3 ways to stay strategically consistent with your email marketing without burning out after running a big promotion (like Black Friday/Cyber Monday)

November and December are notoriously known for being the months of sales emails, and as an ethical sender yourself (who may take part in this holiday promotion), you know how much effort goes into planning, testing, and rolling out those campaigns.

The stress alone can drive entire teams to burnout city.

It’s extremely common to get massive fatigue after these intense sales periods, and think about nothing else but resting up.

I'm all for it.

You deserve that rest, even without running a sale. 

Without rest, you can't create the impact you want and is so desperately needed in the world. 

Without rest, you're pouring from an empty cup. I don't want you to get to that point, ever, especially because of emails.

So yes, by all means, take a week off. You have every right. And your subscribers won't even notice that, most likely.

But unfortunately, and often, that week turns into a month, and that month turns into a whole quarter... And then emailing your list again just feels... awkward. 

You still send those emails, right before or when you have something to sell, but then the guilt creeps up. 

You swore you wouldn’t have that kind of relationship with your list. You wanted to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with your inbox community. And you hate to give them that feeling that they're just a walking wallet to you!

If only there was a way for you to avoid that vicious cycle...

So how do you stay strategically consistent with your emails after a big sales period, provide value, nurture relationships, and retain happy customers with your emails, without burning out?

Here are my top 3 tips for having your pasta and eating it:

1. For the planners: Plan at least another 1-2 weeks’ worth of emails to be sent after that sales period as a part of that sales period email strategy. 

Hopefully, your post-purchase/delivery email sequences are all sorted out (and if not, reply to this email so we can do so together), so then all you have left is a few more ongoing newsletters to figure out. 

If you plan, write, and schedule those emails in advance, alongside the sales ones, you and your team will have a week or two (or more!) to catch your breath. At the same time, your subscribers will keep seeing your name in their inboxes and develop their relationship with your brand. 

These emails aren’t supposed to be sales-focused emails, but if done right, they absolutely can generate more sales and impact for your brand, your people, and our planet.

2. For the evergreen lovers: Use this post-sale period to collect direct feedback from your subscribers who chose not to buy from you. 

Because it’s as important to know why your subscribers chose to invest in your solution as it’s important to know why they chose not to. 

It can be a short automated sequence, with or without an incentive (that’ll depend on your audience and how they’re moved to action) to give you this data. The more qualitative, the better. This automation is something to have in your back pocket for you to rinse & repeat after every sales period.

The information you’ll get will help you do many things - from planning a better-performing next sales period and improving your messaging so it’ll convert even more subscribers in the future, to understanding whether your offers are the right ones for your subscribers and what’s the quality of your email list.

3. For the ones on the go: If the previous two suggestions aren’t your thing, or if you don’t have the time for them, pick the lowest-hanging fruit. In other words, use the things that are already happening in your business in the week or two post-sale, or reuse assets that could've used more love, and send them in a newsletter.

   
   

   It can be as simple as sending a blog post on your website that you’re super proud of and performed well the last time you shared it. Or one you think could’ve gotten more love when it was originally published, and give it a new spin.

   
   

   You can also send a summary of your latest social media posts if your socials game is strong. This suggestion is a good one to do every so often regardless because maybe 10% of your social media followers see your posts when you publish them (thanks, algorithms! Horray, emails!).

   
   

   Another thing you can do if you have a bit more time and headspace is to share the behind-the-scenes of the post-sale period. Show what you've been up to, and if you can show pictures rather than just tell, even better.

The point is - treat your subscribers as you’d like to be treated, and think of your email relationships through a long-term lens. It will pay off tenfold.

Let me know in a comment below if that helped and which one you’ll consider implementing in your business for your next sales period!