Mid Funnel Mastery: Nurturing Prospects Who Didn’t Convert Immediately - EP 43

The biggest mistakes brands make is treating these mid-funnel prospects as the same as a hot lead, hitting them with aggressive promotions and discounts.

These folks actually need is education, reassurance, and gradual trust building that addresses their specific concerns. So there's kind of this mid-funnel psychology that I kind of want to go into. So risk assessment, they're kind of evaluating the potential downsides and comparing options. They're not going to just consider you. They're going to look at what's available and figure out which one is the most trustworthy, kind of least risky. Cultural validation seeking, be looking for proof that others have had good experiences. No one wants to be the first to buy anything. People want to buy something that's already validated. So people are going to be collecting details to make an informed decision, especially as the prices increase, assessing whether or not your brand is credible and reliable. If there's an issue, you know, will you guys be able to solve it? Is the product worth the investment? Was it made well? Was it made cheaply? Is it going to benefit me or not? Time and consideration one where, you You know, when is the right time to make that purchase? Is it something I needed yesterday? Is it something I need in a couple weeks or a couple months?

Yo, what's going on, Chase? How you doing?

I'm doing well, thanks, man. How are you?

I'm good, man. Just preparing for Commerce Roundtable San Diego.

Man, that is the event of the year, and I can't believe we've got Gary Vee coming.

Yeah, we sure do. We have Gary Vaynerchuk joining us. He's gonna open up, so we're not gonna hide him till the end. We're gonna have him smack right after our talk, of course, but because I don't want to get shadowed, but I let Gary come up after us and he'll And he'll, he'll really get everyone motivated and pumped for the rest of the event.

It's gonna be a good one. Hopefully, I guess you guys listening, hopefully we get to hang out and shake hands in person.

Yeah, I know there's some EEC community members that have reached out about tickets already, and I think we're gonna have a couple join us. So that should be really exciting, and hopefully we get to meet someone in person. And if you're listening to this, and here's my shameless plug before we start the pod here, if you're listening to this and you are available September 22nd, 23rd for San Diego, you should come out. We've got tickets for sale. I'll make sure there's like a coupon code or discount code for you in the description. So go check that out. But we've got 2 days. It's all about direct-to-consumer. We've got tons of stuff in e-commerce. It won't just be about retention. It'll be about top of the funnel, retail, and a little bit of everything. And of course, as you heard from Chase, Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the headliners on top of Ezra Firestone, Taylor Holiday. Chase and myself will be there. We got Ritesh from Omnisend joining us. There's a lot of people that'll be on, on that stage. So it's going to be really exciting. A lot of good tactical and the food will be great. So. Come on out. With that, Chase, let's talk mid-funnel mastery today. We're going to talk about nurturing prospects who didn't convert. This is probably one of the most important things that people forget about because it's kind of the hardest thing to deal with. So we've got a whole pod about this because people have been asking about it. So let's do this in 3, 2, 1. From the open to the click, they're the masters of the flow. Just watch your list grow and your leads turn to go. Did we retain you so far or do we have to extend it? If you want, results. You know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. What is up everyone? Welcome back to Send It, where we discuss anything and everything retention marketing, specifically in email and SMS marketing and e-commerce. My name is Jimmy Kim and I'm here with my co-host Chase Diamond. All right, Chase, episode 43. We are here talking about mid-funnel mastery. We're talking about nurturing prospects who didn't did not convert immediately. I'm talking about those post-opt-in, post-coupon-taking, those people that join your list, but they just sit around and do nothing. So today we're diving into one of the most overlooked and most crucial parts, in my opinion, of e-commerce retention marketing, nurturing prospects who didn't convert immediately from your initial offer. Listen, most brands are pretty good at attracting prospects and getting them into their funnel. But they're decent and they're decent at converting ready-to-buy customers. But there's this massive gap in the middle where most potential customers fail through the— or fall through the cracks. Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah, dude, exactly right. You know, we're talking about prospects who signed up for your email list. Maybe they browse products, possibly even added to cart, but they didn't purchase right away. So these are not cold leads. They're very warm prospects who frankly just need more nurturing.

And here's the thing, dude. Studies show that 2 to 3% of website visitors are ready to buy on their first visit. We all know that, right? That's the conversion rate. But there's 97 to 98% of your traffic that needs to be nurtured before they convert. And most brands, they just blast them with discount coupons and wonder why it's not working. That's why today we're going to break down exactly how to nurture these mid-funnel prospects through education, trust building, and strategic content that moves them closer to purchase. without being pushy or salesy. But before we dive into tactics, let's start by understanding who these mid-funnel prospects are and what's happening in their minds during this crucial phase. Thoughts here?

Dude, this is so important because these mid-funnel prospects are in a completely different mindset than kind of more of your top-of-funnel browsers or even kind of the bottom of the funnel ready to buy.

Yeah, you're right. And they're interested enough to give you their contact information, but something's preventing them from purchasing. Here's like what I found as I did my research as a characteristic of a mid-funnel prospect. One, they've shown initial interest, but they haven't committed to a purchase. Or 2, they may have a specific concern, objection, or hesitation about your brand or product. They often— number 3 would be they often are in comparison or research mode, evaluating multiple options, because as much as your brand may be cool, there's probably 10 other ones that are just as cool as you are that do the same thing. Number 4, they need more information, social proof, or trust before they make that decision. Number 5 is a budget constraint or timing. Payday ultimately is one of the biggest ones, right? And last but not least is they could have been influenced by bad experience or general skepticism about online shopping, and they're just not ready because the trust is there. Any thoughts on that?

Yeah, absolutely. I'd say what's crucial to really understand here is that these prospects aren't saying no. They're saying not yet or I need more information.

Right, right. And the biggest mistakes Brands make is treating these mid-funnel prospects as the same as a hot lead, hitting them with aggressive promotions and discount codes. What do you think you see when you think about this? What kind of psychology do you see with these users?

Yeah, I'd say like what these folks actually need is education, reassurance, and gradual trust building that addresses their specific concerns. So there's kind of this mid-funnel psychology that I kind of want to go into. So, uh, the first one is risk assessment. So They're kind of evaluating the potential downsides and comparing options, right? They're not gonna just consider you. They're going to look at what's available and figure out which one is the most trustworthy, kind of least risky. The next one is kind of the social validation seeking. So they're gonna be looking for proof that others have had good experiences. No one wants to be the first to buy anything. People want to buy something that's already validated. And then the next one would be information gathering. So people are gonna be collecting details to make an informed decision, especially as the prices increase. I kinda went into this before, but the next one is trust building. So assessing whether or not your brand is credible and reliable. If there's an issue, will you guys be able to solve it? Have people had good experiences? All the things we've talked about. Value justification, right? So this is the next one. Is the product worth the investment? Was it made well? Was it made cheaply? Is it going to benefit me or not? And the last one is kind of this timing consideration one where, you know, when is the right time to make that purchase? Is it something I needed yesterday? Is it something I need in a couple weeks or a couple months? And research shows that these mid-funnel prospects, they typically need in the ballpark of 5 to 12 different touchpoints before they feel comfortable and ready to make a purchase. The problem is though, most brands give up after just 2 or 3 attempts and the touchpoints that work best in these mid-funnel Are, as I mentioned before, educational and more trust building rather than strictly promotional.

No. That nails it. And the key insight is that mid-funnel prospects wanna be convinced, not sold to. They wanna buy with you. They need reasons to believe your product or brand are exactly what they're looking for. And they need this nurturing to happen over time. You can't cram it all in your trust building in one email and expect an immediate conversion, which is why we're gonna jump into some of these strategies that focus on these different parts.

Yeah.

So the first strategy is focusing on education and content sequences. That are positioning your brand as a trusted expert while kind of pushing them along to address these purchase objections that you might run into. And educational nurturing works because it provides value without asking for anything in return, which provides this goodwill and it positions your brand as a helpful one rather than being sales-focused.

Yeah. And it's going to allow you to address common concerns and objections in a more natural kind of a non-confrontational way. Non-pushy way. So it doesn't feel like you're directly selling. I mean, in terms of like this educational nurturing framework, you know, there's a couple components. So the first is this problem-focused education that's gonna validate their customer's challenges, right? So when you wanna validate their challenges, you're gonna wanna be really kind of in-depth in terms of explaining the problems that your product solves, right? That's number one. Then from there, You're gonna wanna share kind of some industry insights and trends that help build expertise and help make your case. From there, you might wanna share kind of some common pitfalls and mistakes that customers should avoid. That way, they are really crystal clear. And then lastly, for this one, it's kind of educational content that's gonna help them make better decisions overall. Teach 'em about your product, teach 'em about how to use things, teach 'em how to be Smarter, healthier, whatever the objective might be. And then from there, you're gonna go from the problem focus to the solution oriented, right? So you've made the problem feel really obvious and painful. Now you need to present the solution and guide people with kind of expertise-driven content, right? How-to guides and tutorials related to your product category, best practice and tips for actually achieving desired outcomes. It's one thing to say, We're gonna help you get in shape, but like, how are you gonna do that? What are the tips and tricks? How are you gonna hold my hand and guide me along the way? Kind of comparison frameworks for evaluating different options. A high dose of educational content that's gonna position your approach as superior, right? Really cutting edge, state of the art, you know, tips and tricks. That's just thought leaders that you have to know what you're talking about to be able to deliver. And then lastly is kind of behind the scenes content that builds trust and transparency. So here you can share things like product development stories and kind of your quality assurance processes, really sharing and showcasing your team expertise and your credentials, sharing your company values and your mission, really showing that like at the heart of what you do is X, Y, and Z reason why you care about it, right? Really making it near and dear to your heart. And then really being transparent about your sourcing, manufacturing, or service delivery.

Yeah, no, I think you're nailing it. Those are definitely the ways that you have to think about it. And what makes educational sequences particularly effective is that they create multiple opportunities to demonstrate value and expertise ultimately. Hey, it's Jimmy. Quick 15 seconds of your time because I have something fun to share. Did you know between the two of us, Chase and I, we have over 20 years of experience in email marketing? Recently, we put our minds together to create a certification program that takes all of our knowledge and share it to the world. It's called Ecom Email Certified. It's an end-to-end course certification program that's designed to take anyone, regardless if you're a newbie or an experienced marketer, founder, executive, agency marketer, or any marketing professional, to teach them everything we know about email marketing SMS. From deliverability to AI to copywriting to design to strategy, we cover it all. It's loaded with 175 modules and 25 hours of education combined with quizzes, community, all designed to educate, test, certify you to become a full-fledged email marketer for e-commerce. And so since you're listening to this pod, we want to reward you with loyalty by giving you a coupon for $200 off this certification. Just jump over to ecomemailcertified.com, check the show notes. Now back to your pod.

Dude, 100%. And instead of kind of like one promotional email, that might get ignored, you're creating a series of kind of these more valuable ongoing touchpoints that are gonna gradually build trust and authority as you go on. And then studies show that prospects who engage with educational content, they have a 47% higher LTV and 23% higher conversions than those who only receive promotional content. So a couple examples of like what this maybe educational sequence kind of could look like. So for example, let's say we're gonna do like a, a 5-week plan. So week 1 could look like this, the complete guide to whatever category, right? So the complete guide to eating healthier, the complete guide to cooking more, the complete guide to X, Y, and Z. And you're gonna wanna do kind of a comprehensive overview here. Then the next week, right, you're gonna wanna focus on something like 5 common mistakes from whatever it is that you sell your category and how to avoid them, right? So this is really honing in. On the problem identification. Again, make the problem super painful, make it obvious. And then the next week, right? These are all building blocks. We're gonna show kind of behind the scenes how we create source and test our products. And this is all geared around building trust, right? Building trust through transparency. And then the last kind of one before we get to week 5 is week 4 would be kind of customer success stories. How, you know, so-and-so achieved X, Y, and Z result. And this is where we really layer in different types and formats of social proof to drive home, okay, they know the problem, they understand we're the solution, they understand why we're the best fit across the board. And here's all the glowing testimonials and reviews that support our case. And then last week, week 5 is gonna be expert tips. So, you know, hopefully now that you've felt comfortable buying, hopefully that you've bought, here's the way that you can get the most amount of value From the specific products and services that we sell. And the key here is really making sure that your educational content really is genuinely valuable rather than kind of just thinly veiled product promotion that people can Google online.

No, I love that. That's a perfect little content calendar. And prospects can tell the difference between a helpful education and sales content disguised as education.

So true. And I'd say the recommendation here would be kind of the 80/20 rule. So 80% genuine value and education, and then kind of maybe a 20% or so subtle kind of product positioning. And then you really want to track engagement with the educational content so that way you can ensure that you're actually giving valuable insights to the prospects' interests and being able to increase and improve their readiness to buy.

Yeah. And the brands that do this well create educational content that prospects actually look forward to and receiving and even share with other people, which is really strong. And that leads me to the second strategy, which Involves a different version of education, which is the strategically deploying social media or social proof and testimonials to address specific concerns and build confidence over time. Thoughts on that?

Yeah, dude. Social proof is incredibly powerful for these mid-funnel prospects in particular because they're actively seeing this validation that your product works and other people like them have had a great experience as well.

And unlike top-of-the-funnel prospects who need broad awareness, mid-funnel prospects benefit from specific detailed social proof that addresses their particular concerns or use cases. If you think about it, I would say that it brings down to 3 different like big framework points, right? The first one is the concern-specific testimonials that address common objectives. I'm talking about quality, value, customer service, long-term satisfaction. These are like the things that people think about. Yeah. That also leads to the number 2 point where you think about demographic-based social proof, right? Age-appropriate testimonies. If you're selling something for an older demographic, they want to know this works for an older person or just like a younger demographic may want that, or it may be geographic or cultural alignment, lifestyle, or even a professional or personal contact alignment. Like anything you can do to be very demographic approaching based around who your audience is. And this is important. You need to know who your audience is that you're talking to. And the last thing really is that progressive social proof that builds momentum over time. You know, start with this broad satisfaction and like hone in and move specific use cases and testimonials and share details of transformations and make sure you're concluding with good stories around community and ongoing satisfaction indicators. These are all the things that you got to think about, and that's how you kind of hone in on that social side of things.

Yeah. And what makes social proof particularly effective for mid-funnel nurturing? Is that it provides objective validation from trusted third-party sources.

Right, right, right. And instead of telling the prospects your product is great, other customers are telling them based on real examples. And the key is matching that social proof where the prospects are in their decision-making process. This is really the key real quick, right? So when it comes to those tactics there, you've got the sequence of stories, right? Like the way I think about it is it starts with initial skepticism, right? And the research phase. So you got to address those. Then you got to go into like the purchase decision or first use experience. Stories. So you want to tell them what people who are like, I'm glad I made that purchase and this is how it went. And then you've got that ongoing or long-term value creation testimonials. And then of course the loyalty and advocacy stories. So that's like the sequence you want to kind of create, right? But you also want to make sure you're layering that with multi-format. So you can't be just doing a written one, a video one, or a photo one, or data and statistical one. You've almost got to blend them all in top— on top of here. One particularly effective approach is creating testimonial series that follow the customers through that entire journey of the product. What do you think about that?

Yeah, I love, I love that, man. You know, showing kind of the initial hesitation, you know, the decision to purchase, kind of early experience and ultimately long-term satisfaction really creates this kind of complete compelling narrative that prospects can resonate with and kind of relate to. And when you include specific details and outcomes in these testimonials, It makes them way more credible and impactful than just kind of general praise and kind of generic praise. And we always recommend collecting testimonials that address the top 5 to 7 concerns or objections that you typically hear from your prospects. And research shows that specific detailed testimonials really can increase your conversion rates. And we're seeing upwards of 34%, compared to kind of more just generic positive type reviews.

No, that's spot on. And I'm not surprised by those numbers because if you can strategically align your social reviews and deliver them to a person, you could almost tell a story without them even knowing the story was happening. All right. So our 3rd strategy focuses on demonstrating value and helping prospects justify the ROI of their potential purchase over time, because everything's got an ROI at some level or another. This is crucial because many mid-funnel prospects understand that they have a problem. They believe that your product might solve it, but they need help justifying their investment in themselves and others. Chase, what are your thoughts around that?

Yeah, the value justification piece, it often really requires multiple touchpoints because prospects need to see the, you know, the entire picture of benefits, not just the immediate kind of features presented. So in terms of like this value demonstration framework, you need to run kind of this cost-benefit analysis that's gonna show this clear ROI. So, you know, what are the direct savings and efficiency improvements that you are solving for? What are the time-saving calculations and productivity gains that someone could have? What's the opportunity cost analysis of not taking action? That's a really interesting one. And then the long-term value and kind of the cumulative benefits of the kind of demonstration that you want to display. And then from there, right, being able to compare your positioning that highlights your unique advantages in the market is a really great way to approach it. So you could do things like You know, feature by feature comparison with alternatives, quality and durability advantages over the cheaper options. So especially if you're more expensive, you know, use that as a benefit, not a diss, you know, showing the service and support advantages over competitors, right? That you go above and beyond, you replace things, 24/7 support, whatever those might be, just kind of stack that. And then essentially what's the total cost of ownership analysis, including kind of any ongoing benefits and perks that you may offer? In the forms of a community or et cetera? And what are the success metrics and kind of the outcome tracking? So what are the specific measurable results from existing customers? What are the industry benchmarks and performance standards and how do you kind of meet those or kind of beat those? And then what are the progress tracking tools and measurement frameworks that you guys can use to show this success and ultimately kind of showing kind of story timelines and milestone achievements. That's happening.

No, that makes a lot of sense. And you know what I'm hearing from this is that value demonstration particularly is effective, is that it addresses both like the logical and an emotional aspect of the purchase decision.

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Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Save money is much less powerful than save an average of $127 per month. Yeah.

And, you know, showing value over time is way more compelling than just the immediate results.

Yeah, that makes sense. And, you know, I'd recommend after hearing that, that creating value demonstration content for different timelines, immediate benefits, a 30-day outcome, and a long-term advantage, it's going to allow you to kind of create that story. And the goal is to help that prospect envision not just what they're buying, but what their life and business would look like after using your product. Which leads me kind of to that 4th strategy, right? So the 4th strategy involves proactively addressing objections and reducing perceived risk to remove that barriers. What are your thoughts about objection handling?

I'd say objection handling really is crucial, especially in today's day and age and specifically for these mid-funnel prospects because they often, you know, they have specific concerns or hesitations. that are preventing them from moving forward?

Yeah, I think the key is addressing these objections proactively rather than waiting for the customers to ask, right? The prospects to ask questions or voice concerns. So to me, it brings down like 3 different frameworks that I've seen work really well in this market. Number one is like the common concern identification. And basically you're talking about price, value, quality, reliability, compatibility, and timing. Like you want to be ahead of that and just talk about all of these places. You also want to talk about like that risk reversal and Confidence building. I think this is huge because people want this money-back guarantee or return policy, free trials or samples or customer service and how great you are, or any warranty or protection plans that are offered. These are risks. These are things, especially in a female group, this is even more important to kind of talk to about making sure people feel comfortable with the risk side of things. And then last but not least, the last thing I see in this market is really that comparison and competitive positioning. You're honest. Your unique advantages, your honest comparisons, of course, your customer's choice of validation that they might have or decision. And then of course, alternative options, even when appropriate, I think are always great thoughts. Any thoughts to add to that?

Yeah. The only thing to add would be like what makes this objective handling particularly effective in these nurturing sequences is that you can address different concerns over time without overwhelming prospects.

Right, right. And instead of trying to answer every possible objection in one email, you can dedicate a specific communication to a specific concern almost, right? And what you're addressing by objection handling proactively, you're demonstrating that you understand what the customer's concerns are and you're transparent about any potential issues. Some of the ways that I've seen good tactics work in there is like FAQs. Those are great, right? They're addressing those common questions. You've got also the common specific concern-specific case Case studies or testimonials. We talked about this earlier, but like getting really focused on some of the things that, you know, people are asking, right? Comparison guides are great. People love a good comparison guide. Risk mitigation explanations. I talked about the guarantee, the refund policy, the warranty, the customer service. Those are all just as important. But one particularly effective approach is addressing the elephant in the room email that literally directly tackles The, you know, the biggest objections your prospects have and you know what they are. People are just afraid to just stand up and talk about them, but I'd like to make sure that you as a marketer know that is really important to say and that's what's going to convert those mid-funnel prospects.

Yeah, exactly. You know, acknowledging that kind of your product might seem expensive or that customers might be skeptical about claims really actually builds trust by showing transparency. And you become more believable. So when you provide these kind of clear, honest answers to objections, they're obviously gonna convert, you know, way more than trying to avoid difficult questions and withholding information. So we always recommend, you know, surveying prospects who don't convert to understand their specific objections. And then you can create this nurturing content that's going to address and answer those before people potentially even have them. And research shows that being proactive with this kind of objective handling style Can increase your conversion rates by 29% and it's going to reduce the sales cycle length by around 18%.

That's crazy. All these little things, if you think about it, all these reducing friction, adding, you know, this, adding that, it all adds up really fast. It's all incremental when you think about a lot of this stuff, which leads me to the 5th strategy. And I think this is kind of an interesting one because in my opinion, as time goes on from the day that that prospect did not purchase and we lose him, you're almost going into a strategic re-engagement tactic and Timing optimization really to reach those prospects when they're most likely receptive. So timing is crucial for mid-funnel prospects because their readiness to purchase can change based on external factors like life, you know, job, whatever it might be, and simply having more time to consider the decision ultimately. What are your thoughts on re-engagement?

Yeah, dude. Re-engagement allows you to recapture attention for prospects and kind of from prospects who maybe they got distracted or just overwhelmed during kind of the initial nurturing sequence. In terms of re-engaging kind of these folks kind of strategically, the framework kind of goes as follows. Number one is you're gonna have kind of behavioral trigger optimization for timely outreach. This way, you know, as soon as someone kind of is on your website and they revisit it, it could trigger, you know, an email and, you know, depending on kind of the browse behavior process, it has kind of a unique specific response for that. And then, right, having different kind of email engagement patterns and Optimal send times, right? So how and when are specific individuals engaging and making sure you're delivering it to them? And then understanding and taking into consideration the seasonal and kind of lifecycle timing considerations, and then other kind of external event triggers and market timing. So that's kind of one piece. The next component is ensuring that you have like this multichannel re-engagement sequence set up. So you'll have things like emails with progressive value and urgency kind of set up. You'll have SMS follow-up for immediate response and action. You'll have things like a retargeting campaign on social that will complement these kind of nurturing events. And then even layering in things like direct mail for high-value prospects that need special attention. So when you take this more full funnel kind of well-rounded approach, it just works so much better. And then the last thing to add is making sure that you have this component of this kind of value-added re-engagement. Rather than, you know, kind of traditional promotional pushing. So having new content resources that are being developed and shared that are gonna provide additional value and context, updating information and product improvements. So maybe you went from V1 to V3, what's the improvements? How is it better? Why should someone care? Introducing exclusive insights and industry developments. And then lastly, having some kind of community invitation and engagement opportunity. allows people to further involvement and they get really excited about that opportunity to contribute.

You know, you know what I like about that is, you know, what makes the strategic re-engagement particularly effective is that it recognizes the purchase readiness isn't linear or predictable ultimately. Hey, okay, I'm disrupting the pod for just a quick 60-second break and a quick little shout out to our title sponsors of the podcast, Omnisend. Okay, for those that don't know, Omnisend is an all-in-one email and SMS marketing automation platform specifically designed for e-commerce brands. They make it super easy to engage with customers, drive repeat sales, and create those seamless personal experiences we're always talking about. Here's 3 things I love about Omnisend. First and foremost, they're trusted by over 125,000 e-commerce merchants worldwide that absolutely love them. With a 4.8 rating star with over 6,000 reviews on the Shopify App Store, it's an choice for your email, SMS, and push needs. Secondly, I love great customer support, and Omnisend, they're absolutely nailing it. They're responsive, their help docs are great, and their team is absolutely fantastic. And third, they have great features and better pricing. Pricing matters just as much as features, and Omnisend, you're gonna get both of those. And they have all the features you need for your store, and their pricing is absolutely fantastic. In fact, recently I just heard a story about 2 community members that made the switch. One reduced his price from $8,500 to $3,500, which is huge, but even bigger, that $3,500 included SMS, which is absolutely wild. Then another agency I just recently talked to, they just switched their entire client base over, and he's been saving his clients anywhere from 30 to 60% off their bill, which is allowing him to take that money and reinvest it on the top of the funnel so they can make more ads and make more money. Omnisend nails these 3 things that I care most about about great support, great features, and fair pricing. Plus, I just helped Chase make the move to Omnisend with his own personal email list, and their migration was super easy. They even have a team to help you, support you, and they have a great automated tool to bring your contacts right over. So if you're looking to take your email marketing to the next level, I highly recommend checking out Omnisend. They got the tools, the automation, the expertise to help your brands grow and thrive. Head over to omnisend.com/jimmy. to learn more and start scaling your customer engagement today. Now let them know Chase and Jimmy sent you. Now let's get back to the pod.

Yeah, that's right. You know, a prospect might not be ready in January, but could be highly motivated in March due to changed circumstances, right? And, and re-engagement is going to allow you to stay top of mind and on their radar without being pushy or annoying. So in terms of like the re-engagement tactics, it could be everything from like Hey, we miss you type sequences that are gonna acknowledge these kind of engagement gaps. Dropping kind of the hottest, the latest, the greatest new content alerts and resources. Again, keeping into consideration seasonal relevance and timely opportunities, you know, during summertime for some people might be an awful time to reach them because they're kind of checked out and for other time, right? Maybe they need the thing that you have because it's specific to the summer and they can't wait any longer. And then exclusive access and VIP treatment offers. People love that type of stuff. And then 2, don't be afraid to send surveys and request feedback that kind of restarts dialogue and invites that conversation in a 2-way street. And the key to making all of this feel natural and valuable is just that, right? Don't make it feel desperate or pushy.

No, I love that. That's exactly how I think about it. And prospects shouldn't feel like you're reaching out because you have something valuable. I mean, wait, Prospects should feel like you are reaching out because you have something valuable to share, not because you just want to make a sale ultimately. Right?

Right. And we've seen brands achieve, you know, in the ballpark of like a 25 to 40% higher conversion rate when they implement these kind of strategic re-engagement campaigns compared to just that linear kind of nurturing sequences that most people do.

And I bet the lifetime value of re-engaged customers is probably higher because they've gone thoroughly through the education of your value proposition ultimately.

Dude, 100%. And one kind of tactical tip here is to use different messaging angles in your re-engagement. So if educational content didn't work initially, try social proof or try more value demonstration type content.

No, I love that. All right, let's wrap this thing up because I wanna make sure that we kind of summarize the key strategies for successful nurturing as we kind of finish this thing, pod. Chase, what's your biggest takeaway here?

I'd say, I mean, obviously there's a lot. I think the most important takeaway I can think of is that these, you know, mid-funnel prospects, they do need a completely differentiated approach than your really hot leads or your really cold traffic, right? These folks more often than not need education, trust building, and frankly just some patience.

Yeah, I totally agree with that. And the goal isn't to convince them to buy right away, but to stay connected. I think that's the key. Stay connected while they are making their decision, but be there when you're ready ultimately. So the key takeaways from today when we kind of nailed all the different tops. So number 1, we talked about mid-funnel prospects. They need education, trust building, not aggressive promotion. That's like number 1. Number 2 is the educational content sequences position your brand as a helpful expert. That was great. We also talked about social proof addresses specific concerns and builds confidence over time. We had the value demonstration that helps prospects justify their investment to themselves and to others. And then of course the last thing that— oh, and the 4th thing I guess it would be, would be proactive objections handling, removing barriers and building transparency, basically getting in front of them before they even question it. And last but not least, we talked about the whole strategic re-engagement, which captures the prospects at the right time. I think that's really important. And look, the proper measurement focuses on quality metrics and long-term value, not just immediate conversions.

Yeah. And remember that mid-funnel nurturing? Is a long-term investment. You know, the prospects that you nurture today, they might not convert for weeks or potentially even months.

Yeah.

But when they do, they'll often become one of your most valuable customer segments.

And I think the key here is being patient ultimately and consistent while providing genuine value throughout your nurturing process. That's probably where people really miss. They just do the 1, 2 nurture and then they move on. Where in a lot of the, if you look at other industries, Chase, non-e-com, Like the digital or the education space, they do, they nurture you for 30, 45, 60 days ultimately.

Yes. And for listeners just getting started with this mid-funnel nurturing, I'd recommend beginning with educational content sequences because they're relatively easy to create and they provide really clear, interesting value to prospects upfront.

Yeah. And you're right. You don't want to try to implement all these strategies at once. Start with one approach and measure the results and gradually add another nurturing Yeah.

And the brands that master this mid-funnel nurturing do create kind of sustainable competitive advantages because they're converting prospects that their competitors are going to give up on.

Yeah, no, you're right. And that's why you're listening to this pod. You're already getting a competitive edge here and we're giving you more of a competitive edge as we go through that. So with that, that is episode 43, Mid-Funnel Mastery, Nurturing Prospects Who Didn't Convert Immediately. If you enjoyed this pod, first things first, if you're not already subscribed, please do so. Let's like, follow, like, comment, subscribe, tell a friend, repost. We've been seeing a lot of love on social media lately on people saying I listened to Send It and so forth. And it's always nice to hear because we like to know that we're not just talking into empty space. And you can follow this show on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, IG, and TikTok, etc. And there's a few ways to connect with us. Number one, of course, if you enjoy us, we just put up a brand new 12 Brand Breakdown on ecomemailmarketer.com. It's completely free to download. It subscribes you to our newsletter. Go get it. It's free. Link in the show notes descriptions below. If you're listening to this on a pod, go to ecomemailmarketer.com. And of course, you got a certification program out, uh, 25 hours of training includes a full exam. I think we're running a special $250 discount sale right now for the summer. Go check out. the certification program and go see if that's right for you. Last but not least, where can they follow you on social, Chase?

Most platforms, Chase, no A in Diamonds.

Cool. And you can follow me on LinkedIn and X today, though I'm on some other platforms, but not as active, but I need to be. So with that being said, Chase, we're back next week, episode 44. We're going to talk about this one thing that I've seen happen. People who don't change their strategy over time as their business continues to grow. So we're doing an episode all around how do you start adapting your email and SMS as your brand grows and scales. We want to talk about that because what worked today doesn't always work tomorrow and works tomorrow doesn't always work the next day. I want you to focus on getting there. So with that being said, Chase, great to see you as always, and we'll see you next week.

Cheers.

From the open to the click, they're the masters of the flow. Just watch your list grow and your leads turn to go. Did we retain you so far or do we have to extend it? If you want results, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it. Yeah, you know you gotta send it.