3 Types of Email Sequences You Need For Your Online Business

Email sequences are an essential part of any business. They are a direct connection to your audience’s most personal online space: their inbox. People have literally opted in and virtually raised their hands to learn more from you. This access to your people is such a powerful thing to have and one of the best ways to grow and scale your business. 

Now, I talk more about what email sequences are and why you need them here. But I want to talk about the types of email sequences that serve a specific purpose depending on what action you want your subscribers to take.

There are 3 types of email sequences you need for your online business to make money on autopilot (at least if you’re just starting out) and I want to explain when you need each one and what makes them pivotal for increasing your sales. 

Depending on your overall objective or purpose, there are a few different email sequence options to use, but these three are the must-haves for any business owner, no matter what type of service or product you offer. 

Welcome Email Sequence or Nurture Email Sequence

Every single business needs a welcome email sequence. Why? Because this is the email sequence you send out in the very beginning when someone subscribes to your lead magnet or freebie. Whether it’s a downloadable, 5 day challenge, e-book, or swipe file, this subscriber is exchanging their email for your free, value-packed resource. 

So your first email to them should deliver that promise, or free resource, straight to their inbox. Remember, it’s the first direct communication you are having with your subscriber so you want to make a great first impression and stand out –even on that first delivery email.

The following emails in your welcome sequence should capitalize on nurturing your reader, sharing your story, educating your new subscribers on a topic they want to learn more about. 

This means you will be overcoming any objections, and eventually closing the sale on your offer (if you have one). But you first want to provide value, value, and more value before you ever mention a sale. Free value is what will accelerate that know, like and trust factor you need to establish with your audience before a sale ever happens.

Make sure your email topics are related to your industry and the services you offer. Throughout this sequence, you need to keep your design and brand voice cohesive so your list can start getting familiar with your brand and know right away when your emails pop into their inbox (and look forward to it). 

Sales Sequence or Product Announcement Sequence

Having a series of emails that primes your audience for your service or product is a great way to get them ready to hit that purchase button. This sequence can point back to your evergreen offers which include 1:1 services, group coaching, courses, or digital products that are always available OR you can use it to offer a brand new product or service. 

Start off by helping your reader understand why they need your offer. Tell them about the opportunity of working with you. Paint a picture of the end result, the benefits, and the features. 

Follow this up with a case study or testimonial from a raving customer in the next email. Then, follow all of this up by telling a story around why you created your service or product in the first place–and then tell them to check it out or learn more.

Re-Engagement Email Sequence

It happens to all of us. Either we forgot to email our list for a few weeks (or months), or something on the tech side has glitched and a section of subscribers haven’t been getting your emails or newsletters — and you didn’t notice. 

What you don’t want to do is hop back in their inbox with a loud email and be all weird about it. Because honestly, they probably didn’t even notice your absence. Like you, your people are busy and likely get a lot of emails. I recommend just coming in cool, giving a quick apology, and sending them something special like a discount, coupon, a free offer (that isn’t found anywhere else) or something else that’s of value. 

You will probably get unsubscribes, but that’s alright. With a re-engagement email sequence, or ghosted sequence, you want to surprise and delight them so they stay on your list. Get their attention and amp up the excitement around receiving your emails again with a free special offer.

No matter what type of email sequence you use, always, always guide your reader on what to do next. Do you want them to download the free resource you offered, reply to your email, follow you on social media, unsubscribe to your list, check out your services? Whatever it is, tell them! 

Emails are a huge way to connect directly with your audience. So don’t miss out on this connection point and get your emails written! If you need help doing this, I would love to help. You can learn how to work with me here or contact me so we can discuss your email marketing needs!