Today it’s time to rework that welcome email. I have yet to come across one that couldn’t use some improvement. More often than not, we write it up quickly during the process of setting up our list and then never look at it again. Better yet, we just use the default text that comes with our software. That’s really a shame, because this 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, remember, those readers are red-hot leads. They just found you and signed up for your list and your 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. Use it wisely.
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 on the offer you present them with on the download or thank you page that we talked about in yesterday’s post. If you missed that post you can find it here.
Welcome Page Wording
Let’s quickly go over the different components of a good welcome email.
The subject line — The subject line should be to the point and let them know exactly what the email is about. Reference your site or your lead magnet in there.
Next 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.
The tease —If you have an auto-responder sequence set up, tease them about what’s coming in the first email of the sequence and let them know when to look for it. You can also hint at exclusive content, coupons and the likes that are coming in the coming weeks and months.
Last, encourage subscribers to hit reply & 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 and give you a chance to get to know your audience better, it also greatly improves your overall list delivery rates.
Keep your audience front and center — Use this as a guideline to rework your own email, keeping your target audience in mind along the way. Try it out and see how well it’s working for you. As your understanding of your niche and your target audience grows, you may want to revisit and tweak the message. Make it a point to look at it every six months or so to make sure it still serves you and your readers well.
Tomorrow…
That’s it for day four. Tomorrow we’ll hone our message even further by making sure our messages are serving our customers. You don’t want to miss this!