An email sequence is the use of automated software (an autoresponder) to send emails in series automatically to a customer, a user, or a prospect. The emails are sent out to the recipients based on a predetermined condition such as a task being performed or a delay. In ideal marketing conditions, the email sequence is usually used within the sales funnel to turn prospects into customers. However, the use of email sequences goes beyond marketing.
With this method of sending emails, it means that you can keep up with each prospect or customer at scale. The technology makes it possible for you to compose the email on time and set up your email sequence using the automated tool for email marketing.
This means that your prospects can receive emails at regular intervals without you necessarily pressing the “send” button any time that you want the emails sent.
Email sequences in marketing are very effective in persuading prospects to pay for your products or services. Different marketers use email sequences for various reasons. It could be to:
- To create brand awareness
- To persuade a potential customer to sign up for an offer
- To get a response from a prospect.
How does it work?
You can programme your email sequences to be sent to a specific group of people that are on your email list. An email sequence campaign can be executed in two different ways. You can set your email sequence to be activated either as a time-based or trigger-based tool. If you set your email sequence to be sent out with the trigger-based option, it means that the emails will be sent out based on certain activities like:
- Browsing behaviour
- Product purchases
- Downloading or reading specific contents
- Abandonment of shopping carts
- Subscribing to a certain list
The option is the time-based email sequence (sometimes known as an email autoresponder) which is used to send out emails at preset time intervals such as:
- On the anniversary of a subscriptions
- 30 days after making a purchase
- After making a purchase
The great thing about email sequence campaigns is that they can be set up once after which they work efficiently and effectively. One common feature of email sequences is the fact that they are automated.
Types of email sequences
Email sequence campaigns can be executed by different types of email sequences that are used to send out a specific series of emails that are meant to fulfil certain criteria. The most common types of email sequences are:
- Re-engagement email sequence
- Repeat customer email sequence
- Abandoned cart email sequence
- On-boarding email sequence
- Welcome email sequence
1. Welcome email sequence
The welcome email series is more than a sequence of emails that contain a welcome message. This involves a calculated approach of warming up to the prospect and introducing your business to them. Rather than selling your product/service right away, the welcome message helps you to build a relationship with the prospect before making your next move. It is a platform whereby you are expected to set a solid foundation for a great relationship with your prospects.
2. Onboarding email sequence
This is the effective type of email sequence that contains the next set of actions after the welcome email series. At this stage, you give the prospect the needed information and try to engage them. Ultimately, you will make them buy your product or service. At this point, you could have them do any of the following:
- Book an appointment
- Use your product
- Start a subscription trial
The core message of an onboarding series is to ensure that the prospects understand how they should use your services or products.
3. Abandoned cart email sequence
About 77% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This means that you can get people to visit your website, browse through, fill up their carts, and somehow stop right there. The point is that they never come back because they have something important to do.
In other cases, many people seem to abandon their carts because of the following:
- They were just shipping for fun with no intention of buying
- The checkout process involves too many steps
- You have an insecure payment process
Regardless of why the customers abandoned their carts, you have to get them back. This is where the abandoned cart email series comes in handy.
4. Repeat customer email sequence
Annually, return customers usually spend about 120% more in comparison to new customers. Repeat customers are so useful that despite being nearly 11% of your total customer count, they are responsible for about 25% of your income. You are leaving way too much money on the table if ignore this special group of prospects. One thing here is that you may have to coax them a little for them to come back. Thankfully, you have the repeat customer email series to help you achieve this.
5. Re-engagement email sequence
This is a special type of email sequence that is sent out to old customers that have stopped interacting with your business over a specified period like 30 – 50 days after they last interacted with the brand. With the re-engagement sequence, you tend to win these sets of customers back. It is cheaper trying to win back your past customers than to look and groom new ones.
How to design an effective email sequence
If you want your email sequences to be relevant, you have to know how to build them the right way. Knowing how to build them means that you can send custom emails to your prospects and make them engage with your brand at a deeper level. The following shows the best way to design your email sequence for an effective marketing campaign. They are:
- You should ensure that the campaign is designed from scratch
- Your email sequences should be based on existing templates that have proven to be effective.
- Create custom subject lines and email body copies that are related to specific prospects.
- Target the segments related to your prospects.
- Your email sequence campaigns should be scheduled based on the time zone of your recipients.
