Three Alternative Options
Email marketing is king. 80% of users check their email daily so it’s no wonder it’s great for conversions, sales, and overall client/customer retention.
If there is one way to connect with your people, via the written word, an email list is it. Whether you’re selling a physical product, coaching, a service provider or anything in-between you should have an email list.
Where small business owners seem to miss the mark is what and how many emails to send in their welcome email sequence after that first initial opt-in email capture. In the world I’m in (online service providers, coaching, digital products, courses), there are varying opinions and options that are suggested to ‘draw’ your reader in and allow them to ‘get to know you’ before you hit them with another sale request.
The oh so fun, and dreaded, email welcome sequence.
Ugggghhhh…putting one of these together never felt good for me. Even while I helped write the copy and build the email templates for my clients…it felt annoying.
Why? Because we are all on the receiving end of massive amounts of emails on the daily to our many inboxes.
Sure, it’s our choice to opt-in to those subscriptions, but a lot of the time it’s inevitable when we purchase a product online or want that oh-so-valuable freebie.
According to Earthweb.com, in 2022 “the average person receives over 100 emails per day”. Ummm, if I have 7+ email accounts (for my varying businesses)….yeah you do the math!!
AND, “10-15 seconds is the attention span that you get when opening said email”.
So, if you’re wondering why a long, drawn-out email welcome sequence of story-telling, ‘about you’ information is not for a lot of readers, you have your statistical answer. I delete them…I know you do too!
We don’t have time, get to the point:
Instead of sending your audience a long welcome sequence within a week-long period (that they probably won’t open), here are some optional ideas you could offer instead that will allow your readers to get to know you….on their terms!
TLDR + Blog/About Me Page
When you send that first initial email delivering your item (freebie, confirmation of the order, they randomly signed up just because [lucky you!], etc) give them the cliff notes version of you/your why/story in listicle format. So the body of the email would look like so:
Hi [first name],
Welcome, thank you, etc. blah blah blah
Here is your freebie download, your order is on your way, etc.
A little about (me, my biz, our company, etc)
Then hit them with an if you want a longer version ‘click here’ option. You could write a blog or send them to your about page on your website. Wherever there’s a more detailed version of your founder’s story, etc.
This gives the person who wants that detailed account of you the ability to click and read and the rest of us get the TLDR version and be on our merry ways. And, maybe you’ll make a sale or two by sending them back to your website!
Link to a Welcome Video
Send a welcome video link that is less than a minute long. I don’t have the attention span or time for longer. It’s quick, you make a great impression, and I don’t have to read more than I want.
Remember to link to other videos or blog posts that will send the reader/viewer more options for for information and value from your business.
The Long Game
Once you’re sending out campaigns/broadcasts on the regular, look at your stats and add the high-performing emails to a long-term sequence.
This is will your ‘welcome sequence’, but sent out weekly, bi-weekly, etc for your new subscribers.
You will NEVER run out of things to send to your new audience members as there will be a long-term schedule of emails already approved by your current readers. Potentially, you could have a 2-3 year running sequence as long as the content is evergreen.
Remember, we have short attention spans when it comes to email. It’s great and one of the best marketing options out there, but you have to get to the point and capture my attention long enough to get your point across.
So, what are you going to do? Go and look at your email welcome sequence right now, possibly shorten it, and make sure to provide LOTS of value to your readers!