bernard · email
Email that keeps working while you make pots
A monthly letter in your own look, and emails that go out by themselves at the right moment: a welcome for new sign-ups, a nudge for students who go quiet, a waiting list, and a check-in after an enquiry. You ask in your own words; Bernard writes each one as a draft for you to approve.
Nothing has been sent from this site. This is a demonstration. Everything on this page is a draft: the template, the October letter and the four journeys. Sending email is not switched on here, and there are no real sign-ups to send to.
Template · designed once, used every month
The studio letter: one design for every monthly letter
Tracy designs her letter once, in her own colours and type. Each month she fills in the words and it looks the same every time, so her readers know it is from her at a glance.
The template has slots: the month, a headline, three short stories, a button and one journal post. The picture of her shelf and her sign-off stay the same.
Make me a monthly letter template in my site’s colours, with a headline, three short stories, a button and a link to my latest journal post.
- Bernard shows the finished email with example words before he saves the template. Nothing is saved until you say yes.
- A template with its own design is edited as HTML from then on, not in the simple editor. Bernard tells you this before he saves it.
- Every picture must already be on your live site, because an email loads its pictures when it is opened, perhaps months later.
- You never write the unsubscribe link. Bernard adds it to the foot of every email and nobody can remove it.
Campaign · a draft, ready to check
The October letter, waiting for Tracy
The October letter is made from the template in a minute: kiln news, seconds in the shop and the Raku weekend. It goes to people who asked for the glaze guide and said yes to the letter, so it reaches the people most likely to care.
- Subject
- The studio letter: The kiln is mended, and the seconds are in
- Who it goes to
- Glaze guide sign-ups who confirmed. Today that is nobody, because this demonstration site has no real sign-ups.
- Status
- Draft. Not sent.
Make the October studio letter from my template: the kiln is fixed, there are seconds in the shop, and Raku places are open. Send it to the people who asked for the glaze guide.
- Making a draft sends nothing and reserves nobody.
- Before anything goes, Bernard tells you the exact number of people and shows the email. It sends only after you say yes.
- After you say yes there are five minutes to change your mind. Press Stop, or tell Bernard, and nothing goes.
- If you change the template later, this letter stays exactly as it is.
The four journeys below are automatic: once switched on, each one sends its emails by itself, at the right moment, for each person. On this demonstration site all four are drafts and are switched off.
Journey · welcome
A new sign-up gets the guide at once, and hears about the free course a few days later
Someone asks for the glaze guide, ticks the box and confirms. The guide arrives straight away, and three days later a second email points to Clay Taster, the free course, and the journal. Tracy does not lift a finger.
- Straight awayYour glaze guide is hereThe link to Twelve glazes we use every week, and what the monthly letter is.
- 3 days after they confirmA free course, and the studio journalPoints to Clay Taster (free) and the studio journal.
- Starts when
- Someone confirms their email address.
- Stops if
- They unsubscribe, or Tracy switches it off.
- Most emails
- 2
When someone asks for the glaze guide, send it straight away, and three days later tell them about Clay Taster and the journal.
- A welcome journey starts for anyone who confirms their email from any form on the site, not only the glaze guide form. A journey cannot yet be limited to one form, so the first email is written to make sense for everyone who confirms.
- It reaches only people who confirm after it is switched on.
- Nobody gets more than one automatic email a day.
Journey · follows each student
Students who go quiet get a nudge, and finishers get a well done
Most students who stop a course stop quietly. This journey notices when a student on Throwing on the Wheel has done nothing for a week, and sends a friendly nudge. When they finish, it congratulates them and points to their certificate and the Pottery Club.
- No progress for 7 days, at 9amYour wheel is waitingA short nudge back to the lesson they were on.
- No progress for 21 days, at 9amStill here when you are readyAn offer to help if a lesson has them stuck.
- Within an hour of the certificateWell done, you finished Throwing on the WheelWhere to download the certificate, and the Pottery Club.
- Starts when
- A student on Throwing on the Wheel reaches one of the moments above.
- Stops if
- They get a refund, their enrolment is withdrawn or runs out, they unsubscribe, or Tracy switches it off.
- Most emails
- 3, each one once
Email students on Throwing on the Wheel who have not done a lesson for a week, and again after three weeks. When they get their certificate, say well done and tell them about the club.
- A student who has finished the course never gets a nudge.
- Students already on the course get the nudges only if Tracy chooses to include them when she switches it on.
- Each email goes to each student once.
Journey · waiting list
The Raku waiting list stays warm until the doors open
The Raku weekend has six places. People who join the waiting list hear at once that they are on it. When Tracy opens booking, one press tells everyone still waiting.
- Straight awayYou're on the Raku Weekend Workshop listWhat raku is, and that she will email when booking opens.
- When Tracy presses Open the doorsBooking is open for the Raku Weekend WorkshopThe link to book a place.
- Starts when
- Someone confirms they want to join the waiting list.
- Stops if
- They unsubscribe, or Tracy switches it off.
- Most emails
- 2
When someone joins the Raku waiting list, tell them they are on it. When I open booking, tell everyone still waiting.
- Opening the doors reaches everyone still on the list, including people who joined before the journey was on. Bernard says the exact number first and waits for a yes.
- The doors can be opened once.
Journey · enquiries
A commission enquiry never falls through the cracks
Tracy answers every commission enquiry herself. Two days later, a kind check-in asks if her reply arrived, in case it went to a spam folder. If she has already sorted it, she tells Bernard and the check-in never goes.
- 2 days after the enquiryDid you get what you needed about your commission?A kind check-in, in case her reply went astray.
- Starts when
- Someone sends the commission enquiry form.
- Stops if
- Tracy marks it resolved, they buy, they unsubscribe, or she switches it off.
- Most emails
- 1
Two days after someone asks about a commission, check my reply reached them. If I tell you I have already answered someone, stop it for them.
- It never assumes she did not reply.
Sending
One address for everything
The letter, the journeys and the replies all use one address on Tracy’s own domain, so readers always see her name, and replies come back to her inbox. If she runs a second site, it can use the same address with nothing more to set up.
Set up my email so it comes from hello at my own domain, and send the replies to my inbox.
- Bernard lists the records to add to your domain. He does not change your domain himself.
- Each site keeps its own unsubscribes and its own reply address.
- Not set up on this demonstration site, so it cannot send.
Results
Opens and clicks: what people care about
After a letter goes, Tracy can see how many people opened it and which links they pressed. If the Raku link gets the most presses, she knows what to write about next month.
How did the October letter do? Which link did people press most?
- Recorded only for people who agreed to it. Bernard shows a count of those people, never a rate over the whole list.
- An open that a mail app fetched by itself is shown separately, not hidden.
- Bernard never says that a person did not open an email, because he cannot know that.
- Not set up on this demonstration site, and no letter has gone, so there are no results to show.
The rules
Who gets marketing email
Only people who said yes get marketing email. That keeps Tracy’s list clean and lawful, and it means the people who get her letter want it.
- They tick the box themselves. The consent box on a form is never ticked for them.
- They confirm. Bernard sends a confirmation email, and only a click on its link counts.
- They can leave at any time. Every email has an unsubscribe link and an email preferences link. Bernard adds both, and nobody can remove them.
- Gone is gone. Someone who unsubscribes is never emailed again, and nobody can add them back.
Who can I email about the Raku weekend?
- A tick box such as "Keep me posted" is only an answer. Permission comes only from the consent box and the confirmation click.
- A tag can narrow who gets an email. It can never add somebody who has not said yes.