Email Marketing Journey
What is an Email Marketing Journey?
An email marketing journey, also known as an automated email sequence, is a series of strategically timed emails sent to subscribers based on their actions or interactions with your brand.
It's essentially a personalised roadmap designed to guide them through the customer journey, from initial awareness to purchase and beyond.
Unlike a single email blast, an email marketing journey tailors content and messaging to specific user segments.
This personalisation fosters a more relevant and engaging experience for subscribers, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and customer loyalty.
How Does an Email Marketing Journey Work?
Each email marketing journey is, of course, different. Certain customer journeys are tailored specifically to their audience, but there are a few common features.
Triggers
Triggers are actions that initiate the email sequence. Some common triggers include subscribing to your email list, downloading a lead magnet, abandoning a shopping cart, or making a purchase.
So, for example, you might have a sunglasses ecommerce brand. If so, you can add a pop-up to your website page offering 10% off to anyone who signs up for your email list.
When they do, the action will act as a trigger to start emailing that customer.
Email sequence
When a trigger is activated the customer will then fall into a specific email sequence.
This is a series of pre-written emails scheduled to be sent at specific intervals after the trigger is activated.
The content of each email builds upon the previous one, guiding the subscriber towards a specific goal (e.g., purchase, repeat business, referral).
Using our sunglasses example once more, the first email in the customer journey map would be the 10% discount code you promised them for registering for your email list.
From there, you can choose to continue offering discounts to try and persuade them to purchase, or opt for a softer approach, showing off customer testimonials to build brand authority and trust.
Personalisation
Another common feature that should appear throughout any email marketing journey is personalisation.
Effective email marketing journeys leverage subscriber data to personalise the content and offers within each email.
This could include using the subscriber's name, purchase history, or interests to tailor the message for maximum impact.
Such is the value of personalisation in emails, Campaign Monitor's recent study showed that personalised emails achieve an open rate of 29% and a click-through rate of 41%.
Call to action (CTA)
Finally, each email within the sequence should include a clear call to action (CTA) which is in place to prompt the subscriber to take the next desired step.
This could be visiting a landing page, making a purchase, downloading a resource, or engaging with further content.
It doesn't really matter what the CTA is, so long as you have one in place that asks the customer to take the action you desire.
Want them to make a purchase? Try out 'Buy Now'.
Want them to find out more about your brand? Try out 'Learn More.'
Popular Email Marketing Journeys to Consider
With that in mind, here are a few of what GWC believe or 'non-negotiable' email marketing journeys your brand should be implementing as part of your email marketing strategy.
Of course, there are plenty more in-depth and intricate journeys you can put in place to keep customers engaged, but these ones are a great starting point.
Welcome series
A welcome series is an absolute must for any brand. Put yourself in the shoes of a new customer that has just purchased from your brand.
They have finally bitten the bullet, likely after quite a lot of deliberation, and spent their hard-earned cash with your brand.
The immediate feeling after this could easily be to worry. Who have I just given my money to? What do I even know about this brand? Will I actually get the goods I just purchased?
These are all common questions that I have had when purchasing brands, and I am certainly not alone.
A welcome series can be the perfect way to resolve those concerns. A welcome series will help keep the customer up to date with their product, allow them to become more excited about being a customer for your brand, and become much more likely to repurchase in the future.
Lead nurturing series
However, it shouldn't just be your paying customers that you talk to via email communication channels. You should also be utilizing your email service provider to contact leads that have interacted with your brand.
Of course, you can't go emailing just anyone who might interested in your brand, but you can go after those that have downloaded a lead magnet or signed up to your email newsletter to learn more.
You can then send these leads a series of emails to try and convince them to become paying customers.
Abandoned basket series
Another important group that you should be sweeping up with your email marketing strategy are those who abandoned their basket right before making a purchase.
When people leave without purchasing it means they were extremely close, but couldn't quite bring themselves to make the leap.
Your abandoned basket emails can help convince them to come back, showing off happy customers, highlighting benefits of the product, and finally offering a discount to tempt them over the line.
Win-back series
I always say that you can't create a sustainable long-term business without a high volume of repeat purchasers.
Of course, there are many people that will repurchase without any assistance, but there are also a handful that will need a little digital nudge.
Benefits of Email Marketing Journeys
Creating an effective email marketing strategy can be incredibly beneficial in many ways. Here are some of the main advantages of effective email marketing campaigns.
Increased engagement
Targeted and personalised emails resonate better with subscribers, leading to higher open rates, click-through rates, and overall engagement.
Improved conversion rates
By nurturing leads with relevant content at each stage of the buyer journey, email marketing journeys guide them towards conversion more effectively.
Enhanced customer relationships
The personalised nature of email marketing journeys fosters stronger relationships with your audience, building trust and loyalty.
Streamlined marketing efforts
Automated email sequences free up valuable marketing resources, allowing you to focus on other areas of your strategy.
Measurable results
Email marketing platforms provide insightful analytics on your email journeys, enabling you to track performance and measure the impact on your marketing goals.
Building Your Email Marketing Journey
Creating an effective email marketing journey involves several key steps:
Define your goals: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with your email journey. That could be trying to grow your customer base, increasing your brand awareness, growing your trust with your audience, or even improving repeat purchases.
Segment your audience: Divide your subscriber list into segments based on demographics, interests, or behaviour to ensure targeted messaging. Segmenting your audience allows you to promote relevant messaging which is much more likely to resonate. For example, if your brand sells clothing, you would want to send different products to different demographics.
Identify your triggers: Determine the actions that will initiate each email sequence you implement. Try to cover all the bases I've highlighted above as a starting point.
Craft compelling content: Develop engaging email copy that resonates with your audience at each stage of the journey. Identify the tone of voice that you want to use, ideally one that is in keeping with what is on your website, and use that as the focal point for any copy you create. Keep your emails short and too the point, and make sure the key information is included in the subject lines, otherwise some recipients may never see it!
Design engaging emails: Utilise visuals, clear layouts, and a user-friendly design for optimal impact. Most email service providers offer templates that you can use for starters, switching up elements to include your brand colours and fonts.
Test and refine: Utilise A/B testing to compare different email versions and improve your journey's performance over time. Test subject lines to see what resonates with your audience.