What’s a Sequence?

It’s a series of at least three separate emails (maybe more), all working together to solve a specific sales problem. You schedule them to go out one at a time, in a certain order.

Here’s an example—the Cart Abandonment Problem:

Let’s say you’ve got too many customers abandoning their shopping carts. Maddening as hell, right? They pop your excellent product or service into their cart and then just disappear. It’s a real bottom-line killer.

So, you set up a cart abandonment flow that works like this:

Email 1:

Goes out maybe only a couple of hours after the customer loads the cart. You alert the customer that the sale didn’t go through and invite them to complete it. You refer to the abandoned item and include a pic.

Email 2:

Goes out the next day. Here, you refer to the abandoned item (again), remind the customer how awesome it is, offer to answer any questions or concerns and invite them to complete the purchase.

Email 3:

Goes out 24 hours later. This time, you might offer an incentive discount, suggest some alternative items, and invite them to complete their purchase by a deadline to get the discount.

In this example, I’m just talking about the timing and the underlying purpose of each of the three emails.

THERE’S A TON MORE TO IT.

If all you do is time your emails and remind your customer to finish the purchase, guess what happens?

NOT MUCH. You’ll get a few extra sales, but you want more than a few. You want to get back a big slice of those lost abandoned cart sales.

To do that, you also have to

* Have a killer subject line that screams, “You HAVE to open and read this email.”

* Use a tone that’s warm, personal, and unique to your brand,

* Provide value (tell a story, be funny, create some mystery),

* Educate (show additional product/service benefits).

This is where the magic happens. Get these elements right, and you turn a “hardly worth the trouble” cart abandonment sequence into a cash flow generator that transforms your bottom line.