Welcome email sequences are one of the most unused marketing tools that actually have amazing potential. They can be a really strong part of your marketing strategy and as a part of your overall branding for your business, and many people don’t utilise their potential. The average open rate for a welcome email is 50%. That makes it 86% more effective than standard newsletters. 39% of brands do send a welcome email, but 41% brands don’t send a welcome email within the first 48hrs. Looking at that effectiveness, it seems crazy for every brand to not be using this method. Not only that, but 76% of people expect to receive a welcome email immediately after subscribing to your list, showing that customers receive these emails more than well. Creating an email sales funnel to make the customer want to buy from the brand is the aim I try to achieve. 

A welcome email has the objective of talking directly to the customers who are already interested in your brand. If they have entered their details to receive the emails, then it actually means that they are already your target audience. For instance, if you’re a women’s luxury fashion company that aims for women aged 25-50, then those who sign up are normally already automatically in your audience – which is another reason why welcome emails can be so impactful. I don’t center my welcome email sequences on giving a hard sell to the customer, but instead use them to introduce them to the brand and building a customer-brand connection.

If we look at the people who are most likely to get you sales out the following three:

• A. Someone who’s been on your email list for a long time
• B. Someone who has just signed up for your free email list
• C. Someone who has just visited your website for the first time

Most people would assume the answer is A, but the answer is in fact B. These customers have chosen to not buy from you, they are lounging on their need to capatilise on what is called ‘sign-up momentum’.

When someone starts listening, you should say hello.

This sign-up momentum has been proven to be incredibly effective, and only this effective within the first few weeks that a customer has entered a mailing list. Open and click-through rates are the highest that you can get on any email campaign. It’s the chance to make the most of the peak attention from a customer, and leave a strong impression of your brand. 

Using that sign-up momentum then leads into using the ‘stages of awareness’ – utilising the customers curiosity into satisfied customers.

Email sequences are also an excellent way for me to test customer responses, and segment the audience by asking people to tell you what they want (so you can give it to them). I track information by 

Welcome email sequences are an incredible way to build your brand story to possible customers and capitalise on that first sign-up momentum, fully maximising that customers first interest in your brand. It’s an excellent method that I use to build a brands presence and customer base.tracking open rates, replies, link clicks, and even whether they’ve forwarded an email.

My method for an email welcome series is to set up an automatic sequence that automatically sends out to people who join your emailing list. A good way to create that lead magnet is to offer something such as a discount to a customer in return for entering their email address. This email sequence I begin with a few nurture emails, that congratulate the customer on being proactive and welcoming them to your community. Then a slow introduction to the brand, its values, and what it could bring to their lives is what the next few emails entail. And then I begin the introduction to buying the product..

‘You…

• Send a couple of nurture emails
• Slowly introduce them to who you are and what you do
• Share one or two of your core stories (make them emotional and really engaging)
• Start thinking about getting them to buy whatever thing you want them to buy

Ideally it’s connected to the thing that they opted in to get—because very few people will join a newsletter just to get a newsletter. For the most part they’re only signing up because you gave them a reason and they wanted to get your free thing.’

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4-6 emails is what has been statistically proven to be the best number as part of a welcome series. I aim to create enough emails to build trust and help the contacts understand the brand before we push for the sale. Five emails is not too large of a number but also gives us the space to devote each email to a specific topic.

Using these stages of awareness is the second most important part of a welcome email series. The stages in order of experience are:

• Completely Unaware: No knowledge of anything except, perhaps, his own identity or opinion.
• Problem Aware: Your prospect senses he has a problem, but doesn’t know there’s a solution.
• Solution Aware: Your prospect knows the result he wants, but not that your product provides it.
• Product Aware: Your prospect knows what you sell, but isn’t sure it’s right for him.
• The Most Aware: Your prospect knows your product, and only needs to know “the deal.”

Utilising this awareness at the peak of customer curiosity and sign-up momentum is what I can employ to make a brand stand out from the start of a customer’s interest. The effectiveness is something that I can employ to create and bolster your branding.