How To Write An Email Welcome Series That Converts

This drip campaign earned a 70.1% open rate, 10.7% click rate over 5 emails!

August 16, 2021

Quote: "The goal is to prime your subscribers to the idea of buying your product."

Happy Monday, friends.

By now, every marketer and their momma should know the benefits of sending a welcome series to new subscribers.

With 4x the open rate and 5x the click rate of a standard email marketing campaign, you’re losing out on serious business (and brand building) by not sending a welcome series.

Moreover, a welcome series just makes sense.

If someone signs up to your list or inquires about your product/service, you should immediately acknowledge them…the same way you would if it were real life and someone asked you a question.

Anyway, that’s enough babbling.

You came here for a recipe for an email welcome series that could earn an open rate of 70.1% and a click rate of 10.7% so let’s focus on that.

Screencap of the open rate and click rate of the welcome series.

The 5 email welcome automation

This welcome series had 5 emails.

+90% of the welcome series I write for clients have 4+ emails — usually between 5-8.

Here’s how each email within the campaign performed.

The open rate, click rate, and total sends for each of the 5 emails in the welcome series.

Let me break down the subject line for each email for you.

Email #1 — Send immediately after inquiry

Subject: Thanks for inquiring!Preview text: A landscaping professional will be in touch.

Email #2 — Send 2 days after first email

Subject: Enjoy a personalized landscape experiencePreview text: What helps us stand out is our customer care

Email #3 — Send 5 days after second email

Subject: We’ll build & maintain your landscape for youPreview text: Protect your investment with professional maintenance

Email #4 — Send 5 days after third email

Subject: Landscape projects by [Company Name] have no limitsPreview text: If you dream it, we will build it.

Email #5 — Send 7 days after fourth email

Subject: [Company Name]: A name you can trustPreview text: Our family-owned business will create the landscape you want

By the time a contact finishes this automation, they’re going to have a wealth of knowledge about this company, what it does, and what sets it apart from the competition.

They’re going to have:

  • Case studies

  • Images and videos of past projects

  • Testimonials

  • Knowledge of all service areas

  • Met the team virtually

As if that wasn’t enough, there are no other competitors in their industry (in their geography) doing this.

Because I like you, I’m also going to share with you what each email looked like. In this case, it’s the first email in the campaign.

Screencap of the first email in the sequence.

Simple, right?

An acknowledgement of their having contacted this landscaping company and a warm, welcoming video from the person the inquirer will be in contact with if and when they decide to begin their landscaping project.

“With such a high likelihood of quality engagement, you want to make a great first impression with the content of your welcome emails.” — Act-On

Feel free to use this as a framework for your next welcome series.

If you’re ever stuck, remember this sequence.

In the context of a welcome series, it’d look a lot like:

  1. Welcome

  2. Story

  3. Customer pain point 1 + solution

  4. Customer pain point 2 + solution

  5. Customer pain point 3 + solution

  6. Portfolio of work, testimonials, social media highlights

  7. Final touchpoint

This email went on longer than I thought it would, so this is where I’m ending it.

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Talk soon,Andrew