Behind the scenes of my Flodesk emails as a small business owner

Email marketing is a small business essential and it’s something I’ve been focussed on improving in HI Communications because I know the impact it has. 

For the last two years my email list has doubled each year and the main reason I think that has happened is that I moved platforms over to Flodesk.*

I’m now a Flodesk partner which is very exciting! In this blog post I thought I would show you a behind the curtains look at how I’m using it for my growing business.

I’ve always known the importance of email marketing but in the last few years I’ve realised how much it can save me time and help me to promote my offers.  *All links in this blog post are affiliate links

Waitlists for courses and memberships

My two main offers are Create Your Content Library and The Best 90 Days Ever which both run on open and close launches. In between those launches I want to be building a waitlist of people who are interested in joining, which is where Flodesk comes in.

In those periods between my launches I switch over my website so people can sign up to my waitlist via Flodesk. They’ll then receive an email with more information on when the doors are going to open next and I usually add a bonus lead magnet for joining the waitlist too.

It means that when I am going into a launch I have a segment of my audience that I know is warm and interested and I’ll send different emails to them during that launch period. 

This is also a great way to validate an offer before you start to promote it. When I have an idea I’ll often set up a waitlist to see what the interest is like. It’s a simple way for people to let you know they like the sound of what you’re offering without a huge commitment - it’s a win win! 

Free challenges to grow your email list

One of the things I love about Flodesk is that it helps me to move quickly with my ideas. I love to run free email challenges and because I can set them up so easily it means I do different activities to build my list without overthinking it. 

With Flodesk, I can easily set up a new form to collect emails when people sign up to a free lead magnet. A few examples of this that I’ve done recently have been the Big Fish Energy Challenge, Your Bestseller Content System and Social Media Sports Day.

I can add my branding to the forms and the emails which helps it to feel consistent with my social media content and let people know they are in the right place. Once they’ve signed up I’ll then use ‘Workflows’ to send out a welcome email automatically with more information and what they can expect from the challenge.

Anyone that signs up through a form will be added into a specific segment which means I can message that group of people and not send the challenge out to my whole list. This could be a free workshop, a 3 day or even a 5 day challenge that promotes a paid offer and helps you build your list. 

If you’re looking to grow your email list, free challenges are such a fun way to do that and Flodesk makes it quick and easy to build something creative for your audience. 

Client onboarding for service businesses

Over the last year I’ve focussed my business more on offering courses such as Create Your Content Library and my membership The Best 90 Days Ever. To welcome the number of sign ups we have each quarter I’ve needed to automate different parts of my business.

Flodesk now connects to my course platform Teachery which means when people sign up they are instantly added into that segment and can start to receive my Flodesk workflows with automatic emails. 

It means I can deliver all of my services without needing to worry about adding customers to different segments when they sign up for my offers. 

I can also contact the different segments of customers with new updates about the offer, any co-working or workshops I’m running and just to stay in touch. 

We’re all busy and automating different parts of your business like this is essential to deliver a great service to your customers.

Sales funnels for launching your service offers

The final way I use Flodesk is for my sales funnels. This is new for my business because I was so used to promoting my offers on social media, getting retainer clients and not creating a waitlist for any future spaces I might have. 

Now I’m thinking about my year as a whole and planning out my launches in advance. It means that I can use Flodesk to bring my audience through that funnel and hopefully lead to a conversion further down the line.

First they might see a post on social media about one of my offers. I’ve recently started using ManyChat to automate messages which has increased the number of new subscribers to my email list. They could see a post about a workshop, comment a word and be automatically sent a link to sign up without me being on my phone or laptop.

Then they would start to receive the emails in my workflow which cover the different questions and information they might have about the offer. I usually include a bonus freebie in this workflow too so they can experience what the offer is like.

This means that by the time I come to do a live launch the people in my sales funnel have already heard about the offer and hopefully know enough about it to make a decision! 

What’s next for your small business?

Using Flodesk has changed the way I promote my business and helped me to make email marketing more of a focus.

With the number of subscribers not affecting the price you pay each month, it’s really made sure I keep looking at ways I can increase the volume of people joining my list. 

I’m having so much fun experimenting with Flodesk and I can’t wait to share my next free challenge with you! 

Use this link to get 50% off your first year of Flodesk

This blog post is sponsored by Flodesk and I am working with them as a Flodesk Partner 🧡