Secrets to Crafting Nurture Emails That Engage Leads and Keep Clients

Learn three types of nurture emails and how to generate new ideas that will keep your readers engaged with your brand

This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!

Donald Miller devotes two chapters to email messaging in his book Marketing Made Simple. One chapter is on nurture email sequences. But even after reading that, it felt like there was some secret I just wasn’t getting. After years of experience in email marketing, and earning a Business Made Simple coach certification from Miller himself, I can now expound upon his three categories of nurture emails: weekly announcements, weekly tips, and weekly notifications.

Master and alternate these three types to keep yourself fresh in the minds of your clients and potential clients.

Weekly Announcements

Miller never defines what an “announcement” is. But in general, most people perceive announcements as something that’s coming, rather than something that has already happened. He gave the example of announcing his upcoming podcast every week. Since the podcast hasn’t happened yet, it seems that’s a good example of an announcement. It describes an opportunity that his prospective customer might be interested in.

From that, I’d say specific examples might be a forthcoming:

blog post,
podcast, or
free lead generator magnet.

Perhaps the “announcement” answers one question: What can I look forward to, or put on my calendar?

However, this announcement might be something entirely different. I have often announced:

A change in office hours, for example, we’re closing on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, or we’re anticipating routine maintenance from our internet provider on a particular day.
A change in some opportunity within the business. For example, saying that we plan to sunset our xyz course, and if people want it, they need to buy it now.
An upcoming opportunity outside of my own business, which I think my clients might be interested in. That might include deadlines for any external offerings.
A celebration or public health effort that my leads or clients should be interested in. It might be something as broad as Fall Prevention Week or Diabetes Prevention Week.
A responsibility that we all have. That might be a reminder to vote, or start gathering information for income tax, or donate to a disaster relief effort, especially if you can relate it to your own industry.

Miller also talks about adding a short ad at the end of the announcement. I’ve simply issued a quick call to action. For example, if it’s an opportunity, something as simple as, “Apply for the scholarship today.” Or “Join me for this free master class.”

Weekly Tips

This type of nurture email sequence is exactly what you might assume it to be. It’s intended to give the prospect some practical advice about a thorny issue. Miller gives several examples for different industries.

He says that this could be just a long blog in disguise. I didn’t go for that idea.

I’d be the first to say that people who read my blog don’t necessarily read my emails, or vice versa. But a 1000-word blog post inside of an email just doesn’t make sense to me. Research shows that 200 words or fewer is best, so I rarely go over that. I’m fearful that people will lose interest if I’m too verbose.

I might, however, plug the main points of my blog into my nurture emails instead of using the entire post inside of one email. For example, in the nurture email, I might simply list 6 questions to ask yourself if you didn’t reach your weekly goals, along with a statement or two about each. (I can say all of that in about 200 words.) Then, I’d link to the blog post.

If you don’t like that idea, or you don’t blog, try using some micro-tips that might be on the same topic. Maybe the “tips” would be:

5 questions to ask yourself before you [take an action]
3 people you can ask to help you with [an unfamiliar task]
7 obstacles you should be prepared to face with [a high leverage goal]

Remember, the idea is to give tips. Sometimes, I do this as “lessons learned.” You might do a short video tutorial or create a good infographic to show the simplicity of a procedure you know your customers struggle with.

Weekly Notifications

For me, Miller made no clear distinction between a weekly notification and a weekly announcement. Honestly, though, I’m not sure if the technical difference between them is all that important. Rather, what’s important is that you vary the way in which you nurture your intended audience to know, love, and trust you. Your nurture emails should show that you understand where they’re coming from, and you have the expertise to enrich their personal or professional lives.

Ask yourself this: How can your nurture email help your prospective buyers to achieve their aspirational identity? What do they want to do, or who do they want to become, and how do you show them that you can help them reach that goal?

So, whether you use the label of announcements, tips, or notifications here are some possibilities for how to craft your nurture messages:

1. Internal versus external

An internal email addresses things happening in your own company, and an external one is about something in the outside world. Not every nurture email needs to be about you or your products and services! If it’s internal, I can tell them about my upcoming blog post. If it’s external, I’m curating helpful information: industry news, or new apps or books that I’ve found helpful, or anything else that isn’t about me or my products/services.

2. Free or paid

I try to use the Pareto principle. Let your customer know about a free resource 80% of the time; tell them about a paid product 20% of the time.

You can also hitch today’s free suggestion to next week’s paid idea. Here’s an example in my line of work: I might notify customers that a new study that was published related to pregnancy and COVID. That’s not something I want them to buy, and it’s certainly something that’s external. In the next nurture email, I might make the announcement that I’m offering a new mini-course on the role of the maternal-child nurse taking care of COVID-positive pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

3. Passive versus interactive

Sure, I suppose you could say that telling people to listen to your podcast or any other resource is active; they’re “doing” something. But it’s certainly not interactive. To me, attending a webinar (free or paid) is interactive. Other interactive examples might be inviting them to your Meetup, to subscribe to your YouTube channel, or to respond to your survey.

4. Past or future

If you’re using your nurture email to announce an upcoming contest, that’s in the future; if you’re announcing the winner of the contest last week, that’s the past.

Industry news is probably the most glaring example of what’s happened in the past. If a study was published, a review was written, a gala was held, a new rule or regulation was issued, or a leader in the field died, that’s in the past. But your audience may find value in knowing that it happened.

5. Pique their interest

This nurture email offers a sneak peak of what’s coming. You might mention a “behind the scenes” description of what we’re working on here at the office. Recently, I asked my clients to respond to a survey to determine their interest in a possible new offering. Or you might ask them which image they like best for your upcoming book. Feel free to talk about any product/service improvements, new products, awards, volunteer projects, etc., that might pique their interest.

6. Deadlines, holidays, seasons, celebrations

This could be something related to their need, or something much more general. These nurture emails are just reminders, really. Photos are good here, especially if they are celebratory and related to you, your team, or your product/service. If you or your team received any awards or recognition, mention it, as it serves as a testimonial to what your company can do. Fan photos are always great!

7. Cool or curious

This could be unrelated to your business. For example, I sent the family of a friend who recently died packages of wildflowers. There’s a fair amount to learn about wildflowers, so it might be a good topic to mention for something like Memorial Day.

Going off topic in your nurture emails doesn’t work if you do it all the time, but sometimes, it helps your tribe to see you as a real person. I’ve also written some cool facts that have nothing to do with my professional angle. For example, a while ago, a hot air balloon rally occurred near my family home, and I listed some interesting facts about how high hot air balloons could fly, and more. I took a photo of the balloon in front of my house, and that was a great attention-getter!

Find what works for you

I’m a healthcare professional, not a marketing guru. Yet, as a business owner with no formal academic degree in marketing or messaging, I’ve had to figure it out anyway. My goal here was not to give you any ironclad rules, but to give you different ideas and examples about how to craft your nurture emails so you aren’t always struggling to come up with your next one.

Note that not all emails are nurture emails — emails can be part of nurture sequences or sales sequences. For more about both, consult the aforementioned book Marketing Made Simple and Ray Edwards’ How to Write Copy That Sells. I’ve read and re-read both.

Nurture email sequences are a vital way to keep your clients engaged with your brand. However you do it, it’s vital to find a variety of forms and a rhythm that works for your business to make the most of these valuable tools.