Email marketing is the most profitable marketing channel today. You can build a 7-figure business with emails alone.
Email generates a $42 return for every $1 spent. B2B marketers say this is the best way to nurture leads. In fact, 4 out of 5 marketers would rather give up social media marketing than email marketing.
If you’re not implementing email sequence yet, you’re missing a huge chunk of revenue for your business.
Before I show you how to create one, let’s define a few things first…
What is an Email Sequence?
An email sequence, also known as an autoresponder (what we call it at
Wavoto) or drip email, is the process of sending a series of emails to people in different stages as they move along the sales funnel.
The emails update prospects, warm them up to become leads, and then convert them into customers. Since everything is automated, you don’t have to manually send emails over and over again -- saving you time and making you money without needing to repeat work.
An email sequence can be time-based or trigger-based.
A time-based email sequence sends emails at predetermined intervals:
- 30 days after buying
- On the anniversary of a subscription
- Right after opt-in
A trigger-based email depends on the action of the prospect or customer:
- Reading or downloading content
- Purchasing a product
- Browsing behavior
- Subscription to your list
- Abandoning a shopping cart
Each has their own purpose.
Time-based email sequences are great follow-up tools. You can show prospects you remember important dates in their lives -- which is a great way for following-up.
Trigger-based email sequences give subscribers a more satisfying buying experience. Since you send emails based on their actions, you can give them exactly what they need as they move through the sales funnel -- accelerating the sales process!
It’s not enough you know “what” emails are. You must know “how” to create them. You can easily do this in 5 steps.
The 5 Simple Steps to Build an Email Sequence
1. Choose the Goal of your Email Sequence
You need to determine the purpose of your email sequence before setting one up. The content of each email differs, depending on your goals or what you want for your business.
What are the Different Goals of an Email Sequence?
Welcome email sequence - A welcome email sequence is a campaign sent when prospects sign up for a website. It is an introduction about a business and is not used to drive sales. The goal of this type of email is to build rapport and establish a connection with the prospects.
Onboarding / Nurturing Email Sequence - After introducing your business to prospects, you want them to engage with you. In this stage, you provide more information about your products or business. You can offer them to try out your product or get them to book an appointment. You can also provide value, incentivize, or offer discounts on their first sale.
Abandon Cart Email Sequence - If you’re not paying attention to abandoned carts, you’re probably going to lose thousands of dollars in sales. There are many reasons why people leave their shopping carts. They might have changed their mind, but most were distracted or just forgot. If you send emails within 24 hours after prospects have abandoned their shopping carts, you can remind them and recover lost sales.
Repeat Customer Email Sequence - While you’re busy with new leads, you should not forget about your existing customers. The main purpose of sending this email is to congratulate them, make them happy, and eventually turn them into loyal customers.
You can start by sending an email 2 to 3 days after their first purchase to ask for feedback or asking them if they need help. You can also send a few automated emails recommending other products or content that they may like.
Re-engagement Email Sequence - You don’t want to lose customers after they interacted with your brand or purchased a product. The main purpose of this sequence is to win them back after no longer engaging with your business.
Don’t worry if you haven’t set up any of these email sequences, that’s why we’re talking about it here! Focus on one sequence at a time until you have them all flowing for you.
2. Create an Outline of Emails
After knowing the reasons for automating emails, you need to be able to write an effective email campaign. In other words, you need to know how many emails to send and the timing between each email.
Here are the following steps to creating your email campaign:
- Identify the purpose.
- Identify the trigger for the email.
- Know how many emails to send and their duration.
- Craft the emails.
- Build the emails using the software.
- Automate.
- Do test the automation before launching.
3. What Should Each Email Contain?
To have an effective email campaign, you need to know what an ideal email sequence should have. If your email is lacking a crucial component, you won’t succeed in your goal.
Here are a few elements your email must have…
- The ‘Ask’ - each email must have a “call-to-action.” You ask them to buy, subscribe, like, click a link, or whatever it may be.
- The Solution (a.k.a your product) - Present the reason why your offer is the best solution to their problem and not your competitors’.
- Include Testimonials or Social Proof - Provide testimonials, screenshots from your loyal customers, or case studies.
- FOMO - One of the most effective strategies that you can use is FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) statements. Some effective FOMO lines are “the cart is closing in 3 hours” (urgency) or “Only 10 pieces left” (scarcity).
- Provide Incentives - Offer prospects incentives such as bundle deals and bonus education resources.
- Support - make prospects at ease by giving them a way to contact you if they have further questions.
4. Draft the Content for Each Email
An email sequence is useless if you write boring, long, drawn-out emails. Your emails must be something subscribers look forward to reading. It needs to be interesting, captivating, and exciting.
Here are a few best practices:
- Your subject line is the first thing your new subscriber sees. Personalize it and ensure that the subject reflects the content of your email.
- It must trigger curiosity. Attention grabbing subject lines aren’t enough. Your first few lines must entice them to read and interact.
- Keep it short and simple. Address their pain points, annihilate objections, reveal why you’re credible, and show why products are superior.
- Have a clear call to action. Make sure the link works and it goes to the right product page.
Now, if you have no idea how to start writing… Use the P.O.S.E.R. framework:
Paint your pain or promise something big.
You need to start emails with a bang. If you can use words to describe exactly how they feel and promise them a cure or relief…you’ll immediately get their attention.
Objection handling.
When you promise something big, there’s normally resistance. They won’t believe you and read more…unless you clear their doubts, skepticism, and objections.
Show the solution.
This is where you reveal your offer that helps them eliminate pain and fulfills your promise. Give them more details, be specific. The more detailed you are, the better.
Example in action.
Demonstrate how your product is being used. If you have services, show the reader its real-word applications and how they can benefit immediately.
Real-world results.
Show them the results of using your product or service. This can also be the testimonial section of your email.
Lastly, don’t forget the call-to-action.
Make sure you ask them to click a link, buy, reply to your email, or any type of action in your email.
After you’ve written your emails, it’s now time to…
5. Set up a Schedule for Sending Your Emails
Sending your emails at the right time can get you better open rates, click through rates (CTRs), and sales.
Most people check their inboxes at different times of the day depending on their habits. Yet, studies revealed that people are most active during these hours:
- 8:00 a.m. is the time that many people check their emails first thing in the morning.
- 1:00 p.m. is also the best time because it’s their lunch break.
- 4:00 p.m. as most people are about to wrap their day so it’s a good time to check emails.
- 6:00 p.m. is when most people are commuting or have reached their home.
The best days to send an email marketing campaign falls on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, if you have something important to announce, do it from Tuesday to Thursday.
But it doesn’t end there....
Test and Tweak your Sequence Until it's Perfect
Whether you like it or not, certain sales messages and ad angles go stale.
Before, plain text emails worked like a charm. You only needed a few words to turn a subscriber into a buyer.
Now, you must have a few images in your emails, especially if you’re selling physical products. You must evolve as digital marketing shifts and your business grows!
Testing and tweaking your email sequences starts with optimizing your open rates and then improving your click through rates. If more people open your emails and more people click, more people will see your products and buy.
By testing and tweaking your sequence, you’ll know what type of subject line, email content, and CTA works best.
What Email Metrics Are Important for Tracking?
To see what is working or not, be sure to track:
- Open-Rates: This shows how many of your audience opened your email.
- Click-Through Rates: It shows the percentage of subscribers who clicked on the links in your email.
- Deliverability: This data reflects the number of emails that reached your target recipients.
The Basics of Testing & Metrics
There are various ways to tweak, test and improve your email sequences.
You can perform A/B tests --- where you send two emails to the same number of people and see which performs better.
If you have the tools to do this, here are a few components you can start A/B testing:
- Subject Line Length - Test the length of the subject line to test how it grabs the attention of your target audience. The ideal length of the subject line is between 61 to 70 characters. Results vary depending on the habits and lifestyles of your prospects and subscribers.
- Content - Test emails with different messages to know which best resonates with your audience. You can experiment with soft selling (like telling a story) or hard selling (where you directly ask for the sale).
- Images - You can test images in your emails to know if they can increase clickthrough rates. An example is testing whether a product image or a picture with the owner converts better.
- Length - Testing the length of your emails is a very good practice as readers tend to have a shorter attention span. Short emails are more effective for most brands. But, you need to check if this applies to you --- especially if you’re a content creator, consultant or coach.
- Tone - The tone of voice in your email can have a huge impact on your campaign’s click-through rates. Whatever your tone is, it must match your company’s brand image. If you sell baby bottles to mothers, don’t swear or drop F-bombs in your email.
- Personalization - Personalizing your email campaigns can improve the open rates by 14%. Test what type of personalization works for your business.
- Call-to-Action - Benefit-driven CTAs always do best. Instead of saying “subscribe now,” you can say “Get 12 Months Access Here.” Test your words and find what works best.
Email Marketing Made Effective
Email marketing is one of the most efficient ways to turn a stranger into a $10 buyer and then eventually into a $1,000 or a $10,000 buyer.
You can nurture, connect, and build a relationship with your leads. You won’t just have customers. You can create a tribe who will be loyal to you.
More than that: Email marketing gives you more control over your business.
If you have a list of 1,000 subscribers, you have a traffic source you can tap into again and again. If you have a list of buyers, you can get more sales by selling bundles or upgrading their offers. If you have an email sequence, you can actively sell 24/7 without lifting a finger.
That’s the closest thing you can get to a “passive income” asset.
If you have no idea where to start…
Wavoto can help you create all the email marketing campaigns your business needs.
Whether you’re selling services or products, Wavoto can help you build a list, set-up campaigns, and automate to maximize sales and conversions.
We make it easy, fast and simple to build email sequences that convert.
In fact, we’re giving you a “Free Download Funnel” and the complimentary email templates at the link below…