5 Email Tactics for Farmers
Email is a free tool for your Farm that is proven to drive sales, increase conversion, and keep your buyers engaged in a place they look every day - their inbox! 70% of Americans are influenced by email when making their purchase decisions! Email is a powerful tool to help your Farm increase sales and access more customers with streamlined, up-to-date communications from your business.
The key to building a successful email campaign for your Farm is to keep it simple. Focus on specific topics to showcase in your emails, which can be segmented to different groups who will receive your message. You can inform customers about new products, upcoming events, and increase engagement with your buyers through Farm emails.
Here are 5 tips every Farmer needs to know to make email marketing an important revenue-generating strategy for your business:
Encourage Customers to Proactively Give Their Emails
To build an effective email marketing strategy, your Farm must always be growing your email list. To obtain your Buyers’ emails, create opportunities to invite customers to proactively give you their email address. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of collecting contacts. To build your relationship with your Buyers, in-person and online, requires regular communications to build trust (just like it does with your personal friends and family). At every touchpoint in your local community (markets, schools, churches, or local businesses), and online (your social feed, website and email signature), your Farm should be collecting emails.
There are some simple avenues to incentivize Buyers to give you their emails. Here are a few of the most common tactics to “get” something in return for signing up for your Farm newsletter (with their email):
Get “First Access” to New or High-Demand Products (that always sell out)
Get 10% of your first purchase (of $50 or more)
Get a Free Sticker (of your Farm Logo!)
Get “Exclusive Invites” to On-Farm events (e.g. Farm-to-Table Dinner, or a Farm Tour)
Note, these types of “Give-Get” incentives are attractive to both existing and prospective Buyers! In-person, direct them to a sign-up sheet (on a clipboard), or direct them to a QR code that goes directly to an email sign-up form on their Smartphone or Computer. Make it easy for Buyers to give you their email!
Read: 5 Promos to Drive FOMO
2. Always Promote “Joining” Your Mailing List
To encourage people to join your email list, your Farm must promote it everywhere. In-person, direct customers to a sign-up sheet on a clipboard or posted on a flyer (markets, school, church or business). Online, prompt buyers with an email splash screen or sign-up form (website, social media and email signature). Always provide a “call-to-action” to sign-up for your Farm newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything about your business, and slowly your audience will begin growing more consistently.
Online
It is easy to configure a “pop-up” to capture email addresses when visitors arrive at your website, or click on a link from social media or email signature. Make it simple to sign-up and receive your Farm newsletter and access all your updates. Promote your newsletter everywhere, prompting followers to join and gain access to exclusive email offers (high-demand products, special promotions, activities), and the first opportunity to purchase new products from your Farm.
Note, every major brand utilizes email collection forms online, so don’t be shy about it. Visitors online expect it (and it works!).
In-Person
Leverage all your in-person interactions to collect emails at farmer’s markets, your local pick-up locations, and popular community places (e.g. local businesses, city hall, local church, and kid’s schools). Always carry a business card and post Farm flyers that include a QR code that direct prospective customers to join your email list! You’ll be surprised at the number of email sign-ups, and unexpected orders from new customers by advertising your Farm. Remember, 8 out of 10 Buyers want to purchase a local Farmer like you!
If there is a slow day at the market and you didn't make very many sales, you better have talked to 100 people about purchasing from your online store! Post a QR code to access special promos, or pass out flyers directing them to sign up from your email list - it works!
- Protein Farmer, Michigan
Many of the highest grossing Farmers on Barn2Door pay their employees $1 for every email that’s collected at in-person markets and events. Incentivizing your Farm employees to help grow your email lists will pay huge dividends as you expand your base of loyal customers and convert purchases online (which are up to 3x more valuable).
3. Make Email Sign-Ups Easy with QR Codes
The simplicity and importance of QR codes cannot be overstated, especially when it comes to email collection for your Farm business. QR codes are uniquely generated blocks that can be easily scanned with any Smartphone camera, which can lead to an email sign-up form for your Farm. A QR code that can easily be accessed by customers will give Buyers a convenient way to join your Farm email list.
In recent years, QR codes have been utilized by brands everywhere - in-person and online (including Super Bowl commercials!). Your Farm is no different. Include a QR code on all your signage and packaging. This should include your Farm truck, business cards, booth, sign-up sheets and flyers – anywhere your Farm Brand is present. We suggest adding a QR code to your product packaging (tape, labels, bags or boxes) when customers purchase your Farm products. QR codes are a simple way for every Buyer to become a “billboard” for your Farm business and inspire others in their sphere of influence to sign-up for your email list in the future.
4. Regularly Engage Your Buyers With Email
Your Farm must consistently email Buyers at least 1x per week to stay top-of-mind and in the “Inbox”. If you email infrequently, (e.g. 1x per month), then your Farm will be negatively scored by Big Tech, who will more likely move your emails to the Promotions or Junk folder automatically (where fewer customers will actually see your emails).
To keep Buyers engaged (and stay in the Inbox), your Farm should plan to email your customers at least 1x per week. Automate an Order Reminder weekly, and draft a Farm newsletter at least 2x per month. Buyers need to be regularly engaged and reminded to purchase from your Farm (reminders work!). If Buyers are not engaged, they may forget to place an order, and fewer “clicks” in the Inbox is bad (when it comes to Big Tech email algorithms).
Too little time? No worries. You can streamline your Farm communications to generate more consistent sales from your customer list with these simple email tactics:
Automate a Welcome Email Campaign
When buyers sign-up for your email list (form or QR code), you can automatically say hello by sending a “Welcome” email. This is a perfect time to introduce your Farm, practices, products and yourself!
Tell new customers how to order from your Farm, how often they can expect to hear from you (set expectations!), and offer an introductory “First Time Order” promotion to encourage them to place an order.
Farm Newsletter at least 2x Per Month
90% of consumers enjoy receiving email Newsletter updates from local Farmers. Keep buyers updated on what’s happening on the Farm, learning more about your practices, new products, and upcoming events.
Use the 3 E’s – educate, entertain, and eCommerce, to offer a balanced mix of information. Remember, you don’t need to say a lot to get your point across. Keep newsletters concise and use “buttons” for major calls-to-action (e.g. “Shop”).
There's a direct correlation between sending out our weekly newsletter and people placing their orders for delivery or pickup. About 80% of our sales occur within six hours of sending our Monday newsletter.
- CSA Farmer, North Carolina
Set-up Weekly Order Reminders
Many Farmers like to circulate a “fresh sheet” of their products to customers at least 1x per week (wholesale buyers are often sent 2x). With Barn2Door, your Farm can set-up automated Order Reminders with a direct link to featured products and a call-to-action to place their weekly order. Best of all, your inventory is updated with each purchase, so inventory automatically syncs in real-time (saving you time, and keeping Buyers informed of what’s available.)
Your Farm will be surprised how effective (and little work), automated Order Reminders can be for your business. With Barn2Door, distinct Order Reminders can be set up for different types of Buyers (e.g. consumers v. wholesale), on a different schedule.
Configure Automated Email Campaigns for Loyal & Lapsed Customers
A premium feature available from Barn2Door + Mailchimp, your Farm can automate email campaigns to Buyers based on their actual purchase history.
For Loyal Customers, you can remind them how special they are to your business. Send “loyalty emails” to thank customers for their ongoing support of your Farm business. Consider offering them special access to an on-Farm event (e.g. Farm-to-Table Dinner), or an end of season promotion. Include a small discount on their next purchase and automate “Smart Recommendations” to upsell additional products.
For Lapsed Customers, who have not made a purchase from your Farm (e.g in the past 60d+), you can “re-engage” those customers automatically and invite them back into your business. Send an email gently reminding them of “Why” you Farm, the quality of your products, and commitment to good stewardship. Invite their feedback. If they fail to respond, you can offer a special promotion to encourage their next purchase, with the hopes of re-building loyalty.
Your Farm can also automatically upsell products with “Smart Recommendations.” This capability allows you to automatically send targeted emails to specific types of buyers, and magically recommend add-ons based on purchases of other like-buyers, utilizing artificial intelligence (available with Mailchimp’s “Customer Journey Builder”, integrated to Barn2Door). For example, if customers recently subscribed to a Bundle Box, your loyalty email may automatically include complementary product add-ons (e.g. an Egg Subscription Add-On).
All these forms of email are important to fuel ongoing engagement from your customer lists. With Barn2Door + Mailchimp many of these email campaigns and best practices can be automated, helping your Farm to stay top-of-mind. Then, you can focus your energies on tailoring newsletters with new and relevant content related to upcoming products and activities on your Farm.
5. Segment Your Email Lists to Improve Personalization
The most successful Farms categorize their email lists into groups to send relevant information to the right contacts (also known as an email “Audience”). By segmenting your audience you can share specific messaging, products, promotions, and information with a specific group of people. Building Audiences and enabling your content to be more personalized increases conversion and sales for your Farm!
For example, segment your audience by geographic locations (e.g. zip-code) for delivery or pickups or by product purchases (e.g. CSA or Herdshare Members) . Farms also group their audience based on their customer relationship with your Farm: consumer (markets), consumer (CSA members), wholesale (chefs), wholesale (grocers). Or, audiences can be assembled based on purchase history: loyal customers, new customers, and lapsed customers (those that haven’t purchased in a while).
By assembling email audiences, your Farm can send targeted information based on your goals and the buyers’ specific needs, including desired outcomes, when interacting with your Farm.
The Barn2Door + Mailchimp integration makes it easy to segment your audience based on any criteria that fits your Farm business. Best of all, any groups assembled in Barn2Door will automatically sync with Mailchimp (for ongoing use). This simplifies managing your groups as new customers join your email list.
Barn2Door and Mailchimp keeps track of your customers and analyzes different behaviors. So, when Barn2Door notices people haven't bought anything from the Farm in a while, you can send them an email and offer a 10% discount. When I tried this, I immediately saw a 35% increase in sales.
- Organic Farmer, California
Conclusion
By implementing these email tactics, your Farm can grow your customer list, improve engagement and drive more consistent sales for your business. Additionally, you can save time with many of these email automations, while actually growing your Farm revenues.
Slow down to speed up. Assemble your marketing strategy and put these email marketing practices in place to help your Farm become a thriving business for the long-term. Building your contact list is an ongoing task that will increase resilience for your Farm business, and pay dividends in the future.
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution for Farmers to grow and manage their business. We’re proud to be Mailchimp’s largest partner in the United States for Farmers. Supporting 1000’s of Farmers who sell to more than 1+ million Buyers, Barn2Door has the data and the expertise to help your Farm build a thriving business.
If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.