How to Write a Welcome Sequence that Converts Subscribers to Buyers
So you have a freebie created, your opt-in form set up, and your freebie delivery email ready to go so that you can deliver the goods when someone joins your list. But before you start telling people about it… Do you have a welcome sequence?
When someone joins your list, they’re the warmest within the first few days. That’s your window to let them get to know you more and show them what you can offer before they forget who you are or why they even subscribed in the first place. After all, first impressions matter, and this is your way to make a great virtual first impression on your audience!
We’re huge fans of welcome sequences because it means that when the time comes to sell to someone, they won’t be in the dark about who you are– they’ll already know, like, and trust you (or at least that’s the goal). So, what actually goes into a welcome sequence? Read along as we walk you through how to write a welcome sequence that converts subscribers to buyers!
The Anatomy of a Killer Welcome Sequence
First, let’s talk high-level about welcome sequence anatomy. There are usually 5-7 emails that go into a welcome sequence, and those emails are sent about 1-2 days apart. The reason you want to send them so often is for two reasons: one being that, as we said before, your new subscriber is going to be the warmest in the first few days, and the other reason being that people quickly lose interest. Here is the topic of each email in the sequence:
Email #1: Introduce yourself, your business, and your topic
Email #2: Educate them about something or point them to a valuable piece of content
Email #3: Address common mistakes + how to fix them
Email #4: Address your audience’s top paint points
Email #5: Answer FAQs and provide testimonials
Email #6: Get personal by asking them what’s holding them back
Email #7: Talk yourself and your product/service up with a hard pitch
Now that you have a bird’s eye view of the emails you can have in your welcome sequence, let’s break each one down even further.
EMAIL 1: INTRODUCTION
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Start your sequence off by introducing yourself, your business, and what it is that you do. This is the perfect opportunity to nail down your elevator pitch! Be sure to ask your reader a question in this email to encourage a response. Doing so will not only facilitate a conversation between you and your warm lead and remind them that you’re a real person, but it will also increase your sender reputation with your email marketing platform, making it more likely that your emails will end up in inboxes versus spam folders.
EMAIL #2: EDUCATION
This email doesn’t have to be super long. Educate your reader about your topic or point them to a valuable piece of content, like a blog post, YouTube video, another free download, or whatever you have to give away for free again. You can never provide too much value to your audience, especially when trying to convert them to a buyer. Since they’re already considered a warm lead at this point, any extra value will help push them one step closer to the edge.
EMAIL #3: COMMON MISTAKES
Address 3-5 common mistakes that you notice in your industry, plus explain how your product or service will avoid/fix them. This is your first pitch in the sequence, and it’s an awesome one because you’re basically displaying the most important ways your paid offer will make a difference in the way they’re ________ (whatever your topic is).
EMAIL #4: PAIN POINTS
You know your ideal client/customer, and you know what they’re struggling with the most. Touch on those pain points, and show that you understand and/or can relate to them. If this was something you struggled with as well before you started your business, tell them that. Then, address how your paid offer will help them solve these problems. Although this is a pitch, it’s a very personal one that will hit home for your readers.
EMAIL #5: FAQS AND TESTIMONIALS
It’s likely that your reader has tons of questions about your paid offer before they make the plunge to purchase, so go ahead and answer those for them in this email without them having to go to your sales page to read. Be sure to back up your product by sprinkling 2-3 testimonials in there from previous buyers. We know that you could talk about how great your offer is all day long, but the fact of the matter is, next to no one is going to purchase something without verifying that others had a positive experience.
EMAIL #6: WHAT’S HOLDING THEM BACK
Simply ask your reader what’s holding them back from pulling the lever. If you’re able to relate to their hesitations, share your story to show that you understand what they’re feeling. Get personal again with this email and show how much you know them. Encourage a reply at the end.
EMAIL #7: TALK IT UP
Bring it home with a hard pitch and really talk up your paid offer. Touch again on pain points and how it will fix them, share a couple more testimonials. If you’re offering a discount that will expire, share how urgent it is that they purchase now. Another tactic that we like to use in our is a short and sweet, “This is the last message you’ll receive from us regarding [paid offer]”. We briefly list the benefits they’ll reap and prompt them to imagine what their life will be like afterwards. Then, we prompt them to join one more time, and that’s it. We recommend you A/B test a longer email against a short and sweet one to see which one performs better with your audience.
Now, before you freak out about having to write 7 emails, remember that your welcome sequence doesn’t have to be that long. You could drum it down to only 5, or even 3 emails. In fact, we’ve already created Flodesk Opt-in Email Templates in The Creative Template Shop to use for a welcome sequence!
You receive 3 email templates for opt-in delivery, introduction, and call-to-action. You can either choose to keep your sequence short with these 3 emails, or you can use them as the basis for your longer sequence. If you become a member of The Shop, you’ll get instant downloadable access to these templates and every other template for just $47/month.
Now, get to writing your welcome sequence so you can convert those subscribers to buyers ASAP!
