Business strategy

Maria Wendt: do follow-up emails help you sell?

Maria Wendt tested follow-up emails against sending people straight to checkout. She explains the result and how she chooses what to sell.

4 October 20262 min read8 min listen

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Most entrepreneurs realize they've actually built a job they hate right when they hit seven figures. Suddenly, you're stuck on Zoom calls for eight hours a day, and you've become the primary bottleneck for every single client.

Editor's note

Why this matters now

Maria Wendt ran a 6-month comparison of her sales funnel. In her account, sending interested people straight to checkout brought in more revenue than taking them through an email sequence.

That is a test I can imagine wanting to run after writing yet another follow-up email.

Wendt sells relatively cheap digital products, so the customer can make a small purchase without a long evaluation. The result gives that kind of business a step worth questioning. A company selling something expensive, complicated, or requiring several people's approval would have a different test to design.

The source

What it says

Distilled from the original. The notes above and below are the editor's own.

Keep the business focused

Wendt's rule of 5 ones is 1 problem, 1 market, 1 offer, 1 platform, and 1 year. She uses it to resist starting another offer or moving to another audience whenever progress becomes difficult.

The focus makes feedback easier to interpret. If the offer, audience, and channel keep changing together, it becomes hard to tell which change helped.

She describes moving from services that depended heavily on her time to digital products sold at lower prices. Her examples include products priced at $27, $37, $47, $57, and $97. These need a sales process and acquisition costs that work at that purchase size.

The shorter route to checkout

Wendt reports comparing a direct purchase route with an email sequence over 6 months. The direct route generated more revenue for her business.

It is a result from her offer and customers. It does not establish that every email sequence reduces sales. The practical question is whether a particular step helps a customer decide or merely delays a purchase they were ready to make.

She also discusses content, paid advertising, and keeping the offer closely tied to a customer problem. The first small sale gives feedback that someone will pay, followed by further questions about whether buyers get the promised result and whether acquisition can be repeated.

Revenue needs a cost calculation

Wendt reports an average 2.5x return on ad spend. That compares sales revenue with advertising spend. Delivery, support, refunds, and other costs still have to come out of the revenue.

The interview also covers delegating work and setting up operations as the volume of sales grows. A low purchase price leaves little room for costly manual work on every order. Those costs belong in the same calculation as the advertising.

Editor's note

What to do with this

Draw the route from a customer showing interest to paying. Beside each step, write what it helps the customer decide.

A step with no clear job is a candidate for a small test. Compare completed purchases and refunds, and keep the acquisition and support costs in view. Wendt's reported revenue result is a reason to examine the route, but the decision to keep a change needs your own numbers.

Explore The Anatomy of a Dream feature.

The original

She Makes $1M a Month: The Strategy That Changed EVERYTHING

The Anatomy of a Dream · 29 September 2026