You want to have a great relationship with your list. But these things take time. When someone first joins your list, they might not know much about you at all. This is the perfect time to let people get to know you, and what to expect from you in the future.
Welcome Email
The very first message you send sets the tone of your emails. It should let your audience know that you appreciate them, and value them. It also lets you set their expectations of what will happen in the future. This is where you start building a relationship with your new subscribers.
Begin by creating a welcome email with the needs of your audience in mind. Explain to them how being a subscriber benefits them. Since a very high percent of your subscribers will open your welcome email, it’s the best time to strengthen trust in the budding relationship.
There are many things that you can do in this first email that will help you get them to open more emails in the future.
Give Them What They Signed up For. No matter what else you say in your email, the most important thing that needs to be in that first email is whatever got them to sign up in the first place. If you told them you were giving them a product, give it to them or tell them where to get it. If you deliver on your promise, they’ll start to trust you. If you don’t, there’s a good chance that they won’t open your next email. This is a great way to start building trust. Give them what they asked for.
Thank Them. There are a lot of email lists out there, and people are signing up for yours. Thank them for doing so. Let them know that you appreciate them. You’ll go a long way towards getting them to like you!
Be Yourself. This is just the first email that they’re going to get from you. If they’re going to keep opening your emails, you need to be yourself. Let your personality show through in your emails. Your audience will get to know, like, and trust you better that way. If you act differently in each email, people will be confused. So be yourself and you’ll start to build a relationship with your audience.
Set Expectations. Since so many people will open this email, let them know what to expect from you in the future. What types of emails will they get from you? How often will they hear from you? Now you don’t want to give them too much information in the first email, but start to let them know what they should expect.
Let Them Know How to Find You. Let’s face it, even just a day or so later someone might forget how they found you in the first place. They might not have even signed up to your list through your website. Let them know how to learn more about you. Let them know where you are. If you want them to be able to contact you, let them know how they can do that. This can include giving a link to your website, your social media accounts, an email address, and more.
Be Clear. Be very clear in what you’re telling them. If you’re giving them something, how can get they it? If they need to join something, tell them exactly how to do so. If you want them to fill out a survey, include how to in the directions. People like when others are clear and concise, so start now in being helpful to your audience.
While your welcome email is very important, so are the automated emails in the follow-up series. Take the time to craft a welcome email that covers the most important info that is needed immediately. In your follow-up series, continue to use these tips and ideas to help you build your relationship and trust.
Follow-Up Series
After your audience receives their welcome email, it’s helpful to send them a series of emails. This is your follow-up series, and it’s something that everyone who signs up to your list will get.
It’s very helpful to have, as there are most likely some things you’ll want to tell everyone who signs up to your list. It won’t matter when they sign up to your list, you’ll want them to have this knowledge. So if you’re only sending broadcast emails, they’d never get to hear it.
This is a great chance for you to share some knowledge with your audience. They signed up to your list because they wanted to learn something from you. So keep teaching them. If they have a great first impression of you (from your welcome email), and then keep getting awesome emails from you, they’ll continue opening your emails.
Just because they opened your first two emails doesn’t mean they’ll keep opening your emails. If they don’t get enough out of them, they’ll stop. So this is your chance to prove that they should stay on your list. This is how you convince them that your email is one that they should always open. Tell them things that will be helpful to them. If they’re interested in whatever it was that got them to sign up, what else can you share? On top of sharing knowledge about the niche, share some stories about yourself as well. If they get to know you, they’re more likely to keep reading your emails.
The more you share (about yourself as well as the content in your niche), the more they’ll get to know, like, and trust you. And if you haven’t figured it out already, this will get them to keep opening your emails. On top of that, if they know, like, and trust you, they’re more likely to buy from you (and through your links.)
So when you create an email list, one of the first things you should do is take some time to create your welcome email as well as a follow-up series. Have you already started your list? It’s never to late to go back and review your autoresponder series. See what you have, and make any changes if you need to.
Having a good welcome email and follow-up series will help your list keep growing. It’s worth the time and effort now to make sure those on your list start out (and stay) happy. These are the people who will become your raving fans. You want to start out on the right foot, and help them and let them get to know you. So whether you’re just starting your first email list or have had one for years, make sure your welcome email and follow-up series are worthy of you.
Enjoy,
