How to Create an Automated Email Welcome Sequence

Email marketing continues to drive high ROI for business owners. Even though it’s been around for a while, email marketing is a worthwhile investment. However, there does need to be a strategy around your email marketing for it to be successful. The most basic strategy is an email welcome sequence to greet new subscribers to your email list. 

In this blog, I’ll teach you how to set up an automated email welcome sequence. Once it’s created, you can set it and forget it. I love marketing strategies like that, don’t you? So let’s get into it!

What is a Drip Campaign?

Drip campaign, nurture sequence, automated email series… They all describe the same thing. An email drip campaign is a type of automated marketing strategy that involves sending a sequence of targeted emails to a specific set of contacts over some time. Drip campaigns are designed to nurture leads and engage customers by delivering a series of messages in a strategic and timely manner.

Drip campaigns are useful for entrepreneurs because they are sent automatically based on segments or triggers you set. For example, you can set up a drip campaign for a specific freebie. Only the people who download that freebie will be put in this sequence and receive specific messaging related to that freebie. It’s a great way to personalize the experience for your subscribers without manually sending emails all the time.

Benefits of a Welcome Sequence

A popular form of an email nurture sequence is a welcome series. These are a series of emails sent to new subscribers to introduce them to your brand and services. A welcome sequence provides an opportunity to make a positive first impression on new subscribers. It sets the tone for the relationship and can influence how individuals perceive and engage with your brand. 

A welcome sequence is a great way to build trust with your audience. By delivering valuable content, information, or incentives in the welcome sequence, you can build long-term relationships and customer loyalty.

The automation piece of an email nurture sequence saves you time. You can set it up in advance and have it ready whenever someone subscribes. It ensures your new subscribers are being nurtured around the clock without effort from you. You can focus on other aspects of customer engagement and business growth.

The Emails in a Welcome Sequence

Now let’s chat about the email content in your welcome sequence. In your welcome sequence, your messaging can:

• Introduce yourself and your business
• Set the expectation for being on your list (the value they receive, how many emails to expect, etc.)
• Product or service overview
• Educational content
• Exclusive offers
• Find out why they joined your list (feedback or surveys)
• Contact information

I recommend having 3-5 emails in your welcome sequence. You don’t want to overwhelm them right off the bat, but you should give them the information they need. Starting the nurture process right will benefit you in the long run.

Drip campaigns can be complex and specific if you want them to be. I added a photo of an example below. However, your welcome sequence doesn’t need to look like this. You can add more, but at a basic level, the sequence should go like this:

• Send automated welcome email 1 immediately after a subscriber opts in.
• Allow them 1-2 days to open the email.
• Send automated welcome email 2.
• Allow them 1-2 days to open the email.
• Send automated welcome email 3.
• Allow them 1-2 days to open the email.
• Add the new subscriber to your main mailing list.

As you can see, I recommend not adding them to your regular emails until they complete the drip campaign. The reason is there’s the potential for them to receive several emails in one week, depending on how many you send. With the automation in place sending 3-5 emails plus your regular emails, it can be overwhelming and lead to unsubscribes.

Photo: https://aritic.com/blog/aritic-pinpoint/9-automated-drip-marketing/

Analyze and Adjust

Even though drip campaigns are a set-it-and-forget-it marketing strategy, you still need to analyze your results and adjust every once in a while. You don’t know how people will respond to your emails when you first set them up. 

Take a look at your analytics every few months to see how your emails are performing. If you see a major drop in opens or clicks after email 2, for example, think about changing your messaging in that one. Something in that email probably isn’t resonating with your audience.

The big email metrics to look at are:

• Click rate
• Open rate
• Clickthrough rate
• Spam reports
• Bounce rate
• Unsubscribes

If you see something concerning after looking at these metrics, change your strategy! That’s the beauty of automation – you’re collecting data every day from something that took you a few hours to set up.

Every entrepreneur investing in email marketing should have an automated email welcome sequence in place. It saves you time while still nurturing new subscribers. You still see a higher email ROI by implementing this strategy. If you need assistance creating an automated email welcome sequence, reach out to me! I’d be happy to help.

About Solution Integrators

To keep it simple, I’m Ashley, a Chief Systems Officer. I take your complex problems and find ways to simplify them. My goal isn’t just to save you time (saving you time is the easy part!) – I want to fully level up the way you interact, manage, and fulfill offers for your clients. I want to help you provide a cohesive experience. An experience that not only feels like quality but looks that way too. From onboarding to offboarding – I want to transform each phase of interaction from lead to signed client. Let’s work together!