You have succeeded in getting a customer to opt-in to your newsletter, this is where the most crucial benefit of email marketing comes in, your first impression. Right out the gate, you want to keep new subscribers heavily engaged in your content in order to build loyalty. A strong welcome series helps turn curious subscribers into valuable, long term customers.
What Is a Welcome Series?
A welcome series is a sequence of automated emails that get sent to new subscribers specifically. Rather than unique monthly newsletters, welcome series are premade and sent by your mailing platform automatically to greet new subscribers. These emails are different from the incentive given to those who join your list, as their goal is to introduce your brand, set up expectations, and begin building trust. Welcome series often contain multiple short newsletters that are sent in a small time span after subscribing. You want to make sure these emails properly guide users to their next steps of purchasing, or receiving fully fledged newsletters.
Why Every Business Needs a Welcome Series
Every business should have a welcome series. Not only do they help confirm to your subscribers that they are in fact on your mailing list, but they also start your relationship right by setting expectations and forming brand personality. All these factors coupled together lead to increased engagement and reduced unsubscribe rates. Welcome series are also a fairly one-and-done system, thanks to their automation. Once your series is complete and running, it is a simple yet effective tool to passively increase ROI for beginners in email marketing.
How Many Emails Should Be in a Welcome Series?
Email welcome series should only contain about 3-5 emails spread over the first 5-10 days after subscribing, each email should be unique and serve a specific purpose in the customer’s journey. Maintain the same standards of value and quality you would for any of your newsletters going out to customers. Flooding inboxes with pointless welcome emails that repeat the same thing are a sure way to have users unsubscribe. Your goal is to both maintain subscribers and get them interested in viewing what newsletters come next.
What Emails to Put in a Welcome Series?
Welcome series are unique to your business and will look different depending on the goals you have for them. While it is always good to begin with a greeting, your follow up can be tricky to make effective. Below are some examples you can use in your series.
Welcome and Thanks
Immediately after a user joins your mailing list, they should be sent a thank you email that confirms their subscription and delivers any incentive that was previously offered. Introduce your brand and briefly set up expectations for upcoming newsletters.
Your Brand Story
Utilize pathos in your welcome series by sharing your brand story, what your purpose is, and how you help customers. Include your mission statement, information about your team, and customer success stories to build a more “human” connection with your subscribers. Emotion connections will often go farther with building trust than data and promotions.
What You Offer
It is always important to highlight exactly what you offer and how. Many people sign up for mailing lists before making purchases to better understand what the company has to offer. Emphasize your bestsellers, top services, and success stories. It is best to use a call to action like “explore our product” or “book a free call today.”
Provide Value
Probably the most important aspect of a successful newsletter is explaining what values users get out of consistently viewing your emails. This means providing tips, guides, and resources related to your industry that make opening your emails worthwhile. Your goal is to be viewed as a helpful source of information, rather than one that is only trying to close sales. This builds credibility and keeps engagement high!
Invitation to Take Action
The end of your welcome series should lead customers to their next steps. Encourage subscribers to purchase, schedule consultations, or follow you on other forms of social media. These can be a good place to add a special offer if appropriate, and remind users what value you are offering.
Keep It Consistent With Your Brand Voice
It can be easy to get carried away when writing your welcome series, but it is important to stay consistent with your brand voice. Write in an enjoyable, yet professional tone like you would with in-person conversations. This is not the best time to bombard users with business jargon and extensive descriptions of products/services. Maintain brand identity across all emails by using similar tone, colors, and logos throughout. This makes your brand recognisable and viewed as put together.
Track Performance and Tweak Over Time
As you would with your regular newsletters, monitor open rates, clicks, and unsubscribes from your welcome series to better optimize them. A/B testing for subject lines and time of delivery are also effective ways to increase metrics. It is always advised to improve based on what resonates with your audience, rather than what doesn’t.
Set the Tone for Long-Term Loyalty
Your welcome series lays the foundation for long-term success and increasing brand loyalty. Therefore, always focus on connections, clarity, and value when it comes to creating these campaigns.
If you are unsure on how to get started with your welcome series, we’re here to help. Contact Rise Marketing Group today for a free consultation!
