A welcome series email is a suite of automated emails that you can send a subscriber when they first join your email list. Automated emails are a great tool to not only deliver the freebie (opt-in or lead magnet) that your subscriber has signed up for, but also allows you to introduce yourself, your business and other offers that they might be interested in.
Once a subscriber has gone through the email sequence, you can then start sending them your regular communications, or add them to various other email funnel sequences.
There are thousands of different ways to structure a welcome series, depending on whether you sell products or services, what stage your business is at, how many emails you want to include or what your goals are. I usually set up a five email welcome series for my clients that consists of the following elements.
Deliver the freebie and establish rapport
Obviously, you need to give the subscriber the ‘thing’ that they signed up for in the first place! Use this opportunity to introduce yourself very briefly and establish that you’ll be in their inbox a few times over the next couple of weeks.
Your vision or story
Make it personal and give them a rundown of your ‘why’. But don’t make it all about you! Let them know what outcomes they can expect from you.
Give an example of how your product/service has helped someone
This is social proof. We like to know that someone has used this before and liked it or had some sort of positive outcome. Include client testimonials (ask first!), copy any Facebook reviews you have or simply tell a story of a make-believe person and how your ‘thing’ helped them (hint: draw on your client avatar for inspiration).
Solid proof
Often purchasing behaviour is based on facts. How long does it last? How does it work? How much is it? What is it made from and why is that a good thing? State the facts, and even throw in some industry based statistics if you can.
Freebie reminder including a final call to action
Make sure you remind your subscriber why they signed up in the first place. Jog their memory to use that voucher, complete your checklist or watch your video, whatever your freebie happens to be. Use this email to set the scene of how often you will email them in the future and choose a call to action – get them to like you on social media, download another freebie or subscribe to your YouTube channel.
You can also get quite sophisticated with your welcome series emails (even in free email marketing platforms such as MailChimp) and include a ‘choose your own adventure’ style marketing funnel, by getting subscribers to self select. You do this by including a link or a button for subscribers to choose an area of interest, by asking them to answer a question or perform a particular action. This would set off another set of automated emails based on their choice.
Funky, right? So, think of your welcome series as the first touchpoint you have with your subscriber, and as the filter in your funnel to point them in the right direction for their next step of working with you.
Is it time to get your welcome series and email automations working properly? Let me do it for you so you can spend more time doing the things you love. Packages are available or drop me a line and we’ll have a chat!
