How to Run Kajabi Email Campaigns Successfully

1. Understanding Kajabi’s Email Marketing System

It is good to know what tools you are working with before you put pen to paper. Kajabi’s email marketing is located within the Marketing tab and has two core components:

Broadcasts: one-time emails you send manually to a specific segment of your list.

Sequences: Automated email series triggered based on a subscriber’s behaviour. Once set up, these run without you touching them.

What makes Kajabi particularly powerful is that both of these connect directly to your products, offers, tags, and automations. When someone buys your course, Kajabi can automatically move them from a nurture sequence into an onboarding sequence, without you manually updating anything.

2. Build a Quality, Segmented Email List

Here’s something most people get wrong: they focus on growing their list as fast as possible, then blast everyone with the same email and wonder why open rates are terrible. A smaller, well-segmented list will always outperform a large, unorganised one.

Growing Your List Inside Kajabi

Kajabi gives you several native tools to capture leads without needing third-party integrations:

Lead magnet funnels: Create a free resource (checklist, mini-course, PDF template) behind an opt-in form connected to a Kajabi landing page.

Free webinars or workshops: Register attendees via a Kajabi form and automatically add them to a follow-up email sequence.

Checkout opt-in: Ensure your checkout pages include the option to ‘subscribe to marketing emails’. Most creators miss this.

Kajabi Community sign-ups: Link the moment someone signs up to your community to a welcome sequence with Automations.

Blog content upgrades: If you use Kajabi’s built-in blog, embed opt-in forms offering a content-specific bonus (a worksheet, a template related to that post).

Segmenting with Kajabi Tags

Kajabi uses tags to organise your contacts. A well-tagged list lets you send the right message to the right person, which is the single biggest lever for improving open rates and conversions.

New Lead

Triggered when someone opts into a lead magnet, this segment should receive a 5-email welcome sequence.

Course Purchaser

Triggered when someone purchases any offer, this segment should receive onboarding plus drip emails.

Inactive Student

Triggered after 14 days without a login, this segment should receive a re-engagement sequence.

Course Completer

Triggered when someone marks the final lesson complete, this segment should receive an upsell or community invite.

Webinar Registrant

Triggered when someone registers for a live event, this segment should receive a reminder followed by a replay sequence.

Cart Abandoner

Triggered when someone visits checkout without completing a purchase, this segment should receive a 3-email abandoned cart sequence.

3. Plan Your Email Campaign Strategy

One of the most common patterns we see with Kajabi creators is reactive emailing, they only send when there is a launch or a new piece of content. The result is an audience that barely remembers who you are by the time you ask them to buy something.

Here are the three campaign types every serious Kajabi creator should have running:

A. Nurture Campaigns (Always On)

These are value-led emails you send on a consistent schedule, regardless of whether you are launching anything. The point isn’t to sell, it’s to stay top of mind, build authority and give your audience a reason to keep opening your emails.Send at least one to two nurture emails a week. brief, informal, personal, conversational.

B. Launch Campaigns (Periodic)

A launch campaign is a structured, time-limited series of emails designed to drive enrolments during an open-cart window. A typical Kajabi launch runs between five and ten days and uses four to eight emails, moving from awareness to urgency.

Most creators run four to eight launches per year depending on how many offers they have. Each launch should have a clear open and close date.

C. Lifecycle Campaigns (Triggered and Automated)

These are the emails that run entirely on autopilot, triggered by what a subscriber does rather than by a date on your calendar. They are the highest-leverage email type because they are always working in the background,

Welcome sequence: fires when someone joins your list

Onboarding sequence: fires immediately after a purchase

Re-engagement sequence: fires when a subscriber has not opened anything in 60 to 90 days

Upsell sequence: fires when a student completes your course

For a deeper look at how email campaigns integrate with your overall sales system, read our guide on Kajabi Email Marketing Funnels for Better Course Sales.

4. Writing Kajabi Emails That Actually Get Opened

You can have the most sophisticated automation system in the world, but if your subject lines do not earn the open, none of it matters. Here is how to write emails that perform.

Subject Lines That Work

Keep your subject lines under 50 characters, most mobile email clients cut off anything longer. Use Kajabi’s preview text field to add context without bloating the subject line itself. These formulas consistently deliver strong open rates:

Curiosity gap: ‘The one thing most Kajabi creators skip, and why it costs them’

Specific outcome: ‘How James went from zero to $6,000 in one launch’

Direct value: ‘3 Kajabi automation shortcuts that save 5 hours a week’

Urgency: ‘Enrolment closes tonight at midnight’

Kajabi also supports A/B subject line testing on Broadcasts. Use it. Send two versions to 20% of your list each, let the winning subject line go to the remaining 60%.

How to Structure the Email Body

Whether you write short plain-text emails or longer HTML newsletters, the structure that consistently works follows this pattern:

Hook: Open with a question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement. Your only job in the first line is to earn the second line.

Bridge: Connect the opening to your reader’s situation in two or three short paragraphs.

Value: Offer something of real use: a lesson, a framework, a case study, or a personal story with a takeaway.

One clear call to action: One CTA. Not two, not three. One. Every extra option reduces conversions.

P.S. line: Use it to restate the CTA, add urgency, or tease the next email.

Personalisation Beyond the First Name

Using {{contact.first_name}} is a starting point, not a strategy. Real personalisation in Kajabi comes from tag-based segmentation; making sure the content itself is relevant to where someone is in their journey. Use your tags to route the right content to the right people.

5. Building Your First Kajabi Email Sequence

Build your welcome sequence first, It is the highest-leverage automation you can create because it reaches every new subscriber at the moment they are most engaged, right after they sign up.

5-Email Welcome Sequence Framework

Day 0: Welcome email that will deliver the lead magnet, set expectations for what is coming, and tell them who you are in one sentence.

Day 1: Your story, why you created this course or programme. People buy from people, not platforms. Make it human.

Day 3: The #1 mistake your audience makes, and how you solve it. This is where you demonstrate expertise without pitching.

Day 5: Student success story or case study as Social proof that your system works Make it specific and results orientated.

Day 7: Soft offer; invite them to check out your paid programme. Position it as a next step, not a hard sell.

6. Running a High-Converting Launch Campaign

A launch campaign is where email really earns its keep. Done well, a seven-day open-cart email series can generate more revenue than months of passive nurturing. Here is a framework that works for most Kajabi course launches:

Day 1

The email announces that the cart is open, with a subject line direction like “Doors are open, here’s what’s inside.”

Day 2

The email addresses the number one objection, with a subject line direction like “You might be thinking this…”

Day 3

The email shares a case study or student result, with a subject line direction like “How [Name] got [result] in [timeframe].”

Day 5

The email covers FAQs and spotlights a bonus, with a subject line direction like “Your questions answered.”

Day 6

The email delivers a 24-hour warning, with a subject line direction like “This closes tomorrow, are you ready?”

Day 7 AM

The email signals 12 hours left, with a subject line direction like “Last 12 hours to join us.”

Day 7 PM

The email delivers the final close, with a subject line direction like “Doors close at midnight tonight.”

7. Connecting Email to Kajabi Automations

The difference between Kajabi creators who struggle and those who scale is often automation.When your email sequences are wired into Kajabi’s visual Automations builder, the system runs itself.Here are three high-impact automation workflows every Kajabi creator should build:

Purchase → Onboarding

Trigger: Offer purchased → Add buyer tag → Grant product access → Remove from pre-sales sequence → Enrol in onboarding sequence → Send welcome email immediately.

Disengagement → Re-engage

Trigger: Student absent for 14 days without login → Add tag: Inactive – Day 14 → Enrol in re-engagement sequence Condition: Student logs in before the end of the sequence. Remove tag and exit sequence.

Upsell → Complete Course

Trigger: Last lesson completed → Tag as ‘Completer’ → Remove from drip sequence → Enrol in upsell sequence for next logical offer.

To see how these workflows fit inside a complete sales ecosystem, our article on Kajabi Sales Funnel Strategy for 2026 Growth walks through the full funnel structure from opt-in to conversion.

8. Email Deliverability: Getting to the Inbox

You can write the best email of your life, and it means nothing if it lands in the Promotions tab or, worse, spam. Deliverability is a technical topic, but the fundamentals are simple enough to implement in an afternoon.

Verify a Custom Sending Domain

This is the single most impactful thing you can do for deliverability. Go to Kajabi Settings → Email and connect a custom sending domain. Kajabi will give you DKIM and SPF records to add to your domain’s DNS settings. Once verified, your emails come from your own domain rather than a default Kajabi subdomain, which dramatically improves inbox placement and perceived legitimacy.

Keep Your List Clean

Kajabi automatically removes unsubscribes, but you should manually suppress contacts with three or more soft bounces.

Run a re-engagement campaign for anyone who has not opened an email in 90 days. Give them one last reason to stay. Remove those who do not respond.

Send Relevant Content, Not Mass Blasts

Gmail and Outlook use engagement signals, opens, clicks, replies; to determine where your emails land. A small, engaged segment receiving relevant content will consistently outperform a full-list blast of generic content. Segment intentionally, and your inbox placement improves over time as a natural byproduct.

9. Analytics: What to Track and Why

Kajabi provides analytics for every broadcast and sequence, here are the numbers that actually matter and what to do with them.

Open Rate

Signals subject line strength and overall list health. The target for 2026 is 25–40%.

Click Rate

Signals how relevant the CTA and content are to your audience. The target for 2026 is 2–5%.

Click-to-Open Rate

Signals how compelling the content is once someone opens the email. The target for 2026 is 10–20%.

Unsubscribe Rate

Signals a mismatch between content and frequency expectations. The target for 2026 is below 0.3%.

Sequence Completion

Signals where drop-off points occur in an automated series. A rate above 60% is considered ideal.

Review your broadcast analytics 48 hours after each send. For sequences, do a weekly review and look for the email where open rate drops most sharply that is your weakest link and the first thing to rewrite.

Final Thoughts

Here is the honest truth about Kajabi email campaigns: the creators who get the best results are not the ones with the biggest lists or the fanciest templates. They are the ones who show up consistently, write like a human being, and use the platform’s automation tools to make sure every subscriber gets the right message at the right time.

Start simple. Build your welcome sequence. Send one nurture email a week. Run your first structured launch. Review the data. Improve one thing. Repeat. That cycle, done consistently over six to twelve months, turns your email list into your most reliable and scalable revenue channel on Kajabi.

Need Help Building Your Kajabi Email System?

At TheEduAssist, we design end-to-end Kajabi email systems, from welcome sequences and launch campaigns to full automation workflows and deliverability setup. If you want a system that converts while you focus on creating, we can build it for you.

Info@theeduassist.com | theeduassist.com

FAQs

How Do I Set Up My First Email Campaign in Kajabi?

Go to Marketing → Email Campaigns → New Broadcast, choose your audience segment, write your email, and schedule or send it. For automated sequences, go to Marketing → Sequences → New Sequence, set a trigger (like a tag or purchase), add your emails with delays between them, and activate.

Can I Use Kajabi to Collect Emails With a Lead Magnet?

Kajabi lets you easily build custom opt-in landing pages and pop-ups specifically designed to deliver a lead magnet (like a free PDF or video) to subscribers. Once they enter their email, Kajabi automatically adds them to your contact list and can immediately trigger an automated email with their download link.

What’s the Best Way to Turn Email Subscribers Into Customers?

The best way to turn email subscribers into customers is by delivering valuable, personalized content that builds trust and addresses their needs. Pair engaging emails with clear calls-to-action and relevant offers to guide subscribers toward making a purchase.

Can I A/B test emails in Kajabi?

Yes. Kajabi’s Broadcast feature supports A/B subject line testing. You send two versions to a portion of your list and Kajabi automatically sends the winning version to the remainder.

References

Kajabi Help Centre. (2026). Email Campaigns Overview

Kajabi Blog. (2026). How to Build an Online Course on Kajabi

Kajabi Blog. (2026). Course Drip by Date and Cohort Programs

Business Wire. (2025). Kajabi Unveils Largest Ever Product Upgrade

TheEduAssist. (2026). Kajabi Email Marketing Funnels for Better Course Sales