Why Create an Email Sequence
An email sequence (aka welcome sequence or nurture sequence) helps your business stay top of mind with customers while easing your workload.
The Current Newsletter Game
You know the drill, right? Each week (or every two weeks or every month, whenever your intervals are), we load up content, do tons of research, create the graphics and the links, and then we schedule it out for the day we want to send.
Your lovingly-written email then gets sent, may or may not get read, and then it disappears into the archives of time and space and no one ever sees it again. And, p.s., you’re stuck coming up with fresh content for everyone and all this work…well, no one really gets to see it again.
If you’re thinking, “What a waste of perfectly great content,” I’m so with you! And this one hack is going to help you 1) keep your newsletter content evergreen and, 2) stop making you do extra work.
So what's this mind-blowing change?
Instead of sending broadcasts, you add your newsletters to an automation sequence! Stay with me here. This sounded crazy when I first read it, but it makes sense.
You see, I've written some pretty valuable emails about hashtags, webinars, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. But only the people who were on my list at the time could see those emails. Which is kind of crazy because this means people who are new to my list miss out on that valuable information.
But if I add them to an automation sequence, then everyone gets to see them, regardless of when they sign up.
I can set up my automation sequence so that it only sends mid-week, so it looks like a regular newsletter.
A couple of things to keep in mind
Not everyone will be receiving the same content at the same time. (That's a littttttle bit hard for my Type A brain to comprehend, but we'll get there.)
You can still repurpose blog and email content. They won't line up perfectly but that's ok! Blog posts help your SEO, emails nuture your list.
You can send a campaign/broadcast to promote a timely event. If you're promoting a webinar or even a group program that has a specific start date, you can send a "newsletter" about that… just send it as a regular campaign, not part of your automation sequence.
If you have an evergreen offer, you can include that in your automation sequence so you're always making offers.
When this works best
This system works best if you can write content consistently, so you always have a full automation sequence. It's especially helpful to batch a few newsletters at once, so you can keep your sequence "topped off."
If you have an evergreen offer or a membership program, this system is fantastic! You can always be seeding your offer with a newsletter or two and then make the offer. Everyone will receive it, regardless of when they joined your list.
When this would be a little awkward
If you write more seasonal content, like "summer smoothies" or "back to school" issues, things could be a little awkward because someone could get your summer email in the winter. So keep that in mind and send those as broadcasts or campaigns, not part of the automation sequence.
What emails should you include?
I like to see those emails in a welcome sequence:
Welcome / about your work
Testimonial
Another super valuable email
Invitation to work with you
Valuable “newsletter”
Valuable “newsletter”
Valuable “newsletter”
and on and on it goes. Weave in some evergreen offers.
How to make it happen
Set up a welcome automation sequence that delivers your opt-in gift (you may already have one of these)
Begin adding your newsletters to this sequence
If you want to "catch people up," you might consider writing a newsletter that highlights your previously most popular articles
Whenever you write a blog, decide if it's a campaign or part of your autoresponder sequence (think about seasonality/date-specific content)
I like ConvertKit and MailerLite for creating smart, elegant sequences.
I’ve created a course about how to set this up. Get it here.
Can you see how valuable this is? Your subscribers will get to see all of your fabulous newsletters, not just this week’s newsletter. It’s pretty brilliant.
What do you think? Is this crazy-pants sorcery or mind-blowingly helpful? Will you be adopting this approach?
