Read time: ~9 minutes
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Are You Making The Most Of Your Email List With An Email Welcome Sequence?
So you have some subscribers, and more are trickling through.
- Should you have a welcome email sequence set up?
- Do you have too few subscribers to set one up?
- Should you have multiple welcome sequences? Is it worth it?
Yes, No, No, Yes.
In this piece, I’m going to walk you through what an email welcome sequence is, how to write one, and what should be included as part of your welcome email strategy.
But first, a welcome email sequence is your opportunity to make a first impression with your audience.
A great place to start with making a good first impression is with providing useful information and being a knowledgeable resource for your audience. By making a good first impression, you’re earning your customers trust and loyalty. Because people buy more and spend more with brands they trust.
Interest —> Knowledge —-> Engagement
What Is An Email Welcome Sequence?
A welcome email sequence is a set of 3-7 emails automatically triggered when a new person submits their information and subscribes to your list.
The end goal of each welcome sequence varies, but they all share the same goals:
- To create a good first impression
- To be considered a knowledgeable source
- To build trust
- To inspire loyalty.
No biggie, right?
Clearly, creating a first impression with your audience is crucial; the good news is it can easily be done with a welcome email sequence!
People are most excited and most enthusiastic about you and your brand within the first 2-3 days of signing up. You want to capitalize on that excitement by showing up for them, connecting with them, building trust, and developing a relationship.
Can you accomplish this with one email and call it a day?
Why Is A Welcome Sequence Important?
You can do whatever you want to do but you’re not setting yourself up for success by “not bothering them” or only sending 1 email.
Your audience is no stranger to welcome sequences.
- 74.4% of consumers expect a welcome email when they subscribe
- Yet only 39% of brands actually send one.
- 27% of brands don’t send one for three weeks!
When someone subscribes to your email list they’re saying “I want to hear from you”.
They thought whatever you have going on was valuable enough to share their information for access to it. They may not be ready to make a purchase, BUT they’ve given you permission to contact them.
Take it!
Even though your new audience wants to hear from you (or take your free stuff) they may not know you. This is your opportunity to share your story. This is where to begin to create a relationship.
This is where the magic happens!
Consumers prefer to build trust with small businesses (Forbes)
Trust is an important part of your relationship with your audience which is why you’ll hear it mentioned several times in this blog. When people trust your brand, they listen to you more, they buy more, and they spend more.
Let’s play a game…
KIDDING!
It’s a thought exercise! (no math involved)
Which one of these would you prefer to experience?
Set The Scene: You’ve made a new friend and they invited you over to have dinner and see their newly remodeled kitchen! They’ve talked about it a lot and you’re thinking about remodeling your own kitchen so you’re interested to see it and hear what advice they have. You haven’t been to their house before and you’re excited!
Scenario #1:
You arrive, they open the door, turn around and walk back into their house. No greeting, no telling you where to put your shoes or coat. You step in alone, take off your coat, wonder if they’re a no-shoes kind of house (?), then eventually head in the direction you assume is the kitchen, aiming to wander around until you find it.
Or you see red flags and immediately RUN.
But if you stay, you make it back to the kitchen where they greet you by saying
“Hi, here’s the remodel, what questions do you have?”
Your first question is probably, wtf is going on but you wanted to see the kitchen so you hang around, ask a few questions, and plan to leave ASAP.
You will not be staying for dinner.
Scenario #2:
You arrive and your friend opens the door. They greet you, take your coats, tell you where to put your shoes.
They walk you through the house, talking to you on the way.
-“The kitchen is back this way, follow me.”
-“Oh I love this curio cabinet!”
-“Thank you! We found it thrifting and loved the bones of it so we grabbed it and fixed it up!”
Once in the kitchen they offer you a drink, maybe even some snacks.
“Here we are, can I get you anything to drink? Water, wine, beer, soda? Let me grab the snacks out of the fridge really quickly. Our reservations are at 7 so I figured we have about an hour to hang around here before we need to leave. Feel free to sit wherever you like — at the table or the counter.”
You talk a bit more before something leads the conversation to the remodel. They loooooove their new kitchen. So they tell you about it.
“It had always been our intention when we moved in but we never got around to it. We were cooking one day and my partner and I bumped into each other spilling everything. We decided at that moment it needed to be a priority. *laughs* Are you ready to remodel now or do you still need to do some planning, logistics, etc?”
And so on.
“I’ve never been able to find a great way to store pots and pans so we came up with this fun solution. There’s usually two of us in here at the same time so we wanted to make sure there was plenty of space.”
On it goes…
Which of those experiences sounds like something you’d rather participate in? Be honest — there’s no judgment for wanting to make friends AND admire someone’s new kitchen.
Scenario #2 sounds way better, right?
Well, your email list feels the same way! They want scenario #2 with you!
So how do you make scenario #2 happen with an email welcome sequence?
How To Write An Email Welcome Sequence
To be completely honest with you, there is no one size fits all for an email sequence. Not the coolest answer, but definitely the realest one.
What works for Nike isn’t going to work for you (sorry) and what works for a perfume company isn’t going to work for a cat food company.
Pro Tip: Find the end goal of the sequence (make a purchase, sign up for an event, etc.) and ensure all your emails are headed in that direction.
Use the same style of writing that you use in other emails, newsletters, or on the website. Let the audience know what to expect, deliver on your promises, and have fun!
What Should Your Welcome Email Sequence Include?
Keep it short, to the point, and friendly!
Best Practices To Nail Your Email Sequence Strategy
1. Find your voice and use it
If your brand is thirty, flirty, and fun — show it off! Don’t structure your welcome sequence so it sounds like an actuarial science newsletter (No offense I’m sure you’re lovely people).
Similarly, if you’re an Actuarial Science brand and your voice is professional, concise, and matter of fact; don’t structure your welcome sequence like you’re an announcer at Lollapalooza (I HAD to make a Lolla joke).
2. Be clear & concise
Deliver your first email right away, deliver the next 2 emails over the next 2 days and the rest can be spaced out every other or every other 2 days. And keep it simple while you’re doing so. You can have fun AND be clear and concise — a lesson I am still learning. The point is, these new subs are just meeting you and you don’t want to overwhelm them. Tell them what they can expect and stick to it. Keep your emails short, full of goodies, and do what you say you’re going to do.
3. Make a plan
You don’t want to randomly throw emails together and hope they stick. What do people absolutely need to know about your business? Include that in your first email. What’s the end goal of the sequence? There’s your last email. Each email in between should serve a purpose and ultimately lead to the end goal. Sprinkle social proof, valuable resources, and reminders of what you offer throughout.
4. It’s okay to sell
Remember that stat from earlier that welcome email sequences can generate an average of 320% more revenue than other promo emails? That’s because people are excited about you and your product! So take advantage of it. Even if the end goal of the sequence isn’t a sale, it’s still okay to use some gentle selling and CTAs to advertise your product/service. Most people will probably be expecting it, but be sure to do it upfront so they know what to expect. People don’t like to be sold to without a warning or without being provided value first. If you’re planning on selling, include a soft sell in the first email.
5. Keep your promises
- If your subscriber requested a lead magnet, make sure it’s in the first email.
- If you told them you would only send 3 emails, don’t send 4.
- If you promised resources on how to do something, provide them.
Unless there is an emergency, stick to your word. You’re developing a relationship and building trust with this new audience. If they can’t trust you with something as simple as an email sequence, how will they trust your products?
What Happens After An Email Sequence
You keep nurturing them! Just like any good friendship requires work, dedication, and attention to grow and thrive, your subscribers need the same as well.
Once they’ve gone through your email sequence, the best practice would be to segment them out.
- Who made a purchase
- Who didn’t make a purchase
From there, each segment gets their own nurture sequence and on it goes!
If you’re in need of a welcome sequence or want to talk about nothing to do with an email sequence I’d love to chat!
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