How to Set Up Email Marketing Automation with Thinkific

Ready to transform your online course business? Discover how to leverage Thinkific’s email marketing automation to create personalized student journeys, boost engagement, and drive more sales—without spending hours glued to your computer.

Why Email Marketing Automation Is a Game-Changer for Course Creators

Let’s face it—you didn’t become a course creator to spend countless hours sending emails, right? You’re passionate about teaching, sharing your expertise, and making an impact. Yet, here you are, manually sending welcome messages, course updates, and trying desperately to re-engage students who’ve gone MIA.

Email marketing automation with Thinkific isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s practically essential for anyone serious about scaling their online education business. By setting up strategic automated email sequences, you’ll nurture relationships with students while you’re busy creating content, sleeping, or sipping piña coladas on a beach somewhere. Now, doesn’t that sound like the dream?

According to Campaign Monitor, automated emails generate 320% more revenue than non-automated emails. And for course creators specifically, research from Thinkific shows that students who receive regular, targeted communication are 72% more likely to complete their courses. That’s not just good for your students—it’s fantastic for your reputation and bottom line.

Getting Started: Connecting Your Email Service Provider with Thinkific

Before you dive into crafting compelling email sequences, you’ll need to make sure your technical ducks are in a row. Thinkific works seamlessly with several popular email marketing platforms, giving you the flexibility to choose what works best for your business.

The first step is deciding which email service provider (ESP) you want to use. Thinkific integrates directly with several popular options including:

• Mailchimp
• ConvertKit
• ActiveCampaign
• AWeber
• Constant Contact

Each platform has its own strengths, but they all offer the fundamental features you’ll need for effective email automation. If you’re just starting out, Mailchimp offers a generous free plan that’s perfect for testing the waters, while ConvertKit is specifically designed with creators in mind.

Setting up the integration is surprisingly straightforward. Log into your Thinkific dashboard, head to the “Settings” tab, and click on “Integrations.” From there, select your email service provider and follow the step-by-step instructions to connect your accounts. You’ll typically need to enter your API key, which you can find in your ESP’s account settings.

Don’t worry if this sounds technical—both Thinkific and most ESPs provide detailed documentation to walk you through the process. For instance, Thinkific offers a comprehensive guide on connecting with Mailchimp, complete with screenshots for each step.

Mapping Your Student Journey for Effective Email Automation

Here’s where the magic happens! Before you start writing a single email, take a step back and think about your student’s journey from the moment they discover your course to becoming a raving fan who promotes your content to others.

Creating a student journey map isn’t just marketing jargon—it’s an essential exercise that’ll help you identify key touchpoints where automated emails can provide maximum value. And trust me, this thoughtful approach will set you miles apart from course creators who blast the same generic messages to everyone.

Your student journey might look something like this:

1. Awareness: Prospect discovers your free content or lead magnet
2. Consideration: They join your email list and explore your paid offerings
3. Purchase: They buy your course
4. Onboarding: They begin the course and need orientation
5. Engagement: They progress through the material (or start to fall off)
6. Completion: They finish the course
7. Advocacy: They become promoters of your course

For each stage, ask yourself: “What does my student need right now?” and “What obstacles might they be facing?” The answers to these questions will form the foundation of your email automation strategy.

For example, during the onboarding phase, students might feel overwhelmed by the course structure or uncertain about where to begin. An automated email sequence that walks them through the platform features, introduces them to the community, and sets clear expectations can alleviate these concerns and set them up for success.

Essential Email Automation Sequences Every Thinkific Course Creator Needs

Now that you understand the student journey, let’s explore the specific email sequences you should set up in your Thinkific-connected ESP. These aren’t just nice-to-have—they’re the workhorses that will drive engagement, completion rates, and ultimately, revenue.

The Welcome Sequence

Your welcome sequence is your digital first impression—and we all know how important those are! This automation kicks in immediately after someone purchases your course and should accomplish several key objectives:

• Express genuine appreciation for their purchase
• Set clear expectations about the course format and timeline
• Provide login information and technical support resources
• Introduce yourself as the instructor (including your “why”)
• Suggest a simple first action to build momentum

A great welcome sequence typically includes 3-5 emails spaced out over about a week. Start with an immediate confirmation email, followed by a more personal introduction on day two, then move into specific guidance that helps them get started.

According to research from GetResponse, welcome emails have an average open rate of 86%—that’s about 4 times higher than standard marketing emails. Take advantage of this heightened attention by making these emails truly valuable, not just administrative.

The Engagement Sequence

Once students are in your course, you’ll want to keep them moving forward. The engagement sequence is triggered by specific actions (or inactions) within your Thinkific course and helps maintain momentum.

In Thinkific, you can set up automation triggers based on:

• Completing specific lessons
• Achieving course milestones
• Inactivity for a certain period
• Low quiz or assignment scores

For example, when a student completes Module 1, you might trigger a congratulatory email that previews Module 2 and shares a success story from another student who implemented what they just learned. This positive reinforcement builds confidence and excitement for what’s coming next.

Conversely, if a student hasn’t logged in for 7 days, an automated “We miss you!” email can gently bring them back into the fold. Include a specific suggestion for where they left off and perhaps address common obstacles students face at that point in the course.

The Upsell Sequence

Once students have experienced the value of your teaching through one course, they’re primed to consider additional offerings. An upsell sequence strategically introduces complementary courses, coaching services, or community memberships at exactly the right moment.

Timing is everything with upsell emails. The sweet spot is typically when students have completed about 60-75% of your initial course—they’ve experienced enough value to trust your teaching but haven’t yet reached the point of content saturation.

In Thinkific, you can create an automation trigger for when a student reaches a specific lesson that represents this threshold. The subsequent email sequence should:

• Congratulate them on their progress
• Highlight a specific win they’ve likely experienced
• Introduce a logical “next step” offering
• Explain specifically how this additional resource builds on what they’ve learned
• Include testimonials from students who’ve taken both courses

Keep in mind that hard-selling isn’t necessary here. When your recommendations genuinely serve the student’s goals, they’ll appreciate the guidance. According to Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5-20%.

Technical Setup: Configuring Triggers and Actions in Thinkific

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of actually setting up these automation sequences in Thinkific. The process involves creating triggers (events that initiate an automation) and actions (what happens when the trigger occurs).

Thinkific offers several built-in triggers that you can use without any coding knowledge:

• Course enrollment
• Lesson completion
• Quiz completion
• Achievement unlocked
• Course completion
• Purchase of a specific product
• Site inactivity for a defined period

To set up a trigger-based automation:

1. Navigate to your Thinkific dashboard
2. Select “Automation” from the main menu
3. Click “Create Automation”
4. Choose your trigger event (e.g., “Student completes lesson”)
5. Select the specific course and lesson
6. Define the action (typically “Send to integration”)
7. Choose your email service provider
8. Select the appropriate list or tag in your ESP

For more complex automations, you can also use Zapier as a middle layer between Thinkific and your email platform. This opens up additional trigger options and allows for multi-step workflows that might involve other tools in your tech stack.

One particularly powerful feature is Thinkific’s ability to pass custom fields to your email service provider. This means you can personalize emails based on specific student data like quiz scores, completion percentage, or purchase history. For example, you might send different follow-up content to students who scored above 80% on your assessment compared to those who struggled.

Crafting Compelling Email Content That Drives Action

Having the technical infrastructure in place is just half the battle. The real magic happens in the content of your emails. Even the most sophisticated automation setup will fall flat if your messages don’t resonate with students.

When writing emails for your automation sequences, keep these principles in mind:

Personalization Beyond {{First_Name}}

Yes, addressing students by name is important, but true personalization goes much deeper. Reference specific actions they’ve taken in your course, celebrate their progress, and acknowledge the challenges they might be facing at their particular stage.

Thinkific allows you to capture and pass variables like “last completed lesson” to your ESP, enabling you to create hyper-relevant content. According to research from Epsilon, personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates.

Value-First Approach

Every email should deliver standalone value, regardless of whether the student clicks through to your course. This might be a quick tip they can implement immediately, an inspiring case study, or a thought-provoking question that deepens their understanding of the subject matter.

The moment your emails become purely promotional or administrative, engagement will drop. By consistently delivering value, you train students to open your emails eagerly, knowing they’ll always learn something useful.

Clear, Single-Focus Calls to Action

The purpose of most automated emails is to drive a specific action—whether that’s logging back into the course, completing an assignment, or exploring a new offering. Be crystal clear about what you want students to do next.

Limit each email to one primary call to action, and make it stand out visually. According to research from WordStream, emails with a single call-to-action increased clicks by 371% and sales by 1617%.

Conversational, Authentic Voice

Nobody wants to read emails that sound like they were written by a committee or a robot. Write like you’re sending a note to a friend—use contractions, include occasional parenthetical asides (like this one!), and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.

This conversational approach not only makes your emails more engaging but also strengthens the personal connection between you and your students, which is crucial for long-term engagement.

Measuring Success: Key Metrics for Email Marketing Automation

How do you know if your email automation efforts are paying off? By tracking the right metrics and continuously optimizing based on the data. Here are the key performance indicators you should monitor:

Engagement Metrics

• Open rates: Aim for 20-30% for regular content and 40%+ for triggered automations
• Click-through rates: 2-5% is average, but triggered emails should achieve 8-10%
• Course activity after email receipt: Are students taking action on your prompts?
• Reply rates: Direct responses indicate high engagement and provide valuable feedback

Course Completion Metrics

• Completion percentage: Compare completion rates between students who receive your automation sequences and those who don’t
• Time to completion: Are your emails helping students move through the course more efficiently?
• Assessment scores: Are students who engage with your emails performing better in the course?

Revenue Metrics

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Are automated sequences increasing the average amount students spend with you?
• Upsell conversion rates: What percentage of students purchase additional offerings after receiving recommendation emails?
• Referral rates: Are students who complete your automated sequences more likely to refer others?

Most email service providers offer robust analytics dashboards that track the engagement metrics automatically. For course completion and revenue metrics, you’ll need to combine data from your ESP with Thinkific’s reporting features.

Set a calendar reminder to review these metrics monthly and make incremental improvements to your automation sequences. Even small optimizations can yield significant results over time. For instance, simply optimizing subject lines based on open rate data can increase engagement by 15-20% according to a study by Litmus.

Troubleshooting Common Email Automation Challenges

Even the most carefully planned automation systems can run into occasional hiccups. Here are solutions to the most common challenges Thinkific course creators face with email automation:

Integration Issues

If your Thinkific account and ESP aren’t communicating properly:

• Double-check that your API keys are entered correctly
• Verify that you have the appropriate permission levels in both platforms
• Confirm that you haven’t hit any sending limits or plan restrictions
• Try disconnecting and reconnecting the integration

For persistent issues, both Thinkific and most ESPs offer dedicated support teams that can help troubleshoot the connection.

Deliverability Problems

If your emails aren’t reaching students’ inboxes:

• Review your sender reputation score using a tool like SenderScore
• Implement proper authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Clean your email list regularly to remove bounces and inactive subscribers
• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines and content
• Maintain a healthy send frequency (not too many emails too quickly)

Email deliverability is increasingly challenging, but following best practices can keep your messages out of the spam folder. ConvertKit reports that properly authenticated emails are 38% more likely to reach the inbox.

Timing and Frequency Concerns

If students complain about receiving too many emails or getting messages at odd hours:

• Audit all automated sequences to understand the total email volume
• Implement send-time optimization to deliver emails when students are most likely to engage
• Set up frequency capping to prevent any student from receiving more than one email per day
• Create a preference center to let students choose which types of communications they receive

Remember that perfect timing varies by audience. For professional development courses, business hours might be ideal, while hobby-related courses might see better engagement in evenings and weekends.

Advanced Strategies: Taking Your Email Automation to the Next Level

Once you’ve mastered the basics of email automation with Thinkific, consider these advanced strategies to further enhance student engagement and course success:

Behavioral Segmentation

Move beyond basic triggers by creating sophisticated student segments based on multiple behaviors and characteristics. For example, you might create a special re-engagement sequence for “at-risk” students who:

• Completed less than 20% of the course
• Haven’t logged in for 14+ days
• Failed the first assessment
• Opened but didn’t click on the last three emails

This level of targeting requires more setup but delivers significantly higher engagement. According to DMA research, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue.