So, you’ve been collecting emails for some time now but have no idea what to do with them. You should probably start with a solid welcome series. A welcome series is an email campaign that, as the name implies, welcomes new email list subscribers and provides some information about your company. It is done as a series because the information is divvied up among multiple sequential emails to keep it in digestible chunks. In this blog, we will be discussing four key steps in developing an effective welcome series.

1. Determine your strategy

The first thing you need to do when developing a welcome series is figure out what you want people to know about your business. Most welcome series emails include general information about the company such as how you got started, why you do what you do, and how your company culture impacts the way you do business. Keep it general, but also be informative and compelling.

The next thing to think about is what you want your audience to do. Do you want them to follow you on social media? Reply to your email? Come to an event? There are many reasons to grab people's contact info, make sure you know what the goal is before you start sending emails.

Now that you have that info all figured out, it is time to figure out how many emails it will take to accomplish that. Don’t overload your audience with too much info right off the bat. If the first email you send is wordy and super long, it is unlikely that anyone will read the whole thing and even more unlikely that they will open your next one. Break up your content in a way that makes sense and will hopefully get your reader to do what you want them to do.

2. Write your copy

The subject line in your first email is probably the most important part of the entire campaign. This line needs to be so engaging and interesting that your viewer will have no choice but to open it up and see whats in there.

Be sure to include all of the information you figured out in the strategy portion, but make it interesting. Be informative, charming, and fun. Make your audience glad that they signed up for this list.

3. Fulfill your promise

Most people sign up for a newsletter for a reason. If you offered a free “How To PDF,” a discount code, or a download of some sort, make sure you give it to them. If you don’t deliver on your promise, your audience won’t be able to trust you. By fulfilling your offer in your welcome series, you are giving your viewer instant gratification and reaffirming their decision to sign up for your newsletter.

4. Let them know what to expect in the future

Take a paragraph in your welcome series to let your new readers know what to expect in the future. Let them know the sort of content and/or offers that they'll have access to as subscribers to the email list.

Conclusion

Your welcome series is a very important step in your email marketing efforts. Competition can be cutthroat and many brands might provide the same sort of product or service. Using a welcome series in your email marketing can be a crucial step to instill a memorable brand identity that resonates with new customers and sets you apart from the pack. If you take care in crafting your welcome series emails with these four steps, hopefully you will be able to convert your readers into customers!