The wonderful world of welcome

We all know how important it is to make a good first impression. Well, the same is true for emails. A welcome email is the first impression a new customer, blog subscriber, or newsletter subscriber receives in their inbox. When you send a welcome email you are making a first impression on behalf of your brand.

How to write a winning welcome series

First step – Key messages

Decide what you want to tell your new subscriber and work out how many mails it will take you to get your point across. So what should you include;

1. Thank you message, acknowledging the sign up and reaffirm to your contact that they have made the right decision to join your email list. This mail needs to be instant, so schedule the mail to go out immediately as someone joins your list.

2. Set their expectations on what and how frequently you will be in touch.

3. Invite your contact to connect  - use this email to tell them all about your social channels and how they can connect with you if they have any questions.

4. Learn more about your contacts – invite your contacts to share a bit more information about themselves for better segmentation and targeting.

Step 2 – timing

Decide the number of mails that you plan to send and when you are going to send them. Are you going to stick to a particular time or day of the week or do you want them to appear more random? Do you want them to be frontloaded or last over a number of weeks? The answer to this will be dependent on your sales cycle.

Step 3 – create and set up the emails

Create your emails with a consistent brand feel and build your automation which is straightforward with the e-shot™ builder.

Step 4 – optimise

Your welcome series is an important part of your email strategy, so you need to make sure that you monitor your results and refine your series based on what you learn over time.

Top 10 things not to forget

1. Make sure your subject line is clear and persuasive

2. Personalise your emails

3. Make sure your opening line is attention grabbing

4. Include a warm “thank you”

5. Tell your brand story – or key elements of it

6. Talk about the benefits of your incentive (if you had one)

7. Set expectations for future communications

8. Extend the conversation either through social or engaging with more content on your website

9. Don’t forget your calls to action

10. Leave a teaser to promote future contact

By starting the conversation as soon as your prospects sign up you have the greatest chances of success. Welcome emails have higher engagement than other types of email marketing and typically received open rates of around 50% - why? Because they arrive at a crucial time, when your prospect is interested in your brand. You are on their mind and they are expecting to hear from you, so don’t disappoint them!