HOW TO WRITE A WELCOME EMAIL SEQUENCE // AMY MATOS
Wait, a what? What on Earth is a welcome email sequence?!
An automated welcome email sequence is that series of emails that found their way into your inbox right after you gave that person looking to sell you something your email address in exchange for their freebie.
It doesn’t matter what the business was, what they were selling, or what their freebie was; it could have been a free planner, a free coupon for their service, or a free how-to video. You name it, whatever the free thing was that you wanted so badly that you coughed up your email address to get it. Remember that?
You downloaded that shiny free thing, and it was everything you thought it would be. It did everything you wanted it to do, and best of all, it was free!
Who doesn’t love free stuff!
Then, there was more. Then, the person giving you that freebie started appearing in your inbox every couple of days over the next week with the solutions to all of your problems.
You really couldn’t believe it; it was like they were talking directly to you, yet they weren’t like most people trying to sell you something. They weren’t just talking all about themselves the whole time. It was like they were describing your exact struggle, could genuinely empathize with your challenge, and were giving you suggestions for how to make it better.
Then, of course, when you were ready to reply and ask for it anyways, they magically had the solution. That solution, came in a gorgeous package, with a unique, one-time-only offer attached to it to close out the week of emails. The offer was everything that you had been waiting for, and it expired soon, so you jumped, thankful that you downloaded that shiny freebie a week ago.
This, my Fems, is an automated welcome email sequence. And this, is a MUST HAVE if you are selling ANYTHING, and I mean anything, online.
Well, let me take that back, I suppose you don’t need one if you don’t like bringing in sales…
So now that we’re all clear on what an automated welcome email sequence is (admit it, now that you know, you realize just how many of them you’ve received), now let’s talk about why this little tactic is such a critical part of any online marketing strategy, and ultimately in growing your business.
1. Sales Psychology 101 – Start with Why
If you’ve read much about sales psychology, or perhaps one of my favorite books “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek, than you know that people don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it. An automated welcome email sequence is not only your opportunity to subtly share your why, but more importantly, it is your chance to show that you understand your buyer’s why. Why they are struggling, why that struggle matters to you, and of course, why your solution will solve their problems.
2. Sales Psychology 102 – Build Trust
This process of starting a conversation with your audience and establishing a shared sense of purpose between you allows you to demonstrate empathy. As you progress through your sequence and begin to present your suggestions to your audience’s problems, you show expertise. Empathy and expertise will help you build credibility and trust. In a world of online business where there are hundreds of others doing exactly what you do, credibility and trust are crucial to developing relationships with your audience.
3. Sales Psychology 103 – Make the ask, AFTER you’ve built a relationship
The best sales process doesn’t feel like a sale. The best sales process has a clear and mutually beneficial relationship to both the buyer and the seller. It’s rather difficult to build a mutually beneficial relationship over the course of one interaction. In real life, sales processes are often a series of meetings and engagements BEFORE the ask to buy comes. Why would you not adopt the same practice for your online sales? A Welcome Sequence accomplishes that by establishing a series of engagements BEFORE the ask comes.
4. Profitability 101 – Automate to maximize profitability
A well-written, welcome email sequence is engaging. It educates and nurtures your audience, and walks them down the path towards an easy buy. The key to the magic behind welcome sequences comes from AUTOMATING them. By putting systems in place, you will build a scalable model that minimizes your input (time & effort), without sacrificing your output (sales). Particularly if writing is outside your zone of genius, outsourcing this task can be a doubly fantastic way to optimize your input without sacrificing output.
The real wonder of email sequences is that they are not, and should not, be limited to your welcome email after getting a new subscriber on your list. Smart sequences can be leveraged regularly as part of your marketing and sales strategy as a way to engage, nurture, and convert sales on autopilot.