, steps to effectively get emails, and a dissection of the core parts (which is actually a very worthwhile read; however, the five templates they provide are “ip sum” and aren’t useful for our problem). The other two were companies trying to market their services.
In the spirit of radical testing, email me at sebastian[at]slingbot.co with a usable suggestion and I will A/B test it and blog about the results. As long as you are reading this, the invitation is open!
Slingbot’s Sales Strategy
The voice we wanted to project was fun, happy, and playful. This was a balancing act since we needed to seem trustworthy but didn’t want to be boring or overly professional.
Our biggest inspiration is Buffer. I’m a huge fan of the tool, but also a huge admirer of their “happiness culture” — our goal with our prior startup, DapperJobs, was, “workplace happiness (for job seekers) through culture-driven hiring (by employers).”
We achieved this in our emails by having playful elements: greeting them with a “howdy”, incorporating happy face emoticons, and including a fun fact. We balanced this with a quantitative breakdown of our services.
Our goal is to show users what they can expect to achieve with our different plans. Originally, we only showed impressions/plan, but thanks to a tip from Dmitry Dragilev, a growth hacker who runs Criminally Prolific, we started showing expected followers/plan (using their conversion% from their trial).
We wanted to leave users with the message that they are capable of greatness, and that we want to help them be great.
We send an email 1-2 days before their 10 day trial ends to give them time to review the tool. This also allows us to create urgency (“your trial is ending soon!”), without villainizing ourselves as we would if we emailed on Day 10 (“your trial is over!”).
Slingbot’s Funnel
We have a four-part funnel for our emails: (1) unactivated, (2) activated-without-success, (3) activated-with-success, (4) customer.
(1) Unactivated
Exactly what it sounds like. These are people who created accounts (by logging in with Twitter), but never made campaigns to actually use the tool. Most people in this group are just checking out the tool out of curiosity. Some realize the tool isn’t for them. Some got distracted and forgot to set it up.
We send an email to this group and offer to extend their trial by 10 days in hopes they move down the funnel, but our expectations for this group is low. If they didn’t spend the time to create a campaign, it was likely intentional.
(2) Activated without Success
These are users who have created campaigns but who haven’t seen any success — followers — using Slingbot. They’ve either chosen very specific keywords, used an infrequent hashtag, or used multiple keywords for a single campaign.
We send an email to this group and also offer to extend their trial by 10 days. We direct them to our active blog and YouTube channel with has a ton of helpful tips for Slingbot success.
The risk with this group is that the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule, may apply. Customer feedback is always good, but people with bad experiences tend to speak the loudest. Here, 20% of your users might lead to 80% of your headaches.
(3) Activated with Success
This is the most important group. They’ve have conversions (followers) from their impressions (favorites). We want to show them where they can be if they upgrade plans.
Here, we also mention how their conversion% compares to the average (3%) and the ideal (5%); this acts as a bar to reach or as a metric to show their success.
Again, this is the most important group.
(4) Customers
This group upgraded to a premium plan before we sent our conversion email (which we send 1-2 days before their trial ends). We want to thank these users since they see value in the tool.
They have typically optimized the tool and see value in it since they upgraded early. We could also direct them to our blog or YouTube, but they likely don’t need help.
The Templates
(1) Unactivated (Template)
Subject: Did you forget about Slingbot?
Email:
Did you forget to set up Slingbot? If you need any help, or have any questions, shoot us an email and we can extend your trial by 10 days ☺
Sebastian from Slingbot
Fact of the Day: Leonardo da Vinci could draw with one hand while writing with the other.
http://slingbot.co
(2) Activated without Success (Template)
Subject: @sebfung, want to be awesome at Slingbot?
Email:
Howdy @sebfung!
Looks like you set up Slingbot but didn’t get any followers!
We have a bunch of tip videos on Twitter and Slingbot at our YouTube channel that we’re dubbing Slingbot University. Check it out: http://bit.ly/SlingbotU
Although you didn’t get any followers from the trial, we REALLY want to help you succeed! So, check out our tips, edit your campaigns, and we’ll extend your trial by 10 days ☺
Sebastian from Slingbot
Fact of the Day: Leonardo da Vinci could draw with one hand while writing with the other.
http://slingbot.co
(3) Activated with Success (Template)
Subject: @sebfung, your Slingbot trial is ending
Email:
Howdy @sebfung!
Your 10 day trial of the Sling plan is ending soon and we’re pleased to announce that your 3 campaigns made 598 impressions, which led to 46 conversions. That’s a 7.7% conversion rate (the average is 3%; the optimal is 5%).
At the end of your trial, you’ll automatically be downgraded to our free plan. Wondering if you should upgrade? Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect each month:
Free — 1,000 impressions — about 77 followers
Shortbow ($9.99) — 4,000 impressions — about 308 followers
Crossbow ($29.99) — 8,000 impressions — about 616 followers
Catapult ($49.99) — 14,000 impressions/month — about 1,078 followers
The premium plans have additional features exclusive to http://slingbot.co; including filters based on language, location, and sentiment (positive or negative).
If you need help or have any questions (about our different plans, or about how Slingbot works), shoot us an email ☺
Sling on!
Sebastian from Slingbot
Fact of the Day: Leonardo da Vinci could draw with one hand while writing with the other.
http://slingbot.co
(4) Customers (Template)
Subject: @sebfung, thanks for upgrading your Slingbot!
Email:
Howdy @sebfung!
We just wanted to email you to thank you for upgrading ☺
If you run into any problems or need any help, don’t hesitate to reach out to us 24/7!
Lots of love,
Sebastian from Slingbot
Fact of the Day: Leonardo da Vinci could draw with one hand while writing with the other.
http://slingbot.co
Release the Emails!
I’m still using the Google Apps Script to send emails from a spreadsheet.
Yes, there are better solutions out there including MailChimp and sendwithus, but my current solution is developed to the point that it only takes 5 minutes a day. I can literally copy and paste from our user database since there are responsive formulas (nested =IF() statements) that look for identifiers to determine which bucket they fall into (i.e., if active campaign = 0, then “Unactivated” template). Take a look for yourself.
We’ll likely look at a more advanced solution once we start averaging above 200 daily sign-ups. Until then, this makeshift solution works wonders. There’s also something genuine about reading a plain text email vs. one filled with CSS and HTML.
Speaking of beautiful, for our weekly newsletter, we currently use MailChimp andwe’re loving it.
Findings
Unactivated: As speculated, very few people respond back to extend their trial. If they didn’t bother making a campaign, it was likely for a reason.
Activated without Success: This group has led to some interesting feedback, some headaches, and some disappointed customers (where the Slingbot would never be appropriate for them given their hyper-niche). Many people in this group seem to be new to Twitter.
Activated with Success: We get a ton of valuable feedback from this group and have implemented various features that they’ve suggested. We actively listen to feedback so feel free to share your thoughts!
Customers: We love y’all! You guys are our biggest advocates and have often acted as ambassadors for Slingbot. Thank you ☺
