Let’s explore an email sequence for equity crowdfunding. As we’ve discussed previously, an email list is your best tool to guarantee the success of your equity crowdfunding campaign. A well curated and engaged list can have up to a 50% conversion rate (from email sign ups to investors). In a previous blog post, I discussed how to create a great landing page to build your email list. Let’s look at the main principles of the emails you should be sending your email list.
Objectives of an email sequence for equity crowdfunding
The initial objective of this sequence (during the pre-campaign) will be to keep your email list engaged with the project and ready to invest when the time comes. Not everybody in your email list will be familiar with equity crowdfunding or have a profile created in your platform of choice. This is your opportunity to help them get ready.
Once the campaign gets going, you should keep sending emails to thank people that have taken the steps and become investors. You should also remind the people that have not invested yet to do so.
It’s good to instil a healthy dose of FOMO to your audience during these two phases. After all, if they miss the boat, they might not be able to invest again in your company – and definitely not at the current valuation!
Finally, be the awesome person you are and thank everyone in your email list once the campaign is closed.
Initial considerations to create your email list
- Tools: you can use one of the main email marketing services available. Most are free under a certain number of subscribers. For example Mailchimp is free under 2,000 contacts in your list and allows you to create simple automations and sequences. Verify your email address and make sure your emails are not sent to spam!
- Format of your emails: If your company is still in relatively early stages, it’s good to show that you’re not spending a lot of money on design for your communications. A simple plain text or HTML email will suffice. A bit later in your trajectory and you can use a well designed template that matches your (probably) sophisticated brand guidelines. Keep the emails short and sweet, making them skimmable using headlines and sections in bold.
- Tone of voice: as I’ve discussed before in my blog post about how to win the hearts and minds of investors, it’s good to show your personality. After all, people invest in people.
- Timings: a well planned pre-campaign should not last more than a month. But, remember, it’s more important to get to a comfortable number of emails than to rush it. Send additional emails if the pre-campaign lasts longer. Space up your emails so you don’t overwhelm your audience. They might decide to unsubscribe from the list otherwise!
- Prepare: ideally you should write the emails well in advance of sending them. This will reduce the amount of stress on the build up to the campaign launch. Believe me, you’ll have a million other things to think about!
- Be clear with your call to actions: make sure you are unambiguous about what you’re asking people to do with each one of your emails.
Now that we know the basics, let’s get into the actual email sequence for equity crowdfunding.
You should send a minimum of three emails in pre-campaign
Let’s look at the elements of these three essential emails:
- A welcome email: this should be sent straight away after someone signs up for your email list. After thanking your audience, you can follow up with a short paragraph reminding of why it’s such a great idea to invest in the company. The call to action should be to create a profile on the platform of choice. Guide them through the process as it’s not trivial due to the platform due diligence! At this point, I wouldn’t recommend announcing the date of launch. More often than not, it needs to be re-scheduled.
- A ‘get ready’ email: this should be sent about a week before going live, announcing the date of launch. The call to action should be for people to book the date in their calendars and create a profile if they haven’t done so.
- An ‘invest now’ email: this marks the launch of the campaign. The obvious call to action is invest now.
If your pre-campaign stretches for more than 3 weeks, then it’d be great to send additional emails (no more than once per week) to keep your list engaged. Perhaps an invitation to virtual Q&A event with the founders could be the subject of an additional email.
Think about milestones that you might have hit with your company, new clients, new hires, market trends that benefit your company, presenting the team… Those are all strong topics for your emails. Just step into their boots and remind them of what a great opportunity they have to invest in your company.
Continue emailing once you’re in campaign and thank your investors once the campaign closes
As we’ve mentioned before, don’t forget your email list while your campaign live. Trying to convert them to investors is definitely the best use of your time! For the people that have expressed the intention to invest a big amount, consider sending personalised emails, inviting them to a one to one call. Send those emails from your personal email address.
At the end of the campaign, do send an email summarising what’s happened and thanking everyone for their attention. Thank even the people that didn’t invest for their attention. Who knows. Maybe they’ll become investors in the next round!
Wrapping it up
An email sequence is essential to keep your audience engaged and ready for your campaign. Plan it carefully and you’ll see great results once you go live. And don’t forget to keep engaging after that! If you need help with your email sequence or any other topic for your equity campaign, don’t hesitate to contact me.
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