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Success With Jewelry
181 - Laryssa and Liz on Email Marketing Part 3: The Emails That Work While You Sleep
00:23:43
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- [00:00]
Liz
Welcome to the Success With Jewelry Podcast. Your go to source for real conversations about business marketing and what it actually takes to succeed as a jewelry brand Today.
- [00:10]
Larissa
I'm Larissa, the strategist, systems queen and the one who finds joy in turning big marketing challenges into step by step plans that actually work. Email marketing and generating revenue through it is the specialty of my agency, Joy Joya.
- [00:23]
Liz
And I'm Liz, your creative compass, an advocate for designers doing things differently. I live for brilliant brand storytelling, beautiful visuals, and helping designers confidently show up and shine. I founded the StayGold collective to create community and support for independent jewelry brands.
- [00:39]
Larissa
Together we bring you two decades of jewelry marketing experience and on this podcast we're pulling back the curtain on everything we've learned. Whether you're just starting out or scaling to your next big milestone, you'll get honest insights, helpful tips, and maybe a few giggles along the way.
- [00:55]
Liz
This is episode 181 and we're talking about automations. We've covered strategy, list building and what to send. Today we're talking about the emails that go out even when you're not at your desk, the ones that welcome new subscribers, follow up after a purchase, and bring people back when they've gone quiet. Automations can sound intimidating, so today we're keeping it practical and accessible. What to set up, what order to do it in, and how to know if it's working. And if you're an insider, stick around. We're sharing the automation sequences we recommend to jewelry brand clients, including what to say in each email and how many to send. Let's get into it.
- [01:32]
Larissa
Ooh. I'm excited to continue our email marketing series today.
- [01:36]
Liz
I know this topic is very you because I only have one automation. It is the most important automation though. It is the welcome email. But it is just one email and I've been thinking for a long time that it should be a series and there are a lot of different automations to consider. So I feel like you're going to shine in this episode.
- [01:58]
Larissa
Okay. Yeah. I mean I think for especially for beginners like businesses that are newer to email marketing, there's a big focus on campaigns and the campaign calendar. But there's so much you can do in setting up like a system or an infrastructure that, like you said in the intro, is just working for you behind the scenes 247 and really does kind of the heavy lifting because most of these automations are triggered by like buying intent or buying behavior. So they're really the ones that are reaching the people that are closest to Potentially making a purchase. Whereas campaigns often are more like awareness kind of driven.
- [02:46]
Liz
Mm. And automations send when an action is taken or an action's not taken. And it's so important and we've said this before, but when somebody joins your email list it's so important that they get a welcome email. So that's not something you can be at your desk ready to send all the time. So when somebody joins your list, that email that is triggered to send is really, really important and the most important. Automation.
- [03:17]
Larissa
Yes. Oh, can I actually, can I plug something really quick? So I just made a report that's exactly like about exactly what you just said. So I did kind of this insane thing at the end of last year. It was mostly just for my own research and also I was doing some outreach to brands and so I was signing up for different e commerce brands. Welcome offer. I signed up for over 360 of these.
- [03:48]
Liz
Oh my gosh.
- [03:50]
Larissa
And I kept notes about every experience that I had in like a spreadsheet. And initially I wasn't even going to do anything about it. It was again more for like a sales research project. And I was like wait, this is actually really interesting. And I made a report about it because, because now I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head but It's, I think 44% of these 360 brands did not send me a welcome email. And these were like more established, like more mid growth level e commerce brands and that was kind of astonishing to me.
- [04:33]
Liz
That is wild. What a crazy report. I mean, yeah, one other big takeaway
- [04:41]
Larissa
from that from my report.
- [04:44]
Liz
Yeah, I'm intrigued.
- [04:46]
Larissa
Well, I mean that was kind of the most shocking one. But there were also. And again I wish I had it pulled up because I don't remember the exact percentages of each thing off the top of my head. But there was another big gap in things landing in spam. So there's this one category where don't even get the welcome email. There's this other category where a whole percentage is just going to my spam folder and there's another category where it's like oh, they told me get 15% off on signup and then the code I get is like for 10% off or something. And so there's like a total mismatch in the messaging as well. So I'll put, when I make the show notes for this episode, I'll put the link to it because you can download it and read it. It's like very in depth but it was just eye opening for me to see how many gaps there were and I think it's just because people set these things up, stuff changes and then no one checks it again. And the best way to check it is to sign up for your own stuff with obviously with like different email addresses or have a friend sign up and see what happens because your customers are likely not going to tell you that there's a problem. They're just going to go on their way and buy something else. You know,
- [06:08]
Liz
got. I'm so intrigued. I can't wait to read your report. But also I mean it's just, you know, pause this episode now if you have a welcome email or a welcome series and check it because I checked mine recently and it wasn't, there wasn't
- [06:22]
Larissa
anything wrong but it, it felt outdated
- [06:25]
Liz
a little bit like just it felt
- [06:27]
Larissa
like me like 3 years ago kind of thing.
- [06:30]
Liz
So it is important to make sure, like to keep checking it and make sure it aligns and all of your automations. It's just so important because you can forget or you can assume and time passes so quickly sometimes that you just forget. Anyway, on this topic of the welcome email or the welcome sequence, any thoughts on best practice with it? Like is one email okay or is there, you know, if you do a series, how many should there be? What is the goal of the welcome email?
- [07:00]
Larissa
Mm, yeah. Well first I would argue that welcome email number one is the most important email you'll ever send out of automations, out of campaigns because that is the only time in your whole email program where someone's actually waiting for your email. I mean assuming you have some kind of like offer that they want, there's no other time that someone's gonna be waiting for your email. So it is your chance to like validate their interest and really put like a good first impression out there. And, and that's why all this stuff I was saying before was so shocking. I think some people might hear that what I was talking about in the report and be like okay, whatever. But like it is the most important email. The goal of the welcome flow is to convert the first purchase and so every email has to kind of lead them down that path and keep reminding them that the first purchase is there for them to make, if that makes sense.
- [08:07]
Liz
Mm. What is an ideal number of emails in a welcome series?
- [08:13]
Larissa
Yeah, I would say four to five would be a good amount over the course of like 10 to 12 days. There's no like exact timing but that's kind of about how long it takes to go through a welcome flow.
- [08:34]
Liz
So your first email is welcoming somebody and giving a discount code. If, if you'd offered that for sign up, you know, welcoming people into the community, telling them maybe a little bit about what to expect from being on your email list.
- [08:48]
Larissa
What would the other four or five be? Yeah, so the rest of them keep, like, emphasizing whatever needs to be emphasized for that first purchase. So maybe one email highlights your newest arrivals, which could be attractive to someone. Another email could highlight, oh, these are the tried and true bestsellers. Like, if you're not sure where to start, depending on the brand and how much storytelling the brand has available to share, like, each one can kind of also go further into the brand story, like into the founder, into the process, into the material. For some of our clients that do, like, custom, there could be a whole email just about custom and what that looks like an email about, like, customer testimonials and what, what the fans are saying or, or whatever. So there's no real, like, formula. I think it depends on the brand's priorities, what the brand wants to share, and what would be most valuable to, like, keep maintaining someone's interest, getting them more invested in the brand, and again, closing that first purchase. So they should in some way shape or form be shopping focused as well. And I think the biggest mistake I see when I'm auditing welcome flows, like, someone will be like, oh, I'm good. Like, I have a welcome flow. We actually have five emails. I'm like, okay, cool. And I look at it and it's basically the same, same content being repeated over and over and over, just kind of repackaged a little bit and like, nobody wants that. That's just lazy spam, you know, like, you need to keep offering value and really thinking about taking someone on a journey through your flow.
- [10:48]
Liz
Yes, that is great advice. Even with. Even if you only have one welcome email. I've seen some pretty boring welcome emails where it's just. It's like just the text that is in the automation or in the.
- [11:04]
Larissa
Or, yeah, in. In the template. The default template. Exactly. Yeah.
- [11:09]
Liz
And it cannot be that. It cannot just be the text that's in the template that is wrong.
- [11:13]
Larissa
That you're doing it wrong. Sorry, I got a little bit heated there.
- [11:17]
Liz
No, it's.
- [11:17]
Larissa
It's true. It's true. And, and as I'm saying it is. I cannot emphasize enough. Like, if you don't want to deal with email marketing, you don't have time. What. Just please look at welcome email number one and make it like the best thing you could possibly make it right.
- [11:35]
Liz
And the best thing you can possibly make it is not necessarily marketing speak or like anything fancy. Maybe it's an image of you at your bench and a little bit about why you love making jewelry and welcome to the community. Like, that is a great welcome email. I think that if you're going to just use the template text, you might as well not have a welcome email, is my opinion there. And to your point about the series, like, bring people along, like, think about your content pillars or think about your values and the things that are most important to your brand and tell that story. Because email can be compelling. And I think that this is something that is a misconception about email marketing because there are a lot of like, kind of, you know, straightforward or uninteresting or spam like emails coming through.
- [12:23]
Larissa
But if you're writing to your audience,
- [12:24]
Liz
it can be very engaging. And I think that's something we all kind of need to like, shift our mind to.
- [12:30]
Larissa
Yes, 100%. I think when we're doing these projects for our clients, even more so than campaigns, like, we put the most time, thought, effort, collaboration with the client, revisions, like, into the welcome flow because it's so important and I think it can be really personal and we like, revise the heck out of it until it's something that feels truly authentic and interesting, like, more than any other piece of email that we're doing.
- [13:03]
Liz
Okay, what other automations outside of the welcome email do we need?
- [13:08]
Larissa
Yeah, so there are some essential ones that we always recommend as kind of like an initial setup for an email program. So besides welcome, we have abandoned cart, abandoned checkout, browse, abandoned post purchase, customer win back, and sunset flow. And those are kind of like the bare minimum I recommend people have in place to start
- [13:41]
Liz
outside of the welcome email. So welcome email's most important and welcome series. What would be the second most important in your opinion?
- [13:51]
Larissa
The second most important of those, in my opinion is Abandoned Cart. Why?
- [13:59]
Liz
Why do you think that and how do you. I have a lot of questions about abandoned Cart because that's another one. I've gotten some that feel very spammy or kind of annoying. Any thoughts on best practice there?
- [14:12]
Larissa
Yeah, those are. That's another one where I think people just think, oh, I'll just use like the default template. And that should like be good. Because I mean, a banning cart, it's not sexy. Like it has a specific job. It's not necessarily as like story rich as a welcome, but you can still do a lot with an abandoned cart to make it really feel like your brand. If you, like, put a little bit of thought into it, the reason why abandoned cart is so important. So let me also kind of position it in the frame of, like, some other flows. So there are three abandonment flows. Browse abandoned, abandoned cart, and checkout abandoned. They are different. Cart abandon happens or triggers when someone leaves a cart and doesn't finish a purchase. The other one, browse abandoned, is when someone looks at a product page and doesn't add to cart checkout. Abandoned is when someone actually gets to checkout, like, the page where they would be entering their credit card information and then they leave. So they are three very, like, distinct steps in that final buyer's journey. And, like, you might think, oh, okay, Larissa, well, but checkout abandoned, like, they were about to buy. Like, why wouldn't that be more important than cart? I mean, you could maybe argue that it is, but if somebody leaves checkout, something is wrong there, in my opinion. And in email marketing research, like, maybe they had an issue with your shipping policy or your return policy, or they decided not to buy. Abandoning checkout is like a stronger signal that they may not complete purchase than someone abandoning cart. If you catch them at cart, you still have a chance to move them to checkout. Maybe they're just saving something in their cart and they're ready to come back later. And it's also a stronger buying intent signal than browse, because browse it's like, okay, they just looked at the product page. They didn't even put it in their cart. And so cart abandonment is the opportunity you have to, like, convert the most purchases. And it's usually like a two to three email sequence. There's, like, different approaches to timing. It could be like, for example, two hours after the cart is abandoned. But there's a lot of ways you can play with that timing. And the goal is to get them to go back to checkout. But within that, you can share a lot about your brand. Why should someone go back to checkout? Like, do you have a good shipping policy? You can share customer reviews. You can say, hey, do you have questions about this product? Like, respond to me and I'll answer you directly. Or like, here's why I made this. And in a more personal way, instead of just using some, like, default cart language so it can still be super branded, really personal and really compelling. And this is one that I think people think, like, isn't that annoying to receive, though? I mean, when you see on the back end of Klaviyo accounts like how well a cart abandonment email can convert and you don't have one. You just realize like how much revenue operating opportunity you're missing because people legitimately like forget to finish checkout and that can be something that just like reminds them. Oh yeah, that's right. I like had these things in my cart and I got distracted or whatever.
- [18:19]
Liz
Yeah, sometimes it's, it's nice. It's been not annoying to me when it's something that I genuinely, genuinely want to purchase and I just like talk
- [18:30]
Larissa
myself out of it at that time
- [18:31]
Liz
and then I see it again, I'm like oh, I do really want that. So it's a nice reminder in that kind of sense too.
- [18:39]
Larissa
Do you?
- [18:40]
Liz
Most so with automations too I think it can feel intimidating because how do you set these up sort of thing Like I know Klaviyo can help with this but yeah, you can do that through other platforms.
- [18:55]
Larissa
I think now most email platforms, at least the major ones that I've worked with like mailchimp and Omnisend, I think they all kind of have templates for these essential flows that I mentioned because they're so common and in terms of structure you could probably just start with whatever they recommend. Like with the timing, with the number of emails. But customizing the content itself I think is really important. And like Liz said before, not just going with like the default template. But yeah, most email platforms make it super easy to just click a button and have like the technical structure part set up.
- [19:37]
Liz
Can we talk about a win back sequence? What is that?
- [19:41]
Larissa
Yeah. Yes, customer win back. I think that while I recommend everyone have it, I think it is most effective for brands that are in a price point or a category where someone is likely to like make another purchase at some point. If you're like super bespoke and high end and the time between purchases is like very long. A customer win back may not be as effective for you but let's say even if a customer buys every six months or once a year, something like that, a win back is an email or two emails that get sent a certain number of days after they made their last purchase at the time where you would be expecting them to purchase again and that's based on like the average repurchase cycle for your business and if in any time between them they do make another purchase, they get disqualified for the purchase flow. But it's just kind of like a check in like basically. I mean you wouldn't say this but it's basically like hey, this is usually when someone buys again, where are you? Like, come buy again. Because this is kind of the average repurchase time. So that's the purpose of a win back. And usually what people do with those is just make the person aware of like, what's new since you last bought, like, what's changed, like, what are some things you might like that are related to your last purchase kind of vibes.
- [21:21]
Liz
A couple more things and then we're going to wrap up and talk to insiders. But how do you know that your automations are working and how often should you revisit them once they're set up?
- [21:33]
Larissa
Yes, the easiest way to know your automations are working is maybe like once a month, go in your email marketing account, open them just to see the data from like the last 30 days. So like from the last time you checked and just make sure that they're actually being like delivered to people at the bare minimum. It's really easy. I find this a lot when I audit, it's like, oh, this abandoned cart hasn't had any deliveries in the last 30 days. Like, that's kind of weird. It must not be working right. So like a delivery making sure it's being sent is a way at least we know from a technical standpoint, like it's working. And then to layer on top of that, like looking at things like open rates, click rates, et cetera, et cetera. And those benchmarks are kind of different based on what the flow is. And they are also different from like campaign benchmarks. For example, a welcome flow should have the best open rates and the best click rates of any other thing in your email account, especially number one. And that's because what I said earlier about people are expecting to get it. So if no one's clicking on it, the open rate's really bad. That's like a huge red flag because it should be the best received email in your whole program.
- [23:08]
Liz
Got it. So biggest takeaway from this episode is that the welcome email is the most important email.
- [23:17]
Larissa
Yes, that is the biggest takeaway. If that's all, if nobody like heard anything else like as, please just take that away and go look at or create one. If you don't have one yet, make sure it's working.
- [23:34]
Liz
All right? Do you have automation set up? Are you going to set them up? Let us know. And if you love the podcast, leave us a review. Thanks for being part of our community.