Perfecting the Follow-Up: What to Do When You Have a New Email Subscriber
After spending money on advertising and sharing all sorts of posts on social media, it makes it all worthwhile when somebody finally subscribes to your platform with their email address. Once we have a list of email addresses, we can begin to target more specifically and send emails that will hopefully generate sales. Therefore, half the battle is won…but you can still go wrong.
Often, we read informational guides and blog posts where they jump from getting a new email subscriber to making a sale; they completely miss the part in the middle. Fortunately, this is where we want to focus our attention for today. How do you deal with a new email subscriber?
Why Send a Follow-Up Email?
First and foremost, do you need to send anything at all? Yes, yes, yes. Often, we hear people saying that they don’t want to frustrate the new subscriber by immediately sending an email. However, according to Experian, the difference in open rates between welcome emails and others is thought to be a whopping 86%. If you send emails to 100 new subscribers, a potential 86 will read it; this is powerful.
If you don’t choose to send a follow-up email, you’re missing out on one of the rare times when audiences appreciate emails and actively open them. Remember, they’ve provided their email address to you, so it isn’t spam.
As well as showing appreciation, a follow-up email can also be valuable because it allows you to set some expectations. What should this new subscriber expect from your content? How often will you provide them with such content? After receiving ten new subscriptions on a given day, the last thing you want is for eight of them to unsubscribe within a week. With this in mind, you NEED to set expectations.
Creating an Automatic Response
If we may assume your goals for a moment, you want to get to the point where you have dozens of new subscribers rolling in every single day. With this in mind, we recommend setting up an automatic response now. Rather than sitting down for hours and responding to the emails individually, you can take advantage of tools like AWeber and their Follow Up feature.
As soon as somebody signs up to your subscriber list, they receive an automated ‘thank you and welcome’ email. For those already short on time, this will be the perfect solution. As soon as you’ve perfected the message, you can leave it and it will continue to work even as your blog grows.
Features of Every Good Follow-Up Email
Now we understand the importance of emails for new subscribers, the next question is what it should contain. Let’s take a look!
Thank You
This makes sense, right? In all emails, the words ‘thank you’ are incredibly effective for two reasons:
- It makes the brand more personable
- It helps to build brand loyalty
In life, we like to feel appreciated and this hasn’t changed in generations. For new subscribers, a simple thank you will tell them that you appreciate their effort. Suddenly, their feeling towards your brand is positive and the relationship moves forward.
These days, there are tools that allow you to use the subscriber’s name in the email and we highly recommend taking this route too. As soon as they see their own name, it will pique their interest and hopefully increase engagement.
Set Expectations
Earlier, we told you to set expectations in the welcome email…but how do you do this? First, tell them what sort of content you share and how often. Will they receive updates on brand-new products in your niche? Will they see a bi-monthly newsletter hitting their inboxes?
When people provide their email addresses, they take a leap of faith: that you won’t take advantage. Without setting expectations, sending a weekly newsletter may feel like spam and this can lead to the loss of subscriptions.
When setting expectations, there’s nothing wrong with clearly stating what they can expect. With a ‘what to expect’ section, you can lay everything out nicely for new subscribers to read.
Personal Tone
Rather than being a stranger to the brand, the subscriber has provided a means to contact them. Therefore, take this relationship even further with a personal tone in the message. Just because they’ve subscribed, this doesn’t mean they’ve been reading your content for weeks and understand the character and personality of the blog.
For us, the welcome email is yet another opportunity to show off your style of writing. Remember, those who subscribe may be doing so after reading just one of your articles.
Link to Your Site (eBook)
Normally, people are more inclined to provide their email addresses if they receive something in return. In recent years, it has become the norm to provide a free eBook or something similar. Now, you could send the eBook via an attachment in the email. Alternatively, you could send them to a specific page on your website.
If you send the eBook as an attachment, there’s no guarantee they will ever visit your website again. By sending them to your website, you’re taking control of the situation.
If you don’t currently have a lead magnet — such as an eBook, worksheet, checklist, or anything of value — we highly recommend taking the time to create one. It’s easier to get subscriptions when those signing up are receiving something of value in return.
Explanation About Your Company
As we said before, some people will subscribe for the free eBook after reading just one blog post so it’s important to explain who you are and what you do. Build that connection with a story about your company. Do you have a particular mission? Is there something that separates you from the rest?
When you send emails in the future, persuading subscribers to take action and spend money will be much easier if you’ve introduced yourself.
Offer Social Media Links
Sadly, we see far too many welcome emails without social media links. Whether it’s Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or a combination of a few, social media links provide the subscriber with another means to contact you and stay updated. It also increases your credibility.
As well as social media links, feel free to include other contact information to further this effect.
Ask to be Whitelisted
How do you ensure that your emails don’t slip through the net? One way is to ask the subscriber to add you to their address book: this is known as whitelisting. In fact, you can provide instructions so that the subscriber knows how to do this. By telling them that this simple step will ensure they don’t miss out on any valuable content, your emails will always be delivered.
Provide a Destination
They’ve subscribed, you’re added to their address book, what now? Don’t leave them with nothing to do. Instead, provide a link to one of your favorite blog posts. If they’re in the mood for exploring and have some free time, they’ll head back over to your website. Depending on your style of content, you could even do this when replying to comments on the blog posts themselves.
Address Pain Points
We’ve already talked about providing contact information and social media links, but there’s one way in particular that you can encourage them to message. Ask them for specific pain points and what sort of help they require. If you get five emails in a single day, this is five potential blog posts. If we assume that others out there are having the same problem, this is a great way to grow your audience with very little effort.
Stop and Deliver
Once the initial follow-up email has been sent, it might be tempting to go further and immediately start attacking them with content, but this will only lead to another lost subscription. Instead, simply deliver on what you promised. If you suggested there would be a weekly newsletter, make sure they receive it. Again, this isn’t spam because not only have they signed up to your service, but you also made it perfectly clear that a weekly newsletter would be sent in the follow-up email.
Get Started Today
If you follow this advice with your follow-up emails, you won’t go far wrong. Remember, you don’t have license to spam their inboxes just because they’ve provided their email address. Instead, add value and create an experience they appreciate and recommend to others.
Bonus! Marketing Tools:
2. Bilbi AI: Daily Marketing Campaign Insights
