Sales in the Background: How to Make Your Email List Work While You’re Not

You started growing your email list… now what?

In this episode, I’m talking about the next step after list-building: setting up email automations that help your business keep working even when you’re not manually sending every single email.

Because your email list shouldn’t just sit there waiting for you to remember to send a newsletter. With the right automations in place, your email can welcome new subscribers, bring interested shoppers back to your site, recover missed sales, and follow up after someone buys.

And no, your emails don’t always have to be long, emotional, or packed with personal stories. Sometimes the best sales email is short, clear, and direct - with one goal: getting someone curious enough to click over to your website.

In this episode, I’m sharing:

• Why growing your list is only the first step
• What email automations are, even if your platform calls them flows, sequences, or workflows
• Why business and marketing are a numbers game
• The 4 foundational automations I’d start with: welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, and post-purchase
• How these automations support the full customer journey: acquire, recover, reengage, and retain
• Why post-purchase emails have become one of my favorite ways to connect with Moss Bags customers
• Why simple, repeatable systems help your business keep moving without everything depending on you doing more

Favorite takeaway:
A newsletter is something you send. An automation is something you build. And when your automations are working, your email list becomes more than a list - it becomes a system that supports your business.

Join the Waitlist:
I’m currently building The Email Flow Fix, a fast-action course for product-based business owners who know email matters but don’t want to figure out every automation, email, and setup step from scratch.

Join the waitlist to be the first to know when it’s ready:
https://heyjulie.systeme.io/flowwaitlist

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The ecommerce platform I use and recommend for product-based businesses.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Connect with Julie | Moss Bags:
Website: https://mossbags.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/moss.bags

Photography by Lisa Aamot | https://www.merakiphotographynw.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There is a point in business where collecting email addresses is no longer enough. At first, the goal is simple. Get people on your list. Invite them in. Give them a reason to stay connected. Start building that audience outside of social media. But eventually, the question shifts from how do I grow my list to what happens after somebody joins? Because if someone signs up and then never hears from you again, or only hears from you when you randomly remember to send that newsletter, your email list is not really working for your business yet. That is where automations come in. Depending on what email platform you use, you might hear these called automations, flows, sequences, workflows, or something else entirely. The name can vary, but the idea is simple. These are emails that send automatically based on what somebody does. They join your list, they look at a product, they leave something in their cart, or make a purchase. Instead of you sitting down and sending every single message one by one, automations help you create a system that runs in the background. And for a small business owner, that matters. Because you are already doing a lot. You're making the products, shipping the orders, answering emails, posting online, updating your website. You're doing everything. So if email is only working when you manually sit down to write something, it is always going to be one of the first things that gets pushed aside. But when you have the right automations in place, your email list starts doing more than just sitting there. It starts welcoming people in. It starts explaining who you are and why your business even exists. It starts guiding people to what customers love and it reminds them about products they're already interested in and starts following up after a purchase. And yes, it starts helping you make sales because ultimately that is the point. I think sometimes we make email feel more complicated or even more emotional than it needs to be. Yes, your email can build connection and tell your story and help people trust you, but your email list is also a business tool. It is there to help your business make money. And that doesn't mean every email has to be long, heartfelt, or packed with personal stories. Sometimes a great email is short, clear, and direct. Here's the product, here's why people love it, how can it help you? Here is where to go if you want to see more. And really, that's enough. So today we're going to talk about what email automations actually are, why they matter for small business owners, and how they help create the foundation your email list needs before you start worrying about sending perfect newsletters week after week. Because first you invite people onto your list, then you keep building, and then you automate parts of your business that should not depend on you remembering to send every single email manually. Welcome to Hey Julie by Moss Bags. I'm Julie, founder of Moss Bags since 2013. And this podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build a small business that lasts. Each week we talk about real stories behind the brands, the systems that keep things running, the lessons learned along the way, and the practical pieces that help small businesses keep moving forward. If you're building something with heart, then you're in the right place. Now, let's dive in. Last week we talked about starting and growing your email list, and I really do believe that is where you begin. Before you worry about email strategies or updated platforms, you need a place where people can say, yes, I want to hear from you. But once people are on the list, the next question becomes, what are they walking into? Because getting someone to join your list is not the finish line, it is the beginning of their experience with your business. And this is where a lot of people accidentally drop the ball. Not because they don't care and not because they're lazy, but because there is not a system in place yet. For a long time, my email list existed in the most basic way. People could sign up. I had the form. I had technically done the thing I was supposed to do. I even gave them ways to win. If you enter, you could win something. But I was not really thinking through the full customer experience. What happened after they purchased? Was I helping them understand what made Mossbags different? Was I showing them what customers loved and guiding them back to the website? Was I making it easy for them to take the next step? Those are the questions that started changing how I looked at email because email is not just sending a newsletter when you remember. It's about creating a path. And automations help you build that path. For my business, I started using Clavio after moving my website to Shopify. And that was when email started to click in different ways for me. Clavio could connect to what was actually happening in my shop. It could see if somebody joined my list, browsed a product, added something to their cart, purchased, came back again, all of the details I was looking for. And once I understood that, I realized email could do a lot more than send one-off updates here and there. It could support the way people move through the business. Now, I do not want you to hear that and think that you need to immediately switch platforms or rebuild everything from scratch. Please do not do that. Use what you have. Different platforms may use different words. Clavio calls them flows. Other platforms might call them automations or sequences, workflows. Just simply search for automations in that platform. The name doesn't matter as much as the function. The function is this. When somebody takes an action, the right email can automatically follow. That is the piece that matters. So let's walk through a few automations that can make a really big difference in a small business. The first one is your welcome automation. This is what happens after someone joins your list. And I want you to think of this as the first guided step into your business. A welcome automation does not need to be 10 emails long. It does not need to be dramatic. It does not need to tell your entire life story, but it should help someone understand where they are, who they are hearing from, and why they might want to keep paying attention. This is where you can introduce your business in a clear, simple way. You might share why you started and explain what you make. You might point them toward your best sellers and share what customers come back again and again for. You might set expectations for what they will receive from you. The goal is not to overwhelm. The goal is to orient. Just imagine somebody walking into your shop for the first time. You would not ignore them. You would maybe say something like, Welcome in, here are some of our new designs. Or this is what makes our leather different. Or maybe let me know if you have any questions. Now that is what a welcome automation can do. It gives people a starting point. And in a small business, that starting point matters because new people do not know what you know. They do not know your best sellers or your process, they don't know how to care for your goods, and they don't know what customers love unless you show them. Your welcome automation helps them understand. Now, the second automation I would look into is the abandoned cart. This one is more directly connected to sales, so that's great. Sometimes I think we get worried about that as small business owners, but we want people to buy from us, we need people to buy from us, and that is how the business keeps going. Now, an abandoned cart email is not pushy when it's done well. It's simply a reminder. Someone was already interested, they already looked and they put it in their cart. Then life happens, the kids needed something, probably a snack, they started working, who knows what the reason was, but they got distracted and forgot. An abandoned cart automation simply helps bring them back. It might say, oops, you left something behind. It might answer a common question or show the product again. It might include a review from someone who has bought the same thing. It doesn't have to be complicated. The goal is to make it easy for someone to return to something that they had already shown interest in. And that is a huge part of email marketing, making the next step easier. Not forcing or begging, not over explaining, just guiding. And something I think it's important to remember is that business and marketing, in many ways, it's a numbers game. At no point will every single person on your list buy just because you sent an email. That's not how it works. But the more consistently you show up, the more value you provide, and the more you continue growing your list, the better chances you are of making the sales. Email is not about sending one message and expecting everyone to rush into your website. It's about creating repeated opportunities for the right person to take the next step. Sometimes they need to hear from you a few times or need to see the product again. Sometimes they need to understand why it matters. And sometimes they simply need time to think it over. That is why these automations matter. They give your business more opportunities to meet people at the moment they are already showing interest, all without you working more. Now the third automation is browse abandonment. This is different from abandoned cart. Abandoned cart is for someone who added a product to their cart and then left. Browse abandonment is for someone who looked at the product but didn't add it to the cart yet. And this is such a valuable automation because that person has already shown interest. They clicked, they looked, they were curious enough to spend time on that product page. They just didn't take the next step. So a browse abandonment email can gently bring them back. It might say, still thinking it over, and then invite them back to take another look. These emails can be really powerful because they are based on behavior, the customer behavior. You are not sending the same general message to everyone. You're following up based on what somebody already showed interest in, and that is the difference between random marketing and intentional marketing. The fourth automation is post-purchase. And this one has honestly surprised me in the best way. Yes, a post-purchase flow can help with repeat sales. It can share care instruction, ask for a review, suggest another product, or invite someone back to your shop. But one of my favorite parts has been the replies. I love when somebody chooses to take the time to send me a message after they buy. Maybe they tell me why they bought, or that they're excited that they found moss bags. Sometimes someone sends a photo of their moss bags collection without me even asking, not because I forced the conversation, but because the email gave them an easy opportunity to reply. And as a one-woman show, that feels like the biggest win. Because yes, email is there to help your business make money, but it also gives you a direct line to the people who are choosing to support your business. A post-purchase automation helps you keep that conversation going after the order is placed. It reminds the customer that there is a real person behind the business, and it reminds you that these are not just order numbers. They're people. People who choose your work, who came back again. They are people who are building a collection, giving a gift, treating themselves, or supporting a brand they believe in. That matters. So if we look at these four automations together, welcome, abandoned, browse, and post-purchase, they really do cover the full customer journey. Your welcome automation helps acquire and orient new people. Your abandoned cart automation helps recover potential sales. Your browse abandonment automation helps re-engage people who showed interest but didn't take action. And your post-purchase automation helps retain customers and strengthen the relationship after they buy. And once those four are live, then you can add any others. But start with the foundation. Because once the foundation is in place, your email is no longer just a list. It becomes a system. A system that welcomes people, follows up with interest, recovers missed sales, and keeps caring for customers after they buy. That is when email starts to feel less like one more thing you have to remember and more like part of your business that is actually supporting you. And once these automations are working, your newsletters and sales emails become stronger because they're not carrying the entire weight of your email strategy. A newsletter is something you send, an automation is something you build. And you need both. Your newsletter keeps you current, your automation keeps the foundation running. Your sales emails drive people toward action, and together they create a system that supports your business instead of one more thing you have to remember to do manually. And I want to talk about sales emails for a minute because I think this is another place where we overcomplicate things. A sales email does not have to be long. It does not have to include a big personal story. Sometimes the most powerful sales emails can be very simple. Here's the product, here's a photo, here's why people love it, and here's where you can get more information. That's enough. Your email does not have to have all of the details. Sometimes the email's job is simply to get someone interested enough to then click onto your site. Then your website can do more of the heavy lifting. Your product photos can show the details, the descriptions can explain, the features, and your reviews can build trust. FAQs can answer questions. Your checkout experience can make the purchase easy. Email and your website should work together. Your email creates the nudge, your website creates the deeper experience, and your automations help make sure those nudges are happening at the right moment. That is the foundation. Now I want to make this practical. If you're listening and thinking, okay, where do I even start? Here's what I'd look at first. Start with the welcome automation. If someone joins your list, what happens? Do they get an email right away? Do they know who you are and what you sell? If not, start there. Then look at abandoned cart. If someone adds something to their cart and leaves, are you following up? If not, that is money potentially sitting on the table. And then don't forget post-purchase automations. After someone buys, are you helping them have a good experience? Are you giving them useful information? Inviting them to reply, share, review, and come back? That is the order I would think about. You do not have to build the fanciest version of any of these to begin. You just need to start. One clear welcome email is better than no email. One abandoned cart reminder, better than nothing. And one helpful post-purchase email is better than going quiet after the order confirmation. Progress counts. And the best part about automations is that once it exists, you can improve it anytime. You can change the subject line, the photos, the message. You can change everything. You could add reviews, you could adjust the timing. You can make it better once you see what's working and what's not. You are not locked into the first version ever. You can change it whenever. You are just giving your business a starting point. And this is why I am such a believer in building email systems. Because a lot of small business owners are not avoiding email because they don't care. They're avoiding it because they do not know what to build first. They open the platform and see all of the options campaigns, segments, tags, flows, automations, templates, forms, pop-ups, and analytics. Oh my gosh. And suddenly it feels easier to just close the laptop and go back to Instagram. I get it. I've been there. And that is exactly why I'm building the email flow fix. Because maybe you're listening to this and thinking, yes, I know I need this. I know emails matter. I know I should have these automations set up, but I don't want to figure it out on my own. That is the gap I want to fill. The email flow fix will help you set up the foundational automations your small business needs, the emails that welcome people in, bring shoppers back to your site, recover missed sales, and follow up after someone buys. It's not ready quite yet because I'm still building it. But if this sounds like something your business needs, you can join the wait list for the email flow fix. This is where I'll share updates first, including early access when it's ready. And I'll link it in the show notes. Because first you invite people onto your list, then you keep building, and next you automate so you don't have to send every single email manually. Your email list can do more than sit there. It can support your customer experience, it can bring people back to your site and help you sell. And it can do all of that in a way that feels simple, clear, and doable. Thanks for being here. If you're building something or dreaming of starting, hit follow so you don't miss what's next. And if this episode helped you see email differently, I would love for you to share it with another small business owner who needs a little nudge to stop overthinking her list. I can't wait to keep building this community together. Until next time.