When someone opts in to your email list, sending an acknowledgement is standard. Best practice, however, is to cement the relationship with a well-crafted series of emails. The series can be used to give your reader more insight into your company, guide them towards helpful areas of your website, encourage them to interact with your company using social media, and perhaps offer them some exclusive savings.
Here are some suggestions for crafting a strong welcome series:
• Focus on one concept per email. Keep them short and easy to digest.
• Remind people what they signed up for. Reinforce benefits, and set expectations about what type of content readers will receive, and how often.
• Differentiate your welcome series from your other emails.
• Preview what will be discussed in the next letter in the series.
• Make it easy for anyone who wants to unsubscribe to do so. If one letter in the series triggers too many unsubscribes, rework it.
• Include lots of links – to your site, your forum, your Facebook page, your YouTube channel.
Welcome series usually include between three and six letters. Some companies send them out over the course of a month, some spread them out a little more. Test yours to determine the number of emails and frequency that works best for you.
