Email and customers · Lesson 5.3
5 Email Automation Sequence Mistakes and How to Fix Them
A badly set up email automation sequence wastes time in a quiet way. It keeps sending, so you assume it is working. Meanwhile it may be pitching people who already bought, ignoring the data or leaving out something the law requires. The mistakes below are common patterns, and each one has a plain fix.
I am not quoting statistics here. These are problems that follow from how sequences work, and the fixes are things you can check in your own account.
Lesson 5.3 helps you avoid all five when you build your journey: An email journey that keeps paying.
Most sequence mistakes come from building the emails before deciding the goal, so fix the plan before you fix the copy.
Mistake 1: Starting with the tool, not the goal
What it looks like. You open your email tool, pick a template and start editing the words.
Why it costs time. You rewrite the same email several times because you never decided what it was for. A template written for a shop does not fit a coach.
The fix. Before touching the tool, write three lines: the goal (one outcome), the reader (who and why they joined) and the trigger (what starts the sequence). Then give each email one job.
Mistake 2: Pitching too early, or never
What it looks like. Email one says "Buy now". Or the opposite: five friendly emails that never ask for anything.
Why it costs time. The early pitch loses people before they trust you. The never pitch builds a list that never buys. Mailchimp's journey guidance says to share content about what you offer and avoid a hard sell at the early stage, which hints at the balance: help first, ask later, but do ask.
The fix. Use an order such as hello, help, proof, offer, nudge. Put the offer in email four of five, and make the final email a short follow up for people who did not act.
Mistake 3: No exit for people who buy
What it looks like. Someone buys on day three, and on day four receives "Still thinking about it?"
Why it costs time. It looks careless, produces unsubscribes and confusion, and the clean up falls to you. Check how your tool lets you remove buyers or move them to another journey.
The fix. Set an exit rule: anyone who buys leaves the pitch emails. Many tools can do this with a tag, a list change or a goal setting, but the names differ, so use your tool's own help pages. Then test it: make a test purchase or manually add the tag to your own test contact and see whether the next email stops.
Mistake 4: Judging the sequence by opens
What it looks like. You check the open rate, see a healthy number and move on.
Why it costs time. Open numbers can mislead. Mailchimp's Apple Mail Privacy Protection FAQ says emails in Apple Mail are reported as opened regardless of the contact's activity, which leads to inflated and inaccurate open rates. Google also says it does not track open rates and cannot verify the accuracy of open rates reported by third parties.
The fix. Judge by clicks on the offer link, replies and sales. Opens are still a rough signal for subject lines, but treat them as soft.
Mistake 5: Leaving out the legal and delivery basics
What it looks like. No postal address in the footer, an unsubscribe link that is hard to find, a subject line that promises more than the email gives, or emails sent to people who never asked.
Why it costs time. Spam complaints work against your delivery, and the US rules cover commercial email whatever the size of the sender. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says commercial emails must not use false or misleading headers or deceptive subject lines, must be identified as ads, must carry your valid physical postal address and must explain how to opt out. You must honour opt out requests within 10 business days. Rules differ by country, so check where your readers live.
For Gmail delivery, Google's sender guidelines say to keep your spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid ever reaching 0.30%. That is much easier when only people who asked for your emails get them.
The fix. Use the footer checklist below on every email.
- Valid postal addressPresent in the footer of every marketing email.
- Clear opt outA visible unsubscribe link that works, and an opt out processed within 10 business days.
- Honest subject lineThe subject matches what is inside.
- Identified as marketingMake clear the message is an ad where it is one.
- Only people who askedNever import a list of people who did not agree to hear from you.
The five at a glance
| Mistake | Time it wastes | Fix in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Tool before goal | Repeated rewrites | Three line plan first |
| Pitch too early or never | A list that never buys | Hello, help, proof, offer, nudge |
| No exit for buyers | Cleanup and lost trust | Exit rule, then test it |
| Judging by opens | Decisions on bad data | Use clicks, replies, sales |
| Skipping basics | Delivery and legal trouble | Footer checklist on every email |
A quick audit you can run in thirty minutes
Open your sequence and go through this list.
- Can you state the goal in one sentence?
- Does each email have a single job and a single link?
- Is there an email that makes an offer, and one that follows up?
- What happens when someone buys? Test it.
- Does every email carry the footer basics?
- Which numbers do you check, and are they clicks and sales rather than opens?
Anything you answer "not sure" to is a task for this week. For a framework that prevents the first two mistakes, see the five stage frame.
Questions people ask
Which mistake is the most expensive?
Usually the missing exit rule, because it directly annoys paying customers. The missing basics can be more serious if they cause legal or delivery problems.
Do the legal rules apply to a tiny list?
The FTC's guide describes requirements for commercial email in general. Check the rules where you and your readers live, and ask a professional if unsure.
How often should I audit?
Once at launch and then monthly for the first quarter.
Where to go next
Lesson 5.3, An email journey that keeps paying, builds the sequence in the right order: map first, write all five in your voice, then set the timing and read the results. That order avoids most of the mistakes above.