What should I put in my welcome sequence?
I see this question posted to the Facebook Mailchimp User Group at least once a month.
I always respond with another question. What are overall email marketing goals? Do you want to sell products/services? Do you want to increase donor awareness? Raise up more volunteers? Secure speaking gigs?
Within email marketing, customer journeys are a tool for achieving your overall email marketing goal. Each journey should have a single goal, ideally one mapped to your bigger email marketing goal.
It\’s important to understand that welcome emails are a part of larger customer journeys. Each customer journey may have several branches and/or triggers based on customer behavior.
Each welcome sequence is a customer journey. And each welcome sequence (and email broadcast campaign, for that matter) should be written in the style and tone of your overall brand and a particular goal in mind.
If you\’re Less Annoying CRM your emails are informative, light-hearted, and actionable. The goal is to convert trial subscribers to paying subscribers.
If you\’re the Morning Brew, your emails are goofy, hilarious, and yet extremely informative. The goal is to get subscribers to refer The Morning Brew.
If you\’re Mark Manson, your emails are lengthy, informative, and irreverent. The goal is to get subscribers to forward the email to their friends, who will in turn subscribe.
Each goal dictates a different welcome sequence (within a customer journey) within the larger picture of your email marketing strategy.
Each email within the customer journey welcome sequence should be written with your goal in mind in the voice and style of your brand.
As an online business, you want subscribers to become customers.
As a nonprofit, you want subscribers to become donors.
Each email should be written with your goal in mind.
What would happen to the Morning Brew\’s subscriber base if they lost their humor, and started sending plodding, boring explainer emails?
That would be awkward and confusing to subscribers. A few might even unsubscribe.
You can vary the content of each email, of course. But each one should be a single stepping stone in a path that leads to your overall email marketing goals.
The start of this customer journey or path begins with your welcome sequence.