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Email marketing: how to build an email flow for your online business

5 min read

Email marketing: how to build an email flow for your online business

When you map out the strategy for your online business, one question will probably come up:

Is email marketing still worth investing in?

It's a common question, and it comes from a feeling that email marketing is dead. That's not quite true. The biggest brands still use this strategy, and not by accident. So in this article, Cademí's team of specialists will walk you through:

Why investing in email marketing is still essential

In short, email is still part of most people's daily routine.

In 2019 there were 3.9 billion active users, and Statista expects the number to pass 4.5 billion by 2025. On top of that, another study, this one from Benchmark Email, found that people who buy through email spend up to 138% more than customers who come from other channels.

And to top it off, it's a cheap strategy that lets you personalize your communication with each user. Think birthday messages or emails that reference a previous purchase, just to name a few of the many possibilities.

These numbers alone show that having email flows in your online business matters. But there's another relevant stat here: around 144.8 billion emails are sent around the world every day.

You need a good email if you want to stand out

When there's a strategy behind your sends, emails can both drive sales and build a relationship with the customer while strengthening your brand and authority. To get good results, the first step happens before you write the email itself: you need to segment your leads well.

Whether people come in through a lead magnet or a purchase, every contact needs to be organized so the emails they get make sense. For example, someone who just bought your product shouldn't receive an email offering the same item at half price.

You can segment based on:

  • Demographics;
  • Behavior;
  • Recent interactions;

The more personalized your approach, the more engagement you'll get.

Email marketing formats

Another important step before writing is understanding the different formats you can use in your business. They include, for example:

  • Newsletter - recurring content that can share tips and news from your niche (great for building your image as an expert and featuring your digital product);
  • Promotional content - aims to build awareness of your brand. So even though it talks about the brand, the idea isn't necessarily to sell, but to become a go-to reference;
  • Sales content - is meant to sell. It could be, for example, a discount or the announcement of a new product.
  • Activation content - exclusive to people who bought your digital product.

A good email flow is usually a mix of all of these. After all, not every lead has the same level of awareness, and they shouldn't all get the same content.

What is an email marketing flow

In some cases, marketing emails are part of a pre-planned sequence. When that happens, sends are scheduled to go out at specific intervals over a set period of time.

Content like newsletters and promotional emails usually isn't scheduled ahead. After all, it has a shorter shelf life (because the promotion has a deadline or the topic is timely). But for activation and sales content, flows are very important.

For example: a lead who downloaded your ebook will receive, for a set period, content on that topic that mentions your full course. If they buy, they leave that flow and enter the activation flow, which will include, among other things:

  • Welcome email;
  • Login and password for your member area;
  • Links to books mentioned and other tips about the lessons;
  • Content that keeps the student engaged and participating.

If you build your member area on Cademí - Brazil's first Member Hub - the activation sequence is already set up inside the platform. Both the copy and the visual identity can be changed in a few clicks, in a completely intuitive way. Another important feature is the bounce list, where you can see undelivered emails (whether from a full inbox or a typo) and quickly fix the problem in your communication with the student.

Back to the flow: if the lead doesn't buy, they can move into another product's funnel or stay on the newsletter only for a while, until it makes sense to put them back into a flow.

In fact, being in one flow can trigger, or hold back, other emails.

Tip: how to keep your emails out of spam

One of the arguments people make against email marketing is the risk of landing in spam. That risk is real. But only if you don't filter your sends.

The tip here: don't talk to people who don't want to hear from you.

When you schedule your communication, filter it so only recent, active, engaged contacts receive it. Think about social media: if there are few interactions, your posts reach fewer and fewer people. With email, if there's no interaction, your content goes to the spam folder.

That “cleanup” should be automatic too. And, to be clear, the leads you've won should stay with you. Just don't contact them as often.

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