An essential component of fitness marketing practices is something we all use every single day: email. An email is a crucial tool in nurturing new leads and is becoming more popular every year. According to Databox, 33% of marketers send email campaigns every week and 26% multiple times a month.
While supplementary content can stimulate interest, you must play the long game of getting the right leads, so having a solid email marketing campaign will work wonders. For example, Email Marketing is still an extremely effective tool because of one simple thing: exposure.
Regular emails in the form of a newsletter or the latest content to potential clients prolong exposure. Think of it like hypertrophy, where if you need to grow a muscle, you need to keep hitting it to stimulate growth. The same thing applies to email marketing. With more exposure, we get more rapport, increasing the likelihood of prospective clients buying a service from you.
This is where an autoresponder system can work wonders. Let's show you what it's all about.
An email autoresponder system is a sequence of emails created via software to automate email campaigns for your audience. With this tool, you can create a series of emails that are automatically sent to subscribers at predetermined intervals. These emails can be used to deliver valuable content, promote your services, and nurture leads.
The number of emails, the period, and the content will depend on what has triggered the automation and what you'd like that specific audience member to do by the end of the email series.
Depending on what funnel a prospective client enters, you may have many different autoresponders, such as:
- Downloading a lead magnet eBook.
- Signing up for a webinar.
- Purchasing a product.
- Abandoning their shopping car.
- Joining a newsletter.
As fitness marketing focuses on the art of personal training, you may set in place an autoresponder email because a client has purchased an online personal training session, or if you sell supplementary content like nutrition guides or gym equipment, each type of interaction can stimulate a different kind of autoresponder message, with its unique messaging to elicit engagement with that potential client. Depending on the software you choose for your autoresponder system, they may already have basic templates for the most common triggers. SendinBlue offers 5 such templates, for example:
Overall, an email autoresponder system can be an effective tool for personal trainers who want to build their client base, promote their services, and save time.
Using fitness marketing tactics like email is all about generating extra potential for sales, and there are several benefits to email autoresponders, including:
Establishing long-term relationships with subscribers and transforming new website visitors into subscribers can generate more leads for your fitness business if you provide value to potential clients.
Create repeat sales and help personal trainers to diversify by using cross-selling (additional products that complement the initial purchase) and upselling (marketing tactics which involve an enhanced or upgraded version of the original product), which can initiate repeat sales.
Provides continuous advertising - personal trainers work by themselves. Therefore, having the tools to do much of the work for them is ideal as it can keep expenses down.
It saves you time and effort. Once you have created your email campaigns, the system will automatically send them out, freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of your fitness venture.
Your messages are sent consistently and on schedule, which can improve subscriber engagement and the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
A carefully designed email autoresponder system allows you to segment your audience based on their interests, behavior, or other factors. This means you can tailor your messages to specific groups of subscribers, improving their relevance and effectiveness.
An autoresponder can be a very effective tool if you know how to use it correctly! Of course, an autoresponder is merely a method of gaining the results you want, but knowing the right approach will make the difference.
Everybody has different goals and, like in personal training, responds better to different stimuli, and this is why choosing the right content for the prospective client will elicit a more appropriate response, which all depends on what the subscriber signed up for initially and where they are in the buyer journey.
There are typically three stages to the buyer's journey:
The awareness stage is when an individual is experiencing a problem but looking to solve it themselves. This is where educational content about their specific issues, like eBooks, can be beneficial.
In the consideration stage, an individual has identified their problem and is considering getting help. This is when they will look for experts on the topic, and content like podcasts, videos, and expert guides will build trust and put you on top of their minds.
In the decision stage, the prospect has decided to get help and wants to ensure they hire the right person for the job. This could mean looking at case studies of successful clients, service comparisons, and free trials.
Personal trainers have unique needs when it comes to email marketing; as a result, several different types of email autoresponders are popular in the industry. By delivering targeted and valuable content, these campaigns can help build trust and establish a solid relationship with potential clients.
One of the most important emails in your autoresponder system as a personal trainer is the welcome email. This is the first message a new subscriber will receive after signing up for your mailing list, and it serves as an introduction to your business and what you have to offer.
Welcome emails are essential because they set the tone for your relationship with your subscribers and help to establish trust and credibility. They also provide a valuable opportunity to engage with your audience and encourage them to take action, whether setting up a consultation or signing up for a trial session. According to Oberlo, welcome emails have a significantly higher open rate (68.6%) than any other email campaign (19.7%).
That means by setting up a thoughtful and effective welcome email, you can make a strong first impression and begin building a relationship with your subscribers that can lead to long-term success.
An onboarding email series for personal trainers could effectively introduce new clients to their services, establish a relationship, and ensure they feel welcome and comfortable throughout the process. These emails would usually be sent in specific intervals.
The series could include the following:
- A welcome email.
- A questionnaire to gather important information about the client's goals and current fitness level.
- An introduction to the trainer's approach and training philosophy.
- A detailed explanation of what to expect during the programme or workout sessions.
- It could also provide tips for preparing for the first session, such as what to wear and bring, and highlight any necessary paperwork that needs to be completed.
- Finally, the series could end with a call-to-action to schedule the first session and a reminder of the trainer's availability to answer any questions or concerns.
An onboarding email series for personal trainers could set a positive tone for the client-trainer relationship and create a sense of trust and confidence from the beginning. If you're an online personal trainer and will never meet your clients in person, PT Distinction's automation feature will take care of all steps during onboarding, including the email series.
For personal trainers, providing valuable resources to clients can be a game-changer for their success. One of the most effective ways to do this is by offering eBooks as lead magnets on the topics most important to your prospective clients in each buyer journey stage.
One of the reasons you might want to set up a system is that manually sending out eBooks to clients can be time-consuming and impractical. But, on the other hand, when someone decides to get access to one of your resources, it provides an excellent opportunity for you to provide more value and keep them engaged. That's how you build trust. So let's look at how an email autoresponder might look for a lead magnet download.
Email 1 - Welcome Email
In the world of business, making an excellent first impression is crucial. This rule also applies to emails. When a client opens your initial email, it ensures that your subsequent messages won't end up in their spam folder, thus increasing the probability of them reading through your email series. Hence, it's essential to get the subject line right. Naming it to align with their interests is an intelligent approach.
Utilize the first email to establish trust and interest by emphasizing the advantages of being on your mailing list and incorporating a personal touch. The primary objective should be to showcase the human side of your brand. To establish a successful working relationship, it's crucial for clients to feel a sense of connection with their chosen personal trainer.
Email 2 - Tell a Story
Establishing a strong bond with clients is vital in personal training. Demonstrating your concern can heavily influence their decisions, but what truly matters is presenting evidence of positive outcomes. This can be effectively done in Email 2. Utilize past client interactions to showcase your capabilities. Create a picture of a previous client in a comparable predicament to the potential client.
Demonstrate the positive impact of your personal training service on their lives. This often involves enabling clients to shed pounds or build muscles, increasing their happiness. Incorporate testimonials and visual progress updates to elicit an emotional connection and further reinforce the notion that your service can aid them in attaining their objectives. This will effectively motivate users to take action.
Email 3 - Provide Value
As a personal trainer, showing prospective clients that you genuinely care and that your methods can significantly impact their lives is crucial. Of course, they'll also want to feel they're receiving the most exceptional service possible. You can seamlessly build upon the previous message with email three and further solve their problems.
To attract potential clients, it's important to emphasize that the service is tailored to them and their needs. Demonstrating the ability to address their issues effectively is crucial. The main goal of the email should be to ignite their interest and motivate them to begin their personal fitness journey, especially since many may initially be hesitant. The key is to create a desire within them.
You can explain the steps you and your success story client took together to achieve their goals. This way, they receive a straightforward path and an assurance that they can achieve those goals as well.
Email 4 - Strength in Numbers
Providing potential customers with emotional attachment is just a part of the process, as they require reassurance that they are making the best decision. The presentation of factual information and figures is integral to this. The data you present should demonstrate both the positive aspects of hiring you and the adverse effects of not doing anything. This would involve emphasizing why achieving their fitness goals would be crucial for your prospects.
Testimonials have the potential to make a significant impact yet again. So, naturally, referrals are unbeatable in all marketing campaigns, so feel free to include a few in this email.
Email 5 - Creating a Sense of Urgency
At this point, the reader may be intrigued, or they may not be. Nevertheless, nothing is compelling them to take action right away. This means they can continue their usual routine and postpone it until another day. As a result, generating revenue becomes difficult for you and hinders their ability to accomplish their fitness objectives. The last part of the email sequence urges swift action.
To increase the likelihood of sign-ups, providing a time-sensitive incentive is essential. Whether it's a reduced price, a trial period, or an upgraded service, these offers must have a deadline to motivate people to take action. By imposing a time constraint, it compels them to commit. Ultimately, this approach will pay off in the long run.
Ensure complete transparency regarding your time-sensitive proposition and emphasize that the recipient can choose. Forcing someone into a decision is not a viable sales tactic and is definitely not conducive to building a lasting professional association.
Email 6 - The Follow-Up (optional but impactful)
We've already learned that following up is essential to increasing your conversion rates, so depending on what deadline you gave to the prospective client, you might want to send a follow-up email up to 24hrs before the time is up to remind them of your offer.
If you want to stimulate an immediate response to a new subscriber, follow up in minutes. Still, when you start to look at the blueprint for sending emails, the volume and the timing are invaluable. Weekly emails are one approach that works effectively in an autoresponder system.
Suppose someone is signing up for weekly updates because they want your eBook or have been browsing your blog. In that case, a weekly email system can be a great middle-ground because you are not bombarding them with content and drip-feeding them information that can, over time, turn them into clients. You can also check the stats on the best times and days to send email campaigns or use your email marketing software's reporting to see when you get the best open and click rates on your emails and go from there.
Content marketing for personal trainers covers different approaches. While many personal trainers rely on social media marketing to have a closer relationship with clients, email is still invaluable to turning prospects into leads. If you are looking for a tool that can appeal to different prospects at different stages of their buyer's journey, an email autoresponder system is a very effective approach to acquiring and keeping new clients.
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