How to Write an Email Nurture Sequence:One Job Each

To write an email nurture sequence, settle three things first: the event that starts it, the one action it should produce, and who leaves it and when. Then write five to seven short emails, each with exactly one job and one link. If you can't state an email's job in a sentence, cut it.

How to write an email nurture sequence: decide first, write second

Everyone starts with the subject line. That's backwards.

You've seen the result. Six lovely emails, no idea what they're for. They get opened, admired and ignored. The writing was never the problem. The missing decisions were.

Spend an afternoon on these three before you type a word.

The trigger. Every sequence begins with an event, not a description of a person. "Interested in pricing" is not a trigger. "Submitted the pricing enquiry form" is. A vague trigger forces you to write for everyone, which means writing for no one. Then decide who is excluded even if they trigger it: existing customers, people you're already talking to, people in another sequence.

The destination. One action. A booked call, a started trial, a reply, a purchase. "Engagement" isn't a destination. It's what a sequence produces when nobody decided what it was for. Without a destination you can only judge the thing on open rates, which is how people end up polishing subject lines on a programme that has never made a customer.

The exits. Who leaves, and when. This gets its own post, how to set exit conditions, because it decides whether your sequence feels helpful or like harassment. For now: write them down before the first email exists.

Keep it small enough to maintain alone

You'll be tempted to draw a flowchart with dozens of paths. Don't.

A short, linear sequence with a few well-chosen exits beats an elaborate one you can't maintain. And the elaborate one is usually wrong in ways you won't notice, because nobody is checking it but you.

Write an email nurture sequence for the one situation that produces the most leads. Not one per product. The useful unit is the reader's situation: just downloaded a guide, just started a trial, went quiet after a call. Don't build the second sequence until the first one works.

Free guide · 21 pagesMost leads are early, not uninterested.The Email Nurture Playbook: sequences, exits, timing and the plumbing that decides if it arrives.Get the free guide →

The seven jobs when you write an email nurture sequence

The simplest workable email nurture sequence is five to seven emails. Each has one nameable purpose. This is a reliable shape, not a law. Move things around if your situation demands it. But keep the rule underneath: one job each.

Read the third row twice. Teach something real. If your emails would be worth reading even to someone who never buys, you're depositing trust. If every email is a disguised pitch, you're withdrawing it. By the third pitch the reader has learned to stop opening.

One email, one call to action

An email that asks for three things gets none of them done.

Pick one link. One action. One next step. Make the email lead there. This also makes measurement possible: when each email has one action, a click is a readable signal of what that reader wanted. When it has six links, a click tells you only that someone clicked.

Run the same filter on the whole sequence. Cut any email that fails these two tests: can you state its job in one sentence, and would the sequence be noticeably worse without it? If the answer to either is no, delete it. Most sequences improve more from deleting their weakest email than from adding a new one.

Write like a person, from a person

Nurture is a conversation that happens to be automated.

Plain, well-written text from a named human usually beats a designed template, because it reads as a message rather than as marketing. You have an edge here that a company doesn't. The named human is you.

• Send from your own name. At an address that accepts replies. A no-reply address tells the reader you don't want to hear from them, and replies are among the strongest buying signals you'll ever get.
• Write the subject as you would to a colleague. Specific and honest. A trick lifts the open rate once and costs you the reader's trust for good.
• Use the reader's words. The ones they'd type into a search box, not the ones on your sales page.
• Tell the truth in the proof. Frame any example as something real and plainly told. No inflating.

Timing, briefly

Interest peaks right after the person acted and decays from there. So the first email goes immediately. The next few follow at short intervals. Then the gaps widen. Measure every delay from the person's own trigger or the previous email, never from a calendar date.

That's a whole topic of its own, and how to time a nurture sequence takes it further. The only mistake to avoid while writing is the obvious one: five emails in five days to someone who downloaded a single guide.

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Branch a little, and only on strong signals

A little branching is worth having. Someone who clicks the pricing link has told you something. Move them toward a conversation, or out of the sequence and into your own inbox for a personal reply. Someone who's clicked nothing in four emails may need a different approach or a graceful close.

Branch on clicks, replies, tags and actions. Never on opens. Some mail applications open messages automatically on the reader's behalf, and privacy features hide whether a human ever looked. A sequence that branches on opens is making decisions on noise.

Test one thing, and judge it on the outcome

Change one variable at a time. Judge it on the destination, not the proxy. A subject line that wins on opens and loses on booked calls has lost.

And be honest about sample size. A result read off a few dozen sends is a reasoned guess, not an experiment. Say so, and don't rebuild your sequence around it.

The two emails people get wrong

The first and the last. Everything between is craft. These two are manners.

The first email is a delivery. You promised a guide, a recording, access. Hand it over, immediately, and get out of the way. The reader should finish it thinking you keep your word. That's the whole job, and it's worth more than a clever opener.

The last email is a goodbye. Say it's the final message in the series. Offer a way to stay in touch at a lower frequency. Leave the door open. It feels like giving up a sale. It isn't. The person who isn't ready now may be ready later, and they'll remember who left politely. The person who got a seventh pitch won't.

Between them, treat the sequence like a conversation with a friend who is deciding something big. Useful first. Patient while they think. Direct when it's time to ask, and then quiet.

Free guide · 21 pagesMost leads are early, not uninterested.The Email Nurture Playbook: sequences, exits, timing and the plumbing that decides if it arrives.Get the free guide →

Your Monday

1. Write the trigger, destination and exits on one page. Before any email.
2. Write the seven jobs as seven one-sentence lines. If a line is vague, the email will be too.
3. Draft the first email only. The one that delivers what you promised. It's the easiest, and it gets you moving.
4. Decide the length last. If you're unsure how long yours should run, how many emails a sequence should have gives the rule.

Then, as you write an email nurture sequence, run every email through a short filter before it goes live. One job. One call to action. Worth reading if the reader never buys. Reads like a person. If it passes, ship it.

Free assessmentHow trapped are you, really?Take the Corporate Suffocation Index, the free solopreneur readiness assessment.Take the assessment →

Frequently asked questions

How long should each email be?

As long as its one job needs. The rule isn't a word count. It's whether you can state the job in a sentence and whether the email would be missed if you deleted it.

Should I use a designed template or plain text?

Plain text from a named person usually does better, because it reads as a message rather than marketing. As a solopreneur you have the advantage that the named person is you.

Can I put several links in one email?

You can, but you shouldn't. An email asking for three things gets none of them done, and a click on one of six links tells you very little.

Do you need a flowchart to write an email nurture sequence?

No. Keep it short and linear with a few exits. Branch only on clicks, replies, tags and actions. An elaborate flow is harder to maintain alone and is usually wrong in ways you won't notice.

However you write an email nurture sequence, keep it short and keep the exits honest. The full method, with the checklists, is in The Email Nurture Playbook, a free 21-page playbook.