Writing catchy welcome emails is hard.
At least it is if you haven't gotten a few things sorted first.
When I first wrote the welcome email sequence for Hustle and Groove, I had no idea what I wanted to convey and I had little idea about the voice I wanted to use.
I mean, who was going to want to listen to my conversational-style of writing?!
Well, as it turns out, a lot of you…
Once I figured out that I could be myself and be upfront and clear about how I wanted to run my business, writing a catchy welcome email sequence became so much easier.
And I want to help you get to that space too.
First of all, you're going to need a few things to get started.
Table of Contents
#1: Email platform
It's no secret that I'm in love with ConvertKit. I was just talking with my amazing VA, Sonia about them today.
She wanted to know why I had switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit and I was eager to explain…
ConvertKit has an easy-to-use interface. You don't have to dig too deep to find what you're looking for and its functionality is 10X that of what I had access to MailChimp on their paid plan.
Granted, MailChimp has done a lot to up their game in the past few years, but I'm so loyal to ConvertKit and love what they do, why would I change!
Here are some of the features I love inside ConvertKit:
- Visual automations (so you can see exactly what's going on and connect the dots)
- All the landing pages you could ever need!
- Incentive emails built right into the forms (auto-delivery of your lead magnets!)
So here's a quick tutorial on setting up your very first landing page inside ConvertKit:
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#2: Lead magnet
To have catchy welcome emails implies that you've got something to send to your new subscribers… but if you haven't got that piece sorted yet, then you'll need to get busy!
Creating a lead magnet is an important piece in setting up your own catchy welcome emails, so make sure you take some time to do this.
Things that work well for most audiences included:
- Quizzes (and the awesome detailed results for your readers)
- Cheat sheets
- Video tutorials
- Mini-courses
- Templates
Avoid giving away ebooks, if possible. While they used to be popular, they have since lost their value as an incentive for people to join your list.
Your potential subscriber's email address is like currency. They are not giving it up unless they get something of value in return.
Read: How to develop your best lead magnet
#3: Lead capture on your website
The final piece, before writing your catchy welcome emails is making sure that your potential subscriber can actually join your email list.
On your website, you have lots of opportunities to capture email addresses (via offering your lead magnet).
You can have a dedicated landing page for your lead magnet on your website.
You could have an opt-in form in your sidebar. It could be in your blog footer.
You might have a bar across the top of your blog that entices people into your email list.
All of these are great options, but no matter what you have, make sure it clearly captures their email addresses and links back to your email platform.
Read this great tutorial on how to add a ConvertKit form to a WordPress website via the ConvertKit knowledgebase.
Now that you've got the important pieces in place, let's start developing your catchy welcome email sequence.
Crafting Catchy Welcome Emails
The image below is the outline we'll be following to write our catchy welcome emails. Feel free to download it for yourself.
What's your ‘voice'?
Before we dive into this, it's important that you figure out what your voice is. The best way to do this is to take five minutes and record the answer to the following question as if you were explaining your answer to a person sitting in front of you.
And I mean actually recording your voice answer, not the written answer.
This will allow you to capture the way that you speak, the words you use when you're explaining something.
When we write, it's can often bring out a different voice, so let's make sure that we're capturing the true, authentic you.
Ready? Here's that question:
“I'm not sure how to get started with writing my first blog post. What's your advice on my best way to get started?”
Now I mean it. Stop reading, take five and record your audio answer to this question.
Now that you've done that, transcribe your response, word for word. If you can't be bothered, use www.rev.com to do it for you. They'll have it back to you within 10-15 minutes 😉
What did you discover?
Do you shorten your words? I quite often replace the word ‘going' with ‘gonna' because that's how I talk.
Do you use funny words in place of ‘normal' words to explain something?
Are you telling a story? Giving technical explanations?
Whatever your response is verbally, however you talk to others, that's what you'll want to make sure you're doing when you're writing your catchy welcome emails. Writing how you talk.
Ok, let's get into the nitty-gritty deets of getting your own catchy welcome emails written!
#1: Welcome/Free Gift Delivery
The #1 goal of this email is to deliver the free gift your new subscriber just signed up for. Ideally, this email should be going out straight away, within 15-60 minutes after they signed up.
This is where you'll also prime them a little for the next email in the sequence.
Here's what I use in my Welcome Sequence, which is what we're going to follow along with as we break down these catchy welcome emails.
Short and sweet. To-the-point, that's all you need for the first email in this sequence.
You'll notice that there is a tick at the very top of the email that says “Send incentive/double-opt-in email to confirm new subscribers”.
What this means is that this email will not only deliver the free gift, it will also confirm someone as a new email subscriber.
This is called a double opt-in. It's a double opt-in because you're asking them to re-confirm that they want this free gift, even though they entered their email into your opt-in form.
You should always use a double opt-in. This gives your new subscriber the opportunity to opt-out if they want to. It also means you're meeting the needs of CAN-SPAM and GDPR requirements.
For full details on the CAN-SPAM Act, click here.
The main takeaway? You must have a physical address for your business on every email that goes out.
For full details on GDPR requirements and what you need to do, click here.
The main takeaway? You must provide your EU subscribers with the option to opt-out easily, you must provide them with information on how you're using their data (privacy policy), and you must explain exactly what they are getting when they join your email list.
#2: Introduce Yourself + Their No. 1 Problem
This is the email where you get to share more about you, what you stand for, how you can help and ask them about what problem they have right now. What's the #1 thing they are struggling with as it relates to what you do?
Here's what mine looks like (this video has no sound on purpose):
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If you want a copy of these catchy welcome emails, you can grab them by entering your details below. Just switch out the highlighted text in the templates with your text and you're good to go!
#3: Solve Their No. 1 Problem!
This email is pretty self-explanatory. You want to solve the most common problem that your subscribers are facing right now… this will likely be something that has to do with the free gift you've just given with them.
This email should contain 2-3 strategies that your new subscriber can implement now to solve that issue.
Here's what mine looks like (this video has no sound on purpose):
[video_lightbox type=”url” style=”3″ auto_buffer=”Y” url1=”” url2=”” width=”511″ height=”288″ placeholder=”https://hustleandgroove.com/storage/2019/03/Screenshot-2019-03-11-07.54.06.jpg” placeholder_width=”702″ placeholder_height=”1000″ align=”center”]aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudXNlbG9vbS5jb20vc2hhcmUvNGJhNzBjZmY5OWQ0NDRjNzhkNjE2YzNiNjBkOTdjN2I=[/video_lightbox]
#4: Surprise & Delight
The aim of this email is to solve another common problem your subscribers face by offering them another bonus resource!
BONUS: Make it accessible ONLY to your new subscribers. They will love you forever!
Here's what mine looks like (this video has no sound on purpose):
[video_lightbox type=”url” style=”3″ auto_buffer=”Y” url1=”” url2=”” width=”511″ height=”288″ placeholder=”https://hustleandgroove.com/storage/2019/03/Screenshot-2019-03-11-07.56.39-1024×641.jpg” placeholder_width=”724″ placeholder_height=”641″ align=”center”]aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudXNlbG9vbS5jb20vc2hhcmUvNWM4MDE0ZjEyZWY3NGQ1NzgyY2MwMDU3YWJiZTkwZDU=[/video_lightbox]
#5: The Next Step
This is where you'll provide your new subscriber with the next step in your funnel… whether that's to register for a free webinar, purchase a product, book a call with you… anything that gets them closer to being a customer!
So make sure it's of value to your customer and is the natural next step in where they're at.
Here's what mine looks like (this video has no sound on purpose):
[video_lightbox type=”url” style=”3″ auto_buffer=”Y” url1=”” url2=”” width=”511″ height=”288″ placeholder=”https://hustleandgroove.com/storage/2019/03/Screenshot-2019-03-11-07.58.56.jpg” placeholder_width=”704″ placeholder_height=”990″ align=”center”]aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudXNlbG9vbS5jb20vc2hhcmUvMmRiZGVmNWZjMzA2NDE2MGFmMzcwMGJmNmQ0MjE0NTY=[/video_lightbox]
So remember if you want a copy of these catchy welcome emails, you can grab them above. Just switch out the highlighted text with your text and you're good to go!
And that, my friends, is how you write a catchy welcome email sequence.
Action Step
Your immediate action step is to make sure that the first three pieces are in place, as mentioned above.
Once you've confirmed that, then you're ready to write catchy welcome emails till the cows come home!
Enjoy and if you're stuck, drop a comment below and let's get you the clarity you need.
