When I say the words email welcome sequence what comes to mind? If it’s a couple of stuffy promo emails. Promos you probably won’t use because you were just window shopping – you aren’t alone.
But your welcome sequence doesn’t have to be like that. As a small business owner, your email sequences should be written to connect.
At Maggie Writes Copy, we specialize in email marketing that invites rather than informs. It definitely doesn’t just sell. Email marketing is about building a relationship with your audience. Rather than baraging them with sales emails.
Let’s start with the basics.
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to get in front of your audience. You have a split second to grab your audience’s attention when they hit your site. Do they want to hear from you – or not?
Once they’ve made the conscious decision to join your list it’s a lot easier to get in touch with them. But there is an even bigger benefit.
Your customer has decided they want to hear from you in the comfort of their own home. They are giving you a virtual invitation to enter.
This is huge because it means they think your company has enough value that you deserve to be in their home. Short of making a purchase – this is one of the biggest votes of confidence you can receive from a potential customer.
Now let’s talk about how you go about setting it up.
Start by setting up an opt-in form on your website. The opt-in could be a 10% discount. Or it could be a free resource to help them do something. It has to be something of interest to your target audience.
Your audience then decides whether they are interested in receiving emails from you. If they sign up, you’re in.
After they opt-in, your client’s email goes directly to your Email Service Provider (ESP). Then the magic happens. Your ESP will use the emails you’ve written and saved in their system. Then they send them to your audience on the schedule you’ve chosen.
There are two different kinds of emails you can send to your list. There are email broadcasts and there are email sequences.
Let’s talk about email broadcasts first.
First, keep in mind broadcasts are known by a couple of different names. You may have heard of them as email newsletters.
Email broadcasts are one-off emails you send to your list one time. If a person isn’t in your system at the time the broadcast goes out, they will never receive the email.
These can be:
Broadcasts are good for giving people information promptly. Most companies that run email marketing run broadcasts. Usually, they just blast their list with new products or sales.
But the real winner in email marketing is your email sequences.
An email sequence is a series of emails that your customer begins to receive immediately after signing up for your email list.
These emails are usually automated. The moment your lead subscribes they receive the first email in the sequence. This is because your ESP is programmed to send it out the moment they receive the email address.
They will then begin to receive a sequence of emails. The number and length will depend on the purpose of the sequence.
But a lot of people don’t understand the reason for email sequences.
Companies often fail to use email marketing correctly. If you’re anything like me, you’re used to getting sales emails all the time.
It’s unfortunate that so many companies just blast sales. This leads to sale blindness. People wait and only buy when there are sales running. Or they unsubscribe because they’re tired of companies just wanting their money.
As a result, many companies believe that email marketing is spammy. And let’s be honest – it can be. But it doesn’t have to be.
Knowing how to set up an email marketing campaign that builds trust rather than distrust is huge. It’s not a skill everyone has, but it can bring amazing returns for your company.
Are you considering adding email marketing to your company? The best place to start is with a welcome email sequence.
When people opt into your email list, they usually come directly from your home page. Often they haven’t had a chance to look around your site yet.
They’re intrigued enough to opt-in but that doesn’t mean they know you. This is why a welcome sequence is so critical.
There are several things a welcome sequence should do for your company:
Your welcome sequence should be designed to move your cold lead through your marketing funnel. Eventually turning them into a warm or hot lead. This may mean a purchase at the end, or it may not. But it will definitely bring them closer to the end of your sales funnel.
Let’s think about it from a real-life perspective.
Think about the number of times you’ve been browsing on the internet, window shopping. You see an opt-in for a sale and decide to sign up. You may or may not purchase. But if you do, you definitely want the sale.
You then proceed to find the item you’re interested in on several other sites. After all, you want to make sure you find the best one – possibly the most value for your money.
Then maybe you stop scrolling because you have to make dinner. The particular item you were looking at was a want, not a need. So maybe you forget about it.
The next morning when you check your email you find your discount. Oh yeah, I was looking at item 1 last night. But this company just sends you the discount as an email broadcast.
Because you looked at the email in the morning and had other things on your mind, you never circle back around to it. Therefore you never buy from the company and you forget they exist.
Now let’s talk about what would have happened if the company had sent out a sequence instead of a broadcast.
You follow the same path as in story one. You’ve found your item on multiple sites, but you got distracted.
The next morning when you check your email you get one from a company you’ve never heard of before. But they thank you for visiting their site. Tell you a bit about who they are and deliver your discount code.
Again it’s the morning – so you forget.
A couple of days later you receive another email from the company. This time you remember their name. They tell you a bit about who they are and what they stand for. What a neat company, you think.
Over the next couple of weeks, you continue to receive emails from them. You now know who they are, and what they stand for, you’ve checked out their social media and maybe given them a follow.
In a couple of months after you receive your tax refund and have a bit of extra money sitting around and you circle back to the item you were window shopping for earlier. But rather than scrolling through endless sites, you have a starting point.
Maybe you even go directly to the company’s site. This is because they’ve built trust with you through their welcome email sequence.
After all, their welcome sequence wasn’t spammy or salesy. You feel like you know their company. Maybe you even feel like you know their founder. You believe the company deserves to succeed.
This is the path a good email welcome sequence can take you on.
The welcome email sequence isn’t the only nurture sequence you can set up. And it shouldn’t be.
Every email sequence you set up shouldn’t just be about the sale. People want to know your company is after more than just money.
There are many sequences that can be set up to nurture your audience. Even if they may also be convincing them to buy also.
Here are a few examples:
Yes, some of these are sales sequences also. Every sequence you create and send should build connection with your audience. They should also have a Call To Action (CTA).
P.S. Did you notice there’s a newsletter in there? These are newsletters you send that aren’t time-sensitive. They can double up as a nurture sequence.
Your audience knows you need to sell to stay in business. But they also want to know you care about more than that. It is a fine line to walk.
This is why it’s a good idea to have an email marketer on your team.
If you’ve learned anything so far, it should be that there is a right way and a wrong way to build your email marketing campaigns.
Building email sequences that are customer-centered while still bringing in the sales you need is critical. You don’t want to come off as spammy. You also don’t want to be absent.
One thing we didn’t cover in depth is the fact your audience wants to hear from you. It’s fairly common I know, but have you ever signed up for someone’s email list and then never heard from them?
Every once in a while I sign up for a list and then am surprisingly disappointed that they don’t email. Your goal should be to become the company that people are excited to hear from.
This isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen overnight. Hiring an email marketer who can pinpoint your exact target audience and then deliver exactly what they want – or even need – to hear is critical. It can go a long way toward successful email marketing.
The good news is, you’ve stumbled upon one right here. I’m Maggie – a freelance copywriter who specializes in email marketing. I write custom copy that both connects with AND converts your audience into buyers.
Email marketing doesn’t have to be hard when you have the right help. Book a call today to get the expert help you need. Set your email sequences on autopilot and let them do the heavy lifting.
P.S. This opts you into my newsletter. But I promise no spam! Unsubscribe any time.
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.
I’m happy to answer any questions!