The “know, like and trust” factor is one of these weird, yet necessary components of your marketing, and your business overall.
On the surface, it’s pretty simple. People buy from people they know, like and trust. They don’t buy from people they don’t.
Salespeople who meet face-to-face with customers understand this and work hard to cultivate this feeling. It’s a bit different when you’re trying to build that same feeling online or through email.
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning…
A very good place to start.
Your relationship with someone starts the moment they see your
- Digital ad
- Blog post
- Social media post
- Website
- Hear you speak on a podcast
Or however they are introduced to your business.
First impressions are everything. Which means you need to give a good first impression in all of your marketing collateral.
It also means you need to show you understand your customer. Everyone wants to feel understood. It’s a basic human need. Think about it. When you’re looking at an ad for a particular product, are you more or less inclined to be interested, based on whether you feel like the advertiser “gets you?”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen plenty of ads that just turn me off, including for products and services where I am the ideal customer. I’ve also seen plenty that draw me in right away, because I feel like they’re speaking directly to me.
To achieve that feeling you have to research your ideal customer. When you understand who you’re talking to and how they work in the world, you’ll have a much easier time conveying that feeling of “I get you” in your marketing.
Knowing your ideal customer also helps you create a good first impression in your ads, social media posts, blog posts, etc. as you’ll use all that research to create them.
That’s you getting to know your ideal customers. What does this have to do with getting them to know you?
When you do your research and get to know your ideal customer, they feel understood. This makes them more inclined to like you right away. It is also the first step toward building trust.
As for them getting to know you, you are showing yourself and your business as compassionate and understanding. Always good qualities to have in my book, and in many other peoples as well.
Now that they feel understood, like you and are beginning to trust you, it’s time to build on that.
Using The Know, Like and Trust Factor to Get People to Opt In
You’ve made your first impression on your ideal customer and it’s clear you understand who they are.
Do you know how to solve their problem?
Because that’s what this is really all about. Your ideal customer is searching for the ideal solution to their problem. Your job is to position your product or service as that ideal solution.
Because you’ve done your research, you should now be able to create a lead magnet that solves a small piece of your ideal customer’s problem. Obviously, you don’t want to solve the entire problem. What would you have left to sell them?
But you do want to show that, along with “getting” them, you have a solution to what’s been plaguing them.
This is the next step in building trust.
Someone giving you their email address in exchange for your lead magnet may not seem like a lot on your end.
It’s huge on their end.
Think about it. When you give someone your email address, you are trusting that they will:
- Deliver a genuine solution to your problem.
- Not sell your email address to spammers.
- Not send you tons of emails that are unrelated to the product or service they opted in for. (Everyone pretty much accepts you’ll email them about the product or service they’ve expressed interest in.)
- Not use your information in any nefarious way.
That’s a lot of trust to give someone you just met!
There are 2 simple ways to prove you’re trustworthy on your landing page and in your lead magnet.
1. Make the language on your landing page absolutely clear
Every word on your landing page should tell your potential new subscriber what they’re going to get and how it will benefit them.
Be truthful about what your new subscriber will get. Don’t overexaggerate potential results. Don’t under-exaggerate them either.
Your headline should be clear and concise. If you add supporting text, it should explain more about what someone will get when they download your lead magnet.
Include language that specifically states you won’t sell anyone’s email address. Some ESPs, CRMs and landing page builders include this automatically, but check to make sure it’s there and customize it to fit your company’s voice and brand.
Include a check box that asks them to consent to receiving emails and include some text that tells them how their information will be used. Most opt-in platforms include this as an option when you’re setting up your forms.
2. Give a Genuine Solution in Your Lead Magnet
Again, you don’t have to give everything away, but make sure your lead magnet really does solve a problem your ideal customer is having.
For example, a very common problem I hear from my ideal customers is that they never know what to write to their own email subscribers. My lead magnet is a list of 30 subject lines and writing prompts that you can cycle through regularly, changing the topic a bit each time. This solves an immediate problem for my ideal customers.
It does not solve every problem they have with email marketing. My products and services address other common problems. My consulting and done-for-you services address specific problems.
Think about your lead magnet in a similar way. What immediate problem can you solve for your ideal customers, that will lead into your products or services?
Continue to Let Your New Subscribers Know, Like and Trust You
Your job isn’t over once someone has subscribed to your email list. Quite the contrary. It has just begun. And your emails are the perfect way to build your know, like and trust factor with your new subscribers.
Fortunately, it’s really easy to do, when you:
State your intentions clearly in your welcome sequence
Once someone has opted in for your lead magnet, what’s to stop them from unsubscribing immediately?
The first email they receive from you should tell them exactly what will happen next and set expectations for what they’ll get in the future.
Subsequent emails should follow through on that promise.
Send emails according to the schedule you set in your first email
Have you ever been ghosted by a friend? If so, then you know what it’s like when someone just disappears from your life with no explanation.
The same holds true with your email subscribers.
If you say you’re going to email once a week, email once a week. You made a promise. It’s incumbent upon you to stick to that promise.
Will your new subscribers miss you if you disappear? No, probably not. But they’ll be pissed if you do disappear, after promising to email regularly, then suddenly pop up in their inboxes again. They’ll wonder who this jerk is and why they’re getting emails from them, because they won’t remember who you are.
Not only is this impolite, it can ruin your sender reputation, if your subscribers mark your emails as spam. This can result in your emails getting caught in the spam filter, even to people who want to hear from you, like your family and friends.
Always send valuable content to your subscribers
This is the best way to encourage the know, like, and trust, factor, once someone has opted into your email list.
Your subscriber will get to know you through your emails. Sending valuable content benefits, them, which makes them like you more. Once they see that your content is applicable to their situation, and it works, they’ll trust you more.
And yes, you can sell in your content emails. Just make sure it’s related to the specific content you’re sending.
Need Help Getting Your Ideal Customers to Know, Like and Trust, and Buy From You?
The best way to do this is by sending regular nurture emails, full of valuable content, as I mentioned above.
Which means you need to come up with that “valuable content” regularly.
Fortunately for you, there’s an easy way to do this.
You just need to know your subscribers’ email nurture type.
You see, everyone has a type of nurture email they’re most likely to open, read, and buy from. You just need to know which one of three common email types works best with your subscribers.
Click on the button below to take my 60 second quiz and discover your subscribers’ nurture email type.