When it comes to marketing to your target audience, email is still the best way to get information to them directly and personally. Sure, there are newer and shinier methods, but according to research, 78% of marketers attribute their success to emails. Even better, for every $1 spent on emails, they saw an average of $42 come back to them! With an ROI like that, it’s safe to say that email marketing is still relevant.
Now that we’ve established that emails should still be a key part of your marketing strategy, the question becomes how should you go about writing an email script that will lead to conversions? We have some easy tips for you to follow and we’re even giving you a template to get you off on the right track. Let’s get going!
A Look Into the Buyer’s Journey
Marketing strategies come and go and ebb and flow with popularity, but one thing they usually have in common is that they’re correlated to the buyer’s journey. If this is a new concept to you, we can fill you in on the main points quickly so you understand why it matters when you sit down to write your welcome email sequence.
The buyer’s journey is a breakdown of the path that a person takes when making a purchase. It consists of three stages:
- Awareness Stage: The buyer realizes they have a need or want (also known as their pain or problem) and they decide that they want to do something about it.
- Consideration Stage: The buyer starts researching how to fix their problem or meet their need. They may compare several vendors or products and weigh the pros and cons of each before moving to the next step.
- Decision Stage: The final stage is when the buyer has made their decision about who to purchase from and commits to the sale.
This process matters because a customer should be communicated to based on where they’re at in this process. Early on, you may need to speak to their pain points and make them aware of your solution while later in the process you may be offering discounts to help them choose you over your competitors. Keep that in mind as we start looking more at what specifically goes into a welcome email sequence.
How to Write the Best Welcome Email Sequence Ever
Every email sequence should contain key components that help engage the reader and move them towards taking action. These pieces should be tailored to the goal of the individual email and where the reader is in their buyer’s journey. However, this doesn’t have to be an overwhelming feat! Following these tips will make sure your messages get noticed, get read, and get you sales.
Spend Time on Your Subject Line
First and foremost, your subject line is something that you should be spending ample time on. Look at this little line as the gateway to the buyer’s loyalty and wallet. Your subject has to get the reader’s attention and make them interested enough to open your email. Experiment until you get this right but many people have success when using personal names and open questions.
Speak to Where They Are
Remember that buyer’s journey we went over? This is where that comes into play. Your email list should ideally be segmented based on where the subscriber is at in their journey with you. If they’re new, they should be in your welcome sequence. If they’re a regular customer, they’ll be on a nurture sequence. You may even have a segment focused on re-engaging cold leads.
Make It Personal
We know this is an email campaign designed to be written to the masses, however, you should try to personalize your emails as much as possible. This can be done by inserting the reader’s name throughout the message or even referencing their past purchases. The goal is to make them feel as though they’re more than a number to you so any personal touch will help with that effort.
Spellcheck, Please!
Before you hit “send,” please, for the love of all things holy, proofread that email! After you’re done, do it again. After that, have someone else do it for you. The last thing you want to do is send an email out with an embarrassing typo that makes you look unprofessional. Nearly every word processor and email provider has spell check built in these days so, at the very least, let it run through your message before it goes out.
Always Have a Call-to-Action
Every email that you send should include an obvious call-to-action (CTA) that lets the reader know what their next step should be. This could be directing them to sign up for a course, download a freebie, or schedule a call. The important thing is that they know what to do, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Make it Automatic
Finally, once you have your email script perfected, make it even easier to get it out to the world by automating it. You’ll want to have landing pages and ads that collect emails for you and then those new subscribers should automatically be placed in your welcome sequence. There are plenty of email providers that can help with this automation so you can set it up once and only make adjustments as needed.
Greatest Email Writing Template
To make it even easier for you, we’ve put together what we think is truly the best welcoming email template. Take these six email topics and fill them in with your details and personality. It’s basically a “just add water” situation — you’re welcome!
Email 1: Welcome to the Club! Have a freebie!
When a new subscriber signs up to be on your list, the first email should be a quick “thank you” for registering and then delivering a freebie as a gift. This is likely the thing they signed up to receive but if not, add a download that would make them excited to have. You’ll also want to set some expectations in this email so they’ll know when they’ll be hearing from you in the future.
Email 2: Meet the Team
This email is where you go into more detail about your company and team. Include pictures of you and your staff so they can put a face with a name and feel as though they’re really connecting with you. People want to do business with people they like and they can’t like you without knowing you.
Email 3: Tell and Story and Give More
We’re sure you’ve heard it before, but stories sell! You should have three foundational stories about you and your business that you can use for different scenarios to engage people. This is one of those times. Tell a story about why you got into the business and then give them another freebie just to keep them coming back for more.
Email 4: Testimonials
Who doesn’t love a good testimony? Now is the time to let others brag about you by sharing a few customer testimonials. You want the reader to walk away feeling confident in your company and able to see themselves doing business with you. Share 2-3 testimonies from customers with different backgrounds and experiences so more readers will relate to them.
Email 5: Time for the Push
You’re getting close to the end of your campaign so this is the time to start pushing a little more. What’s your end goal for this sequence? Do you want them to sign up for a course? Book an appointment? Make a purchase? Whatever it is, you need to educate them about it in this email and encourage them to take action with a CTA.
Email 6: Goodbye For Now
The last email in your sequence should let the reader know that you’ve enjoyed introducing yourself to them and that while you hope to hear from them soon, you won’t be blowing up their emails anymore. Include another CTA with a note of scarcity in it so they’re moved to action. This is also a great place to include a discount or special offer to seal the deal.
Time to Welcome New Subscribers (and New Sales)
Setting up an email script can be a daunting task with so many different factors to keep in mind. Subject lines, CTAs, the buyer’s journey… there’s a lot to keep straight! Hopefully, with this list by your side, you’ll find that you’re more than up for the challenge. We can assure you that it’ll be worth the effort when you start to see your revenue rise.
In closing, as you write your script, remember to keep your tone conversational as though you’re having a talk with someone over coffee. The main goal is to be welcoming, after all. Save the stuffiness for the board meetings and let your new subscribers see your sparkling personality so they’ll be encouraged to do business with you for years to come.
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Liz Slyman
Over the past decade, Liz has worked as a copywriter and digital marketing executive for a multitude of companies from startups to and mid-sized businesses to working as the VP of marketing for award-winning, platinum-selling artists. Leveraging an understanding of the nuance of language in marketing, Liz founded Amplihigher, a content marketing and copywriting agency, designed to connect consumers to companies in a way that results in next-level brand expansion.