When it comes to return on investment (ROI), email marketing leads the way with a whopping $36 for every $1 spent.
That success rate boils down to three crucial factors: segmentation, personalization, and automation. When executed correctly, you can segment your leads to send relevant, personalized, and automated email sequences that are highly effective. In this guide, we’ll share seven automated email sequences you can use to nurture, engage, and convert leads into paying customers.
What is an email sequence?
An email sequence is a series of emails automatically sent to a lead, prospect, or customer using automation software. Email sequences are triggered by predefined criteria, such as an action or a time delay. For example, if a user downloaded your ebook or signed up for your webinar, you could automatically send them a welcome email sequence.
Behavior-based vs time-based email sequences
There are two types of automated email sequences:
- Time-based
- Behavior-based
1. Time-based email sequences deliver emails at a pre-configured interval or on a specific date and time. For example, you could program a “Welcome email sequence” that sends seven emails daily after leads sign up to your list.
2. Behavior-based email sequences deliver emails based on customer behavior. These sequences are generally more effective since they let you personalize why and when you deliver your mass emails, making them more relevant to the person receiving them.
For example, only if someone clicked a specific link in your welcome email sequence, indicating a high level of interest, would they receive a targeted email containing a special offer. But if they pressed a link indicating they still are unsure about the product, they would then get an automated email providing more information.
According to the Email Marketing Benchmarks by GetResponse:
7 types of email sequences you can implement
Here are seven email sequences you can configure to nurture, engage, and convert leads into paying customers.
1. Cold prospecting (sales outreach) email sequence
Cold email outreach is one of the most effective ways to start conversations with prospects.
Salespeople use sales outreach email sequences to send behavior-based follow-ups depending on whether a prospect opens an email, clicks a link, or replies: thus saving time and improving the effectiveness of their cold prospecting.
- Purpose: start conversations with prospects
- Trigger type: behavior-based
- Number of emails: four emails
- Sequence duration: two-three weeks
Reach more prospects with our cold email template.
2. Re-engagement email sequence
The idea of a re-engagement or win-back email sequence is to get people to interact with your emails.
Email marketing databases naturally degrade by about 22.5% every year. So unless you add fresh leads to your database, you will lose business. Plus, re-engaging existing customers is five times cheaper than acquiring new ones.
You can either re-engage leads who have stopped interacting with your emails or win back existing customers who have stopped using your product. Send a short series of incentivized emails encouraging disengaged leads and customers to reconnect with your brand.
- Purpose: win people back
- Trigger type: time-based or behavior-based
- Number of emails: two-three emails
- Sequence duration: one-two weeks
3. Lead nurturing email sequence
Lead nurturing aims to show prospects you understand their pain points while educating them about your product. The goal is to build trust and develop a relationship rather than push for a sale. It’s best to keep these emails “short and sweet” and share a mix of content like white papers, case studies, and comparison guides to keep prospects engaged. By the end of this sequence, you should be able to move your leads onto the conversion email sequence.
- Purpose: build trust and develop relationships
- Trigger type: time-based or behavior-based
- Number of emails: four emails
- Sequence duration: two-three weeks
4. Conversion email sequence
The conversion email sequence is for prospects who are sales-ready. It’s reserved for those prospects who have already opened, engaged, and responded to the lead nurturing series. At this stage, you’re no longer educating or inspiring – you’re asking prospects to take action like booking an appointment, scheduling a demo, or purchasing a product.
- Purpose: get prospects to convert
- Trigger type: time-based or behavior-based
- Number of emails: two-three emails
- Sequence duration: one-two weeks
5. Welcome email sequence
The welcome email sequence sets the tone and creates the right impression for your business. You can use this sequence to say hello and introduce leads or prospects to your company. It’s also an opportunity to set expectations on the type and frequency of your email series and include any special offers.
- Purpose: introduce prospects to your business
- Trigger type: time-based or behavior-based
- Number of emails: five-seven emails
- Sequence duration: one-two weeks
6. Onboarding email sequence
You can use onboarding email sequences to convert a trial user into a customer or walk new customers through your product. Depending on the situation, the email sequence can vary in length. For example, if a user starts a 14-day trial, you can only run a 2-week sequence. But for new customers, you might want to condense or extend the time frame depending on the complexity of your product or service.
- Purpose: provide helpful information to trial users or new customers
- Trigger type: time-based or behavior-based
- Number of emails: five emails
- Sequence duration: one-two weeks based on your product’s complexity or free trial period
7. Renewal email sequence
Renewal email sequences remind existing customers their current subscription or license is about to expire and what actions they need to take before that date. Typically, a renewal email sequence includes an email shortly before the subscription expires, an email on expiration day, and a follow-up email after the membership has expired to encourage users to renew one more time. Using behavior-based triggers, you can abort the sequence as soon as a customer renews, so they don’t receive irrelevant emails that might annoy them.
- Purpose: get existing customers to renew their subscriptions or license
- Trigger type: time-based or behavior-based
- Number of emails: three-four emails
- Sequence duration: 30 days before the license or subscription expires.
How to build an email sequence with monday sales CRM
Easily integrate monday sales CRM with your favorite email marketing platforms like Mailchimp.
Use automations to ensure that once a new lead matches a particular condition, such as a specific budget, you add them to a personalized lead nurturing email sequence that “warms them up” through educational content. At the end of the email sequence, automatically update your CRM and notify your sales team to follow up on those leads and close the deal.
Manage your campaigns from one place, sync leads and subscribers, and get notifications and stats on sent campaigns.
The monday.com Email Marketing Template includes email design tools, automations, custom audience creation, plus integrations with your favorite services. The drag-and-drop workflow builder makes it easier to plan, execute, and monitor email marketing campaigns than traditional email marketing software.
Add the email marketing template to your workflow and collaborate effortlessly with your team, all in one centralized spot.
Frequently asked questions
Here are three frequently asked questions about email sequences.
What should be in an email sequence?
It’s best to tailor each email sequence to your desired outcome. For example, a lead nurturing sequence needs to educate prospects and get them sales-ready. But a conversion sequence needs a prospect to take action.
How long should an email sequence be?
There’s no fixed length for an email sequence. Determining factors include:
- The buyer persona.
- The buyer’s journey stage.
- The desired outcome of the email sequence.
- The average sales cycle length of your business.
Why use email sequences?
Email sequences allow you to:
- Keep people engaged with your brand.
- Simultaneously save you time while making you money.
- Automate marketing campaigns with personalized and relevant emails.
Send automated, customized email sequences with monday.com
Automated email sequences can save you time and money and help you scale your business. You can use time-based or behavior-based triggers to send timely, relevant, and personalized messages that nurture, engage and convert leads into paying customers.
Start with the monday sales CRM with Email Marketing and see how easy it is to plan, execute, and monitor email sequences compared to traditional email marketing software.
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