Chapter 1: What a Great Email Program Actually Looks Like

Section 1

Start with the customer journey

Think about what the customer needs at each stage. Someone discovering your brand needs different information from someone waiting for their first order.

Section 2

Give campaigns and flows different jobs

Treat flows, campaigns, segmentation, and offers as one operating system: flows respond to the customer’s moment, campaigns bring something timely, segmentation decides who should hear it, and the offer gives that audience a relevant reason to act.

Flows respond to a customer action or lifecycle moment. Campaigns support what is happening in the business right now.

A welcome flow introduces the brand when someone subscribes. A launch campaign introduces a new product when it becomes available. Both should feel connected to the same business and customer experience.

Start with preference-led welcome, abandonment that answers the reason for leaving, and post-purchase education before another sale. Campaigns add launches, product benefits, customer stories, and genuine promotions—not a repeated discount template.

Nick’s campaign starting structure is 30-, 90-, and 180-day engaged audiences plus the total list. The article uses opens or clicks as engagement signals, with 90-day engaged as the core for most brands; frequent senders can start tighter. Privacy-protected opens need caution. Reserve total-list sends for major launches, promotions, or important news, and exclude ineligible or unsuitable profiles.

For example, a subscriber interested in running shoes receives relevant welcome education; a launch campaign reaches an appropriate engaged audience; purchasers leave acquisition messaging and get help using their shoes before a useful next-product offer. An offer need not always be a discount.

Flows still need maintenance. Campaigns still need a reason to exist.

Section 3

Let email and SMS work together

Email gives you room to explain, demonstrate, and tell a story. SMS can support a concise, timely message when the customer has subscribed to that channel.

Coordinate them around the same customer journey. Receiving the same promotion twice is not automatically a better experience.

Section 4

Product and experience come first

Email can make your value clearer. It cannot make a disappointing product satisfying or an unreliable experience dependable.

If customers do not return, investigate what happens after the first order as well as what happens in their inbox.

Section 5

What to prioritize

Understand your starting position, find the biggest gaps, and improve the parts of the journey that matter most. Avoid adding complexity before the fundamentals work.