The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Email Nurture Sequence

You’re a busy business owner and you’re hustling to grow your business and earn sales. It’s a lot of work (ask me how I know!). What if I told you that there’s a magical automated tool that can turn your audience into paying customers? Well, guess what…it exists! Email nurture sequences are about to be your new BFF. If you’re not using one, the time to start is NOW.

Why Do You Need a Nurture Sequence, and What the Heck is It? 

For starters, email is a free marketing tool that puts you directly in front of your audience. While social media is often the “flashier” marketing tool, not everyone uses it…and more importantly, not everyone is on the same social network…and for those that are, algorithms are a rapidly moving target. However, everyone has an email address! Email marketing is your way to have one-on-one time with your audience without being lost on an endless feed. Sounds great, right? 

To maximize your email marketing potential, there’s some leg work to do, and it starts with a lead magnet so that you can start collecting email addresses. More on that later. Then, to start introducing yourself to your prospects, you need to warm them up with a nurture sequence. 

A nurture sequence is an automated sequence of pre-written emails that you deliver after your audience takes a predetermined action, such as downloading a lead magnet or making a purchase. The goal is literally to nurture your audience, so you can build trust and turn them into paying customers. Let’s talk about how the magic happens.

Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience is one of the most important tenets for marketing your business and your nurture sequence is no exception. If you want to woo your audience, you need to know who they are. Knowing your audience is the true secret sauce of any email sequence. When you take the time to define your audience, figure out their pain points, how they talk, what they’re interested in, you’ll know exactly what they need to hear. They’ll feel like you’re their BFF!

Define Your Intentions

The end goal of the nurture sequence is to build trust so that the reader becomes a customer (or a repeat customer). How do you build trust? It starts by fostering a relationship and showing up according to your brand. Your lead magnet or product that funneled them into the nurture sequence has already positioned you as an authority figure; now you just need to build on that trust and grow your relationship. We’ll talk more about that in a bit.

Beyond that, your nurture sequence should have a goal of leading your audience to action. Whether you want them to follow you on social media, purchase a product or service, book a call, or some other action, knowing the ultimate goal of your nurture sequence will allow you to subtly nudge your audience in that direction. And because you’re taking the time to build a relationship with them, they’ll be more likely to take that desired action. Everybody wins! 

Build Trust

Remember when I mentioned the importance of building trust earlier? It’s the key to any good relationship and a great nurture sequence. Here are a few ways you can build that trust:

Add Value

If your ultimate goal is to gain more customers, you’ve got to add value. Your nurture sequence is your opportunity to educate your audience on whatever excites them. They’ve already signed up for your list, so you have their attention…yet now is not the time to ask for a sale. Instead, you want to continue adding value.

Maybe you want to share more about your company or give solutions or their pain points, or a further explanation of what your product can do for them. These are just a few examples of the limitless options you have! Whatever you choose, it needs to show your audience that you get them. You’ll stand apart from your competitors and solidify your audience’s trust in you. They’ll see that you have more to offer them than they ever realized…and be more likely to become loyal customers.

Personalize It

One of the great things about email marketing programs is that they make it super easy to personalize your emails. With a click of a button, you’ll be able to address the reader by name, just like they are your BFF — which they totally are…right? Right? This simple trick can go a long way in engaging your audience!

Set Expectations

Setting and addressing your audience’s expectations from the beginning is an important step to building trust. Let them know how often they’ll hear from you, how to contact you, and what they might expect after becoming a customer. By setting these expectations and then meeting them, you’re laying the groundwork for a long and happy relationship. 

Create Your Sequence

Now that you know the secrets of a great nurture sequence, it’s time to create one! A nurture sequence should include at least 2-3 emails but likely will contain more depending on your offer and audience. Here are some ideas of emails to include:

1. Welcome/Thank You: Thank them for their purchase or for downloading the lead magnet.
2. Introduction: Introduce yourself, share who you are, what experience you have, and why they should trust you. It’s your chance to make a killer first impression!
3. Add Value: Share something of value that builds on the purchase or the lead magnet.
4. Value and Offer: Add another piece of value (or recap the last email) and segway into your main goal/offer.
5. Offer and Proof: Bring up the offer or goal again, this time including more information to highlight the benefits of them taking action.This is a great email to include testimonials.
6. Take Action: You’ve given value and shown them the goal/offer, it’s time to call your audience to action! Show what happens if they take action and what not taking action will cost them. 
7. Wrapping it Up: Recap the value you’ve provided, and repeat the goal/offer one last time. Let them know what they have to look forward to in your regular campaigns.

That’s just one example of what a nurture sequence might look like. Yours might look different depending on your main goal and audience.. The best part is that it’s not a “one size fits all”, so you can customize your sequence for what your business needs.

Reevaluate and Reassess

Once your nurture sequence is created and automated, there’s just one more step. Make sure you are periodically monitoring the number of people saying “YES” to your offer and reassessing how you can improve that number. Your numbers should always be going up. If they’re not, it’s time to revisit your sequence and make some adjustments.

Take a Shortcut

You’ve learned all about nurture sequences and you know they’re awesome…and that they definitely require some legwork. If you want the big profits that a successful email marketing campaign can bring, and you don’t want to do the heavy lifting, I’ve got your back. Book a free consultation call today to discuss how I can help nurture your audience into the paying customers they were meant to be!