March 26, 2025
The lifecycle emails most SMEs never send
Most businesses send a newsletter and a receipt, then wonder why repeat revenue is flat. These are the sequences that quietly do the heavy lifting.
The first ninety days decide retention
Whether someone buys again is largely settled in the weeks after their first purchase, not a year later. A short onboarding sequence that helps them get value from what they already bought does more for lifetime value than any win-back campaign.
Lapsed is not the same as lost
Segment by time since last purchase and treat the two groups differently. Someone sixty days quiet needs a reminder. Someone two years quiet needs a reason to reconsider you at all. Sending both the same discount wastes margin on one and insults the other.
Trigger on behaviour, not on the calendar
Browse abandonment, repeat visits to a pricing page, a support ticket resolved well. These are moments when someone is already thinking about you. Emails sent then outperform anything scheduled for the first Tuesday of the month.
Measure revenue per recipient
Open rates have been unreliable since privacy protections changed how they are counted. Revenue per recipient tells you whether a campaign was worth sending. It is the only email metric worth putting in a board pack.
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