Write Great Welcome Email Sequences With the 5 Stages of Awareness
A step-by-step guide with templates
Email marketing is the holy grail of marketing strategies. You’ve heard of the 4400% ROI. You’ve seen the quotes:
All irresistible benefits. So now you’ve got an account on MailChimp or AWeber for free. But how do you start?
When you get subscribers from your lead magnet, running ads, and the 12 other strategies you read about, what next?
How do you start a solid relationship with these subscribers? What do you say? Can you start selling immediately, or do you have to wait months first? You don’t want to seem desperate and make them leave even before you’ve had time to prove yourself.
In this article, you’re going to learn all about creating an effective welcome series email flow using the stages of awareness. A sequence of 5 emails that build likeness, authority, trust, and helps you sell easily too (from the beginning).
What Is a Welcome Sequence?
Also known as a nurture or autoresponder sequence, it refers to the first set of automated emails a business/brand sends to every new subscriber on its list. Think of these as your subscribers’ tour guide to your brand.
How Many Emails Should Be in a Welcome Series?
While there isn’t any agreed-upon number of emails to include in this automated series, you should have just enough that allows you to warm up subscribers to your brand and build trust.
Not too short that there are still unanswered questions about you/your business. Not too long that people lose interest and possibly unsubscribe.
According to ActiveCampaign, they recommend using four to six emails.
Why Is a Welcome Sequence Necessary?
Think of these sets of emails as the first time you meet with a potential romantic partner or first series of interviews with a possible employer. Your goal is to impress. You want to give them reasons why you’re a good fit and the best. You’d like for them to call you, either for another date or to offer you the job. Same with your welcome sequence.
- It helps you build credibility and familiarity with your subscribers so they aren’t confused by your name/emails in their inbox.
- It’s a great avenue to build expectations, tell your story, and show your expertise in your field.
- You can use this to show them around your brand. Provide them with more helpful content relating to the lead magnet that got them there. For a SaaS firm, you could get them to try out your demo.
- It’s a great opportunity to sell.
These set of emails are so important, Michael Leonard counts them as one of the 7 common mistakes to avoid when growing your email list.
Can I Sell an Offer in My Welcome Emails?
Yes, you can. In fact, these sets of emails are 320% more effective in generating revenue than your regular broadcast messages.
Generally, your welcome email will get the highest open and clickthrough rates of all the emails you’ll ever send, four times the open rate, and five times the CTR.
This is the point where the subscriber is most interested in you. I mean they just gave you direct access to them. So what better time to build likeness, trust, and authority than now? And what better person to sell to than the one who’s just shown interest in you and who you’ve told a good story to?
That’s what this set of emails do for you, help you nurture the prospect up to the point where selling to them is the next best step. See what Tarzan Kay had to say about this:
What Are the Stages of Awareness?
This concept which was introduced by legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz refers to the different stages consumers go through in a sales funnel. It shows the different stages of customer awareness; from a point of being unaware of a problem to the point where they are aware of it, then ready to buy a solution from you.
By understanding the awareness cycle, you’ll be able to create content, emails, and marketing strategies that target prospects at each stage and moves them further down to the point of purchase.
The 5 Stages of Awareness in Marketing
- Completely unaware: at this stage, a person (let’s call them Jimmy) doesn’t yet know he has a problem so he doesn’t necessarily need you or what you have to offer. It’s almost impossible to sell at this stage.
- Problem aware: Now, Jimmy realizes he’s struggling with something, e.g a sleeping problem. He’s now fully aware of the fact that his inability to fall asleep except he takes some sort of pills could be a problem. At this stage, Jimmy isn’t ready to buy, he’s more focused on understanding the whys and knowing the hows of his insomnia. This is where you meet him at the point of his pain, and show you understand him. Build likeness and relatability here.
- Solution aware: This is where Jimmy has researched and seen that there are answers (solutions) to his problem. He’s seen the blog posts suggesting natural remedies like chamomile tea or a warm bath. He’s also gotten suggestions from his co-worker to see a sleep therapist. At this stage, Jimmy now knows he doesn’t have to pop pills every night to sleep. He knows there are permanent and safer solutions. He just needs to understand how these solutions work.
- Product aware: now Jimmy has seen your ad/sales page for your magic sleep juice. He knows your brand name, knows all the benefits and ingredients of your juice. Jimmy would like to be sure of which product is the best investment for him. He’s looking for reviews, case studies, etc. This is where you show authority.
- Most aware: here Jimmy knows everything there is to know about you. He’s ready to buy, he just needs the payment details. This is usually your call-to-action.
You must understand the psychology behind Schwartz’s stages of awareness because unless you do, you’ll struggle with selling.
This knowledge will help you create a welcome sequence that meets your target customer where they currently are, and moves them further down the funnel to a point of purchase. And in a friendly non-sleazy manner that builds trust.
Below is an image representation from Joel Klettke of the last four stages of awareness, what they know, what they need to know, and how best to sell to them.
5 Things You Need to Write an Effective Nurture Sequence
Before we start on the templates, there are some important details you must have before writing these emails. They are:
- Your offer i.e what you’ll like to sell.
- The problem your offer will be solving.
- Your target audience i.e who they are, what they do, what they’re struggling with, what they hope for.
- A lead magnet that matches this exact audience.
- Purpose or goal you want to achieve.
Once you have these answered, you’re good to get started on writing your emails.
Welcome Sequence Template
For a fill-in template on what to write for each email, I highly recommend this downloadable email series example from Growth Tools. In the rest of this section, however, I’m going to walk you through a guide/example so you know how to do yours.
A Guide: How Do You Write a Welcome Email Sequence?
This is a step-by-step guide covering what each email in this series should contain. Including subject lines and body copy.
Target audience
Drawing from the image below, my fictional target audience is a small business owner whose major client acquisition or marketing strategy has been ads and social media.
They’re currently struggling because a great part of their audience is beginning to block ads and complain about their timeline now being a marketplace. They want to reach the market, make sales, and not annoy people while doing it, they want to stand out.
Several people have suggested email marketing to her, now she’s trying to learn about this and see if it’s the right fit for her business.
The offer I’ll be selling in my nurture sequence
A done-for-you email marketing package that would cover getting set with an email service provider (ESP), creation of landing page and lead magnet, growing their list to a certain point, a welcome series, etc.
The problem my offer will be solving
The confusion & stress of her setting up, and getting started the right way.
My lead magnet
A free video email marketing tutorial that’ll answer what this marketing strategy is, its benefits, and how it works.
Purpose of the welcome email sequence
To educate business owners about the benefits of emails to their business, give them some useful tips and strategies they can implement on their own, show my expertise in the field and then get them to buy my offer.
Email #1: Sent Immediately After a Person Subscribes
Goal:
- To deliver the incentive/lead magnet that was promised
- To get them to confirm their subscription.
Below is one of my all-time favourite confirmation emails from Lianna Patch of Punchline Copy.
Email #2: Sent Immediately After Confirmation.
Or, like in my example, using a 30-minute tutorial lead magnet, I’ll send this email 40 minutes later. That is after I believe the subscriber would have completed my video.
If your lead magnet is something like a three-day course, you should send a welcome email too, but start your on-boarding sequence after the course is completed.
Goal:
The goal of this email is to introduce yourself/your brand to readers and guide them from problem aware of the solution aware stage of the funnel by showing understanding/knowledge of their problem.
Subject Line:
This should relate to the exact problem they’re having which your offer is going to solve. For example, using the example I gave above. My subject line for someone looking for a marketing strategy more effective than ads and social media and who doesn’t know a lot about email marketing or getting started will be:
“Is email marketing worth the hype (and your time)?”
This meets them right at the point of their pain and is the same question they’ve been asking themselves, which increases my chances of getting them to click open.
Body content:
Whatever subject line you’ve chosen, the body is where you follow up. In my example, the body content will be where I answer the question.
To do this well, relate your story to the problem at hand. Show how well you understand and know the problem. Build empathy and trust here, the more empathy you can show, the more successful your message will be in getting them to read until your last full stop.
The reader is the hero of this story, but right now you’re a guide taking them through all the emotions and stress they feel as a result of this problem. When you’re sure you’ve shown a good understanding of the problem, introduce a turning point (the solution). But not fully.
Make them desire it so badly they set a notification on your emails and come back again. This is called a curiosity loop and it’s how you build anticipation for your coming offer. See how Roy Furr does this:
Email #3:
Goal:
To introduce the solution you would have hinted at the end of the last email. At this point, the reader is aware there’s a solution to her problem, this is where you expand on that and further build desire. Then introduce your product at the end.
Subject Line:
The subject of this email must be solution-aware just like the reader is.
So in Email #2, I talked about my struggles growing my business with the messed up Instagram algorithms, and ads I couldn’t always afford. Also about how I only began experiencing increasing growth when I started email marketing, which helped me grow my audience, and move from a four-figure annual revenue to seven-figures now.
By this email, my reader is asking “how.” They want the step-by-step process so they can implement the same for themselves. A good subject line will be something like:
“How I launched on the 4th and made $43,567 by the 7th (with zero ads, just email marketing)”
Body content:
This is where I tell how I achieved the feat mentioned in the subject line. Here’s the time to instil hope in the heart and minds of your subscribers by letting them know their problem isn’t a life sentence.
Then tell them how it’s possible for them too, and introduce your product. Make this product introduction sweeter with a testimonial from someone who once was where the reader currently is.
Email #4:
Goal:
To fully introduce your product to your now product aware reader, and move them to the point where they’re most ready to buy.
Subject line:
This must be product-aware one just like your reader.
Body content:
Tell all about your offer but don’t sell. Talk about its benefits & features, why and how it stands out from the rest. Show how it will turn the reader’s life around for good. Make this email all about the life your reader can live if they get your product.
Then when you’re sure you’ve got them hooked and drooling for this product, direct them to how they can get it. This is usually a sales page. A big mistake people make when selling is to talk a lot about their products’ features, durable, organic, one of a kind, blah. And that’s wrong.
That’s not how you stand out from the many other sellers. Instead, show how your offer works and has worked. This particular email could share a story from a previous customer. Back your features with proof. Then sell. You could even offer discounts to those who buy on this day.
Email #5: Usually Sent to Only Those Who Didn’t Click to Buy in the Previous Email
Goal:
A final reminder to the prospect about your offer and to get them to buy.
Subject line:
Since the reader is already very aware of what you’re selling and how you can help them, use a headline that spikes curiosity to get them to open up for more.
Examples:
“I ruined this guy’s life.”— Marie Forleo
“I wanted to be a witch when I was younger.”— me
“The moment you always feared…” — Joanna Wiebe
Body content:
This is your final chance to speak to the tiny doubting voices in your readers’ minds. Your only option is to tell a story that either emphasizes the benefit of your offer or one that further highlights their current problematic situation.
Using countdown timers in this particular email is an excellent way to increase desire and conversion rates.
Here’s an example:
Welcome Email Series Best Practices
So what are the essential elements of a welcome email? These are my eight holy commandments on how to write the perfect welcome email sequence:
1. Immediately a person joins your list/subscribes, send them the lead magnet they requested.
2. While you’re still nurturing the reader, she isn’t familiar with you yet and may not recognise just your name or company name. So you should use the “(name) from (business)” email signature format. Like this:
According to this article on how to increase your email open rates, the sender name accounts for a whopping 64% of the reasons people open an email. So take this seriously.
3. Whether you decide to send a series of emails or not, make sure you send a welcome email at the very least. This is not the same as the confirmation mail with the lead magnet. This is an introductory email that says thank you, tells your story, and shows the reader around your brand.
You should also use this email to segment subscribers, and ask how you can help them and what types of content they’ll benefit from. If 74% of new subscribers expect to receive a welcome email, you don’t want to start your relationship by disappointing them.
4. Set clear expectations. Let them know when to expect emails from you, content type, and how often. If you’ll be sending your regular broadcast emails to new subscribers alongside this nurture sequence, (I don’t recommend this though), let them know. See how Roy Furr does this:
5. To ensure your emails do get read, write them in an engaging relatable manner. Have a clear understanding of the person you’re selling to and the kinds of things that’ll spark their interest.
Use the AIDA copywriting formula explained in this guide to take readers from one stage at the beginning, to the next stage by the end of each email. Also, create curiosity loops to get readers excited and bring them back for more.
6. Always start with market research. There’s no use trying to build a community of your target audience if you don’t know all there is to know about them. You need to be so familiar with these set of people, it’s almost as if you created them. Here’s a sheet of eight questions that form the basis of my customer research:
7. At the end of the cycle, have an automated message sent to those who read every single email you sent, but didn’t buy. Ask them to share why with you. A lot of people ignore this email because they don’t want to be pushy, and they assume they already know the answer, the reader wasn’t interested or couldn’t afford it. Ignoring this email is wrong for the following reasons. It could help you:
- Fix your offer to include something you may be missing that a good percentage of prospects may need, e.g. a payment plan or different packages.
- Rewrite some parts of your emails that may not be clear.
- Build a personal relationship with subscribers as you get to interact with them by replying to whatever answers they send.
- Get a deeper understanding of the problem you may not have been able to find out from the research.
- Convince & get some more people to purchase.
This could help you structure your email to ask the question without coming off as confrontational.
8. Every one of your emails must have one call-to-action (CTA). It could be to whitelist your contact, check out your website/blog, or to connect to your sales page.
Whatever it is, you don’t want your reader confused and overwhelmed on what next step to take. You will make more sales and get more results when you give one clear command.
Some Frequently Asked Questions
1. If I have different target audiences do I need different sequences for them?
Yes. Your different audiences will have different problems and different needs requiring varying offers. So it’s advisable to create onboarding sequences suitable for each audience.
2. What if a subscriber joins my list directly from my website or a pop-up that doesn’t offer a lead magnet; how do I fit them into the sequence?
Again, if you have different audiences you will benefit from a welcome email that lets you segment your audiences based on their needs. This way you’ll know what to send to such subscribers. See how Henneke Duistermaat does this in her first email to subscribers:
And if you have just one target, segment them based on how much they know or what stage of buyer awareness they’re currently at.
3. Must I sell in my welcome sequence?
No, you mustn’t. For those who have something, they’ll like to sell it’s advisable to do it at this stage. But it isn’t compulsory everyone must sell with these emails. You could just tell your story and get people to browse your content, website, or store.
Final Words
Now you’ve come from the confused person who didn’t know anything or a lot about writing a welcome series, to a person who’s gotten so much information on them (including templates).
The ball is now in your court, and I’m hoping you do implement all of these in your email marketing strategy to see great lead generation and sales results.
For you who will need a more expert help with this, contact me via the email address in my bio or by filling out this form.
