Think about the last time you discovered a new service and decided whether to hire them. What made you choose them instead of a competitor? Chances are it wasn't a single interaction, it was probably a series of touchpoints where they gradually built trust, answered your concerns, and made you feel like they understood what you needed.
That's the customer journey in action, and email is one of the most powerful tools for guiding someone through it.
If you're running a service business or cottage industry operation, you might feel like you have two choices: overwhelm yourself trying to handle every marketing task, or hope that word-of-mouth alone keeps your business afloat. But there's a third path. Understanding how your customers move from first hearing about you to becoming loyal advocates, and knowing where email fits into that picture, can transform your business without consuming all your time.
The five stages of the customer journey
Let's break down what actually happens when someone becomes your customer. The journey isn't random, it follows a natural progression that you can understand, anticipate, and influence.
Awareness
This is where it all starts. Someone discovers your business exists. Maybe they searched Google for a solution to their problem, saw you mentioned on social media, got a recommendation from a friend, or stumbled upon your website. At this stage, people don't know much about you yet. They're simply aware that you're an option.
For service businesses especially, awareness often happens through local search, word-of-mouth, or someone noticing you in their community. A hairdresser gets found because someone searches "hair salon near me." A cleaning service gets recommended at a dinner party. A personal trainer becomes visible when they start posting fitness tips online.
Your job in this stage is simple: make it easy for people to find you and remember you exist.
Consideration
Once someone knows you exist, they start paying attention. They're looking at your website, reading your reviews, comparing you to competitors, and mentally weighing whether you're the right fit for them. They're asking questions like "Do they have experience with my specific problem?" and "Can I afford this?" and "Do they seem trustworthy?"
This is where many businesses lose potential customers, not because they're not good at what they do, but because they don't do enough to help people move forward in their decision-making. People get stuck in this stage because they don't have enough information, or the information they do have isn't addressing their specific concerns.
Purchase/Decision
After considering their options, someone decides to buy. They make the call, book the appointment, or hit the purchase button. This seems straightforward, but it's actually an emotional moment. They're committing money and trusting you to deliver on what you've promised.
Retention/Loyalty
After the first purchase, most businesses basically ignore the customer. They wait and hope the person comes back naturally. But this is actually where email becomes incredibly valuable. People who've already bought from you are far more likely to buy again, and they're also far more likely to recommend you to others.
Retention is about delivering excellent service (that's non-negotiable), but also staying connected with people after they've hired you. It's about reminding them you're still here, offering them relevant services, and making them feel valued.
Advocacy
The final stage is when someone loves you so much that they recommend you to others. They leave reviews. They mention you in conversation. They become your unpaid marketing team. This doesn't happen automatically, it’s the result of an excellent experience combined with ongoing engagement that makes people feel like they matter to you.
How email fits into this journey
Here's the thing that changes everything: email gives you a direct line of communication to people at every stage of this journey. You don't need to hope they remember you. You don't need to rely on an algorithm to show them your content. You own that relationship.
When someone first discovers you might need your services, they're often not ready to buy immediately. They might need time to think, want to compare a few options, or need to save up money. This is where email becomes powerful. If you can capture their email address during the awareness stage (typically through a free resource or discount code), you have permission to stay in touch.
As they move into consideration, your emails can address their specific concerns. If you're a personal trainer, you might share articles about the benefits of consistent exercise. If you're an event planner, you could send case studies of similar events you've organised. You're building trust and demonstrating expertise without being pushy.
When someone's ready to make a decision, you're already top of mind. They've been reading your emails. They've seen your personality. They feel like they know you.
Once they become a customer, email keeps them engaged. You can remind them of services they might have forgotten about. You can check in and make sure they're happy with what you delivered. You can share special offers or loyalty programs that reward repeat business.
And when they're so happy they want to recommend you? Email makes that easy. You can ask for reviews, provide referral links, or create a simple way for them to share your business with their network.
The reality: Email marketing delivers about $36 in revenue for every $1 you spend on it. That's not because of some marketing magic, it’s because you're able to have consistent, personalised conversations with people who've already shown interest in your business. You're building relationships at scale, which is exactly what drives growth for service businesses.
The key benefits of email in your customer journey
It keeps you consistently visible without being annoying
You show up in people's inboxes regularly, but only to subscribers who want to hear from you. Unlike social media platforms where algorithms control what people see, email is direct. If someone signed up to hear from you, they want you there.
It builds trust through consistency and relevance
When you send regular emails that address your customers' actual needs, you stop being "that business I once considered" and start being "that person who actually helps me." This consistency compounds over time. People who receive personalised, relevant emails are far more likely to buy from you and far less likely to cancel or go to a competitor.
It gives you valuable insights into what your customers actually want
Every time someone opens an email, clicks a link, or stays subscribed, you're learning something. You start to understand which services people care most about, which messages resonate, and what information they're hungry for. This data directly informs better service delivery and better marketing.
It keeps existing customers engaged, which is cheaper than finding new ones
A lot of business owners stress about constantly acquiring new customers. But here's what the data shows: customers who receive regular, relevant email from you spend significantly more money over time. In fact, retaining customers costs about five times less than acquiring new ones. Email makes retention almost effortless because you're staying connected without taking up huge amounts of your time.
It works particularly well for service businesses
If you offer local services, cleaning, fitness training, electrical work, tutoring, event planning, email might not seem like your channel. But it actually is. Service businesses that implement email marketing see measurable ROI because people in your community are already on email, and they appreciate staying informed about your availability, special offers, and tips related to your service.
Putting it all together: An email strategy for your business
Creating an email strategy doesn't mean you need to become an email expert overnight. Here's a simple framework:
Start by building your list. Offer something valuable in exchange for an email address. For a hairdresser, this might be "save 15% on your next cut." For a cleaner, it could be a free home organisation checklist. For a tutoring service, a free study guide. People need a reason to sign up. Once you have a lead magnet, place it on your website, mention it on social media, and ask customers to sign up in person.
Send a welcome email. The moment someone signs up, send an email that thanks them, confirms what they'll receive from you, and delivers on whatever you promised. This is your first impression with an engaged audience.
Segment your list by where people are in the journey. Don't send the same email to someone who just discovered you and someone who's been a loyal customer for years. Create simple segments: new subscribers, recent customers, and long-term customers. Send different messages to each group.
Create email sequences for key moments. When someone first signs up, you might send a series of educational emails that establish your expertise. When someone books an appointment or makes a purchase, send a confirmation and then a follow-up asking how it went. When someone hasn't engaged in a while, send a win-back email. These don't need to be complicated, just thoughtful.
Automate what you can. This is the secret that makes email manageable for busy people. Once you create a welcome sequence or a post-purchase follow-up, it sends automatically whenever someone triggers it. You're not manually sending hundreds of emails, you’re setting up a few sequences and letting them work in the background.
Measure what matters. Track open rates and clicks, sure. But more importantly, track whether email is actually driving the business outcomes you care about: inquiries, bookings, sales, repeat customers. If something isn't working, change it. Email marketing is one of the few channels where you can test, learn, and improve relatively quickly.
The bottom line
The customer journey is simply the natural progression from someone not knowing you exist to someone recommending you to their friends. Email is the thread that ties this journey together, keeping you visible, building trust, and creating opportunities for repeat business and referrals.
You don't need to be a marketing expert. You don't need expensive software. You need to understand your customers' journey and use email to guide them through it.
If you're an overwhelmed business owner who's not sure where to start, begin with a simple lead magnet and a welcome email. If you're time-starved, focus on automating the sequences that happen most frequently. If you're new to marketing, know that email is one of the most straightforward and effective channels to learn.
The businesses that grow sustainably aren't the ones doing the most marketing, they’re the ones having the best conversations with the right people. Email makes those conversations possible at scale.
