62% Open Rates on an Email Sales Sequence

Victoria Craig is a feminine embodiment coach who offers an all-female plant medicine retreat called The Soul Rising Retreat (SRR).

Goal

When she reached out, Victoria was planning to launch February's retreat. Our goal was to drive traffic to the landing page where readers could fill out an application form.

Process

Overall Strategy

Victoria had fewer than 200 contacts on her list, to whom she sometimes sent emails, but not consistently.

I suggested that we growing her list before initiating the sales sequence. Ideally, we’d promote a high-value lead magnet (something like a free breathwork class) to collect email sign-ups. This approach would allow us to promote February's retreat to a larger audience.

Victoria is consistent on Instagram and receives great engagement. My plan was to provide her with a promotional social media calendar, featuring posts designed to attract more people to the lead magnet. In addition, I’d have reached out to micro-influencers in the spiritual community and recommended leveraging partnerships to increase Victoria’s visibility and drive more sign-ups.

I would create a welcome email to automatically send to new subscribers, followed by the sales sequence a few days later. With their consent, I would add them to her regular newsletter.

Unfortunately, we were pressed for time and decided that we would execute this strategy in the near future.

Campaign Strategy

We decided on a 5-email sequence delivered over 5 days. As I always do, I reflected on the audience’s internal processes. We knew that they were already warmed up to her offer due to her promotion on Instagram. Since the topics discussed in these emails (self-realisation, transformation, spirituality) are pretty intense, we didn’t want to wait too long between each email. Those interested would be happy to see her pop up in their inboxes each day, providing more value and information about the retreat.

Once I completed the audience research, I defined the psychological touchpoints that I wanted to cover throughout the sequence. I wanted the audience to feel inspired, welcomed, and empowered when reading the emails.

To capture Victoria’s voice authentically, I studied the way she speaks. I watched her Instagram Lives with others and read her email newsletters. Once I understood her voice, I felt ready to write the sequence.

We executed the campaign on MailChimp.

Email 1

Goal: build trust through storytelling. I wanted readers to see Victoria as ‘one of them’ but also qualified enough to guide them on their spiritual journey.

I included:

• •Testimonial from a client who successfully implemented teachings from the retreat.
• •List of common challenges and pain points that resonate with the reader (to create that “wow, you get me!” feeling).

Read the email here.

Email 2

Goal: generate desire by honing in on the benefits.

The email focused on:

• •Storytelling our audience’s transformation
• •Powerful visuals depicting community, such as photos of women hugging each other.

Read the email here.

Email 3

Goal: make readers feel like Victoria is the best person to guide them on their spiritual journey. Essentially, to build trust through authority.

I focused on:

• •The Before/After transformation of a previous retreat participant.
• •Credentials.

Read the email here.

Email 4

Goal: overcome objections and remove the sense of risk readers might have if they’re considering investing in the retreat.

I included:

• •The most commonly asked questions, and Victoria's answers.

Read the email here.

Email 5

Goal: generate more desire to sign up.

This email provides:

• •Transparent communication outlining what readers can expect from the retreat, emphasising its benefits.

Read the email here.

Result

An average 62% open rate and 3.2% click-through rate (onto the landing page)!