Have you heard of Flodesk? It’s a serious lifesaver for our business. Whether you have this platform already, are thinking about getting it or have no idea what it is, this post is for you! We will dig into why you need a proper email management platform if you want to grow your creative business organically without depending on social media. Together, we will dig into what Flodesk workflows are and three ideas for you to steal and implement into your business. This allows us to connect and nurture our audience automatically without a ton of manual work. Isn’t that the dream? Let’s dig in!
What is Flodesk?
Flodesk is an email marketing platform that allows you to design beautiful emails, build custom workflows, and create simple opt-in landing pages. It’s an intuitive platform that is perfect for beginners and seasoned business owners alike who are ready to grow their business. We love having the opportunity to segment our audiences and automate sequences for evergreen systems and unique launches.
One of our favorite fun facts about Flodesk is that it was self-funded by two women. It’s no surprise that women-led duo’s are kinda our favorite thing to support! In a male-dominated industry, these two powerhouses created a platform that’s unique from any other email providers out there and effectively solves their target audience’s problem — seeking to create beautiful emails, easily.
If you are just now learning about this platform, go ahead and give it a try. Use this affiliate link to save 50% off Flodesk for the first year!
What is a Flodesk Workflow?
If you clicked on this article you may already be familiar with Flodesk, but are likely wondering what a Flodesk workflow is and how to incorporate one into your business. A workflow is an automated process that sends emails based on an action a subscriber takes. We’ll get to some examples in a minute, but what you should know is that it automatically nurtures your subscribers before they’re ready to partner or buy from you. It’s entirely automated, so once you turn it on, the subscribers in that email sequence are receiving emails without you having to manually press “send.”
Sounds pretty great, right?
Why should you use Flodesk workflows instead of sending one-off emails? Because you are a busy business owner and this is one area where you can work smarter, not harder! Don’t worry, you wont lose any personalization, instead you will gain consistency and foster a relationship of trust. Your audience will feel like they can depend on you because you’ve taken the time to welcome and support them.
First, let’s just eliminate any terminology confusion. There are several names that a “workflow” can go by (and that we might use in this blog), including:
- Email sequence
- Drip campaign
- Funnel
We didn’t want to confuse you with using these terms interchangeably! Now, on with the show.
How to set up a Flodesk Workflow
Before we dig into our favorite workflows, let’s talk about the logistics. Rather than duplicate some perfectly great content on the web, we want to send you straight to the source! Peek at this article from Flodesk walking you through the set up of your very first Flodesk workflow.
Our 3 Favorite Flodesk Workflows
Let’s get into our three favorite Flodesk workflows that have transformed our business in such a short amount of time.
1. Welcome Sequence
A welcome sequence happens when someone first signs up for your newsletter. It nurtures the relationship and sets expectations with your new subscriber. This is your chance to tell them what they can expect from being on your email list, whether that’s tips, content, resources or stories. Not only can you share an in-depth look at your offerings, but you can also (and you should) share who you are personally. This helps to eliminate unsubscribes and nurtures a long-term relationship with your audience.
Curious what’s inside our welcome sequence? If you aren’t already on our list you can go ahead and sign up here.
Here’s an inside look at our welcome sequence from our Flodesk workflow. We have four emails in total that are distributed one day apart. Theses emails are:
- Welcome to the list.
- Sharing of resources and content we think our audience will love.
- How can you work with us.
- What to expect moving forward.
This welcome sequence is one of our absolute favorite Flodesk workflows. We were fortunate enough to partner with Sara at Between The Lines Copywriting to help us draft our content for each of these emails. This is one of the easiest ways to nurture a new audience before dropping them right into our weekly newsletter series. Plus, we constantly are receiving emails from our subscribers thanking us for the content and inquiring further about our services after receiving these emails.
2. Freebie Delivery
A freebie delivery workflow ensures your new subscribers not only get the free content they signed up for immediately, but also foster a relationship beyond that free content. These workflows can be hyper-targeted towards the particular freebie you are sharing. You can hone in on specific blogs or additional resources and content that speaks to that freebie, along with your services and offerings. They told you what they’re interested in, now give them other resources that relate!
3. Program or Offer Waitlist
Launching a new offering can be scary, but it’s so much more comforting to pull the trigger when you have a wealth of content lined up ready to go. Plus, this is the best way to get your audience hyped, engaged and ready to purchase. These workflows often include emails like:
- A “welcome to the VIP club” and what the heck is it.
- A detailed breakdown of what’s inside and why they need this program, product or offer.
- Testimonials and social proof.
- What to expect when you pull the trigger and get inside.
- All the ways you can pay or tiers you can sign up for.
- Answer frequently asked questions, share videos and live content.
Anytime we launch a new program, like our SEO group coaching program for web designers and copywriters, we prep our Flodesk workflow in advance. We will do this for both our waitlist and our full email list. This takes the stress out of our launch and allows us to focus on what our audience and clients need from us — which is usually to be present and consistent with our content.
A Few Commonly Asked Questions on Flodesk Workflows
If you are still a little confused on Flodesk workflows, hang on! We find that the best way to break this confusion is to get our hands dirty. Just get inside and start crafting one of the workflows above. We also have just a few more words of wisdom from our experience.
How many emails should be sent in a typical sequence?
Most sequences have between 3-7 emails. Give them a little taste of what you’re all about, then move them on to your regular scheduled email list. When you are creating a program launch sequence you might see a higher number of emails, but these are typically only temporary, being one to two weeks at most. It’s important to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and make sure each email has a purpose and value. If you would get confused or frustrated by any of the emails in terms of content or frequency, then it might be time to rethink the sequence.
How far should each email in my workflows be spread out?
in our opinion, each email should be at least one day apart but no longer than three days. You don’t want to bombard your new subscribers with a ton of emails all in the same day, but you also don’t want them to forget about you!
Can I still personalize the emails?
Absolutely! You set up workflow emails as you would with any other email, which includes personalization. We highly recommend using your subscribers name multiple times throughout the email to capture their attention and keep them engaged. With workflows you can easily allow your audience to choose their own journey created carefully curated workflows that match. These work great for quiz results like this — how strong is your ‘Gram game?
What type of content should I have in my email sequences?
There’s soooo much to choose from! It all depends on the goal of the workflows. Here are a few ideas:
- About you and your business
- Best performing and favorite blog posts
- How to connect with you at a deeper level (email, social media, etc.)
- Testimonials and customer love
- More freebies and resources
- Promotion, sale and limited time offerings
- Upcoming events
- Additional resources both from you and your partners
Don’t forget to check your email workflow analytics
As tempting as it is to “set it and forget it,” you should analyze the stats of your email sequences to make sure they’re working. Check how each sequence is doing quarterly, and revise them if needed.
How do you know if your email sequences are successful? Here are a few metrics to look for:
- Average open rate: The average number of people who opened your emails.
- Click-through rate: The percentage of people who clicked on at least one link in your email.
- Click-to-open rate: This compares the number of unique clicks to unique opens and is often a metric of effectiveness in getting your audience to take action in each email.
- Unsubscribes: How many people unsubscribed from your email list at that particular point in your workflow.
Here is one of our favorite resources for comparing these analytics against benchmarks in your specific industry.
Just a few final thoughts about email marketing
Growing our email list is one of our top goals this year and we hope that it can be one of yours too! We know just how important it is to nurture and grow our very own list without always depending on social media and other algorithms to work for us. With that in mind, here are just a few more email marketing best practices to consider:
- Always write a strong, click-worthy subject line
- Remember to serve more than you sell
- Measure performance and analytics quarterly — set up a calendar notification so you don’t forget.
- Optimize your workflows to improve opens and clicks
- Personalize again and again
- Ask your audience for feedback
These three Flodesk workflows have been a game changer for our business, and we know they will be for you too! Sure it takes a bit of time in the upfront to set these up, but once you’ve implemented them, they run themselves! We’d love for you to steal these workflows and implement them into your business. Once you have, let us know! We can’t wait to sign up and follow along.
Pssst… Don’t forget, if you aren’t on our list already, take a peek at some email workflows in action with our Tuesday Tips & Sips newsletter. See you inside!
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