Integrating Email With Your Sales Funnel and Other Marketing Channels

Email doesn’t exist in a vacuum. To maximize results, integrate your email strategy with your sales funnel and other digital marketing channels.

This guide will explore proven ways to align email with your website, ads, social media, and more. By connecting the dots across channels, your messages gain relevance while expanding reach.

Read on to learn strategic integration tactics that amplify ROI across your digital marketing activities.

Email Integration with the Sales Funnel

Your sales funnel provides the blueprint for customers’ journey from initial awareness to purchase and loyalty.

When aligned to funnel stages, targeted email sequences guide subscribers down the path in a personalized way.

Here are tips for integrating email with each phase of the funnel:

Top of Funnel: Build Your List

At the top, focus email on lead generation with:

• Landing pages offering gated content like ebooks in exchange for emails
• Website calls-to-action promoting opt-in incentives
• Flyers and print ads driving to opt-in forms

Growing your list is priority #1 so you have an audience to nurture.

Middle of Funnel: Nurture Leads

In the middle, nurture new subscribers by:

• Sending welcome sequences introducing your brand
• Providing valuable content relevant to their interests
• Asking for feedback and preferences for personalization
• Monitoring engagement to identify hot leads vs. cold prospects

Nurturing warms cold leads into hot buyer prospects.

Bottom of Funnel: Convert Customers

At the bottom, convert leads into customers with:

• Promotional email sequences showcasing products/services
• Retargeting emails to re-engage recent site visitors
• Appointment setting outreach for high-scoring leads
• Automated purchase follow-ups guiding customers into loyalty

Converting ready buyers is the payoff for effective nurturing.

Loyalty Loop: Grow Advocates

Finally, turn happy customers into vocal advocates via:

• Ongoing education and content tailored to their needs
• Surveys soliciting reviews, testimonials, and referrals
• VIP access and perks rewarding word-of-mouth

Advocacy expands your reach and credibility.

Integrating email across the entire customer journey maximizes relevance while capturing more value from leads.

Website Integration Tactics

Your website is the hub that all other efforts drive towards. Integrate on-site and email marketing to align both channels.

Promote Opt-Ins Throughout Site

Place email sign-up forms and calls-to-action for lead magnets prominently on site pages, popups, headers, and footers.

Show Email Sign-Up Slide-Ins

Detect first-time site visitors via cookies and show a targeted slide-in encouraging email opt-in.

Identify Customer Accounts

When a recognized contact visits your site, display personalized content and account updates.

Trigger Behavioral Emails

Send cart abandonment, browse abandonment, or re-engagement emails based on site activity.

Embed Product Recommendations

Dynamically display product recommendations in emails based on recent on-site behavior.

Share New Site Content

When new articles, ebooks, or resources are published, promote to email subscribers who will find it most relevant.

Retarget Recent Visitors

Remarket to contacts who recently visited your site with special offers to complete the sale.

With tactics tailored for anonymous and known visitors, your website and email strategies will support each other.

Paid Ad Integration Tactics

Paid ads provide a powerful way to drive cold traffic to your site to start relationships. Integrate ads and email for lower acquisition costs and higher ROI.

Promote Opt-In Offers on Landing Pages

Advertise free content behind lead capture forms to build your list from paid traffic sources.

Call Out Limited-Time Promotions

Run paid ads promoting special sales, discounts, or limited-time incentives mentioned in emails. Urgency works.

Target Lookalike Audiences

Create paid ads shown to new customers similar to your email segments with high engagement and conversion rates.

Retarget Site Visitors

Remarket to recent website visitors with ads encouraging them to come back and complete desired actions.

Sync Audiences

Integrate your ad platform and ESP to exclude existing subscribers from paid target segments.

Analyze Conversions by Source

Review email and paid ad conversions by source to optimize spending on best-performing channels.

When aligned, paid ads and email marketing become a flywheel driving each other’s growth.

Social Media Integration Tactics

Social media expands your reach and builds trusted relationships. Integrating email and social amplifies results for both channels.

Promote Lead Magnets

Share opt-in incentives and gated content across social to grow your email list.

Give Social Followers Early Access

Reward email subscribers with exclusive early or extended access to promotions announced on social media.

Share High-Performing Content

When a particular piece of content drives high engagement in email, also promote it on relevant social platforms.

Turn Social Fans Into Subscribers

Advertise email opt-in opportunities within your social feeds to convert fans.

Reach Groups Through Paid Ads

Target paid social ads to email segments that have shown interest to further relationships.

Automate Social Sharing

Make it easy for email recipients to share your content across their social accounts.

With the collective reach of social media and email, your brand quickly multiplies its audience.

CRM Integration Tactics

By integrating your email service provider with your CRM, data flows seamlessly between the systems. This enables personalized messaging that converts.

Ideally, aim to:

• Maintain one unified subscriber list between your ESP and CRM.
• Automatically log email engagement data like opens and clicks back to each CRM contact record.
• Record email conversions linked to CRM deals and accounts.
• Build customer lifecycle engagement automations from one platform.
• Develop subscriber segments leveraging both email and CRM data.
• Dynamically personalize email content based on CRM fields.

With unified data, CRM and email sync up to provide the complete view of the customer.

Analytics Integration Tactics

Robust analytics integration should also be core to your technology stack. Steps for maximizing value include:

Install Tracking Pixels

Install open and conversion tracking pixels across your site and funnel to record email engagement.

Connect Conversion Goals

Link website goals, custom events, and CRM data to matching email interactions for full attribution.

Generate Reports

Build unified dashboards bringing together email and site analytics metrics to gauge performance.

Analyze Cross-Channel Journeys

Review multi-channel paths customers take from emails to your site and purchases to optimize flows.

Monitor Metrics in Real-Time

Set up alerts when KPIs like revenue exceed targets so you can take immediate action to capitalize.

With integrated data, you’ll know exactly how each email drives downstream engagement and revenue.

Review and Refine Integrations Over Time

Optimizing integrations across channels is a continual process as your business evolves. Set reminders to routinely audit tactics and confirm they align to current goals and strategies.

Look for emerging channels or technologies you can connect to email for incremental reach and value. Across mature channels, brainstorm fresh integration ideas to deepen relationships.

Don’t leave opportunities undiscovered. Email’s flexibility makes it the perfect core channel to anchor expansive omni-channel campaigns.

Key Takeaways

• Map email sequences to each stage of your sales funnel.
• On your website, make joining your list a visible priority.
• Use paid ads to drive cold traffic to opt-in offers.
• Promote opt-ins and engage current subscribers across social.
• Unify ESP and CRM data for complete personalization.
• Install tracking everywhere and analyze journeys.
• Keep optimizing integrations as new channels and tools emerge.

By strategically aligning email with your sales funnel, website, ads, social platforms, CRM, and analytics, your messages coordinate with the rest of the customer journey for seamless experiences.

Email provides hyper-personalization, but channel integration gives the complete picture. Work cross-functionally to maximize reach and ROI across every touchpoint.

With some upfront planning, you can put email’s versatility to work amplifying results throughout your digital marketing mix. Zero in on high-impact integrations that move customers continually closer to conversion across channels tailored specifically for them.