The Ultimate Email Writing Script for Creating an Engaging Welcome Email Sequence

In this detailed guide, our guest contributor and copywriter & digital marketing expert, Liz Slyman provides quick, easy and practical ideas for creating an engaging welcome email sequence. She caps it off with an example of a welcome email campaign that you can use for your email subscribers. It’s a collector’s item!

As any copywriter worth their salt knows, an engaging email sequence is the difference between hearing crickets when you hit “send” and seeing your conversion numbers blow through the roof.

Sure, you could download the latest app to help communicate with potential leads, but the fact remains that email is the GOAT when it comes to nurturing your leads and sending information directly to your followers. 

In fact, recent studies show that 78% of marketers say their success was directly tied to emails and that for every $1 they spent on an email, they saw an average of $42 in return.

Here’s the reality.

You can’t argue with those numbers. Email is where it’s at. 

Now that we’ve established that verifiable fact, let’s look at how you can create an email script that engages your readers and boosts your sales. 

First Stop: The Buyer’s Journey

Want to know why email campaigns can be so effective?

It’s because they can meet a variety of people from different backgrounds and speak to them wherever they may be on their buyer’s journey. A campaign can nurture a new lead, reignite a cold one, and show appreciation to established customers. It all starts with understanding the journey one takes when making purchases. 

The buyer’s journey is broken down into three phases: awareness, consideration, and decision. Let’s look at each of them in detail so you understand what the buyer needs in each stage and why it matters to you when writing your welcome email sequence. 

The Awareness Stage is when the person realizes that they have a pain or problem that needs to be solved. They decide that they need to figure out a way to fix it so they start to do research to understand what they’re experiencing and how to correct it. 

The Consideration Stage is when a person has given a name to their pain/problem and is actively looking for ways to fix it. They’re doing extensive research into their options before making a final decision. 

The Decision Stage is when the person decides how they’re going to fix their problem and who they’re going to for the solution. They may have made a shortlist before making this decision but are now ready to make their final choice. 

If you’re wondering what the buyer’s journey has to do with an email campaign, stick with us.

When a person is moving through these stages, they’re likely to go online to do research and, hopefully, come across a business advertisement or landing page from your company. This landing page should always include prompts to collect the visitor’s email address setting them on a sequence of events that will wind up them receiving your welcome email campaign. This campaign will nurture them until they’re ready to commit to your business. 

Writing an Effective Email Campaign

Before someone can receive your email campaign, you need to spend some time crafting it. Business emails have to find a way to stand out from the countless other emails that a person gets on a daily basis and then they have to keep their attention long enough to convert. That’s not an easy task, but we have some tips to help you along the way. 

#1. Subject Line

The first priority for you is to come up with a subject line that will grab the reader’s attention and convince them to open up your email. Otherwise, your perfectly worded email is a waste and we don’t want that. Your subject line should clue the reader in on what the email is about and pique their interest enough to read more. This could be in the form of an open-ended question that’s relevant to the email content. 

#2. Content Matters

Once the reader opens the email, your job is to make sure they read the whole message. The best way to ensure this is with segmentation. While that sounds fancy, what it really boils down to is giving the reader what they want when they want it.

Your email list should be divided into subgroups based on the buyer’s journey so that the email they receive is relevant to where they are. Based on their status, you could send them promotions or updates about your business and products that would be beneficial to them. 

#3. Personalize It

It’s fairly easy to personalize an email with the reader’s name but it adds an extra touch to reference something about them that’s beyond basic data. An email has more impact when they reference the reader’s personal lives or reference a past purchase to follow up on their experience. It takes more time but the effect is worth the effort. 

#4. Proofread It, Twice

Once you’ve written an email, be sure you take time to read it twice, at minimum. You want to check it for obvious typos but also for language that comes across as off-putting in any way. For best results, have someone else proof and edit it for you. It’s hard sometimes to see your own mistakes. Take the time to do this step right so you’re not apologizing for embarrassing mistakes or looking unprofessional. 

#5. Key Elements 

Every email campaign should be focused on multiple objectives. You’re going to want your reader to feel seen and valued. But you’re also going to want to be promoting your business, products, and services.

When you’re trying to focus on more than one thing, it’s helpful to have a list of key elements that you should try to include in your emails as often as possible.

Keep this list handy:

• Personalization: We touched on this before but try to always include a personal element in your emails so the reader doesn’t feel like they’ve been spammed with hundreds of other people. The more personal you can make it, the better. 

• Target Lists: As mentioned before, your email lists should be segmented based on where the person is at in their buyer journey and their commitment level with your company. 

• Give Timelines: One way to keep the reader excited about your next email is to set their expectation for what’s to come. Tell them if you’ll be emailing them again tomorrow or next week. Let them know how long of an opportunity they have with you before you stop bugging them. 

• Powerful Subject Lines: Remember, these are of utmost importance because they get your email opened. Use bold, italic fonts and emojis. Get their attention and hook them enough to want to open the email to learn more. 

• Obvious Call-to-Action (CTA): Every single email should include a clear CTA that lets the reader know what their next step is. Are you asking them to sign up for a course? Put the link to do so. Do you want them to download a freebie? Include the attachment or link. Always make it obvious and, when appropriate, mention it more than once. 

• Keep it Interesting: Your email shouldn’t be black-and-white. Include pops of color, interesting visuals, graphs, memes, GIFs, anything to keep their eyes moving and draw them in. You don’t want to come across as stuffy, so change it up and keep it fun!

• Be Engaging: The email isn’t just a sales pitch. Sure, it may include one, but it should also be a casual conversation between you and the reader. Make them feel as though they matter to you and that you’re the kind of person they’d want to do business with. 

Here’s a Welcome Email Template, You’re Welcome

We know that all of this can be overwhelming, to say the least.

So we wanted to take it a step further and give you an example of a welcome email campaign that you can use for your email subscribers. Your welcome email campaign should be between 4-7 emails so you have time to foster a relationship and sell your business, but also not outstay your welcome. 

This is a bare-bones example, so you’ll want to flesh it out more and personalize it to your business and the reader. However, following this general structure will put you in a good place for increased engagement and conversion. 

Email 1: Welcome and Deliver Freebie

If the new subscriber signed up with the promise of a freebie, this email should include that download for them. This shouldn’t be a super long email, simply thank them for signing up to learn more about your company, give them the freebie, and let them know when they’ll hear from you again. 

Email 2: Introduce Yourself

This is the email to introduce yourself and your team. Add pictures of all the major players in your company and give a background about why you got into business. This should come across casually as if you’re talking to a friend over coffee. 

Email 3: Story Time and Something of Value

This email adds a personal touch to your company and a chance for the reader to learn more about you. Tell them one of your foundational stories that would inspire them. You should also add some kind of value to this email whether it’s another free download or a free introductory session. 

Email 4: Testimonial Time

Everybody loves a good testimony so now is the time to share them! Include 2-3 testimonies from past clients that let the reader know you’re a legitimate company and that they can expect good things from doing business with you. You want them to be able to envision doing business with you and build the confidence that their pain point can be helped with your product or service. Focus on the benefits!

Email 5: Push for Action and Give Again

If your email campaign has an end goal, now is the time to start pushing for it. Are you wanting them to register for a conference? Buy your course? Join your challenge? Whatever it is, explain it to them and let them know their time is running out to be a part of it. It’s always a good idea to include another freebie here that’s related to your CTA. 

Unsure what your goal should be? Keep in mind that your welcome email should be a showcase for the best that you have to offer. Go all out with your content and the value that you’re offering. This is your chance to “wow” them!

Email 6: Close the Deal

This email can be stretched to 1-3 emails but the final emails of your campaign should be a mixture of testimonies, benefits, and scarcity. Let them know that you won’t be sending many more emails but that you’ll always be reachable (then leave a way to reach you).

You want the reader to be pushed to action but to not feel as though you’re twisting their arm. Remember stories and benefits sell!

Automate Your Campaign

Now that you have your campaign written in detail, you’ll understand that there’s no way you could do that personally for every new subscriber. That’s where the beauty of automation comes in. Do some research into email providers and choose one that offers email campaigns so you can fully automate the process from a new subscriber to a seasoned customer. 

Once you’ve had a campaign running for a while, be sure to visit your metrics so you can decide what needs to be tweaked. You won’t get it perfect the first time so be diligent about making adjustments until you see the results you want. 

Engaging Welcome Email Sequence- Campaigns For the Win

There will always be a new app promising to increase your customer engagement and conversion. There will also always be a new social media platform with crazy amounts of downloads and advertisement opportunities. Both serve a purpose and should be utilized, when appropriate. However, nothing beats owning your own email list full of warm leads that you can reach out to at any given time and get information directly into their hands. 

That being said, build your email list and build your welcome email campaign because you know what they say: If you build it, they will come. 

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