Engaging New Subscribers With Your Welcome Sequence

What happens to new subscribers once they’re on your email list?

Do you deliver whatever free thing you used to attract them to your list…and then ignore them? Or just deliver the freebie and add them to your nurturing emails?

If you’re doing either of these, you’re missing a big opportunity. The opportunity to nurture those new subscribers so they know what you do, who you do it for, what you offer, and what challenges you can solve for them.

On this episode of the podcast, I’m sharing why having a welcome sequence is so important and what to include in your welcome sequence, email by email.

And if you need additional support with creating your welcome sequence, you can get access to my free One Week to Your Welcome Sequence challenge!

Mentioned In This Episode

Transcript:

Welcome to episode 169 of The Content Experiment Podcast, a podcast for podcasters that supports the idea that content and marketing are ever-moving targets and it’s okay if you don’t feel like you’re doing it ALL right, ALL of the time. You have permission to experiment with little tweaks and changes in your content to find what works for you, what increases value for your audience and what grows your business. And most importantly, what feels good for you.

I’m Abby Herman, content strategist and consultant for podcasting business owners who want to make their podcast, their primary content marketing tool, feel easier and more streamlined so they can get back to serving their clients and making those sales. Because your podcast is your pillar marketing tool and you want to leverage it to grow your audience, authority, and business. I’ll show you how, while you do business in a way that works for you–I can help by supporting you through building a content and marketing strategy, taking care of the podcast management for you, or giving you the tools and resources to take this on yourself.

Today’s episode is third in our series on minimum viable content marketing. In the first episode of the series, episode 165, I shared about some of the pre-work that you can do to help you develop your content strategy for your podcast. On episode 167, I talked about growing your list and your listernership. I’ll include links to both episodes in the show notes.

And now…what happens once you get people on your list?

Do you deliver whatever free thing you used to attract them to your list…and then ignore them? Or just deliver the freebie and add them to your nurturing emails?

If you’re doing either of these things, you’re missing a big opportunity. We’re going to talk about nurturing emails in episode 171, but today I want to talk about the emails you use to welcome your new subscribers to you. Hopefully, they’re also new podcast listeners. But if they’re not, we’ll try to take care of that as well.

You might be asking yourself, isn’t delivering the free thing into people’s inboxes welcoming them to you? Sure, you can introduce yourself in that very first email. But the reality is that the person who just signed up for the thing is excited about the freebie. They’re probably not going to pay much attention to anything else in the email.

And I don’t blame them. If you positioned your offer in the right way, they can’t wait to dig in.

What you need is a welcome sequence, introducing yourself to them, providing additional value, sending them to some important pieces of content, and more. And thankfully, the welcome sequence is something that you create once and just check in on from time to time. It’s not something that you need to worry about creating all the time.

Now I have a One Week to Your Welcome sequence challenge that you can grab for free at thecontentexperiment.com/welcome. It will walk you through how to create a welcome sequence, what types of emails you need, and so on. I recommend grabbing that as a supplement to this episode.

I do want to offer a caveat to that free challenge though: I created that challenge several years ago, and it’s in need of an upgrade. So you’ll see some old branding in the challenge itself, though I did update the email sequence you get in it in preparation for this episode.

Done is better than perfect is my mantra! I wanted to get this out to you and it’s full of value, but it looks a little dated. The information is still spot-on though!

And did you see what I did there? If you listened to episode 167, I talked about mentioning your free offers on your podcast. Your listeners WANT to connect with you. They’re listening to you because they find value in what you have to say. So give them more! Talk about your freebies on your solo episodes (which you NEED to create–I’ll be talking about this more on an upcoming episode or two) and your guest interviews.

Okay, let’s walk through this.

First, you’ll want to set the stage. Think about the purpose of your freebie. What do you want your new subscribers to do after they download it and use it? What should happen at the end of your welcome sequence? Your answer might be to buy a low-cost offer, leave a review on your podcast, subscribe to your podcast, join your free Facebook group, sign up for a connection call, start a free trial of your membership, or something else entirely.

This is your “initial offer.” It’s the think that you’re going to work toward selling in your email sequence. And, of course, most of the possible outcomes of your welcome sequence are actually selling something that’s free. You’re nurturing them into this free or very low-cost thing. Side note: Your welcome sequence is not the place to sell something high-ticket or get people into a retainer with you.

If you don’t currently have a low-cost offer, I gave you a lot of other options. If you’re struggling to come up with something, a connection call is great if you offer a 1:1 or retainer service.

Now let’s talk about that first email you’re sending out. This is the delivery email, the one that actually puts the freebie in their inbox. You’ll want to deliver the freebie, include some tips on how to use it, tell new subscribers who you are, and ask them to hit “reply” and tell you what they’re struggling with most as it relates to your freebie.

Your next two emails should land in their inbox a couple of days later–one two days later and one two to three days after that. These are your value emails, the emails where you give additional free value on top of the freebie they already have. Remind them of the freebie (because if they’re anything like me–and maybe you–they’ve already forgotten about it). Then let them know some ways that other people have struggled with the thing.

Some things to think about include:
How can you set the stage for future content?
Send them to the place where you publish your pillar content. If you’re listening here, that’s probably a podcast. But it might also be a blog or a YouTube channel. Notice I did not say ANYTHING about social media here. The whole point is to get them to your pillar content because that’s where you’ll get the search engine juice.
You may even consider sending them links to relevant podcast episodes or videos that relate directly to the freebie they downloaded. For example, I’m going to add this podcast episode when I update the welcome sequence challenge.
What do you want these new subscribers to do after grabbing and engaging with your freebie? Maybe you have a post in a free Facebook group you want them to comment on. Maybe you want them to answer a question in a learning platform. Whatever it is that allows you to engage and interact some more, let them know!

These emails, so emails 2 and 3, are all about value, engagement, and setting the stage for later.

Now that you’ve given away a ton of value, you can offer and link to something that’s paid. This is about a low-priced offer, not a $10k coaching program. And maybe what you’re trying to sell is a $10k coaching program. But these are new subscribers. They’ve only gotten three emails from you so far. It’s way too early in their journey with you to sell something high ticket like that. Most potential clients need a lot more nurturing than that.

Most, not all.

So in your fourth email, you’ll want to talk a bit about your values and your story. You can agitate their challenges, so talk about the problems that they likely have right now. And then offer a low-priced offer that aligns with the freebie and their challenges.

If you don’t have a low-priced offer, you can offer more free value instead and remind them where to get more support from you (your pillar content).

In the next email, email 5, you’ll want to give more value and remind them of the low-priced offer. This isn’t a long, scrolling sales email; it’s an email that just reminds them of the offer, maybe a sentence of two about what outcome they can expect, a little more value, and that’s it.

In email 6, it’s time to wrap up the welcome sequence and move people over to your nurturing emails. This should all be set up in your email provider so it’s automatic. They leave the welcome sequence and an automation adds them to your nurturing list.

In email 6, you should give more value–that’s kind of a theme!–, remind them of the value you’ve given them–wins from the freebie and the free content you deliver consistently on your podcast or YouTube channel, remind them that you’ve been there too, and let them know that you deliver free value on your podcast or blog or wherever on a regular basis. Remind them to subscribe or follow.

And boom, you’re done.

I know, it’s not quite as simple as that because you need to write and load and connect all the dots. But you really only need a few emails to add value to that free offer and set up your new subscriber for what comes next.

And always, always make sure to link to your podcast episodes, blogs, and videos that align with the freebie.

So what do you think? Are you ready to create or update your welcome sequence? Be sure to go to thecontentexperiment.com/welcome to get more information and a walkthrough of what I went over here in the podcast. Plus I have a workbook you can use to brainstorm all the ideas and help you figure out how to get the ideas from your head to your subscribers’ inboxes.

If you found value in what you learned here today, be sure to share it on social media. Take a screenshot of the episode on your phone and share it over on Instagram stories. Tag me at thecontentexperiment. The more you share, the more we can get the podcast into the hands of more business owners, just like you, who need to hear the message that they are not alone.