The 5 Phases of Email Marketing

When you understand the phases of the customer journey, it’s easier to send the right message at the right time. So let’s talk about the 5 phases of email marketing and the stages of the customer journey they align with.

1. The Indoctrination Campaign

Definition: A triggered campaign sent immediately after someone subscribes to introduce them to your brand and set expectations.

Stage of customer journey: Subscribe

Use this campaign to:

• Welcome new subscribers.

• Tell them what they can expect.

• Tell them what they need to do next to get the biggest benefit from you and your brand.

This campaign is sent to new subscribers to establish your authority, help them understand the value you’re going to provide, and get them excited about you and your brand.

If you do a good job of indoctrinating them, they’ll begin to recognize your name in their inbox, and they’ll engage with the content you send them.

Storyboard It

Step 1:

Start by welcoming new subscribers and introducing them to your brand.

Step 2:

Re-state in 3-4 bullet points the benefits they’ll get as a subscriber. (This is important. If you can’t articulate the benefits of subscribing, how do you expect them to understand the benefits of buying from you?)

Step 3:

Tell them what to expect, using this framework: here’s what we’re going to do; here’s what you need to do after we’ve done it.

For example:

Two to three times a week we’re going to send you brand new content and strategies on digital marketing. [Here’s what we do.

When you get that email, read it and save it—because when you’re looking for a strategy that works, you’re going to want to be able to access this information. [Here’s what you need to do after we’ve done it.]

Step 4:

Encourage whitelisting by saying something along these lines:

The information we provide—even the free information—is very important, and if you’re not getting it, you’re losing out. So here’s what I want you to do:

• Whitelist this email address. [Include a link to instructions.]

• Create a folder where you can save all our messages.

• Don’t auto archive any of them. (Read them and use them to grow your business!)

Step 5:

Put your best foot forward. Send them a “best of” campaign, listing the content your existing subscribers have engaged with the most. For example:

• Your highest shared content, whether it’s video or a blog post

• Your highest commented Facebook post or Facebook Live

• A piece of content that has gotten rave reviews

Think of your indoctrination emails as a first date with your new subscriber. Show up in your best clothes, tell your best stories, and focus on building relationship with your new subscribers.

2. The Engagement Campaign

Definition: An interest-based, triggered campaign sent after your subscriber takes a specific action that makes a relevant offer (and sale) to your subscriber.

Stage of customer journey: Convert & Excite

Use this campaign to:

• Turn subscribers into buyers by prescribing the next logical step based on what you know they’re currently interested in.

This campaign targets subscribers who have just engaged with your brand. For instance, maybe they visited a page or downloaded a lead magnet, but they didn’t take the next action you presented.

The goal of this campaign is to engage with the subscriber, reference the positive action they’ve taken with you, and tell them the next logical action that will end in a purchase.

Storyboard It

Step 1:

Acknowledge the action they just took.

Step 2:

Try to overcome the objections you know they’re experiencing. Don’t just talk about the tactical, lever-pulling features. Address the thoughts and feelings that keep them from taking action.

Step 3:

Prescribe the next logical step. Clearly spell it out.

Step 4: Ask them to buy.

Email marketing is about building relationships with your followers, sure. But you need to set expectations from the beginning of that relationship. Since, ultimately, you want your followers to become customers, you need to confidently ask for the buy.

3. The Ascension Campaign

Definition: An interest-based, triggered campaign that makes a relevant offer (and sale) to your subscriber immediately following their triggering behavior.

Stage of customer journey: Excite & Ascend

Use this campaign to:

• Expedite and accelerate the value journey.

• Turn new buyers into multi-buyers by prescribing the next logical step (or nurturing them until it’s appropriate to take that step).

Like the engagement campaign, this campaign is triggered by a subscriber’s action—generally a purchase—and presents the next logical step with your brand.

In many cases, it fills the gaps in your funnel, improving your results.

You see, each additional offer is a stopping point where customers might decline and exit your funnel. This sequence is designed to follow up that offer, provide extra incentives to buy, and overcome any objections for not buying.

Storyboard It

Step 1:

Start by referencing the action they just took. (Don’t address the action they didn’t take: “We noticed that you didn’t buy our core product, so I’m sending you this email.”) Congratulate them. Acknowledge their excitement. Build on that positive energy.

Step 2:

Address and overcome the objections that might be keeping them from taking the next step. Step 3: Clearly spell out the next logical step, so they know what they need to do.

Your goal is to turn one-time buyers into multi-buyers. To do that, you must articulate the value you’re providing, remind them of the benefits they’ll receive, and increase their interest and excitement.

But before you immediately start pushing a sale, ask yourself two important questions:

QUESTION #1: What is the next step I want them to take?

QUESTION #2: Do I have any reason to believe they are ready to take that next step?

These questions are important because (believe it or not) it can hurt to ask!

What do I mean by that?

Your offer must be appropriate for the stage of the relationship. If you move too fast or push too hard, you’ll make your subscribers uncomfortable, and they’ll leave.

If they’re not ready to take the next step in your value ladder, don’t ask. Nurture that subscriber until the time is right, and then make your offer.

4. Segmentation Campaign

Definition: A manual promotional campaign sent to your entire database with the goal of segmenting your subscribers by interest.

Stage of customer journey: All

Use this campaign to

• Pique the interest of subscribers who are “stuck” in their value journey.

• Get them to segment themselves based on what they’re interested in now.

This is one of the only email campaigns that isn’t automated and triggered by a subscriber’s behavior. Instead, you broadcast this promotion to your entire database (or a large segment of it) with the goal of segmenting your subscribers by interest.

You want your subscribers to raise their hands and say, “Yes, I’m interested in this topic.” And when they’ve done that, you should have an engagement campaign set up to continue speaking to them about it.

The goal is this: to send more emails to the people who engage with your campaign and fewer emails to the people who don’t

This approach may seem counterintuitive, but it works because it demonstrates that you’re listening. And from our experience:

• If you listen to what your subscribers are saying, they’ll give you more money.

• If you listen to what they want, they’ll engage with your brand more.

Ideas for Segmentation Campaigns

Idea 1:

Use content to segment your list: blog posts, video, or gated content. Then, when someone engages with that content—indicating interest in the topic—send them an engagement campaign with promotional content based on that topic.

Idea 2:

Use special offers: coupons, flash sales, or special promotions. Highvalue, time-sensitive offers give people a good reason to take immediate action, which can help you expedite their value journey.

Idea 3:

Use events: webinars, demos, workshops, or even one-on-one phone calls. Time is money, as the saying goes. After investing the time to attend an event, people are more inclined to invest their dollars as well.

5. The Re-Engagement Campaign

Definition:A triggered campaign designed to re-engage any subscriber who hasn’t opened or clicked an email in the last 30 to 60 days.

Stage of customer journey: Any

Use this campaign to:

• Call out inactive subscribers and get them to start engaging with your emails again.

• Get them re-excited about you and your brand.

The reality is that not everyone will engage with your emails. Their interests or circumstances will change. And no matter where they are on the customer journey, they can become inactive.

What then?

You send a re-engagement campaign designed to re-capture their interest and get them opening and clicking your emails once again.

Storyboard It

Step1:

Identify your inactive subscribers—anyone who hasn’t clicked on an email in the previous 30 to 60 days.

Step 2: Give them a reason to re-engage with your emails. For example, you could take the direct approach, and ask if everything’s okay:

I noticed you haven’t been opening or clicking my emails, and I just wanted to send an email and ask, “Is everything O.K.?”

Step 3:

Remind them of the benefits of being a subscriber.

Step 4:

Tell them what they’ve missed. As you would in an indoctrination campaign, send them some of your best content.

If this campaign works, you’ll have re-engaged your inactive subscribers and, hopefully, put them back on their value journey.

But what if it doesn’t work?

Simple. Stop emailing them

Inactive subscribers raise your costs and hurt your deliverability. They’re also the ones most likely to complain when they see your emails in their inbox. So there’s no need to feel guilty. Clean your list on a regular basis.

Using These 5 Campaign Types to Expedite the Customer Journey

The 5 types of email campaigns we’ve just reviewed will help you engage your subscribers at every stage of their value journey. But it’s important to remember that your goal isn’t merely to engage people.

Email marketing is about quickly move your subscribers from one stage of the value journey to the next.

Typically, that journey begins when someone becomes aware of your brand and decides to subscribe. Once that happens, your job is to:

• Turn your new subscriber into a customer.

• Get them excited about the brand.

• Ascend them by getting them to buying more, higher-value products.

• Turn them into an advocate.

• Turn them into a promoter.

The 5 campaigns we’ve reviewed will help you achieve each of these goals— and quickly turn new subscribers into active promoters.