When someone joins your newsletter, are they hearing from you via a welcome email, or hearing crickets? Are you greeting them in their inbox immediately, or do they have to wait for your next newsletter to go out before they hear from you?
If you aren’t sending a welcome email or sequence, you’re truly doing yourself (and them) a disservice. The biggest issue is they may just plain forget about you! Perhaps you charmed them with a blog post, or snagged their email with an irresistible freebie. If they don’t hear from you again for weeks, you’re as good as dead to them.
“Who is this person and why are they emailing me?” ::unsubscribe::
A Welcome Email (or Three)
Having some sort of welcome sequence is so important! It helps warm up a cold lead, and helps you develop name recognition so when you email them again in the future, they don’t hit that dreaded unsubscribe button (or even better – they open it, excited to see what you have to say!)
Your welcome sequence doesn’t have to be fancy. Aim for at least 3 emails:
1. A Warm Welcome
Welcome them to your list, tell them a little bit about yourself, and explain what kind of emails they can expect from you going forward.
2. A Quick Tip
Think of a handy little tip that that pairs nicely with whatever freebie they signed up for. This should be something simple and actionable.
3. A Hill to Die On
Go on a mini-rant about something in your industry that you do differently, something you disagree with, or something you think should change. This will quickly weed out the people who are not your people, and it will draw closer the people who agree with you. It also positions you as an expert and thought leader in your field.
Send Consistent Newsletters
Oh man, I know. If writing is not your thing, this sounds like a death threat. But here’s why it’s super important: Emailing your list consistently is the best way to increase your deliverability and open rates! In non-tech speak, that means fewer emails sent to spam.
So what does “consistent” mean anyway? It means a regular interval of time at whatever interval is reasonable for you to keep up with. For me, it’s once per week, every Tuesday. For you, it may be twice per week or once per month. Just choose a realistic goal and stick to it.
Whenever you start doubting yourself, remember that these people followed you for a REASON. You are smart and have things to offer them and they are lucky to be on your list!
If you don’t have a welcome sequence, I challenge you to take an hour to create one this week. Make it messy and imperfect and totally you… then watch your audience stick around to see what happens next.