Step 8 — EDUCATE · GROW level
Purpose: Lay out the post-purchase sequence that carries a new customer from delivery to their first win, on to a habit, and through to the next purchase. Fill it in before you draft a single email — the sequence is the spec; the copy follows it.
When to run it: Once per product (or product type), after the SELL and UPSELL steps are settled. Re-run it whenever the product, the activation moment, or the Customer Avatar changes.
Inputs you need to hand:
- The customer: who they are and the goal they bought the product to reach — (from your Customer Avatar)
________________ - The product purchased:
________________(name the specific item or plan) - The activation moment: the one early action or outcome that reliably predicts they stay —
________________ - The consumption cycle: when this product is realistically run down, finished, or due for renewal —
________________
The sequence
Fill one row per stage. The first five run on a fixed calendar because activation is time-sensitive; the re-order prompt does not — its timing belongs to the product, not the sequence. One stage, one job, one primary action.
| Stage / milestone | The customer’s goal at this moment | The education asset (email / video / guide) | Success signal to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery & setup (Day 0) | (What does reassurance look like here? What do they need to feel?)________________________________ | (Confirmation + first setup link. Name it.)________________________________ | (e.g. email opened; first link clicked)________________ |
| First-use guidance (Day 1) | (The first meaningful use — the direct route to it)________________________________ | (Activation guide. Email, video, or in-app?)________________________________ | (e.g. activation milestone completed)________________ |
| The “aha” win (Day 3) | (Recognise the first result; ready for one layer more)________________________________ | (Confirm the win; surface one secondary use)________________________________ | (e.g. secondary feature used; reply received)________________ |
| Mastery (Day 7) | (Deepen use; the product becomes a habit)________________________________ | (Advanced content, success story, community)________________________________ | (e.g. community joined; advanced content accessed)________________ |
| Feedback check-in (Day 14) | (They have a real view now; capture it)________________________________ | (Short CSAT or NPS request + one open question)________________________________ | (e.g. survey completed; NPS score recorded)________________ |
| Re-order prompt (Consumption-cycle dependent — ________) | (The natural moment to buy again, as the obvious next step)________________________________ | (Low-friction re-order, renewal, or next item)________________________________ | (e.g. repeat purchase made; renewal taken)________________ |
Instructions:
- Pin the activation moment first. Name the single early action that predicts the customer stays. Every stage from Day 0 to Day 7 exists to get them there by the most direct route. If a row does not move the customer toward it, cut the row.
- Fill the goal column before the asset column. Decide where the customer is at each stage, then choose the asset that meets them there. Asset chosen before goal is how a sequence drifts into “everything the product can do.”
- One stage, one job. Each email or asset does one thing and asks for one action. If a row’s asset column lists a setup link and a feature spotlight and a survey, split it or drop the extras.
- Time the re-order prompt to the product, not the calendar. Set its timing from the consumption cycle you noted in the inputs — when supply runs low, the course completes, or the renewal falls due. Leave the day field blank above; write the trigger.
- Make every success signal a number you can read. “They liked it” is not a signal. “Activation milestone completed within 48 hours,” “NPS recorded at day 14,” “repeat purchase within the consumption cycle” — those are. These are your CustomerDataPoint.
- Read it against your SELL step. Walk the sequence and your sales page back to back. Does the onboarding deliver, in tone as well as claim, on every promise the sale made? A gap here is the broken promise that breeds post-purchase dissonance.
Feeds → SHARE. A customer who has reached their activation moment, banked an early win, and felt supported through the first awkward stretch is the only one worth asking to advocate. A completed sequence here is the pool SHARE draws from.
Chapter: 4.2-educate.md · Prompt: prompts/Educate.md · SOP: the EDUCATE SOP in 4.2-educate.md