Most physical businesses are sitting on a goldmine they aren’t using: their email list.
Or worse, they aren’t building one at all.
If you’re running a gym, a wellness space, a studio, a retail brand, a local service business, you need an email funnel.
Not because “everyone says you should do email marketing.”
Because it’s one of the fastest, highest-leverage ways to drive more revenue, without having to scale your headcount or ad spend.
And yet?
We see it every time:
→ Big foot traffic
→ Big opportunity
→ Zero funnel
→ No automation
→ No leverage
So let’s fix that.
Why Email Matters (Even If You’re “Offline”)
It’s easy to focus on foot traffic.
It’s harder to think about what happens after someone walks out your door.
That’s where email wins. Here’s why:
→ Most customers won’t buy the first time they visit → email lets you nurture the relationship
→ Offline = inconsistent attention → email gives you a consistent way to stay visible
→ People forget you fast → email keeps you top of mind
→ Loyalty programs and community offers are only effective if you can actually communicate with your audience → that’s email
→ Partnerships and collabs? Useless if you have no list to leverage
In short: if you’re not building an email list, you’re not building leverage.
You’re rebuilding demand from scratch every month, the hardest, most expensive way to grow.
What a Basic Email Funnel Should Look Like
If you’re starting from zero — don’t overcomplicate it.
Here’s what works:
1. Capture
Start collecting emails. Everywhere.
→ At point of sale
→ Online forms (linked to Google Forms or embedded on your site)
→ QR codes in physical space
→ WiFi access opt-in
→ Event sign-ups
→ Partnerships
2. Welcome Sequence
First impressions matter.
→ Set expectations → why it’s worth staying subscribed
→ Reinforce value → what they get from you
→ Drive the first key action → trial, booking, upsell, whatever makes sense
3. Nurture Sequence
Ongoing content that builds trust.
→ Education (why your service matters, results, value)
→ Community content
→ Subtle upsells and cross-sells
4. Offer-Driven Emails
Promos, launches, limited-time offers, but not every week. Used strategically to drive sales when needed.
5. Loyalty & Re-Engagement
Winbacks, loyalty rewards, reactivations.
→ Email is your best tool for bringing past customers back to buy again.
Tools + Automation to Make It Run
You want this to scale without adding work to your plate. Here’s how:
Email Platforms:
→ Klaviyo → best choice if you want serious segmentation + ecommerce potential
→ Flodesk → easy (and cheap) if you want beautiful emails fast (not great for scaling)
→ ActiveCampaign → strong automation capabilities
→ Mailchimp → fallback if budget is tight
Automation Tools:
→ Zapier → for basic integrations
→ n8n → for more advanced automations + multi-system flows
→ Google Forms → for easy offline capture → automated into your ESP
→ Website integrations → embed forms and track user behaviour (use Google Analytics to see what’s working)
Key Principle:
Automate as much of this as possible. You shouldn’t be manually moving people between systems.
And you shouldn’t be writing one-off emails every week unless they’re strategic.
Case Example (How We Helped One Fitness Brand Build This)
We recently worked with a fast-scaling fitness business.
Here’s where they started:
→ 20k+ cold email list → no funnel → no automations → no welcome sequence → no nurture → no tracking
Here’s what we built:
→ Full welcome sequence + segmentation
→ Weekly newsletter with high-value content
→ Funnels tied to in-person gym visitors (4k+ visitors/month)
→ Automations pushing walk-ins into online programs
→ Loyalty and re-engagement flow
Results:
→ 60%+ open rate on a previously dead list
→ 10x increase in inbound leads
→ 10x app downloads
→ A system that works in the background while the founder scales both the gym and online programs
→ Future-proofed them for partnership and collaboration leverage
Why This Is Future-Proofing Your Business
1. Email = owned media.
Instagram, TikTok…great, but rented land. Email is yours. No algorithm required.
2. Paid ads are a waste without a funnel.
Don’t drive cold traffic to your site if you’re not capturing it into email.
3. Partnerships need leverage.
You can’t negotiate good partnerships if you can’t say: “We have a 5k engaged email list we can offer exposure to.”
4. Retention = revenue.
Acquisition is expensive. Retention is smart. Email makes retention easy.
Final Word
If you’re running a physical business and your email funnel isn’t built yet, this is the easiest revenue opportunity on your table.
It doesn’t require big ad spend.
It doesn’t require hiring more team.
It compounds over time.
Most physical businesses are late to the party here.
Which is why the ones that do this well are seeing outsized returns.
If you want this set up for your business, we do this.
From strategy → automation → copy → funnel builds → email that actually drives revenue.
