Today it’s time to rethink and re-energize your welcome email. If you are like most people, you write it up quickly during the process of setting up our list and then never look at it again. Which means there is almost ALWAYS room for some improvement. This is really important because your welcome email has the highest open rate of anything you send and is seen by just about every single person that signs up for your list.
More importantly, at that moment they are “Very Interested Leads”. Those readers are the most energetically aligned and receptive to you at that moment. They just found you and signed up for your list and your gift (lead magnet). They are very interested in what you have to say and what you can do to help them. In short, you have their full attention. Don’t waste that. Instead, use it wisely. That isn’t taking advantage of them. It is serving and helping them if you are coming from your heart and a place of true caring.
By using their attention wisely, you can continue to nurture and grow the relationship with your readers, you can set expectations, and you can pre-sell them (in a good way) on the offer you present them with on the download or thank you page that we talked about in yesterday’s blog post.
So, let’s look at the different components of a good welcome email.
The subject line should be to the point and let them know exactly what this is about. Reference your site or your gift (lead magnet) in there.
The Body of the email. Next, you want to give your readers a warm welcome. Tell them a little about you and your site. This is also a great place to set expectations. You can greatly improve your future email open rates if you let them know what’s coming and why they don’t want to miss it.
If you publish a weekly newsletter, share a little bit about what’s in those newsletters, what day of the week they usually arrive in their email inbox, and what tag to look for in the subject line. Let’s say you publish a weekly newsletter for young parents. You may choose a tag like [Parenting News] as part of your subject line for each issue. Mention that in your welcome email so your readers can start looking for it.
If you have an auto-responder sequence set up, tease them about what’s coming in the first email of that sequence and let them know when to look for it. You can also hint at exclusive content, coupons, events, specials and more that you will be sharing in the coming weeks and months.
Last but not least, encourage your subscribers to hit reply and email you. Ask them a question, suggest that they share a tip etc. Get them to reply to you. Not only does this allow you to take the relationship to the next level, but it also gives you a chance to get to know your audience better.
SECRET TIP – When you can get a subscriber reply to your email it will also greatly improve your overall email delivery rates for your list! It lets Google and all the other internet service providers know that this subscriber really does want to communicate with you!
SECRET TIP – When you can get a subscriber reply to your email it will also greatly improve your overall email delivery rates for your list! It lets Google and all the other internet service providers know that this subscriber really does want to communicate with you!
These are just some tips and guidelines to get your to update you started creating a welcoming, welcome email. As always, keep your ideal audience in mind as you make changes. As your understanding of your niche and your target audience grows, you will want to revisit and tweak your message in the future. So, set a reminder on your calendar to take a look at it every six months or so, to make sure it still serves you and your readers for the highest good of all.