Landing pages & email
Plan a lead magnet email sequence: five helpful emails
Your free PDF goes out and the replies don't come. Plan five short email touches that give a download somewhere to go, starting with the problem your reader already has.
Your free PDF goes out and the inbox stays quiet. No question, no reply, no call booked — and you start to wonder whether you attracted a freebie-seeker rather than a client.
That worry deserves a straight answer. A silent download is not proof that the reader was never going to buy. More often, nothing in the emails gave them a reason to answer, so the file was saved and forgotten. This guide plans five short touches: the delivery email the reader asked for, then four follow-ups that each do one job. The worked emails below are written for a hypothetical operations consultant whose free resource is a supplier-onboarding checklist and whose paid offer is a two-week process review. Swap in your own resource and offer as you go.
Why a download goes quiet
Before writing a single email, name what is actually happening. When a download goes quiet, it usually comes down to one of three things, and none of them means you need to attract a different sort of reader.
The email ends at the file
The delivery email does its job and stops. Nothing invites a reply, so the reader has no obvious next step in front of them.
The resource is too broad
A checklist that fits everyone fits no one exactly. If the reader cannot see their own situation in it, it stays unopened.
The follow-up asks first
Asking for a call in the second touch, before giving anything back, reads as a pitch. People stop reading.
The remedy is not more emails or a harder sell. It is five emails with one job each, ordered so that each one gives something before the last one asks.
One delivery email and four follow-ups
Requested delivery
Sent to everyone who requests the resource. It delivers the link and one starting point.
Four follow-ups
Each has a single purpose and a single action, so the reader always knows what to do next.
In many markets, permission to hand over a file is not the same as permission for marketing emails. Check the consent rules that apply to you and ask a qualified adviser before you rely on a sign-up as an opt-in. Whatever those rules say, state plainly on the form what will be sent and when. On this site, you enter your email, reply VERIFY to a short confirmation email, so we know the address is yours, and we email you the Brief Builder, followed by four short follow-up emails over two weeks (the last one names our own $79 Workflow Pack); the form says so under its “Send my confirmation email” button, and every email carries an unsubscribe link. If your own form does not say it plainly, fix the form before you send follow-up one.
The five emails, one job each
Read these as a plan you can adapt, not as copy to paste. The subjects and bodies below are illustrative emails for the hypothetical operations consultant described above.
Delivery: make access easy.
Requested delivery
| Purpose | Deliver the link and one clear starting point. |
|---|---|
| Subject | Your supplier-onboarding checklist |
| Body | Here is your checklist. Save a copy first, then open section 1: the documents a supplier needs before day one. If the file will not open, reply to this email and I will send it another way. |
| Action | Open and save the checklist. |
Send it immediately. Name the resource exactly as the landing page did, and give one place to start. Do not add an offer to a message the reader asked for; that teaches them your emails are advertising.
Quick win: get one part finished.
Follow-up 1
| Purpose | Take the reader back into the resource and finish one section. |
|---|---|
| Subject | Start with one supplier |
| Body | Pick one supplier going live in the next month. Fill in section 1 for that supplier only. If a document has no owner, write “no owner” rather than guessing. One finished section beats a half-filled checklist. |
| Action | Finish section 1 for one supplier. |
The test for a quick win: could the reader do it in one sitting, and would they know when it was done? If not, make the action smaller until they could.
Teaching: explain the method behind the resource.
Follow-up 2
| Purpose | Show the principle that makes the checklist work. |
|---|---|
| Subject | Why every row has a name beside it |
| Body | Each row has one owner, so nobody assumes another team is handling it. Go through your list and put a name against every row. Where two teams both think they own something, settle it before the go-live date. |
| Action | Add an owner to every row. |
Teach from a method you already use with clients, not a claim you found online. If the email states a fact, you should be able to point to where it comes from.
Demonstration: show the resource in use.
Follow-up 3
| Purpose | Give the reader something concrete to compare their own work against. |
|---|---|
| Subject | A completed checklist to compare against |
| Body | Here is an illustrative completed checklist for a fictional manufacturer: rows filled, owners named, two open rows with the question written beside them. Compare it with yours. Which rows did you leave blank, and who could answer them? |
| Action | Compare your version with the example. |
Label the example as illustrative. A demonstration shows how the resource is used; it is not evidence of a client result.
Relevant offer: connect to the next real need.
Follow-up 4
| Purpose | Offer a next step within its real scope, with no pressure. |
|---|---|
| Subject | If the gaps run past one checklist |
| Body | The checklist works on its own and you can keep using it. If your answers showed gaps across the whole supplier handover, I run a two-week review of how those handovers work. It looks at your current process and sets out specific changes. The page describes what is included and what is not. |
| Action | Read the service page if it fits. |
Describe the offer exactly as it is. Do not promise an outcome the work cannot guarantee, and do not invent a deadline to force a decision.
All five emails are illustrative copy for a hypothetical consultant. They are not tested templates and no results are claimed for them.
Make it sound like your practice, not a template
This is the part that decides whether a reader trusts the sequence. A checklist lifted from a template pack reads as generic, and a draft that sounds like a machine wrote it costs you credibility rather than building it. Four habits keep the emails specific to your niche:
- Start from your own client material. Approved notes from past engagements, the questions you always ask first, the two mistakes you see most often in your sector. That is what makes the resource feel written by a practitioner.
- Name the reader's exact job. “Suppliers going live in the next month” is specific; “improve your processes” is not.
- Keep your judgement in the text. If you drafted an email with an AI tool, cut every sentence you would not say to a client, and keep the one example only you could have chosen. See what a B2B lead magnet page should include for the promise the emails must match.
- Check every claim before it sends. The free Source & Claim Review Checklist walks through ten checks and shows how to keep, verify, revise or remove a statement.
“Pick one supplier going live in the next month. If a document has no owner, write ‘no owner’ rather than guessing.”
That sentence works because it names a real moment in a real job and tells the reader what to do with the gap. A generic version — “review your onboarding process” — gives them nothing to act on.
Set a modest schedule and respect preferences
The spacing below is a suggestion for a five-message plan, not a performance claim. Choose a rhythm that suits your readers and the pace of your sector.
| Message | Suggested timing | Who receives it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Delivery | Immediately after the request | Everyone who requested the resource |
| 2. Quick win | Day 2 | Everyone who signed up |
| 3. Teaching | Day 5 | Everyone who signed up and has not unsubscribed |
| 4. Demonstration | Day 9 | Everyone still subscribed |
| 5. Relevant offer | Day 14 | Everyone still subscribed |
Every email needs a working unsubscribe link, and an opt-out should stop the remaining messages, not just the next one. If a reader becomes a client, move them to onboarding emails rather than sending them more offers. Rules on consent, sender identity and business address details differ by country; check the ones that apply to you and ask a qualified adviser if you are unsure.
When someone replies
Replies are the most useful thing a sequence produces, so read each one and decide what it needs:
| The reply is | What to do |
|---|---|
| A question about the resource | Answer it personally and leave them in the series; the remaining emails still apply. |
| A request for help with their situation | Move to a direct conversation, and take them out before the offer email so they are not pitched something you are already discussing. |
| An unsubscribe sent by reply | Remove them by hand straight away, even though they did not use the link, and send nothing further. |
General handling suggestions, not legal advice.
Check the sequence before it sends
- The form states what is sent and when, before the reader submits it.
- The delivery email arrives whether or not the reader expects follow-ups.
- Only the delivery email is a pure transaction; the other four each give something first.
- Resource, help and service links all work.
- Examples are labelled illustrative and any commercial relationship is disclosed.
- Sender name, reply address and unsubscribe link are accurate in every email.
- Unsubscribing stops the remaining messages.
What the plan tells you about your email platform
Planning the sequence first turns tool choice into a short list of questions. Can the platform send a delivery email to everyone but delay the rest? Can it stop a series when someone unsubscribes or becomes a client? Does every marketing email get an unsubscribe link automatically? Our guide to email marketing platforms for B2B consultants sets out what to check in each vendor's own documentation.
Free plans are worth reading closely for exactly this reason. Brevo's help centre states that its Free plan includes 300 email sends per day, and that a campaign sent to more than 300 recipients delivers to 300 contacts that day, with the rest requiring a manual resend. For a five-email sequence that matters only if your list is large, but it is the kind of limit you want to know before you build. Plan limits and prices change, so check them on the vendor's own pages on the day you choose.
If your current tool already does these things, you probably do not need to switch. The sequence is the requirement; the platform is only the delivery mechanism.
Sources & editorial notes
- Brevo Help Centre: What are the limits of the Free plan?, retrieved 21 October 2026 — source for the 300 email sends per day limit and the requeue behaviour for campaigns over 300 recipients.
- MailerLite pricing page, retrieved 21 October 2026 — checked for how plan tiers and limits are published; no figures are quoted in this article.
- The five-message shape in this article is our own planning suggestion. For what this site actually sends after a Brief Builder request, see the four short follow-up emails over two weeks note on the Brief Builder page and the Privacy Policy, as of 21 October 2026.
- Delivery-email fields follow the free Promotion Copy Template (version 1).
- The operations consultant, the supplier checklist and all email copy are hypothetical and illustrative. Nothing here is legal advice, and no results are claimed.
Examples are illustrative. See our Editorial Policy, Review Methodology and Affiliate Disclosure.
Get the delivery email right first.
The free Promotion Copy Template includes a delivery-email template and a completed example, so the one email every reader receives is clear before you plan the rest.
Free: enter your email, then reply VERIFY to the short email we send you, so we know the address is yours. We email you the template, then four short follow-up emails over two weeks on using our free Brief Builder (the last one names our own $79 Workflow Pack). Every email has an unsubscribe link. A 3-page PDF plus an editable text copy.