Your Email Campaign Schedule: Strategic Calendar Planning

Step 1: Create a Calendar:
Planning your email campaigns starts with a clear calendar. It helps you stay organized, schedule your emails in advance, and keep your marketing consistent. Whether you prefer digital tools or a traditional planner, having a visual timeline keeps you on track.

Step 2: Determine Send Times:
Timing is key! Look at your past campaign data to find out when your audience engages most. Test different times and adjust based on results to ensure you’re reaching people when they’re most likely to open your emails.

Step 3: Schedule Emails:
GetResponse makes email scheduling easy. Use their simple scheduling features to set your emails to go out at the best time. This ensures your emails hit inboxes when your audience is most active.

How To Unlock the Power of Email Automation

Step 1: Identify Trigger Points:
To make the most out of email automation, start by identifying key actions that trigger automated emails. These can be things like signing up for your newsletter, making a purchase, abandoning a cart, or simply browsing your website. Knowing when to send emails based on your audience’s behavior is the first step toward an effective strategy.

Step 2: Set Up Workflows:
Once you know the triggers, set up workflows to automate email sequences. For example, a welcome series should kick off right after someone signs up. The first email goes out immediately, followed by another the next day, then one more on day three, and another two days later. You want to secure the sale within the first week!

Then there’s browse abandonment. If someone leaves without purchasing, send an email one hour later, then another 23 hours after that. Abandoned cart emails work the same way—first after 1 hour, then again after 23 hours. For abandoned checkouts, it’s more aggressive: one email after 1 hour, another 23 hours later, then 2 days after the second, and finally a follow-up 1 week later.

Automated post-purchase emails are gold. Send one immediately after a purchase (this has the highest open rate), then follow up 3 days later, 7 days after that, and a final email 14 days later. These flows keep your brand top of mind and build trust.

Step 3: Personalize Messages:
Automation doesn’t mean you should lose the personal touch. Customize your emails to make them feel tailored to each subscriber’s needs. Mention their name, talk about their past actions, and adjust your content based on their interests. When emails feel customized, they come across as more authentic and yield improved results. Ultimately, the goal of this strategy is to sway their purchasing decisions and drive sales.

Key Email Content Breakdown

Welcome Series:

• 1st Email: Welcome message + brand introduction + offers, discounts, or free training.
• 2nd Email: Brand story, quality standards, and why they should choose you over competitors.
• 3rd Email: Social proof—testimonials, reviews, and success stories (5-10 examples).
• Final Email: Product education, focus on quality, and call-to-action for social follows.

Browse Abandonment:
Redirect customers to the product they viewed. Offer additional product information or a discount to encourage purchase.

Abandoned Cart:
Remind them of the items left in their cart, offer more information about the products, and urge them to complete the purchase.

Abandoned Checkout:
Use testimonials and product details to aggressively push the sale. Highlight why your product is the best choice and offer a discount if needed.

Post-Purchase:

• 1st Email: Thank the customer for their purchase. This email should express gratitude and confirm the order details.
• Follow-Up Emails: Recommend products they may be interested in, potentially with discounts or freebies.

To maximize the effectiveness of your email automation strategy, it’s crucial to avoid sending browse abandonment, abandoned cart, or abandoned checkout emails to customers who have already made a purchase from a previous email, as this can create confusion. If recipients haven’t opened an email, consider resending it with a new subject line to ensure it reaches them effectively without wasting opportunities. Additionally, always communicate clearly with your customers in case of shipping delays or any other issues, as transparency fosters trust and helps reduce dissatisfaction.

Setting Up Your Automated Email Marketing Workflows

guide to setting up the workflows mentioned before