Why I Turned Off My Email Nurture Sequences
A few weeks ago, I turned off my email nurture sequences.
If you’re new to the world of online business, an email nurture sequence is a series of automated emails a new email subscriber gets once they opt-in (join) your email list. Usually, these sequences have specific goals — help your reader get to know, like, and trust you, lead to micro-conversions like responding to an email, booking a call, downloading something new, or making a purchase.
When something in my business doesn’t feel aligned, taking action is easy.
Out of nowhere, the idea of sending emails on an automated schedule started to feel icky to me. And you know I'm always exploring ways to feel more authentic and aligned in my life and business. This suddenly made sense to me.
I knew it was the right thing to do. Once it hit me, I took immediate action, went right in, and turned them off. I didn’t hesitate after I received this hit of guidance.
So the nurture sequences had to go.
You might be asking,
But don’t I need a series of nurture emails to grow my business?
Depending on the type of business you run, you may not need them at all. If you run a service-based business, especially a done-for-you one, your potential clients may not want to get emails from you. No hard feelings — they just want to work with you and don’t need warming up.
Online marketing gurus have spent years trying to make you think that you need all the things to keep you trapped in the wheel of creation. Creating endless emails and long, drawn-out content just to “get people reading and clicking.”
If you run a business where you rely on volumes of website visitors and people need to warm up to what you’re selling, you might consider having one.
I definitely didn’t need an email nurture sequence. I hit 6-figures in my copywriting business in my first year without using them. Meeting (and then exceeding) my corporate income was a non-negotiable for me. There was no plan B, C, or Z.
I went all-in on my business in 2017, and it wasn’t until 2020 that I even had an email nurture sequence. I’d written dozens of them for my copywriting clients, but I didn’t have my own.
I developed a two-week nurture sequence that went quite deep. But the problem with those emails — is that I wrote them two years ago. Sure, I’d been updating and tweaking them ever since but did I really need them?
I had a full roster of clients, and it never seemed urgent. As it’s happened before, I fell down the rabbit hole of shoulds, thinking that I needed to do something that all the business gurus said I needed. I dedicated time to writing them and even created templates for them that now live in the Unfussy Writing Community (I'll add them to the Copy Shop soon).
They had good open rates and people replied to them, but the energy in them felt... stale.
The push energy of pumping out dozens of emails, prewritten and ready to go, also felt old and crusty.
I want to keep the energy in all my writing light and relevant.
Why the hell does anyone want to read an email, something that's designed to be in the moment, months after I wrote it? Now, email nurture sequences have their place for certain businesses — namely products and those with complicated funnels to sell stuff. That's not my business. I run a high-touch copywriting and copy coaching business. Whether it's my community, 1:1 clients, or course clients, I'm right there, live.
So I turned them off — and I feel 1,000% lighter. It feels good to do things my way.
Just like the free downloads on my site are all actually free. As in, you can get them without trading your email address in return for more spammy emails.
If peeps like my free resources, they can sign up to get emails from me.
The best emails are those that read the room.
I write the emails I send to my newsletter subscribers a day or two in advance and most of my social posts in the moment. I love feeling like I'm right there with you, sharing what’s currently in my heart.
I can read the energy in a room, and I can read the energy in my audience — I write what I sense they need at that time. They often directly tell me what they need — in the writing community, on social media, and in my inbox.
Can you stay relevant without an email nurture sequence?
But I need to stay top of mind! But they'll forget me!
But you can sell on autopilot!
But people are busy and forget what they signed up for!
I have to stay in their face.
Not how I run my business, thank you.
When I discover someone who I want to learn from, I don't need to get a daily email from them. Because I’m tuned in, I’m going to their website proactively, and I’m returning because they offer something of value.
There’s a big difference between push energy and pull energy. And in the long run, the pull energy feels so much cleaner than old 3D email marketing tactics.
I've always been one to see what everyone else is doing and then do the opposite — requiring an email address for me to send you something that I know will help you for free? Icky. If you like it and want more emails from me, you can easily sign up to do that. And then I’ll email you 1-2x a week or if I have something helpful for you.
Look around at your email nurture sequences and all that writing you do in your business. Does it really need to be there? Is it adding value to people’s lives?
Keep rethinking how you write for your business with these other articles:
