In the ever-shifting tapestry of digital communication, email plays a vital role in connecting with audiences.
Using email sequences effectively can significantly impact many areas, such as improving sales, building customer relationships, and attracting potential customers.
This guide offers a deep dive into email sequences, shedding light on their role and sharing cutting-edge practices. We will explore seven essential email sequences, each serving a distinct function.
Eager to refine your email marketing techniques?
Keep reading for actionable insights and strategies đ
At its essence, an email sequence is a series of strategically timed and tailored emails automatically sent to your audience based on specific triggers. These sequences are carefully crafted and guide recipients on a well-planned journey.
Whether itâs welcoming new subscribers, nurturing prospective clients, reactivating dormant users, or driving sales, each email in the sequence is integral.
The magic of email sequences lies in their automated nature, ensuring continuous, personalised touchpoints with your audience. They minimise manual labour!
The end result?
Using email sequences effectively strengthens your relationship with your audience and boosts their engagement.
A welcome email is an integral part of any successful email marketing sequence. Itâs your first interaction with a new subscriber and sets the groundwork for your future relationship.
Effective welcome emails celebrate the new connection and guide subscribers on their next steps. Consistency in tone and design is vital to align these emails with your brand.
Good Morning,
Welcome to Cognism! I am excited to have you join us and looking forward to working with you all to generate additional revenue through our patented technology and award-winning teams.
My name is (first name), and I will be your dedicated Customer Success Manager. My primary goal right now is to understand your business in more detail and then to get you onboarded. We have designed and tailored your onboarding journey, which will typically take place over two sessions:
Stakeholder Onboarding: An introduction to Cognism and a chance for your CSM to help you define clear goals and objectives in using the platform. This call typically lasts 30 minutes.
End-User Training: In this session, your CSM will demonstrate how to build customer personas and generate data lists.
Can you please confirm when you can get everyone together for the initial call? I have availability for (time).
The link below will direct you to a pre-boarding questionnaire. It would be great if you could fill this out before our first call so that I can prepare a few things beforehand.
In the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions.
We look forward to working with you and driving your success with Cognism!
Best regards,
Onboarding completion emails help transition new users from onboarding to full engagement with your product or service.
These emails are crucial in your customer engagement sequences, playing a significant role in reinforcing the value of your product. They lay the groundwork for a long-lasting, productive relationship.
The onboarding completion email should celebrate this milestone and offer ongoing support and resources, making the customer feel valued and well-supported.
Hi there!
I heard you recently completed your onboarding with us â congratulations!
Iâm Cognismâs VP of Customer Experience, and at this point of your journey, I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate you and personally welcome you to Cognism.
I hope youâre feeling pumped to start leveraging our products. Your Customer Success Manager, (name), and our support team are at your disposal throughout your journey to success; likewise, please also feel free to contact me.
Weâve got some brilliant customer success stories for you to read if youâre keen to learn what your peers are doing, and weâre confident that weâll demonstrate the same value throughout our partnership.
Thank you for putting your trust in us, and I look forward to hearing about your success!
Wishing you all the best on your journey with us,
The purpose of re-engagement emails is to re-attract subscribers whose engagement has dropped. To do this, they must contain compelling content, such as insightful discussions and expert opinions.
In these emails, we prioritise delivering value. For example, by sharing engaging stories from our podcasts or insights from industry experts, we aim to enrich our subscribersâ knowledge and understanding. This approach isnât about promoting our brand, but about providing helpful information that reignites subscribersâ interest and invites them to engage with content that matters to them.
Hey (first name),
Since we last spoke, weâve done some pretty cool stuff.
Our VP of Sales and VP of Sales Development started a podcastâŚ
Every week, they chat with a different sales leader on how AND why outdated sales tactics should be left in the past.
We recently sat down with Jen Allen from Lavender. She emphasised that sales leaders should be encouraging their team to spend MORE time learning about their ICP.
Instead of them focusing on making MORE dials and writing MORE emails.
In case youâre interested, listen to the full episode here.
Speak soon!
Cognism
Lead nurturing emails are essential for developing a lasting connection with your audience.
Unlike initial welcome emails, these sequences provide ongoing engagement, gradually building a deeper relationship with subscribers.
The objective here is to guide your audience through the customer journey, presenting them with innovative and informative content while establishing your brandâs expertise in your industry.
You know, first impressions count for everything.
We should say something smart.
Something classy.
Something likeâŚ
HIYA
Nailed it.
Letâs get to the point: thanks for signing up for our webinar!
If you havenât found the exact answer to your challenge, youâre in luck: weâve got resources for EVERYTHING. Like these essentials.
Demand Marketing: The Essentials
TRY THAT.
Oh, and weâre best friends now.
đ TTYL
The Cognism Team
An effective event email engages and inspires. Itâs not just about delivering information - itâs about creating a narrative that connects with the audience, making them feel a part of something special
The best event invite emails create a real buzz about the event and position it as one not to be missed!
Hey [First name]
Itâs Morgan Ingram here.
ChatGPT is not a genie - youâre not going to start booking tons of meetings because of it đ§
Instead, think about how itâll make you more efficient. For example âŹď¸
đđž Input your most successful emails into ChatGPT and ask it to analyse the emails from the perspective of your target persona.
đđž Then ask it to assume the role of the persona and ask for feedback on how it would respond to the email and how it would fix it.
If you want more tips like this, I got you - Iâll be hosting a live ChatGPT prospecting workshop with Jed Mahrle.
Here are the details đ
â°Tuesday 21st November 10:30 AM EST | 3:30 PM GMT
đ¤Co-hosted by me and Jed Mahrle, Founder of Practical Prospecting
Sign up below if Iâve tempted you âŹď¸
See you there? đ
Morgan
Breakup emails are like a friendly nudge when someone gives your emails the cold shoulder.
The idea?
To spark interest again, or at least part on good terms, leaving the door open for a future hello.
The secret of a successful breakup email is its tone. Itâs about being light and friendly, acknowledging the silence without sounding too serious. Itâs like saying, âHey, weâve missed you around here!â while showing them a sneak peek of what theyâve been missing out on.
Our breakup emails at Cognism blend light humour and a straightforward message: âWeâve noticed youâve been quiet, but hereâs something cool you might like.â Itâs a clever way to re-engage subscribers or leave them with a positive last impression.
HIYA.
We know it didnât quite work out between us in the pastâŚ
And thatâs really no big deal... đ
*sobs into pillow*
Anyway, we thought weâd say hello again, and let you know whatâs been happening since youâve been gone... đ
What is Cognism up to, anyway? đ¤
OK, so maybe youâre not following us yet.
Thatâs cool đ˘
No shade, weâre always trying to take our content to the next level.
Follow Liam, Alice and Fran for all things B2B marketing, and get regular playbooks to help you market the way buyers buy in 2023.
If youâre more interested in company profiles, weâve got those toođ
Email sequences are an integral part of your B2B marketing arsenal.
However, you have to get your email sequence right. If itâs poorly written, boring or fails to communicate the necessary information, it wonât produce the results you want.
Here are seven tips on how to build an email sequence that delights your audience and makes them take action.
Remember that whoever you send your cold email sequence to, no matter what they do or where they are, they donât have much time. If they open your email, they want to know whatâs in it for them, fast.
That means you canât waste time telling them how great your company is. Your recipient doesnât want to know how long youâve been in business or any other accomplishments.
Get to the point. Identify your targetâs pain points and talk about how your product solves them. Focus on your productâs benefits and how it will improve the prospectâs life for the better!
Nothing makes a buyer sit up more than thinking a competitor has an advantage over them.
If a company in your prospectâs industry is using your product and getting results, tell them. Donât be afraid to drop their names.
Another top tip - use statistics from your customer case studies when writing marketing emails. Show how your products are benefitting your clients in the real world. Itâs all social proof, which creates FOMO (fear of missing out!) for your prospect. Just make sure the clients you mention are in the same sector or industry.
Another benefit of this approach is that it shows your prospect that youâve done your research. It helps to position you as an expert.
Possibly the most critical piece of advice here: make sure your email is interesting!
If your prospect is bored after the first paragraph, they wonât bother reading the second one. You need to grab their attention straight away.
Donât be afraid to use humour in your B2B email sequence. You can also be provocative. A conversational style usually comes over well.
Try to judge your audience. The ideal tone of voice will differ depending on the seniority of the client. Using slang, emojis and text speak probably wonât work on company CEOs.
Your email sequence will have an overarching goal. It could be to book a meeting or demo, renewing a contract, or virtually anything else.
However, you should have a goal for every email in your sequence, especially transactional emails. Think about something you want your recipient to do after theyâve read it.
The only way to get your prospect to take action is to tell them what to do. This is your Call To Action, or CTA. Here are 3 CTA tips:
The first thing your recipient will see when your email lands in their inbox is the subject line. When they see this, theyâll make an instant decision on whether your email is worth reading or not.
Make sure your subject line is as good as it can be. Here are Cognismâs best practices:
Your email automation software will collect response data on your emails, such as open rates, click-through rates and reading time. Study this data and use it to improve your email sequences.
A/B test different messages to find out what resonates best with your target audience. You can also experiment with what days and times you send emails. Boosting responses, even by a small amount, can make a big difference.
The success of an email campaign is a combination of everything:
There are many moving parts to a successful email sequence. It takes time to get it right. Persistence and resilience are essential.
Email sequences act as a structured set of emails, sent automatically, to guide potential customers through the sales funnel. They aim to build rapport, impart valuable information, and gently persuade the recipient towards a purchase or another desired action.
Automating this process allows businesses to communicate consistently with their audience, saving time and resources while maximising impact.
To set up an email sequence:
Effective B2B email sequences require a mix of professionalism and personalisation. Understanding the needs and challenges of your audience is crucial!
Your messages should tackle their specific challenges, offer solutions and showcase your expertise. Use fun, concise language and add a call-to-action that guides the recipient on the next steps.
The typical number of emails in a sequence depends on the campaignâs objective. 5-7 emails over 1-4 weeks is a rough benchmark.
Monitoring engagement and tailoring the number of emails based on your audienceâs response is vital.
Email triggers are actions the recipient takes that instigate the following email in a sequence. These can include opening an email, clicking a link, or not engaging with a previous email.
Triggers help personalise the journey for each recipient, ensuring they receive relevant content based on their interactions.