So a visitor to your website has decided to sign up to join your mailing list. Congratulations! That means you’ve succeeded at creating a great website with an enticing offering and content, and your sign-up forms have been persuasive! You’ve done well for your business, but don’t celebrate just yet because the sign-up is only the beginning. Now comes your biggest shot at turning prospects into customers, and it all comes down to the effectiveness of your first contact with them – the welcome email series.
What is a welcome email series, and why should you take it seriously?
A welcome email series is a string of emails that you send to the people who sign up for your mailing list for the first time.
Think of it as the first impression you make to a subscriber, and it can determine whether they end up becoming a loyal customer or just another passing connection.
Did you know that welcome emails have one of the highest engagement rates of all marketing emails? Research has found that they generate about 4 times more opens and about 5 times more clicks than most emails in a marketing campaign on average. Why is this?
When a website visitor signs up to join your mailing list, their interest in your business at that moment is the highest that it will likely ever be! Use this opportunity to strike the iron while it’s still hot. Here’s how to model your welcome email series to make the most of this attention on your brand.
5 ways to improve the engagement rates on your welcome email series
- Don’t miss the timing
You want to keep a new subscriber’s attention on your brand from the moment they sign up. That’s why your first welcome email should arrive at their inbox as soon as they fill in that sign-up form. According to marketing company WordStream, about 74% of new subscribers usually expect an email immediately after signing up. Keeping them waiting could result in them losing interest quickly.
Your second email should not be too far behind. Send it preferably one day later, which is just soon enough that your brand is still fresh in their minds. Schedule any other email in the series to arrive about 2 to 3 days after the subsequent one. Remember to opt a new subscriber out of any further welcome emails once they convert to a paying customer before you finish sending them the whole planned welcome series. You don’t want them feeling too bombarded!
- Craft a persuasive subject line and an appealing body
Most consumers expect brands to treat them like individuals instead of just numbers on a list, according to research collected by software company Salesforce. It could impact their decision to convert to a paying customer as a result, which is why personalization should be essential to crafting both the subject lines and the bodies of your welcome email series. Address your new subscribers by their name, use your own name in your email address, and when signing at the end of the email, if you can. Mention their specific interests based on the data collected from their visit to your website.
Remember to welcome and thank them for joining your mailing list. Craft your overall message to be warm and welcoming, and it is sure to keep the new subscriber invested in what your business has to offer.
- Give your new subscribers a direction of action
One of the best ways to keep a newly added subscriber engaging with your emails is by guiding them to their next action. Your welcome email series should not only admit a new user to your mailing list but also direct them towards becoming a more active member of your growing brand community. Guide them on what steps to take next, such as claiming an offer, setting up a mailing frequency preference, following you on social media, and so on. Direction encourages more active participation, which means higher click-through rates and more possible conversions!
- Continue to offer value
If an offer of either a discount or free item was what turned your website visitor into a subscriber, then you need to continue the same practice in your emails. That’s what it means to offer value, and you need to continue doing it to keep your new subscriber engaged. Users tend to unsubscribe or stop interacting with emails when they find nothing more to gain from them. Value could also be in the form of exclusive deals or offers for signing up. It could also be content that helps them understand your products or services better because that information is also valuable.
- Let your new subscribers tell you about themselves
One of the most direct ways to increase engagement within your welcome email series is to allow your new subscriber to tell you what they want. Ask them questions about their preferences in your brand. You could give them a survey or a new form that they could fill. The specific answers they provide could make your efforts at personalization and targeting even more effective in your future email campaigns. Take it as a chance to serve your new contacts better while also getting them to interact with your content easily.
Your welcome email series could be your chance to sow the seeds of a lasting relationship between you and your subscribers. The better it is, the more engagement your campaigns will continue to receive long after the welcome series has done its job!
