How to Build an Email Campaign Around a Clear Customer Journey
Map the stages a customer goes through, decide what each email should help them do next, and build a short sequence with one clear purpose per message. Start with permission and a clean list.
To build an email campaign around a customer journey, map the stages a person goes through from first interest to the action you want, decide what each email should help them do next and write a short sequence with one purpose per message. Start with a list of people who have agreed to hear from you, and measure each step of the journey rather than only open rates.
For businesses and organisations in Ghana, email is a channel you own. Unlike social media, your messages are not filtered by a platform's algorithm, which makes it valuable for people who have already shown interest.
Start with permission
Send campaign emails only to people who have agreed to receive them, and make it easy to unsubscribe. Collect and use personal data responsibly. Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) sets out obligations for organisations that process personal data; take appropriate advice on how it applies to you.
A smaller list of interested people is more valuable than a large list of contacts who never asked to hear from you.
Map the journey
Describe the stages someone goes through. For an event, a simple journey might be:
- Shows interest by signing up for updates
- Learns what the event offers
- Registers or buys a ticket
- Prepares to attend
- Attends
- Stays connected afterwards
For a product or service, the stages might be first enquiry, comparison, purchase, first use and repeat purchase.
Decide what each stage needs
For each stage, ask what the person needs to know or do next. Someone who has just signed up needs a welcome and a clear explanation of what to expect. Someone comparing options needs evidence and answers to common questions. Someone who has registered for an event needs practical information.
Write one email for each need. Each should have a single main purpose and one main call to action.
Set the timing and triggers
Some emails go to everyone on a fixed date, such as an event announcement. Others are triggered by an action, such as a welcome email after sign-up or a reminder after registration. Decide which is which, and space messages so people are not overwhelmed.
Write for the reader
Use a subject line that says what the email is about. Keep the main message near the top. Write in plain language and check that it reads well on a phone. Make links and buttons easy to find, and test them before sending.
Segment where it helps
Different groups may need different messages. People who have already bought a ticket should not keep receiving messages asking them to buy one. Use what you know about each person's stage to send relevant emails.
Measure the journey
Open and click rates show engagement with individual emails. More useful measures show whether people moved through the journey: registrations, purchases, attendance and repeat actions. Track where people stop and test changes at those points.
Keep improving
Review results after each campaign. Remove addresses that consistently bounce, refine messages that underperform and update the sequence as the offer changes.
PR369's Marketing and Brand Strategy service includes email marketing within wider campaigns. Email info@pr369.com with your objective, your current list and what you want customers to do. We will begin with a strategy conversation.
