6 ways to use email sequences in your business
Email sequences are something I just couldn’t run my business without. I mean, I send out quite a lot of emails (outside of my weekly newsletter) and who has the time to manage all of that? I don’t and I know you don’t either!
That’s where using email sequences, drip emails, email automation (it seems to have a lot of names, but they mean the same thing) comes in handy.
In fact, it’s the secret ingredient your email marketing recipe needs! And I’ve got six ways for you to try. They might not all be relevant, but I bet they spark some ideas!
What is an email sequence?
Before we go much further, let’s make sure you know what I mean by an email sequence. It’s when you set up a series of emails in advance that gets delivered automatically. The delivery is based on a trigger you use. The most common trigger is when someone joins your email list.
That trigger sets off the delivery of the sequence you’ve set up. Each email gets sent out at the frequency you’ve chosen. That means you don’t have to worry about whether those emails have been sent. It happens automatically!
Other triggers you can use are:
- When it’s someone’s birthday
- When it’s someone’s anniversary
- If someone abandoned their cart (basket) in your online shop
- When someone opens your email
- If someone clicks on a link in your email
Why should you use email sequences or automation?
Did you know that the average open rate for automated welcome emails is a huge 50%? How does that stack up against your normal emails? I know it’s much higher than mine! In fact, some of my email sequences have open rates of over 80%. But more than that, lots of my sequences have click rates of over 50%!
And then, how many times have you thought you need to send out, say, a welcome email and then things get busy, and you forget? Email automation really saves you a heck of a lot of time and makes sure those emails get sent when you’re busy.
Email sequences also help you build relationships. Think about when you sign up for someone’s emails, and bam! They hit you with a sales message immediately. How does that make you feel?
You’re not ready to buy yet (unless you were offered a discount code for your first purchase) and it’s just a bit icky. People just aren’t always ready to buy, and email sequences help get them there.
Finally, email automation lets you drip out evergreen content (that’s stuff that isn’t timebound and is relevant at any time.) In my mind, all these reasons make email automation a powerful tool for every type of small business. That includes yours!
Types of email sequences you can use
I’m going to take you through six types of email automations you can set up. It’s not an exhaustive list and I’m sure you’ll think of other ways that are right for your business.
Welcome emails
I’ve touched on this already. Think about how you feel when you join a list, and you get a lovely welcome email thanking you. It makes you feel special, right? Isn’t that how you want your subscribers to feel?
Welcome emails don’t have to be complicated. Before you set yours up, think about what you want to achieve with it. Yes, it’s a welcome for your subscribers, but what do you want it to do?
I want mine to give my new subscribers value and give them a taste of what’s to come. So, I offer them the choice of three “recipes”: marketing, email marketing, or social media. Sometimes, a subscriber chooses all three!
Email marketing recipe 
Email marketing recipe 
Email marketing recipe
Birthday or anniversary emails
You might have heard me talking about birthday clubs before. Well, anniversary emails are much the same thing. You’re celebrating a milestone for the subscribers on your list.
If you want to send your readers a birthday or anniversary email, doing it the “normal” way would take you absolutely ages. And you’d have to remember all the dates.
Email automation takes away that hassle for you. You set it up and the automation remembers to send out the emails, so you can forget it!
Follow up a lead magnet
This is one of my favourites and I use it a lot. I create the lead magnet, which I then promote using a landing page. To access it, a person needs to submit their email address.
Here’s where the magic is. I’ve already set up an email sequence. The first email is always the thing people gave me their email address for.
But then I use the opportunity to send them additional things – usually more educational stuff – ending with an email asking them to agree to receive The Marketing Morsel (my weekly email.)
It’s a great way to show off your expertise. For my email marketing cheat sheet, I’ve had over 200 people sign up.
Follow up a webinar or event
Lots of time and effort goes into organising webinars and events. They are ways you can interact with your target audience. I see so many businesses get frustrated with hosting events because they don’t work out the follow up in advance.
You need to know what you want your attendees to do after your webinar or event. Do you want them to provide feedback, sign up for something, or follow you on social media? Whatever it is (and it may be a few things) work out what it is and create your follow up email sequence ahead of time. Then, all you have to do is make it live and add your attendees’ details. Bam! Your follow up now happens.
Did they leave something in their basket?
People do it all the time. They come to your online shop, add something to their basket and then don’t check out!
How frustrating is that? You want them to get on and make that purchase.
That is where email automation is your friend. You’ll need an email tool that integrates with your shop. That will make the automation part easier. I know a lot of businesses use Shopify, which has a brilliant integration with Constant Contact.
Setting up an automated email here will save you that frustration.
Create challenges
We’ve all participated in challenges. You know, the ones you sign up for where you have to do something every day.
Well, let me tell you a secret, those emails you get every day are part of an email sequence. That’s right, they are automated.
If you’ve ever wondered how people put together these challenges, it really is as simple as creating an email sequence. Of course, you’ll have to decide what the challenge is and create the content to share. But getting the emails out to your participants is easy-peasy!
