So you decided to start an online business and you’ve realised one thing… You’re going to need an email list. And that email list is going to need a nurture sequence. As a newbie content creator, or a business owner, you’re probably thinking like, “What the heck do I even put in a nurture sequence? I have nothing to sell and I have a whole pile of two pieces of content to my name!”.

Well I hear you, I see you, damn – I am you!

So in this tutorial, I’m going to give you a look at my own beginner-friendly nurture sequence, breaking down the purpose and content of each email. Be sure to check out the video below as I also show you behind the scenes how I’ve personally put this all together to create an automated workflow in Flodesk.

Nurture Sequence Purpose & Goals

Before you start jumping in and writing your individual emails, you want to get a clear idea of what the overall purpose and goal of your nurture sequence is.

The obvious ones are to nurture new subscribers and provide them with more information about who you are and how you are going to help them.

But what’s in it for you? What are you getting out of it? How is this nurture sequence going to help YOU, help them?

The two main focuses I’ve included in my own nurture sequence are market research and building connections.

Market Research

When you’re just getting started with a new online business or becoming a content creator, you might have an idea of who your ideal client is, if you’ve done a little research.

But let’s be honest, when you’re just getting started, a lot of that comes down to guesswork. You’re guessing what your ideal audience is struggling with. You’re guessing what their pain points are.

That’s why I’ve used my nurture sequence as a way to do market research, to ask those questions, to find out what their struggles are, find out where they’re at in their journey, and just get to know them a bit more so that you can then take that information and use it to help them, and obviously build a business.

Building A Connection

I’ve heard Gary Vee refer to this as the Taylor Swift Method. Do the unscalable by taking the time to build those direct relationships with your subscribers.

As a new content creator, online business owner, you have the opportunity to build those direct one-on-one connections with your audience, because your audience is still small. Use this to your advantage!

In the majority of the emails, my call-to-action is for them to respond to my email with the answer to a question that I’ve asked. I’m opening up the lines of communication and building relationships.

Email One – Opt-In Delivery

The first email in your nurture sequence should do one simple thing and that is to deliver whatever it is your subscriber signed up to receive, generally a freebie or lead magnet. I’m also asking them a question that’s going to help me with my market research.

What to include in this email;

• Access or Link to the freebie they opted in to receive.
• Ask them a question that provides you with market research around who it is that is signing up for your email list.
• Hint at what they can expect over the coming days from your nurture sequence.

If you want more information on how to deliver an opt-in using Flodesk, then check out my tutorial that walks you through Setting up a Workflow in Flodesk, or my other tutorial which goes over How to Embed Forms on your Showit Blog.

Email Two – Gratitude & Expectations

Now the real nurturing begins. In this email, I want to make it clear to my new subscribers just how grateful I am that they have engaged with my content and trusted me enough to sign up for one of my lead magnets.

When you are just started out it’s a pretty awesome and exciting thing when someone joins your email list so roll out the red carpet a little, light a sparkler or two.

The second part of the email should give a brief overview of who you are, not too much, just enough because we’ll dive deeper into your story in the next email.

The final part of this email is about setting expectations. People like to know what they are in for so let them know straight up what it’s like to be on your email list, how often you will be emailing them and what will be in those emails.

What to include in this email;

• Give your subscribers a big old thanks for joining your email list.
• Introduce yourself and give them a quick rundown on who you are.
• Let them know what they can expect now that they’ve joined your email list.
• Ask them a question that provides you with market research around where your audience is within their journey.

Email Three – Brand Story & Struggles

Now it’s time to get a little deeper into your brand story and utilise the struggles within it to connect with your subscribers. What pain points do they have that you can relate to? What advice or help can you offer them?

Coming up with core brand stories can be difficult which is why I’ve created an ‘anti-story’ story and made the fact that I haven’t had this amazing life-changing event that kicked off my online career and used that as the basis for my story.

What to include in this email;

• Share a core piece of your brand story, get creative with this.
• Spotlight your point of difference or what sets you apart from others in your niche.
• Start sprinkling in components of your brand to further build relatability.
• Ask them a question about their business. What wins and struggles have they had?
• Hint at a small gift that you are going to send them in the next email.

Our key call-to-actions through the entire nurture sequence is around getting your subscribers to communicate with you directly by responding to your email. We are trying to build those 1-on-1 connections that only new content creators with small followings can do.

Email Four – A Gift & Getting Social

As we round out the nurture sequence you want to give your subscriber a little ‘subscriber only’ gift, something they weren’t expecting. A thank you gift for following along the journey of being welcomed into your list.

Let them know that this is the end of the nurture sequence and give them the opportunity to follow you on your chosen platform where you are the most active and engaged.

I prefer to send them somewhere that you can build a community around your brand such as a Facebook Group or Discord Server.

What to include in this email;

• Let them know that this is the last email in the nurture sequence.
• Give them a little gift, this doesn’t have to be a download as I’ve done, it could be a free audit, a discount code, or anything small that will be helpful to your subscriber and aligns with your current or future services.
• Tell them where they can go next to continue building the relationship with you, whether that’s YouTube, a Facebook Group, or wherever you are most active with your audience.

Nurture Sequence Pointers:

Really focus on building those direct connections with your audience. There is nothing but benefits to taking the time each day to respond to your subscribers when you are just getting started. If you are only getting 1-2 emails a day from subscribers, you have absolutely zero reasons not to respond to them!

Write how you speak as if you were emailing a friend. I put a lot of effort and thought into the exact dialogue of my emails. I would speak them out loud to make sure that I was writing in the same way that I speak in my day-to-day life.

Sprinkling components of your brand throughout the emails. Brand components are basically the personal facts about you that you have chosen to include as part of your online brand or persona. In mine I talk about loving Lego, Harry Potter, margaritas, and the fact that I work a 9-5. These are all components of my life that I’ve chosen to include as part of my personal brand.

Only ask them to do ONE thing per email. Including too many call-to-actions is the quickest way to ensure your subscribers do none of them!

Nurture Sequence Guide

Now, because I want to make everything as easy as I can for you, I’ve actually put all of this into a nurture sequence guide. I’ve also included copies of my own nurture sequence emails for you to use as reference. So that you can get your own sequence up and running as soon as possible.

That’s it for this tutorial. I hope you found it helpful & as always, if you have any questions feel free to comment them below.