You need to get into email marketing, but not sure what comes after you create your first freebie?

Thank God you’ve made it to this post, so I can teach you the art of the welcome sequence: what it is, why you need one, and how to get started.  

What is an email welcome sequence?

It’s simple: a welcome sequence is a series of emails that you send new subscribers in an effort to help them get to know you and your brand better.

As I mentioned when I taught you How To Grow Your Email List With A Lead Magnet, sending a new subscriber your freebie and then never speaking to them again is like ghosting someone after a first date and expecting them to still like you and welcome you into their home.

Why are email welcome sequences important?

Let’s address the harsh reality of the world of freebies: people do not care about who they download freebies from.

More often than not, you don’t even know the person you’re downloading the freebie from. You’ve probably never heard of them in your life.

I’m willing to bet that at least 80% of the people who have downloaded my lead magnets have either found me on Pinterest, with no prior knowledge of my existence, or Googled something like “how to write a homepage” and opted for downloading my quick checklist instead of reading through my lengthy blog posts.

Welcome sequences are necessary because they help your subscribers get to know you, so they come to like you, so they come to trust you, so they eventually buy from you.

Because while, yes, I love everyone on my email list, and I get a great deal of joy from sending them a weekly newsletter every Tuesday morning, I’d be lying if I said my ultimate goal wasn’t to make more people aware of my services, encourage them to book a strategy call, or to create an engaged audience to launch my website copywriting course to.

I’m not out here sending weekly newsletters for my health.

(Although, if I do say so myself, the Tuesday Table of Contents is pretty fun, and I would definitely miss it I didn’t write it every week… I won’t deny that I love talking about myself and my feral stories, like this one and this one and this one.)

That being said, though, I don’t expect anyone on my email list to invest in my products or services without a comprehensive knowledge of who I am, why they can count on me, and how I can help their brand or business grow.

Your welcome sequence helps you build trust with your audience, allows you to establish your credibility, and gives you an opportunity to nurture your relationships — so that you can create (and maintain) an engaged, ready-to-invest email list.

Okay, cool. So… how does one actually write an email welcome sequence?

Great question! I’m going to give an unpopular answer, similar to my unpopular opinion on About pages: there’s no foolproof formula.

The whole point of your welcome sequence is to introduce yourself to your audience. Your true, authentic self.

Of course, there’s a strategic way to approach the sequence, but in terms of what you say, well, that comes down to your brand voice, and your overall goals for your email list.

Alright, now that my “be yourself” disclaimer is out of the way — here’s what I recommend sharing in your welcome sequence:

1. More context about who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.
2. An overview of all the ways you can help them / all the ways they can work with you.
3. Extra elements of free value, like tips or tutorials about something you know they’d benefit from.
4. Any info you think would be helpful for them to know before working with you.
5. What they can expect as a member of your email list.

 

If I have 4 freebies, do I have to have 4 email welcome sequences?

Nope, you don’t have to! You can, and it may improve your user experience / conversion (thanks to the specificity each sequence can provide, based on unique information you could include about each specific freebie topic), but it’s not a MUST. 

And if THAT is the one thing holding you back from getting started with email marketing, I beg you, please don’t make extra work for yourself. This is where segmenting your list will be a dream come true. Your ESP (email service provider) will give you the option of creating different segments (aka different portions of your list) for each of your freebies.

I use Flodesk, because I’ve found it’s the most user-friendly, accessible, aesthetically-pleasing, and helpful ESP on the market.

At only $19/month (when you use a discount code, like this one), it does everything I need from an ESP and I freaking love it.

My list is divided by lots of segments, most of which are opt-ins from my five free resources. I recommend using your lead magnet delivery email as a template, and adjusting the structure of that one email based on whichever freebie you’re delivering.

Then, create a segment called something like “welcome sequence” and make the next step in your workflow “add a trigger” and click “add to segment” then choose “welcome sequence.”

For more Flodesk tips, check out their recently-launched resource hub, Flodesk University. And if you plan to sign up, click this link or use my code “BTLCOPY” for 50% off for your first year!

Want to learn how to write an email welcome sequence of your own?

Start here.

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If we haven’t had the chance to *virtually* meet yet, hi! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:

Subscribe to my newsletter! I send one marketing tip, once a week – and, according to my subscribers, it’s “the best marketing newsletter on the Internet” and “the only reason to wake up on Tuesday mornings.” So… yeah. You’ll love ‘er. 😏 Click here to subscribe!

Check out my services. I write website copy, sales pages, email sequences, blog posts, and brand messaging guides for entrepreneurs of all kinds! Maybe you’re my next favorite client.

Read the rest of my blog. It’s home to everything from copywriting tips, to marketing education, to freelance advice, to portfolio-worthy projects… if you like this post, you’ll love the blog. Here’s a quick roundup of my most popular posts.

Sign up for my web copy course. Actually, it’s not *only* about website copywriting—I also teach modules on copywriting basics, developing your target audience, search engine optimization, blogging, and email marketing.

Enlist me as your mentor. I have an entire in-depth blog post about my one-on-one consulting process for new and aspiring copywriters, if you’re interested in having a big-sis-style mentor to help you grow your freelance copywriting business & get results.

To get in touch with me directly, send me a DM or email sara@betweenthelinescopy.com. Have a great day!