If Your Emails Aren’t Printing Money, You’re Doing This Wrong
Backend automation that drive real business profits.
This is an excerpt from my book. It’s available on Amazon or you can grab the digital copy on Gumroad. It’s called The Art of Modern Media Buying—though if I’m honest, it’s more like my modern marketing manifesto.
“Email marketing is the most cost-effective way to promote your products, communicate with your customers, and reach your business goals.” – Neil Patel
It’s often said the money is in the list.
Maybe I’m a contrarian but I kind of disagree. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. But try building an email list, not emailing it for 12 months, then send a promotional email and let me know how many sales you get.
Instead, I believe the money is in the relationship you have with your list.
Your list isn’t just a bunch of emails and phone numbers. They’re people. And your relationship with them matters.
My philosophy started here:
1. Dean Jackson, a leading direct response marketer, has said 85% of people purchase after 90 days.
2. Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform, highlights that email marketing is responsible for up to 30% of revenue for many of its merchants.
Then I had the opportunity to witness it firsthand.
Working with two companies at the same time both running webinars. One actively leverages backend automation and email marketing while the other does not. It’s not surprising which one was doing better – and able to generate booked calls and new customers even when ads weren’t on.
The writing was on the wall.
Most people purchase after 90 days.
Companies generated ⅓ of revenue from email.
People are willing to break even just to acquire a customer.
Which I realized meant the following.
The customer journey and relationship matters.
Ads alone don’t build a business.
LTV is maximized on the backend.
Selling through email is (almost) 100% profit.
That’s why it became a core component of my strategy.
3 Pillars Of Backend Automation.
Maximize profits and buy back your time.
In simple terms, “backend” refers to everything that happens after someone becomes a lead and/or customer depending on your business.
Press ‘Send’ and watch the sales roll in. Build an automation once and watch them come in every single day. While you sleep, while you’re on vacation, all without spending a dime on advertising.
Designing A Customer Journey.
No two customers are alike.
They are motivated by different things and they are at different parts of their customer journey. We maximize sales by understanding and respecting this.
It’s commonly said that 1-3% of the market is ready to buy at any given time. In turn, this means that most conversion-focused advertising campaigns are missing out on approx. 97% of potential customers. We capture more of the total addressable market by respecting the customer journey.
We can build a bond through backend automation.
A bond requires frequency of interaction, time spent together, and depth of sharing and conversation.
Emailing a generic corporate newsletter once a month doesn’t accomplish any of this and it’s why so many businesses struggle. It’s not frequent enough to build a bond, it doesn’t engage them, nor is there any depth to the information shared.
Increase your frequency by emailing 1-3x weekly (Industry dependent).
Vary your interactions by sharing more than just company-focused updates.
Increase your time spent together by running monthly webinars, and workshops, and linking to additional resources.
This allows us to:
Build trust and rapport through email marketing and automation.
Be present and top of mind when they’re ready to make a buying decision.
Capture more of our market by respecting their journey.
The Right Message To The Right Person At The Right Time.
“Email marketing is more than just sending newsletters. It’s about reaching the right people with the right message at the right time.” – Jack Stone
Segmenting our audience allows us to do something that we cannot do with social media content or even with paid advertising.
We can deliver the right message to the right person. This is called relevancy and it increases conversion rates, a lot.
We can ‘segment’ or ‘tag’ people based on their behaviors (what they interact with, buy, or download) or through polls and invisible surveys.
Then we can serve them relevant and specific emails and campaigns just for them.
Instead of posting a tweet that attempts to speak to everyone you can send a promotion for a product to the exact people it’s relevant to. Protecting your email deliverability, enhancing your relationship, and maximizing your sales.
Note: This is how you never appear like you’re always ‘selling’ because people never see an offer unless it’s relevant to them.
Right message to the right person: Based on segmentation.
Right time: Based on behaviors and their customer journey.
Imagine they visit the pricing page or open a product-focused email and are entered into a promotional email campaign for that specific product.
Imagine they watch a masterclass training and then the promotional campaign is tailored to their exact business, with testimonials of people they know, and showing them how it can work for them.
Instead of blasting messages like “Attention: Coaches, Creators, Consultants, and Entrepreneurs” your messages speak directly to them – Increasing the chances they pay attention.
Extending Lifetime Customer Value (LTV)
Why are companies willing to break even to acquire a customer?
It’s quite simple. Because they know they will make up the profit on the backend. This is because they have a high customer value. Once they have a lead or customer they know they will make money.
Companies that fail to nurture and sell on the backend through email rely heavily on day 1 profits and struggle against competitors who can outspend them.
Here is how we maximize our LTV.
Send 1-3 emails per week.
Send 1-2 promotions or offers per month.
Run webinars and workshops.
Bring people to our social media profiles.
Run live and virtual events.
Extend offers.
Have additional products and services to sell.
While we can capture more of the total addressable marketing we can also capture more from our existing customers.
Sequences.
The type of email sequences will vary by business and industry.
E-commerce will have contextual differences from SaaS, coaches, of info businesses. However, there are 4 components that generate profits.
4 Core Concepts Of Backend Sequences.
Welcome/Indoctrination Sequences.
Every entry point requires a relevant and specific sequence.
Did they opt-in for your newsletter or a lead magnet? Maybe they purchased a product. This is their first touchpoint with your business and we need to meet them in that space.
Every entry point requires a unique sequence.
The first time on your list requires a unique experience.
Think ‘experience’.
How would you treat them if you were manually onboarding them and you wanted to give them a 5* experience and introduce them to your world?
In 4-7 emails we can accomplish these things:
Deliver what they came for.
Encourage replies to improve deliverability.
Tag & segment them.
Set expectations.
Provide a segue to the next logical step.
Targeted Sales Sequences.
Running 1-2 promotions (or offers) to your email list each month will maximize your profits. These can be done live or they can be automated.
Note: It’s often best to turn your best promotions into evergreen and automated promos.
If these are automated, using your CRM you can transition subscribers into sales sequences after they exit your welcome/indoctrination sequences.
Increase your conversion rates through relevancy.
You know what action they took to join your list. You’ve tagged and segmented them.
Now, you have two options.
Use relevant messaging with your sales sequence.
Sell them the most relevant next product.
Example:
Imagine two people downloading a sales script template.
Person 1: Personal trainer.
Person 2: Therapist.
Using relevant messaging you can promote the same backend offer specific to the person that came in. Instead of generic messaging that speaks to everyone, imagine person 1 has messaging speaking directly to what PTs are experiencing and PT specific testimonials and case studies. And the therapist, the same.
Using relevant products, imagine you have a course for trauma-informed therapists and one for using social media to generate online clients. You may move person 2 into a sequence for the former, and person 1 into a sequence for the latter.
Triggered Sales Sequences.
Behaviour-based sequences.
We can increase the relevancy of our marketing based on the actions someone takes.
The differences between downloading a lead magnet or booking a sales call. The difference between visiting the homepage vs. visiting our application or pricing page. The difference between someone downloading a checklist vs. opting into their 4th workshop in the last 6 months.
Different behaviors are indicators of intent. Using CRMs, tagging, and automation, we can trigger specific sequences based on the actions they have taken.
Example:
Person 1: Downloads ebook.
Person 2: Visits mastermind sales page after downloading the ebook.
Person 2 has shown an elevated level of intent and we may be able to trigger a sequence that encourages them to book a call.
Customer Journey Support.
Email is your concierge.
Help them get to where they’re going. There are a number of actions that people can take (or not take). Email can assist in each step of this journey. From the first to the last touchpoint supporting your customer journey increases sales and retention.
Think…
Cart abandonment.
Re-engagement.
Onboarding.
Testimonial collection.
Upsells/cross-sells.
Map out your customer journey and each touchpoint. Then determine where email can support and improve the experience.
The most important thing is to understand that Relevancy increases conversion rates.
Here are a number of sequences that can be implemented.
Welcome.
Indoctrination.
Cart abandonment.
Post-purchase onboarding.
Re-engagement.
Promotional.
Product launches.
Upsell.
Cross sell.
Nurturing.
Referrals.
Testimonial request.
Loyalty.
News & updates.
How Backend Influences Your Ads.
“The beauty of email marketing is that it gives you access to your customers without needing to battle social media algorithms.” – Unknown
Marketing is a team sport.
I love getting the question from clients…
“Did that sale come from ads or email?”
I kindly inform the client that the email list was built from paid advertising – Every sale may have originated from ads. The trouble is the fact that modern day attribution tools leave a lot to be desired.
In the cookieless, zero-click, and privacy-focused era it’s getting increasingly difficult to determine where your sales came from.
Maybe they clicked on an email and purchased or booked a call. But where did they originate from? They may have seen an ad. Started following you on social media. They download something and watch from a distance on your email list for 3 months. Then bought.
This is the modern day customer journey.
Needless to say, the backend influences your ads.
Market Research.
Email is a market research tool.
You can survey and poll your audience. You can test new offers. You can determine the exact messages to use and the products to create. For free. Allowing you to take proven concepts and ideas to the market and scale with ads, instead of pouring your hard-earned money into ads to test ideas.
Ad Copy.
Winners win.
High-performing emails make high-performing ads. Take the guesswork out of writing ad copy hooks and translate your highest converting emails and backend marketing messages into your paid advertising messages.
Reducing Reliance On Ads.
The bigger your list, the bigger your moat.
If your business can’t make a sale if you’re not running ads, you’re at risk. The bigger your warm audience and list become you can reduce the amount of money required to spend on paid advertising, increase profits, and remove your reliance on platforms you don’t control. Algorithms change, costs rise, and accounts can be banned, essentially the fate of your business is in someone else’s hands.
The backend balances the scale.
Outspending Competition.
With email, you can generate the same profit while spending more.
Or, you can utilize the profits to increase your spend. You can spend more on ads and you can also afford to spend more to acquire a customer because you’ve increased your profit margin. This puts you at a competitive advantage. If you can spend more and more to acquire you can take market share away from your competitors.
Monopolizing The Market.
Buyers buy.
Ever wondered how the big get better? Through backend sales.
They acquire a customer or client and then continue to sell more things to them on the backend. This ties in with multiple concepts we’ve (and will) discuss from economics, backend, and brand building.
I come from a world of people selling high-ticket programs using paid advertising.
You know the ones that seem to win? Aren’t the ones that just sell a $5,000 program. They’re selling a $10-$20,000 program. And after you finish that? They have a $25,000 program. And they have events and even higher-end consulting.
I’ve known 8- and 9-figure CEOs who charge $250,000/Year to coach someone 1 on 1.
While that’s over 3x of the average household income in America it demonstrates a point.
The businesses that monopolize the market are selling more on the backend – Often more than anyone even realizes because these offers are only presented to their warm audience or existing customers.
Always Build Your List.
Your list is no longer an afterthought.
The days of newsletter signups buried in your website footer are gone.
Unless you hate money.
Always prioritize building your email list as it’s one of your most valuable assets.
Generate buyers with products.
Deplatform your social media audience.
Build your list with lead magnets, webinars, and opt-ins.
This is a long-term approach to growth and it’s advised that a percentage of your marketing budget be dedicated to your growth. Start with whatever you can reasonably invest even if it’s just a few percentage points of your marketing spend.
Hope this helps.
Landon
Look, I’m not going to tell you this book will change your life. But it might change how you think about marketing. And that’s often enough. If it’s calling to you, it’s available on both Amazon, and Gumroad.
P.S Substack has become the cornerstone of my list-building strategy.
Not because it’s trendy. Because it’s simple and it works.
Every week, I publish content that builds trust, deepens relationships, and converts readers into customers—without relying on paid ads or algorithm hacks.
The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop walks you through the exact system I use: how to grow your subscriber base, monetize sustainably, and turn your newsletter into one of your most valuable business assets.
If you’re serious about building a list that actually makes you money, this is where you start.
Click This Link To Get Instant Access.
Woaaaah! Great article Landon. Thank-you for everything you share. You are a leader in this realm!
Saving and taking notes! Thank you!