Having drawn the journey on paper in part one, execution becomes the easy part.
This part covers the practical steps, testing, measurement and improvement.
Building it in the tool
Most tools work on the same logic: you pick the trigger, add messages, set waiting periods between them, and define exit conditions.
Watch three things: give each journey a clear name, test before switching it on, and check the sender settings so messages do not land in spam.
Sender settings are not a detail
Messages sent from an ordinary personal email land in spam more often. Use an address on your company's domain, and enable the authentication settings the tool asks for.
That step is slightly technical but it is done once, and it makes a large difference to deliverability.
Test it yourself
Before switching on, sign yourself up to the journey and see it in full exactly as a customer would.
Check: do the messages arrive at the right times? Do the images display? Do the links work? Does it look right on a phone? Most people will read on a phone.
Measure the right numbers
- Delivery rate. If it is low, the problem is technical or in the list.
- Open rate. Tells you about the subject line and the timing.
- Click rate. Tells you about the content and the offer.
- Goal rate. How many actually did what you wanted — the number that matters.
The common mistake is celebrating the open rate and forgetting the last number.
Improve one thing at a time
If the result is weak, start from the first low number in the chain:
- Poor delivery? Fix the settings and clean the list.
- Poor opens? Try different subject lines and timings.
- Poor clicks? Review the content and the requested step.
- Poor goal completion? The problem is usually the page they land on rather than the email.
Clean your list periodically
People who have not opened anything in six months harm more than they help: they lower your sender rating and reduce your deliverability.
Send them one final message, and if they do not respond, remove them. A smaller active list is stronger than a large dead one.
Keep the message human
Automated messages do not have to read as automated. Write in the first person, from a real person's name, and in a simple style.
And a message that invites a reply — "if you have a question just reply to this" — opens real conversations and improves your deliverability too.
Review every three months
A journey running for a year may be talking about a product that changed or an offer that ended.
Set a fixed date to review every running journey: is the content still correct? Do the links work? Are the results the same? That review takes an hour and prevents awkward situations.
In short
Build the journey as you drew it, fix your sender settings, test it yourself on a phone, and measure through to the goal rather than the open.
Improve one thing at a time, clean your list, keep the messages human, and review every three months.
This is part two — and there is a separate series on building the email funnel from start to finish.