Everything You Need to Know About Email Marketing Sequences

How does email marketing really compliment your social media marketing efforts?

Are email marketing sequences that important?

I may be a social media manager, but I would not be doing my due diligence to you if I didn't advise you to diversify your marketing streams. After all, social media platforms are a borrowed space.

We don’t own our social media pages and, as we’ve seen in recent years, anything can happen. Accounts can get deactivated. The platform may change or decide not to run anymore. There are so many things that are outside our control.

There was a social media blackout back in 2021 where Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp all went down for hours and hours. This amount of downtime can cost your business sales, so if you’re not diversifying your marketing, it's time that you really thought about it.

I recently spoke with my friend Brittany Long on The Social Brain Podcast to discuss all things email marketing sequences so you can sell your services whilst you sleep.

Prefer to listen to the audio version of our conversation? Go here.

What’s the difference between automated email sequences VS on-the-spot emails?

On-the-spot emails are usually used to talk about something that's time sensitive. You might mention current events, pop culture or what you’ve been up to lately. On the flip side, with automated emails, you usually exclude what’s happening in real-time. You can still use imagery and storytelling techniques, but you don’t necessarily relate your content back to something that’s happening in that very moment.

That said, if you're doing live launches, those automated emails will be different to your evergreen nurture sequence, as they’ll be time sensitive. Instead of talking about current events, you’ll be talking about your offer and the time the cart closes.

Automating launches is incredibly beneficial, especially when you have other places you’d rather be while your email sequence is doing all the hard work for you! 

What are the first steps to take when planning your automated email sequences?

Get clear on your audience

Firstly, it’s really important to spend some time getting clear on your target audience. You want to make sure that when you’re speaking to your followers, you’re using their language.

For example, using the word ‘offer’ or saying ‘special offer’ may not be the language your target market uses. They may use the terminology ‘deal’ instead.  Simple tweaks like that can help you establish better connections and achieve more conversions.

Don’t use acronyms

Let's say you're doing a launch and you're using acronyms for your product. You might have said the product or service name a hundred times or sent hundreds of emails with the full name, so to you, using an acronym totally makes sense.

But your community isn't seeing every single email you send out or every single post you share. An acronym or abbreviation of the product or service name might not make sense to your audience, and a lack of understanding could hold them back from buying from you.

Focus on the pain points

Dial in on the pain points your audience has.

For example, if you have people in your audience who say things like “I really miss having more time with my kids”, or “I feel so guilty that I’m working all the time”, use that language in your emails so your people feel seen and understood.

This brings in a human element, helps you build a relationship with your readers, and can make a huge difference to your conversion rate.

Research what people want

Always stay up to date with what’s going on with your target audience. Look for concerns they have, the questions they’re asking frequently, or the type of support they’re seeking.

You can do this with research tools such as spyfu.com, Ubersuggest and answerthepublic.com.

How do you build on the relationship between your email marketing and social media marketing channels?

Asking your audience questions works really well across both social media and in email. When you ask people a question in your marketing emails, be sure to actually respond to them and continue the conversation. This brings a human element to your business and helps to nurture the relationship more.

When you create email lists, people are opting in because they want to hear from you, so invite that response from them. Since the pandemic, people are craving a lot more human connection and conversation; it’s so important to tap into this need.

What are the best types of emails to write to increase sales conversions?

Creating abandoned cart sequences can give you an instant ROI. Anywhere from 60% to 85% of people abandon their cart, so if you set up an automated email sequence, you have the opportunity to win back what could otherwise be lost sales.

Brittany says: “I often see people getting nervous about abandoned cart emails because they don't want to bother people. But when you’re shopping online, it’s easy to get distracted. When we send abandoned cart emails, it's a gentle reminder to the person that they were interested in a product.”

With abandoned cart emails, you want to ask them questions and you want to bust any objections. You have people in this bucket that have been so close to buying, but perhaps there's that one tiny little thing that they need to know in order to say yes.

When creating automated emails for an evergreen nurture email sequence, Brittany typically posts a snippet on social media and then expands in more depth with email. She also uses social media as a way to get people onto her email list, so she can send them longer resources.

Much like with social media captions, your emails should have a hook (the subject line) and a beginning, middle and end.

How long should the average email sequence be?

Typically, for an onboarding sequence or abandoned cart sequence, Brittany will write four emails.

If you’re creating an email marketing sequence for people in your course or programme that takes 90 days, Brittany recommends emailing once per week, resulting in a total of 12 emails talking about affiliate offers, where people get stuck, or sending people to a particular place in the course if they need support with X.

A nurture and sell sequence will be much longer. This is your evergreen sequence that you want to be running in the background for you. Brittany recommends sending at least one email per week, so that means planning and scheduling 52 emails throughout an entire year.

How often is too often when it comes to sending emails?

At The Social Brain, we send two emails out per week, which feels comfortable for us and our community, but it will all depend on your audience. If you're just sending emails for the sake of it, even once a week can be too much.

But if you're sending emails that are meaningful and that are helpful, your people are going to want more of that. They may not open it every day if you're sending it every day, but they're going to open it more than not if they know that what they're going to get from you is something that speaks to them, that is helpful for them and isn't just full of filler words.

As with social media, you want to serve over sell. Give value, share tips, and be a useful resource that lands in their inbox.

Brittany says: “I always say the best day to start was a year ago, but if you don't have a time machine, the best day to start is today! Ultimately, at the end of the day, there's so much money to be made with the right email marketing sequences, especially with the combination of social media and email marketing together, working as a combined force.”

Brittany is the Queen of Evergreen and Co-Founder of Win With System. Brittany’s worked with everyone from course creators and coaches to pet psychics and dog trainers, to help them make more money from the offers they already have through automated emails.

Follow Brittany on Instagram or visit her website here.