I’ve talked before about the difference between your email nurture sequence and your email welcome sequence.
In short, your email nurture sequence is what you send your subscribers over time to nurture them as they move toward becoming customers.
Your email welcome sequence is much more specific. It is the first impression your new subscribers get after they’ve opted in for your lead magnet. Get this piece of your email marketing strategy right and you’ll turn those subscribers into customers, even if it takes some of them a while to get there.
The Intention Behind Your Email Welcome Sequence
You want to send an email welcome sequence to new subscribers to welcome them. Sorry to be obvious, but it is right there in the name.
But it’s about more than just saying, “Hi, glad you’re here, buy my stuff.”
Your email welcome sequence needs to do the following:
- Deliver your lead magnet.
- Establish how often you’ll email your new subscriber.
- Continue to offer value to your new subscriber.
- Position you as the expert in your subject or field.
- Let your new subscriber get to know you and your business.
You don’t have to do everything in one email. I recommend at least 3 emails to start with. You can expand your email welcome sequence to 5 or more emails, depending on what you’re trying to do.
Here’s how that breaks down; and yes, I’ll talk about the 9 components that need to go into all of this as we go along because the list is longer than the one I mentioned above.
Component #1 Deliver Your Lead Magnet
I am a proponent of sending your lead magnet in your first email instead of letting people download it from your Thank You page. Doing this gives you a few added benefits:
- It trains your new subscriber to open your emails.
- It trains their ISP to see you as someone your subscriber wants to receive emails from.
- It leaves space on your Thank You page for other engagement opportunities.
Most importantly, it sets you up as the source of knowledge. You are the one who is delivering the information they want and you are the one representing your company. This builds trust with your new subscriber right away.
Component #2 Welcome Your Subscriber to Your Community
Once you’ve told your new subscriber where to find their information (because you linked to the file in the email) you can welcome them to your community or whatever you call it. This is a good opportunity to include social media links and a link to your website, so they have plenty of ways to connect to you.
Component #3 Tell Them How Often You’ll Email
This is the piece that so many companies miss in their first email and it’s absolutely essential in my opinion. When you set this expectation up front, you make it clear that they’ll be receiving more emails from you.
This cuts down on the number of spam complaints you get. It may also result in some people unsubscribing right away, but those folks probably weren’t going to buy from you anyway.
Setting this expectation is another way of building trust. You’re putting all your cards on the table so they can see what you’ve got. It’s another way of avoiding the “salesy” feel as you move forward in this new relationship.
And yes, this is a relationship between you and your subscribers. The more you think about it that way, the better off you’ll be.
Component #4 Tell Them What You’ll Send in Future Emails
This is another component that sets expectations and builds trust.
Tell your new subscriber what kinds of emails they should expect to receive and they’ll be more inclined to open them.
For example, the first email in my email welcome sequence lets my subscribers know that they’ll receive an email announcing my weekly blog post every Tuesday and another email that is exclusively for them, as a subscriber to my list, on Thursday. They’ll also get occasional updates and information about products and services I’m selling.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need to reveal your entire content and sales calendar. Just give them an idea of what to expect.
Component #5 Continue to Offer Value to Your New Subscriber
You started the relationship off right by delivering your lead magnet.
Next, you should send something that will add value to that lead magnet. Again, this builds trust, but it also positions you as a trusted expert.
For your second email, I recommend sending a blog post or article that relates to your lead magnet. It’s preferable if you’ve written it yourself, as that gives you more authority but if you don’t have appropriate content, directing them to a neutral source (not your competitors) with good information is the next best thing.
Once you set this expectation of always delivering value, you’ll need to keep it up. The more you give, the more your subscribers will remember you and turn to your company when they want to purchase.
Component #6 Position Yourself as the Expert in Your Field
This is another side to adding value, as I mentioned in the last section. When you send your new subscriber information that continues to help with their problem as part of your email welcome sequence, you position yourself as the expert in your field.
The more you can do this, the better off you’ll be in the short run and the long run. Remember, not everyone will buy right away. As you continue to send emails that deliver value, you’ll continue to cultivate the expert position.
This matters beyond the first purchase. You want people to remember your name when they talk to their friends and family. There may even be situations where someone opted in for your lead magnet and they never buy, but they recommend you to someone else who does.
Component #7 Let Your New Subscriber Get to Know You and Your Business
Just like you would do in a regular conversation with someone you just met, you want to share “personal” stories with your new subscriber.
I put “personal” in quotes because you don’t want to tell your life story but you do want to tell the story of your business. Talk about why you do what you do and what drove you to start your own business doing it. Talk about the process for your product or service. Let your subscribers get to “know” you a bit.
These are great subjects for an extended email welcome sequence. You can also intersperse pieces of your story in a 3 email sequence, if you prefer to keep it short.
Component #8 Every Email Should Include a Call to Action
Yes, I mean it, every email. You want to train your new subscriber to do something when they open your emails. That way, when you send a sales email, they’re more inclined to click through to your offer.
A call to action doesn’t always have to be a sale. In your email welcome sequence it can be:
- The link to your lead magnet.
- A link to a blog post or article.
- A link to an additional piece of useful content for them to download.
- A link to schedule a free consultation.
The more they see your emails as a source of useful information, the more your subscribers will open them and click on the link to whatever you offer.
If you’re going to sell in your email welcome sequence, I recommend doing it in your fourth email. If you’re not, I recommend asking your subscribers to sign up for a waitlist for whatever product or service you’re developing or to schedule a free consultation with you to discuss their needs.
Component #9 You
There are lots of companies out there that will sell you templates for an email welcome sequence. For that matter, they’ll sell you templates for just about every kind of email sequence you could dream of.
Templates are great. They’re a good place to start. They give you the framework you need to create something wonderful that reflects you and your company.
But you have to do that work yourself.
If you just fill in the blanks in any template, then copy and paste that into your ESP or CRM for delivery, it will come off as cookie-cutter text that no one will pay attention to.
You need to insert your personality and sense of humor into your emails. This is part of letting your subscribers get to know you, as well as giving value. There is as much value when we give of ourselves as when we give information. Together, they’re unbeatable.
Whether you use templates or you write your own email welcome sequence, make sure it sounds like you. You are starting a new relationship here. You want the person on the other end to like you for you.
Better Than Just Templates… Get a Full Set of Instructions and a Review!
As I said, you’re starting a new relationship here. You want to start it on the right foot. Don’t risk driving your new subscribers away by accident or giving them a bad impression of your business.
Instead, use The Perfect Email Welcome Sequence to set up your own set of welcome emails and automate the whole thing, so it’s welcoming your new subscribers 24/7 and you don’t have to worry.
In this 1.5 hour training, you’ll get:
- Specific instructions on how to write each of your welcome emails.
- A set of 5 easy-to-follow templates that you can customize for your business and your audience.
- Instructions on how to automate your email welcome sequence in your email service provider (ESP).
I’ll explain the psychology behind how to welcome your new subscribers into your community and guide them toward their first purchase, as well as set them up to make many more in the future. You get everything you need to make sure your email welcome sequence works perfectly to welcome your subscribers to your community and make them fall in love with your business.
Plus, You’ll Get These 3 Amazing Bonuses!
- How to Use Features and Benefits In Your Emails – Use my special formula to create features and benefits statements that will convince your subscribers to buy. – Value $79
- My Professional Review of Your Email Welcome Sequence – Once you’ve finished your entire sequence, I’ll review the whole thing and make suggestions, so you can load it into your ESP and start sending it with confidence. – Value $225
- Bonus #3: 1 Free Session in the Email Writing Accountability Group – When your Email Welcome Sequence is written and in place, you’ll be eligible to join one session of the Email Writing Accountability Group for free. This group is full of business owners, like you, who are writing nurture emails to their subscribers every week. In this session, you’ll see how we write, review, and edit nurture emails as a group. You’ll get direct feedback on your writing from me, a professional copywriter and email marketer, so your next nurture email will be even more polished, persuasive, and lucrative, so you can get into the habit of staying in regular contact with your subscribers and building that relationship. – Value $200
Click on the button below to find out more about The Perfect Email Welcome Sequence and get yours set up ASAP.