The Costly And Rude Email Marketing Mistake (Most Businesses Make)
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve signed up to a brand's email list excited to hear more from them — only to forget they existed just a few days later.
The opposite also holds true.
I’ve joined the email lists of some brands and have unsubscribed after the first email.
Can you guess what they did wrong?
Most people today are bombarded and frankly tired of having their inboxes filled with bright colours, ‘shop now’ CTA’s and email templates from the latest subpar email courses.
Picture this:
You walk into a luxury store wanting some help with picking out an expensive piece of clothing, you have somewhat of an idea about what you want but you really need an expert to help you make the final decision.
The workers inside the store ignore you and don’t seem to pay you any mind, it seems like they’ve forgotten you the moment you walked in.
How would you feel?
I bet you wouldn’t feel too confident about what you should buy.
Now picture the opposite:
The moment you walk into the store one of the workers jumps right in front of your face breaking every personal space law known to man and shouts “You should buy this, and this, and how about this…”
Does anyone know what a good impression is anymore?
There are two main reasons this costly mistake continues to happen.
1) Most businesses, believe it or not, have no welcome sequence automation in place — I know! I can’t believe it either… that’s a sad and expensive story.
2) Most businesses think loads of images, bright colours and pushy shop now buttons are what their potential customers want.
Wrong.
Let’s dig into number one.
Your welcome sequence is easily the most profitable automation you can set up, regardless of what business you have.
This is where you indoctrinate every subscriber into your world.
You tell them the who, what, where, why and how.
By the end of it, they should be fully immersed and ready to buy.
So how do you start?
Now during most cases, you would have offered some sort of lead magnet to get people onto your list, once signed up only one thing matters at this moment…
Give them what they wanted.
Simple right?
As soon as they sign up you make sure the first email gives them the exact incentive you offered to get them to exchange their name and email address.
There are no rules — except that it better NOT be boring.
Now the million dollar questions…
• What do you do after the initial first email of the sequence?
• How long should your sequence be?
• What should you talk about in your emails?
• How much time should you wait between each email?
Before you can write one word for your welcome sequence you need to answer the following question.
‘What does your potential customer need to believe before they will buy what I’m selling?’
Now put yourself in the mind of your ideal customer and write down every single thought that comes to mind.
What would they be thinking?
What is their current awareness level and knowledge of the market?
What would stop them from wanting to use your service or buy your product?
Now you have a base to work from.
Hear me loud and clear:
When writing your welcome sequence they are NO rules — despite what the gurus tell you.
It can be 5 emails, 10 emails, 50 emails, or 100 emails.
No one cares and your subscribers won’t notice as long you know how to stay inside of their world and have more personality than a sack of potatoes.
You’ll want to use the list you made about your ideal customer's beliefs and then map out an outline of your welcome sequence.
It might look something like this:
Email #1 = Welcome email, access to lead magnet, ask a relevant question, tease next topic
Email #2 = Brand creation story introduce Founder/CEO, position your brand against the rest of the industry, what makes you different or relatable? Link to main offer/product
Email #3 = Shed light on their main big problem, why is it so bad, the consequence of not solving the problem, how your brand can alleviate that pain, and paint the picture
Email #4 = Customer success story, what was their problem, what they tried, why it didn’t work, how your brand helped, what life is like now, segue to offer/product
So on and so forth, as I said it could be 5 emails or 50 emails, doesn’t matter.
Now the fun begins.
You just plug in the outline with the email copy.
Once complete you should have:
→ Gave them what they signed up for
→ Kept them interested throughout the entire sequence
→ Shifted their beliefs by taking them on a journey to where they want to be.
→ Showed them why your offer/product is the best option compared to the rest of the industry.
→ Answered all of their subconscious objections.
There are much more nuanced and specific techniques you can use to optimise a welcome sequence, but this should give you a solid basis to work from.
Now it’s your turn to go out and put your new welcome sequence chops into practice.
If you want to dive deeper into how to fine-tune your welcome sequence hit the ‘work with me’ button up top and let’s talk.
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