Marketing Asset: Automated Welcome Series
This often overlooked marketing asset will help you create more sales-ready leads.
Thanks to our recent educational article on lead magnets, you now understand the why, the what and the where…
…and you may even have your lead magnet live and be generating leads as a result.
Now what?
Great question.
Well, now it’s time to nurture those leads, baby!
They want to hear from you and it’s a great opportunity to introduce them to your business, who you help and how you help them.
Even better, you can do this lead nurturing all on autopilot using an automated email campaign.
An automated welcome series for new leads is a fabulous marketing asset to build for your business.
And, it’s often a HUGE missed opportunity I see in businesses I work with.
Take for example, this automated welcome series we set up for a client that generated $57,739.54 in just 92 days.
Yup, that’s right. Mid-five-figures from ONE automated welcome series in just 3 months.
Can you expect the same revenue results?
Honestly, it just depends on what you sell and how you sell it. That’s a question I can better answer in a complimentary Strategy Session.
In the meantime, this article is going to provide you with a ton of details about automated welcome series, including:
How to create them,
What goes into them,
Why you need them,
The different types you can create,
Which tech you need (and what you can forgo),
And more!
Below I share insights and helpful tips you can apply to the automated welcome series in your own business.
So often I see businesses accidentally fall into the “Buy Now or Bye Forever” trap.
That is, if a lead isn’t ready to buy immediately, they forget about them.
When in reality, the lead just needs more time and information to move through the stages of awareness before they’re ready to buy.
“Companies who send automated emails are 133% more likely to send relevant messages that correspond with a customer’s purchase cycle.” - Lenskold and Pedowitz Groups
This is where an automated welcome series (delivered by email) comes in.
Its purpose is to onboard leads (new subscribers) by:
Introducing them to your brand and making them feel a part of the family
Educating them about your product(s) and/or service(s)
Answering one or some of their frequently asked questions
Giving them a list of actionable tips so they associate a win with your business (not the competition)
Telling them a story about one of your customers for social proof
Setting expectations about future emails
This welcome series will be one of your lead’s first interactions with you and your company and the first impression in what should hopefully be a long relationship.
So make that first impression count!
By creating a great welcome series, your leads will feel connected and engaged with your company, permitting them to know, life and gasp, even trust you.
By the time they are ready to buy, they’ll be more apt to purchase from you than from your competitors.
“Companies using email to nurture leads generate 50% more sales-ready leads and at a 33% lower cost. And nurtured leads, on average, produce a 20% increase in sales opportunities compared to non-nurtured leads.” - Hubspot
So, in order to help you create a great welcome series, I want you to put some pen and paper to work and do some planning.
By answering the questions below, you’ll find that you have some great material to work with when it comes time to write your automated welcomes series.
(By the way, the writing and “what to say” is where everyone gets stuck when it comes to creating an automated welcome series. These questions are designed to get you unstuck.)
First, take some time to envision your first impression. What do you want a new lead to feel / think after receiving your welcome series?
Now, write down the primary problem your typical customer is looking to solve.
Next, make note of the pain points your customers (and leads) face when trying to solve this problem.
Then, what motivation is driving their need / desire to solve this problem? What do they want to achieve?
Brainstorming time: when someone first reaches out to your company, what’s one paid offer you can make to them? This doesn’t need to be your primary offer, just a small service or product that would get them in the door, with their wallet in hand.
Why did you start your business?
Why do you love serving your customers?
Do you have any testimonials from existing or past customers? Make note of the best ones here.
If you were to sell leads on your offer by educating them about your industry, what might you teach them?
Once you’ve written down the answers to those questions, set them aside for 1-2 days.
Then come back to them and start drafting your automated welcome series.
Now, I want to answer some common questions I always get about this marketing asset and how to deliver the automated welcome series.
Which email marketing platform should I use to deliver this series?
Lots of options here, and the short answer is that it depends on the other email marketing needs of your business. But, offhand, here are a few platforms that will allow you to send automated campaigns:
Drip
ConvertKit
ActiveCampaign
Mailchimp
FloDesk
How many emails should I include in the automated welcome series?
Well there about 5,231 ways you can create an automated welcome series, and yes that is a scientific number. 😉
It really depends on who your target audience is, what you’re selling, and more. So it’s not a question I can easily answer without having a consultation.
As a starting point, I’d start with 5 emails:
Deliver your lead magnet and introduce your company
Dive deeper into an FAQ and educate the lead
Explain who you serve and why your company exists. Link to your paid, get-in-the-door offer.
Give actionable tips designed to get the new lead quick wins.
Tell a story about one of your past customers and set expectations about future emails. Again, link to your paid, get-in-the-door offer.
How far apart should I send each email?
Again, it depends. Am I starting to sound like a broken record yet?
I’d always err on the side of delivering this welcome series more quickly than spacing it out over weeks or months.
Two frameworks I like to use are:
1 a day until the series is complete - so Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5
The Fibonacci sequence (credit goes to Jo Wiebe of Copyhackers for this) - so Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, Day 8
What should the lead receive after the automated welcome series is completed?
Ahhh. I really see two options 85% of the time. (Yes, there are exceptions.)
Option #1: Add to your newsletter segment and start sending your regular newsletter.
Option #2: Send the lead to your next automated sequence, likely one that does more hard selling into a specific offer.
I’m working with a client right now that has a list of 127,000+ subscribers and we employ Option #1 after their automated welcome sequence ends.
I share this to illustrate that it is not necessarily the size of your list that dictates which approach you choose.
Hopefully, I’ve answered a LOT of your questions about this important marketing asset in this educational series.
If I missed anything and you have questions, please comment below.
Or, you want to enlist our help in creating your automated welcome series, book a complimentary consultation here.