April 29, 2025 • 30 mins
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Are you rolling out the red carpet for your new subscribers - or just ghosting them after they grab your freebie? In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on one of the most powerful tools in your digital product business: the automated email welcome sequence. If you’ve ever wondered how to turn a casual freebie-grabber into a loyal fan, and eventually a paying customer, this is the strategy you’ve been waiting for.
I walk you through the exact five-email framework I use to build connection, deliver value, and warm up subscribers for future sales…all without sounding like a robot or sleazy salesperson. You’ll learn the purpose behind each email, how to weave in your story and offers authentically, and why starting simple can still get you serious results. Plus, I share how I personally set this up inside my email marketing platform, Kit (without wanting to chuck my laptop out the window).
This isn’t about writing perfect emails or nailing it on your first try. It’s about building a system that works behind the scenes to welcome, nurture, and sell while you focus on creating and serving. Whether you’re brand new to email marketing or finally ready to automate this crucial step, this episode will give you the push, and the plan, you need to get started!
01:50 - Why having an email welcome sequence is so important for your business
06:43 - How and why to automate your email welcome sequence, plus what to include in each email
15:07 - The tech set up behind an effective welcome sequence
19:52 - My best advice for testing your sequence automations - don’t skip this!
Links & Resources:
- Kit - affiliate link
- Liz Wilcox's Welcome Sequence Workshop - affiliate link
- Nicole Kepic's Red Carpet Welcome Sequence - affiliate link
- Follow me on Instagram @kristendoyle.co
- Check out my Everything Page: a one-stop shop for savvy selling!
- The Savvy Seller Collective
- Join my private Facebook community: Savvy Teacher Sellers
- More resources for growing your TPT business
- Rate & review The Savvy Teacher Seller on Apple Podcasts
Show Notes: https://kristendoyle.co/episode145
Tired of constantly hustling to sell your digital products? Check out my free 19-minute training where I show you how to turn all those products you already have into a profitable, automated business.
Get more freedom and less stress ➡️ watch now at kristendoyle.co/training
Check out my Everything Page at https://kristendoyle.co/everything
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen Doyle (00:00):
Think about the last time that you signed up for
freebie online, you were excitedto get that checklist or that
template, but then whathappened? Maybe you got the
freebie and suddenly you startedgetting promotional emails about
products that you weren't readyfor yet. Or maybe you got that
first email with your downloadand then crickets until a random
(00:25):
newsletter showed up in yourinbox weeks or months later.
Neither of those experiencesfeels that great as the
subscriber, does it? But thereis another option. So today we
are talking about automatingyour email welcome sequence.
That is that little series ofemails that turns those casual
(00:45):
freebie subscribers into loyalfans who are ready to make
purchases from you. Nurturingnew subscribers through some
thoughtful and yes, automatedemails, feels better for your
new subscribers, but it alsobuilds trust that leads to more
sales down the road for you. Andonce you get it all set up, it
(01:05):
works for you. 24/7 without youhaving to do a single thing.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator, selling on
platforms like teachers payteachers, Etsy or your own
website? Ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
in the right place.
(01:26):
Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I'mKristen Doyle, and I'm here to
give you no fluff, tools andstrategies that move the needle
for your business withoutburning you out in the process.
Things like SEO, no stressmarketing, email list building,
automation, and so much more.
Let's get started y'all.
(01:50):
Let's talk about why you need awelcome sequence anyway. So that
welcome sequence is the seriesof emails that you're going to
send out to a new subscriberafter they sign up for a certain
freebie and they've just joinedyour list. Those first few
emails really are the ones thatwill determine whether these
(02:11):
subscribers stay on your list orthey hit that unsubscribe button
after they download theirfreebie.
The experience that people havein that first seven to 10, maybe
12 days really determineswhether they're going to start
engaging with your content andstick around, or they're going
to decide you're not for themand then they're going to
(02:32):
disappear. It's really importantthat you capitalize on those
first few days, because openrates are highest when someone
has first joined your list.
So you want to make sure youtake advantage of that window
while they're still excitedabout you and what you have to
offer, and they're more likelyto open up emails from you. It's
(02:53):
really important during thosefirst couple emails that you
spend some time building trustand setting expectations before
you ever ask for purchases. Seewhen we set clear expectations,
that helps us to keep oursubscribers happy. When you are
transparent about what kind ofcontents you're going to talk
(03:14):
about and how often you're goingto email, this keeps people from
unsubscribing because they aresurprised, or they're getting
something in their inbox thatthey weren't expecting.
And you might be worried that ifyou're super transparent,
especially about things likewhat kind of content you're
going to promote, things thatyou might offer for them to
(03:35):
purchase from you, you might bea little worried that being too
transparent about that willcause people to unsubscribe, but
I would argue that you wantthose people to just go ahead
and exit out of your email listanyway. Because if they aren't
going to be interested in thecontent that you're offering,
then they don't need to stay onyour list, because they're not
(03:57):
going to be engaged subscribers.
So when you set those clearexpectations around what kind of
content you're going to share,the topics you talk about, how
often you're going to email, andyes, what kinds of things you're
going to offer to sell them,that can prevent the kind of
surprises that lead to lots ofunsubscribes down the road, and
(04:18):
it can just clean up your listover time as people are joining,
and set those expectations forwhat they can expect from you
long term.
Because that's so important,those expectations are so
important you want to make surethat the style of emails in your
welcome sequence matches thestyle you're sending out in your
regular emails. You don't wantyour welcome sequence to look
(04:41):
like one thing, and then flipthe switch when they get to your
regular email list, because thatis going to be another one of
those points where people juststart to unsubscribe because
they're getting surprises thataren't necessarily good ones for
them.
In that welcome sequence, youwant to provide some immediate
value for people. This isimportant for a couple of
reasons. First of all, when youcan give people some sort of a
(05:04):
quick win, especially if it'sdirectly related to their opt
in, that makes subscribers gladthat they joined your list, and
it makes them more likely toopen the next email and the one
after that, because they'vealready gotten a quick win from
you. This creates engagement,and it builds trust. And long
term, the best subscribers onyour list are going to be those
(05:25):
who see some value in what youoffer from the very beginning,
because once you start to losethem, that is going to just
continue. So you really want toreel people in right at the
beginning, when they first joinyour list, to keep building that
momentum in a positive directioninstead of a negative direction.
Now this doesn't mean thatyou're not going to talk about
(05:45):
any of your products andservices. In fact, I think it's
important that you do mentionthem toward the end of your
welcome sequence, but you wantto do it in a really natural
way. That welcome sequence kindof serves as a soft introduction
to what you offer. You canmention products in context,
rather than putting outimmediate, hard sell direct
(06:07):
emails, because that will helpyou to build interest and build
trust before you make thosereally direct sales pitches that
you're going to want down theroad.
When you're doing this, sincethis is one short email
sequence, focus on justintroducing one product or a
bundle, rather than everythingall at one time. Think about
what is your flagship offer,your main thing that you sell.
(06:31):
Maybe you call it your signatureoffer. Share a little bit about
that, rather than trying tointroduce people to everything
that you have available for themright off the bat, because that
can feel overwhelming.
Now that you know what thatwelcome sequence is, let's talk
about why you need to automateit. When it comes to welcome
sequences, typically, one of twothings is going to happen.
(06:52):
Either you have it on your to dolist to make a welcome sequence,
and it never, ever happens, andyou just start sending people
those regular weekly emails andyou never welcome them to your
list, or you create an automatedsequence.
See if we try to welcome peopleto our list in a more manual
way, it tends to just fall offthe radar and never actually
(07:13):
happen. So I recommend that youcreate an automated welcome
sequence for lots of reasons.
The first is that consistency isso so important, and it's good
for keeping your subscribersengaged and excited and happy
with your list. It also helpsyou to give those brand new
subscribers a good introductionto you, to your business, to how
(07:36):
you can help them, and yes, whatyou have to offer as well.
See when you just take brand newsubscribers, you send them the
freebie and then you dump theminto your general email list,
that can sometimes create a kindof jarring experience, because
sometimes the things that we aresending to our regular email
(07:57):
subscribers who've been on ourlist for months or years are not
really appropriate yet for brandnew subscribers who don't know
much about us. It can feel alittle jarring. It can feel a
little uncomfortable, especiallyif you happen to drop them into
your main email list in themiddle of maybe a sales period
(08:19):
for you, when you're doing morepromotional emails than you
normally would.
So when you have these automatedwelcome sequences set up that
makes sure that nobody slipsthrough the cracks, that
everybody gets welcomed to yourlist, gets introduced to your
business before they startgetting that regular weekly
content. When you throw brandnew subscribers into your
(08:39):
regular maybe promotional emailsthat can lead to higher
unsubscribe rates, becausepeople don't really understand
yet who you are and what youoffer.
If you think about it, newsubscribers have different
questions than your establishedaudience. They have different
things that they need than yourestablished audience, who you've
already taught a lot of thingsto. So by welcoming your new
(09:02):
subscribers in an automatedwelcome sequence, you can
address some of those things onthe front end, so that then they
are ready for your regularweekly email cadence, whatever
that might look like.
All right, let's talk a littlebit now about how to actually
make this happen. The firstthing that you want to do is do
some planning before you startworrying about the automations.
(09:22):
So if automations feeloverwhelming to you, don't worry
about it yet. Let's just talkabout the planning first. I
would recommend that you startby writing your emails first.
Now there are lots of differentways to do a welcome sequence. I
am going to recommend that youdo a five email welcome
sequence. Short and sweet, justenough to really introduce
(09:45):
yourself to people.
Email number one is where youdeliver the freebie that they
opted in for. Give them a warmwelcome, kind of let them know
that you're going to continueemailing them some more
information over the next coupleof weeks. Then in email number
two, if you can provide a quickwin that is directly related to
whatever they opted in for, thatis going to go a long way toward
(10:08):
building trust and getting themexcited.
See if you can find a way withinemail two, to get people to
either click on a link or, evenbetter, hit reply and respond to
you, and make sure that when youget responses to these emails
from your welcome sequence, makesure you're taking the time to
reply back to those people andbuild that relationship,
(10:30):
especially in the early days ofthem being on your list.
Email number three is a greattime for you to kind of share
your story and set yourself upas an expert in your field and
to build a little bit of a morepersonal connection with people.
And then in email four, you canstart to hint a little bit at
(10:50):
some of your offers. Maybe youshow off your best product with
some testimonials. This is agreat place to just start to set
the groundwork for the fact thatevery now and then you're going
to send a promotional emailabout something that people can
purchase from you.
And then email number five is agreat time to ask them what
(11:12):
their questions are for you, andthen to set the stage for that
transition into regular emails.
Now you don't have to say nowyou're at the end of my welcome
sequence. So next week, you'llstart getting my regular email,
because that feels awkward. Butyou can ask them what kind of
things they still have questionsabout that you can help with,
invite them to hit reply, oreven give them a quick poll and
(11:34):
ask them to respond back, A, Bor C. Which of these are you
struggling with the most?
That'll get that conversationstarted and give you some
feedback about what people needas they're joining your list.
And then you can let them knowtoward the end that going
forward, you'll be emailing themabout once a week, twice a week,
(11:55):
whatever your cadence is, sothat you're setting the stage
for that transition into thoseregular emails. Now, when it
comes to timing, it reallydoesn't matter when you send
these out.
So even if you are typicallyonly emailing people once a week
from your list, the first emailwith that freebie, of course,
that needs to be deliveredimmediately when they sign up.
(12:17):
Emails 2,3,4, and 5 should bespaced out somewhere around two
to three days apart. This isclose enough to keep people's
interest without overwhelmingthem, and it really is one
reason I recommend a prettyshort welcome sequence, because
you don't want to overwhelm youdon't want to be emailing them
three and four times a week formultiple weeks at a time.
(12:38):
But what you do want to do isemail them close enough together
in those early days that theystay interested in that you keep
building momentum in theirinbox. And then once you get
towards those last emails,between email five and starting
to get those regular weeklyemails that should stretch out
to more like four or five sixdays, you can even set a delay
(13:00):
in your email platform to makesure that that stretches out
Now, there are a handful ofthings that you're going to need
some.
to think about when it comes toautomating this. The first is,
how are people going to get intoyour welcome sequence? And how
many welcome sequences will youhave? If you have lots of
different forms, but they're allabout one topic, you probably
(13:23):
just need one welcome sequencefor all of them. Or maybe you
have two or three topics withlots of different lead magnet
forms. You could create two tothree welcome sequences, one for
each topic.
I would not recommend trying tocreate a separate welcome
sequence for every single emailopt in that you have, unless you
(13:43):
only have a handful of opt ins,because it's just going to get
overwhelming, and probably therewon't be enough difference from
one sequence to the next toreally be worth all of that time
and effort on your part. Plus itcould mean that people are
getting very similar emailsequences from you over and over
if they're opting into multiplethings.
So think about how manysequences you're actually going
(14:04):
to need, regardless of how manyyou think you need. I want to
encourage you just start withone, but think long term. So
you'll have that plan in place.
You're going to also need todecide how subscribers get from
that welcome sequence to yourregular email list, and we'll
talk about how I do that in justa minute. You'll need a system
to keep track of who has alreadygone through the welcome
(14:25):
sequence. That can be as simpleas setting up some tags in your
email list.
And you might want to thinkabout special circumstances,
like people who purchase theoffer during a welcome sequence,
people who have already gonethrough other welcome sequences.
Think about how you might beable to handle those sorts of
things by excluding certain tagsor sending only two people with
(14:48):
certain tags. Things like thatcan really help you to organize
your welcome sequence.
I would encourage you to justmap that out on a piece of
paper, on something like Canvawhiteboards. Whatever tool you
like to use just to get yourthoughts out. Go ahead and map
that stuff out so you have thebig picture of where you're
going.
And then let's talk technicalsetup. I want to walk you
(15:10):
through exactly how I have thissetup in my business. Now I use
Kit, which of course, used to becalled Convert Kit for my email
marketing. Love them. Highlyrecommend them, but you should
be able to do something similarto this no matter what tool
you're using for your emailmarketing.
So the first thing I do is Iwrite all of my welcome emails
in a Google Doc. And the reasonI do that is so that I can go
(15:33):
back and edit them later. I cango back and see what I have
written. I can also use that asa reference doc for my Claude or
Chat GPT projects for thingsthat I'm doing, so that those AI
tools know what I've beensending out to people. So I
really do encourage you to writeall your email sequences in a
(15:54):
Google Doc, rather than justpulling up your email marketing
platform and writing directly intheir email editor.
Once I've got those emailswritten and edited, then I go in
and I create a visualautomation. You'll find that in
the menu bar at the top on kit,and here's what mine looks like.
The trigger to start theautomation is when someone
(16:16):
submits a form. And like I saidearlier, depending on how many
lead magnets you have and howsimilar the content is, you
might want just one automationfor when someone signs up on any
form, or you might need to saywhen someone signs up on this
form or this form or this form,we're going to start this
automation and have a separateautomation for different
categories of lead magnets.
(16:37):
Now the first step in myautomation is to remove a tag
called weekly emails from thesubscriber, assuming that it
exists, and I'll explain thattag in just a minute, but it is
a very important first stepbefore anything else happens.
Step two in the automation addsthe subscriber to an email
sequence. Inside this sequenceyou'll copy in all that content
(17:02):
that you wrote for those fivewelcome emails, and you'll set
the timing that you want to use.
When you click on sequencesettings on kit, there is an
option to let people go througha sequence multiple times or
only once. Now, depending onyour sequence, there are use
cases for both of these, but fora welcome sequence, I always set
those so that people can only gothrough it one time. This keeps
(17:26):
people from getting the samewelcome sequence emails if
they've signed up for multiplefreebies that are feeding into
that same sequence.
And when it comes to havingmultiple welcome sequences, you
can either handle this with tagsand exclude people who have any
of the welcome sequence tags orand this is what I would really
recommend - you can make yourwelcome sequences so different
(17:48):
from one another that it is okayfor people to go through more
than one of them.
Now, after the sequence ends, Ilike to add a wait. You can do
this anywhere from a one daywait to a five or even a seven
day wait, if you want. But Ilike to add a wait time between
(18:10):
getting the last email in thesequence and when these people
go into my regular weekly emailgroup. This is really just to
make sure that no one is gettingmultiple emails from me on the
same day, and that after thatvery last email, there's a
little delay before they startgetting regular weekly emails.
After that step, I add any tagsthat I want the subscribers to
(18:33):
have based on the lead magnetthat they signed up for. I use
those tags to target differentpeople's interests in future
emails, or when I create futuresales sequences, things like
that. And then the last step inmy automation is adding a weekly
emails tag to the subscriber.
Now this is the same weeklyemails tag that I told you I
remove at the very, verybeginning.
(18:55):
And this tag is how I make surethat people who are in my
welcome sequence, or I also usethis same process in some of my
other automated sequences tomake sure they're not getting
random, unrelated emails in themiddle of a sequence.When I
write my regular weeklybroadcast emails, I don't send
them to everyone. I only sendthem to subscribers who have the
(19:17):
weekly emails tag. And for everyautomated sequence that I build,
assuming that I want people toonly get those emails, then the
first step is to remove theweekly emails tag from the
subscriber, and then the laststep is to add that weekly
emails tag back.
This just pulls those people whoare getting a single, very
(19:41):
focused sequence of emails outof my regular group for that
couple of weeks and then slidesthem back into the regular group
when they get finished with thesequence. Now, before your
automation goes live, you'regoing to want to test
everything. You want to putyourself through this automated
(20:01):
sequence as a new subscriber tomake sure everything is working.
And one little trick that I usefor that is I sign up for one of
the freebies that leads to thisemail sequence using a test
email. And you don't have tohave dozens of email addresses
to do this. The way that I do itis, I use my regular email the
(20:24):
plus sign, and then something itcan be, literally anything you
can say, plus one, I usually sayplus whatever it is, so that I
know which email that was, whichemail it is tied to.
And so the way that that looksis, I would type in, for
example, Kristen Plus, the lastone I did was Kristen Plus SSC
(20:45):
test at Kristendoyle.co. So myregular email is Kristen at
Kristendoyle.co but I've addedthat little plus and something
in the middle, and what thatdoes is that makes sure that the
emails get sent to your regularinbox so I don't have to go
hunting around for these. Idon't have to go check an email
I never use and remember thepassword.
(21:06):
The emails get sent to myregular inbox, but because it's
a unique email address, itcreates a new subscriber in my
email platform. That way, I cango to that new subscriber and
track exactly what emailsthey're getting, what emails
they're being excluded from andmake sure that everything about
my automation is set upproperly.
You'll want to check the timingof the emails that are sent out
(21:29):
any filters you've put on tomake sure that those are working
properly and all of the links inthe emails before you set this
automation live and startpushing people through it. One
little trick that I use for thatis, as I am setting up my
emails, initially, I'll set themto two or three hours between
emails instead of days.
(21:50):
That way, I can test it outfairly quickly over, you know,
24 to 48 hour period, and thenI'll go in and switch that from
hours to days once I've checkedeverything and I'm ready to go.
That way, I am not waitingmultiple weeks before I can push
this live just waiting for theemails to come to my own inbox.
You'll want to make sure thatyou test these because it is so
(22:10):
so easy to accidentally miss afilter or click the wrong thing
and have something set upincorrectly. In fact, just
yesterday, I was working on anemail sequence in my own kit
account. It was an automatedsequence, and when I sent myself
through that test, what ended uphappening is I got email one out
(22:32):
of the sequence, and then Ididn't get any more emails.
But on day two, that would havebeen the next day, it was about
an hour later because of the wayI set it. But on that day two,
when I should have gotten theday two email, I actually got
the last email in the sequence,and what I found when I went in
is I had set some filtersincorrectly.And so it had
(22:53):
skipped through emails, 2,3,4,5,and 6, and only sent me email 7
of that sequence because of theway I had set up some filters.
So if I had not sent myselfthose emails and made a point to
check them, I would have nevernoticed, and this would have
been happening for mysubscribers, and that's not a
good experience. So just makesure you take the extra time to
(23:14):
be sure it's working properlybefore you start sending out
these emails live.
All right, that is the overviewof how to set up and automate
your welcome sequence. Let'stalk about some action steps.
Start by writing your fivewelcome emails. If five feels
super overwhelming, start withjust the first email for right
now. Set aside some blocks oftime that you can use to work on
(23:39):
writing these emails where youcan turn off everything else and
just really focus in on theemails.
And I would really encourageyou, like I said earlier, focus
on the content before you worryabout the automations. Then take
a minute to map out the way yourautomation is going to work. The
easiest way to do this is justto sketch it out on paper. It
does not need to be anythingfancy, really, just as important
(24:01):
that you visualize it and youthink through the process. So
whatever works for your brain.
Think through anything that youmight need to do for your
existing email list before youstart this automation. One
simple example is from my list,I knew I wanted this weekly
emails tag so I could excludepeople from getting weekly
emails while they were in thesequence, but that meant I
(24:24):
needed to create the tag, and Ineeded to add the weekly emails
tag to all the people currentlyon my list, or no one would be
getting my weekly emails atfirst.
So it's just a little extra stepI needed to do that I might not
have recognized or thought abouthad I not mapped everything out
on paper first. And then pick aday. Block out half a day on
your calendar to get it all setup and kick off your testing so
(24:50):
that you can make sureeverything is working.
Now, if you are thinking thatyou're going to need multiple
welcome sequences for differentcategories on your list. Then I
recommend you start with oneform, or one freebie, one
category, get that one all setup perfectly, and then you can
typically in your email platform- I know Kit allows this. You
(25:11):
can typically duplicate thatentire automation to use it
again for a different emailsequence.
Now, there is one importantthing to know if you're using
Kit especially, and this mayapply to other email platforms
too. The email sequence and theautomation are two separate
things. I always build mysequence within the automation,
(25:33):
but that also means when I hitthe duplicate button, it is
duplicating the automation, butthat automation is still tied to
my original sequence. So if Istart editing those emails, I'm
editing the emails that are inboth automations, not just the
new copy.
So what you need to do isduplicate your automation, but
(25:54):
then go in and create a brandnew sequence for your automation
to run through. Don't edit thoseoriginal ones, or you'll be
editing in both of theautomations. Now, if writing
those welcome emails feels superdaunting for you or you're not
sure where to start, I want toshare two really great resources
to help.
So first of all, my friendNicole Kepic has some amazing
(26:17):
welcome sequence emails. Ibelieve she called it her red
carpet welcome. They arepolished and professional and
welcoming and friendly and sellwithout ever being salesy, just
like she always does. These areperfect if you want that more
polished approach.
And then if you prefer youremails to have a little bit more
(26:41):
quirkiness, a little bit morefun, check out Liz Wilcox's
templates. Hers have lots ofpersonality. They are a little
less polished. They are a littlemore casual and relaxed. So
depending on which of thosefeels more aligned for you,
either one of those is a greatoption. In fact, I have actually
(27:01):
used both of theirs to createdifferent welcome sequences at
different times.
I'll link to both options in theshow notes so you can pick the
one that works best for you.
Now, once you have set up yourautomated welcome sequence, I
would love to hear how it'sgoing. Drop me a DM on Instagram
@kristendoyle.co if you have anyquestions, or if you would like
to see a screenshot of myautomation setup. I know
(27:22):
sometimes it's really helpful toactually see it visually in
order to kind of put thosepieces together. So I am happy
to share my system and how thatworks if that is something that
would help you to implement yourown welcome sequence a little
more easily.
Seriously, though, just get itset up. It doesn't have to be
perfect. You can always go inand edit those emails, tweak the
(27:46):
tags you're using. You canchange all of those things down
the road, especially as you seewhich of those emails are
he important thing is just tostart. Start welcoming new
working well and which onesaren't. T
subscribers to your list theright way, instead of ignoring
them or throwing them straightinto the deep end. I hope this
episode has helped you get readyto automate your own welcome
(28:09):
sequence. Like I said, if youhave any questions, feel free to
DM me over on Instagram@kristendoyle.co and I'll talk
to you soon.
Think about the last time that you signed up for
freebie online, you were excitedto get that checklist or that
template, but then whathappened? Maybe you got the
freebie and suddenly you startedgetting promotional emails about
products that you weren't readyfor yet. Or maybe you got that
first email with your downloadand then crickets until a random
(00:25):
newsletter showed up in yourinbox weeks or months later.
Neither of those experiencesfeels that great as the
subscriber, does it? But thereis another option. So today we
are talking about automatingyour email welcome sequence.
That is that little series ofemails that turns those casual
(00:45):
freebie subscribers into loyalfans who are ready to make
purchases from you. Nurturingnew subscribers through some
thoughtful and yes, automatedemails, feels better for your
new subscribers, but it alsobuilds trust that leads to more
sales down the road for you. Andonce you get it all set up, it
(01:05):
works for you. 24/7 without youhaving to do a single thing.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator, selling on
platforms like teachers payteachers, Etsy or your own
website? Ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
in the right place.
(01:26):
Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I'mKristen Doyle, and I'm here to
give you no fluff, tools andstrategies that move the needle
for your business withoutburning you out in the process.
Things like SEO, no stressmarketing, email list building,
automation, and so much more.
Let's get started y'all.
(01:50):
Let's talk about why you need awelcome sequence anyway. So that
welcome sequence is the seriesof emails that you're going to
send out to a new subscriberafter they sign up for a certain
freebie and they've just joinedyour list. Those first few
emails really are the ones thatwill determine whether these
(02:11):
subscribers stay on your list orthey hit that unsubscribe button
after they download theirfreebie.
The experience that people havein that first seven to 10, maybe
12 days really determineswhether they're going to start
engaging with your content andstick around, or they're going
to decide you're not for themand then they're going to
(02:32):
disappear. It's really importantthat you capitalize on those
first few days, because openrates are highest when someone
has first joined your list.
So you want to make sure youtake advantage of that window
while they're still excitedabout you and what you have to
offer, and they're more likelyto open up emails from you. It's
(02:53):
really important during thosefirst couple emails that you
spend some time building trustand setting expectations before
you ever ask for purchases. Seewhen we set clear expectations,
that helps us to keep oursubscribers happy. When you are
transparent about what kind ofcontents you're going to talk
(03:14):
about and how often you're goingto email, this keeps people from
unsubscribing because they aresurprised, or they're getting
something in their inbox thatthey weren't expecting.
And you might be worried that ifyou're super transparent,
especially about things likewhat kind of content you're
going to promote, things thatyou might offer for them to
(03:35):
purchase from you, you might bea little worried that being too
transparent about that willcause people to unsubscribe, but
I would argue that you wantthose people to just go ahead
and exit out of your email listanyway. Because if they aren't
going to be interested in thecontent that you're offering,
then they don't need to stay onyour list, because they're not
(03:57):
going to be engaged subscribers.
So when you set those clearexpectations around what kind of
content you're going to share,the topics you talk about, how
often you're going to email, andyes, what kinds of things you're
going to offer to sell them,that can prevent the kind of
surprises that lead to lots ofunsubscribes down the road, and
(04:18):
it can just clean up your listover time as people are joining,
and set those expectations forwhat they can expect from you
long term.
Because that's so important,those expectations are so
important you want to make surethat the style of emails in your
welcome sequence matches thestyle you're sending out in your
regular emails. You don't wantyour welcome sequence to look
(04:41):
like one thing, and then flipthe switch when they get to your
regular email list, because thatis going to be another one of
those points where people juststart to unsubscribe because
they're getting surprises thataren't necessarily good ones for
them.
In that welcome sequence, youwant to provide some immediate
value for people. This isimportant for a couple of
reasons. First of all, when youcan give people some sort of a
(05:04):
quick win, especially if it'sdirectly related to their opt
in, that makes subscribers gladthat they joined your list, and
it makes them more likely toopen the next email and the one
after that, because they'vealready gotten a quick win from
you. This creates engagement,and it builds trust. And long
term, the best subscribers onyour list are going to be those
(05:25):
who see some value in what youoffer from the very beginning,
because once you start to losethem, that is going to just
continue. So you really want toreel people in right at the
beginning, when they first joinyour list, to keep building that
momentum in a positive directioninstead of a negative direction.
Now this doesn't mean thatyou're not going to talk about
(05:45):
any of your products andservices. In fact, I think it's
important that you do mentionthem toward the end of your
welcome sequence, but you wantto do it in a really natural
way. That welcome sequence kindof serves as a soft introduction
to what you offer. You canmention products in context,
rather than putting outimmediate, hard sell direct
(06:07):
emails, because that will helpyou to build interest and build
trust before you make thosereally direct sales pitches that
you're going to want down theroad.
When you're doing this, sincethis is one short email
sequence, focus on justintroducing one product or a
bundle, rather than everythingall at one time. Think about
what is your flagship offer,your main thing that you sell.
(06:31):
Maybe you call it your signatureoffer. Share a little bit about
that, rather than trying tointroduce people to everything
that you have available for themright off the bat, because that
can feel overwhelming.
Now that you know what thatwelcome sequence is, let's talk
about why you need to automateit. When it comes to welcome
sequences, typically, one of twothings is going to happen.
(06:52):
Either you have it on your to dolist to make a welcome sequence,
and it never, ever happens, andyou just start sending people
those regular weekly emails andyou never welcome them to your
list, or you create an automatedsequence.
See if we try to welcome peopleto our list in a more manual
way, it tends to just fall offthe radar and never actually
(07:13):
happen. So I recommend that youcreate an automated welcome
sequence for lots of reasons.
The first is that consistency isso so important, and it's good
for keeping your subscribersengaged and excited and happy
with your list. It also helpsyou to give those brand new
subscribers a good introductionto you, to your business, to how
(07:36):
you can help them, and yes, whatyou have to offer as well.
See when you just take brand newsubscribers, you send them the
freebie and then you dump theminto your general email list,
that can sometimes create a kindof jarring experience, because
sometimes the things that we aresending to our regular email
(07:57):
subscribers who've been on ourlist for months or years are not
really appropriate yet for brandnew subscribers who don't know
much about us. It can feel alittle jarring. It can feel a
little uncomfortable, especiallyif you happen to drop them into
your main email list in themiddle of maybe a sales period
(08:19):
for you, when you're doing morepromotional emails than you
normally would.
So when you have these automatedwelcome sequences set up that
makes sure that nobody slipsthrough the cracks, that
everybody gets welcomed to yourlist, gets introduced to your
business before they startgetting that regular weekly
content. When you throw brandnew subscribers into your
(08:39):
regular maybe promotional emailsthat can lead to higher
unsubscribe rates, becausepeople don't really understand
yet who you are and what youoffer.
If you think about it, newsubscribers have different
questions than your establishedaudience. They have different
things that they need than yourestablished audience, who you've
already taught a lot of thingsto. So by welcoming your new
(09:02):
subscribers in an automatedwelcome sequence, you can
address some of those things onthe front end, so that then they
are ready for your regularweekly email cadence, whatever
that might look like.
All right, let's talk a littlebit now about how to actually
make this happen. The firstthing that you want to do is do
some planning before you startworrying about the automations.
(09:22):
So if automations feeloverwhelming to you, don't worry
about it yet. Let's just talkabout the planning first. I
would recommend that you startby writing your emails first.
Now there are lots of differentways to do a welcome sequence. I
am going to recommend that youdo a five email welcome
sequence. Short and sweet, justenough to really introduce
(09:45):
yourself to people.
Email number one is where youdeliver the freebie that they
opted in for. Give them a warmwelcome, kind of let them know
that you're going to continueemailing them some more
information over the next coupleof weeks. Then in email number
two, if you can provide a quickwin that is directly related to
whatever they opted in for, thatis going to go a long way toward
(10:08):
building trust and getting themexcited.
See if you can find a way withinemail two, to get people to
either click on a link or, evenbetter, hit reply and respond to
you, and make sure that when youget responses to these emails
from your welcome sequence, makesure you're taking the time to
reply back to those people andbuild that relationship,
(10:30):
especially in the early days ofthem being on your list.
Email number three is a greattime for you to kind of share
your story and set yourself upas an expert in your field and
to build a little bit of a morepersonal connection with people.
And then in email four, you canstart to hint a little bit at
(10:50):
some of your offers. Maybe youshow off your best product with
some testimonials. This is agreat place to just start to set
the groundwork for the fact thatevery now and then you're going
to send a promotional emailabout something that people can
purchase from you.
And then email number five is agreat time to ask them what
(11:12):
their questions are for you, andthen to set the stage for that
transition into regular emails.
Now you don't have to say nowyou're at the end of my welcome
sequence. So next week, you'llstart getting my regular email,
because that feels awkward. Butyou can ask them what kind of
things they still have questionsabout that you can help with,
invite them to hit reply, oreven give them a quick poll and
(11:34):
ask them to respond back, A, Bor C. Which of these are you
struggling with the most?
That'll get that conversationstarted and give you some
feedback about what people needas they're joining your list.
And then you can let them knowtoward the end that going
forward, you'll be emailing themabout once a week, twice a week,
(11:55):
whatever your cadence is, sothat you're setting the stage
for that transition into thoseregular emails. Now, when it
comes to timing, it reallydoesn't matter when you send
these out.
So even if you are typicallyonly emailing people once a week
from your list, the first emailwith that freebie, of course,
that needs to be deliveredimmediately when they sign up.
(12:17):
Emails 2,3,4, and 5 should bespaced out somewhere around two
to three days apart. This isclose enough to keep people's
interest without overwhelmingthem, and it really is one
reason I recommend a prettyshort welcome sequence, because
you don't want to overwhelm youdon't want to be emailing them
three and four times a week formultiple weeks at a time.
(12:38):
But what you do want to do isemail them close enough together
in those early days that theystay interested in that you keep
building momentum in theirinbox. And then once you get
towards those last emails,between email five and starting
to get those regular weeklyemails that should stretch out
to more like four or five sixdays, you can even set a delay
(13:00):
in your email platform to makesure that that stretches out
Now, there are a handful ofthings that you're going to need
some.
to think about when it comes toautomating this. The first is,
how are people going to get intoyour welcome sequence? And how
many welcome sequences will youhave? If you have lots of
different forms, but they're allabout one topic, you probably
(13:23):
just need one welcome sequencefor all of them. Or maybe you
have two or three topics withlots of different lead magnet
forms. You could create two tothree welcome sequences, one for
each topic.
I would not recommend trying tocreate a separate welcome
sequence for every single emailopt in that you have, unless you
(13:43):
only have a handful of opt ins,because it's just going to get
overwhelming, and probably therewon't be enough difference from
one sequence to the next toreally be worth all of that time
and effort on your part. Plus itcould mean that people are
getting very similar emailsequences from you over and over
if they're opting into multiplethings.
So think about how manysequences you're actually going
(14:04):
to need, regardless of how manyyou think you need. I want to
encourage you just start withone, but think long term. So
you'll have that plan in place.
You're going to also need todecide how subscribers get from
that welcome sequence to yourregular email list, and we'll
talk about how I do that in justa minute. You'll need a system
to keep track of who has alreadygone through the welcome
(14:25):
sequence. That can be as simpleas setting up some tags in your
email list.
And you might want to thinkabout special circumstances,
like people who purchase theoffer during a welcome sequence,
people who have already gonethrough other welcome sequences.
Think about how you might beable to handle those sorts of
things by excluding certain tagsor sending only two people with
(14:48):
certain tags. Things like thatcan really help you to organize
your welcome sequence.
I would encourage you to justmap that out on a piece of
paper, on something like Canvawhiteboards. Whatever tool you
like to use just to get yourthoughts out. Go ahead and map
that stuff out so you have thebig picture of where you're
going.
And then let's talk technicalsetup. I want to walk you
(15:10):
through exactly how I have thissetup in my business. Now I use
Kit, which of course, used to becalled Convert Kit for my email
marketing. Love them. Highlyrecommend them, but you should
be able to do something similarto this no matter what tool
you're using for your emailmarketing.
So the first thing I do is Iwrite all of my welcome emails
in a Google Doc. And the reasonI do that is so that I can go
(15:33):
back and edit them later. I cango back and see what I have
written. I can also use that asa reference doc for my Claude or
Chat GPT projects for thingsthat I'm doing, so that those AI
tools know what I've beensending out to people. So I
really do encourage you to writeall your email sequences in a
(15:54):
Google Doc, rather than justpulling up your email marketing
platform and writing directly intheir email editor.
Once I've got those emailswritten and edited, then I go in
and I create a visualautomation. You'll find that in
the menu bar at the top on kit,and here's what mine looks like.
The trigger to start theautomation is when someone
(16:16):
submits a form. And like I saidearlier, depending on how many
lead magnets you have and howsimilar the content is, you
might want just one automationfor when someone signs up on any
form, or you might need to saywhen someone signs up on this
form or this form or this form,we're going to start this
automation and have a separateautomation for different
categories of lead magnets.
(16:37):
Now the first step in myautomation is to remove a tag
called weekly emails from thesubscriber, assuming that it
exists, and I'll explain thattag in just a minute, but it is
a very important first stepbefore anything else happens.
Step two in the automation addsthe subscriber to an email
sequence. Inside this sequenceyou'll copy in all that content
(17:02):
that you wrote for those fivewelcome emails, and you'll set
the timing that you want to use.
When you click on sequencesettings on kit, there is an
option to let people go througha sequence multiple times or
only once. Now, depending onyour sequence, there are use
cases for both of these, but fora welcome sequence, I always set
those so that people can only gothrough it one time. This keeps
(17:26):
people from getting the samewelcome sequence emails if
they've signed up for multiplefreebies that are feeding into
that same sequence.
And when it comes to havingmultiple welcome sequences, you
can either handle this with tagsand exclude people who have any
of the welcome sequence tags orand this is what I would really
recommend - you can make yourwelcome sequences so different
(17:48):
from one another that it is okayfor people to go through more
than one of them.
Now, after the sequence ends, Ilike to add a wait. You can do
this anywhere from a one daywait to a five or even a seven
day wait, if you want. But Ilike to add a wait time between
(18:10):
getting the last email in thesequence and when these people
go into my regular weekly emailgroup. This is really just to
make sure that no one is gettingmultiple emails from me on the
same day, and that after thatvery last email, there's a
little delay before they startgetting regular weekly emails.
After that step, I add any tagsthat I want the subscribers to
(18:33):
have based on the lead magnetthat they signed up for. I use
those tags to target differentpeople's interests in future
emails, or when I create futuresales sequences, things like
that. And then the last step inmy automation is adding a weekly
emails tag to the subscriber.
Now this is the same weeklyemails tag that I told you I
remove at the very, verybeginning.
(18:55):
And this tag is how I make surethat people who are in my
welcome sequence, or I also usethis same process in some of my
other automated sequences tomake sure they're not getting
random, unrelated emails in themiddle of a sequence.When I
write my regular weeklybroadcast emails, I don't send
them to everyone. I only sendthem to subscribers who have the
(19:17):
weekly emails tag. And for everyautomated sequence that I build,
assuming that I want people toonly get those emails, then the
first step is to remove theweekly emails tag from the
subscriber, and then the laststep is to add that weekly
emails tag back.
This just pulls those people whoare getting a single, very
(19:41):
focused sequence of emails outof my regular group for that
couple of weeks and then slidesthem back into the regular group
when they get finished with thesequence. Now, before your
automation goes live, you'regoing to want to test
everything. You want to putyourself through this automated
(20:01):
sequence as a new subscriber tomake sure everything is working.
And one little trick that I usefor that is I sign up for one of
the freebies that leads to thisemail sequence using a test
email. And you don't have tohave dozens of email addresses
to do this. The way that I do itis, I use my regular email the
(20:24):
plus sign, and then something itcan be, literally anything you
can say, plus one, I usually sayplus whatever it is, so that I
know which email that was, whichemail it is tied to.
And so the way that that looksis, I would type in, for
example, Kristen Plus, the lastone I did was Kristen Plus SSC
(20:45):
test at Kristendoyle.co. So myregular email is Kristen at
Kristendoyle.co but I've addedthat little plus and something
in the middle, and what thatdoes is that makes sure that the
emails get sent to your regularinbox so I don't have to go
hunting around for these. Idon't have to go check an email
I never use and remember thepassword.
(21:06):
The emails get sent to myregular inbox, but because it's
a unique email address, itcreates a new subscriber in my
email platform. That way, I cango to that new subscriber and
track exactly what emailsthey're getting, what emails
they're being excluded from andmake sure that everything about
my automation is set upproperly.
You'll want to check the timingof the emails that are sent out
(21:29):
any filters you've put on tomake sure that those are working
properly and all of the links inthe emails before you set this
automation live and startpushing people through it. One
little trick that I use for thatis, as I am setting up my
emails, initially, I'll set themto two or three hours between
emails instead of days.
(21:50):
That way, I can test it outfairly quickly over, you know,
24 to 48 hour period, and thenI'll go in and switch that from
hours to days once I've checkedeverything and I'm ready to go.
That way, I am not waitingmultiple weeks before I can push
this live just waiting for theemails to come to my own inbox.
You'll want to make sure thatyou test these because it is so
(22:10):
so easy to accidentally miss afilter or click the wrong thing
and have something set upincorrectly. In fact, just
yesterday, I was working on anemail sequence in my own kit
account. It was an automatedsequence, and when I sent myself
through that test, what ended uphappening is I got email one out
(22:32):
of the sequence, and then Ididn't get any more emails.
But on day two, that would havebeen the next day, it was about
an hour later because of the wayI set it. But on that day two,
when I should have gotten theday two email, I actually got
the last email in the sequence,and what I found when I went in
is I had set some filtersincorrectly.And so it had
(22:53):
skipped through emails, 2,3,4,5,and 6, and only sent me email 7
of that sequence because of theway I had set up some filters.
So if I had not sent myselfthose emails and made a point to
check them, I would have nevernoticed, and this would have
been happening for mysubscribers, and that's not a
good experience. So just makesure you take the extra time to
(23:14):
be sure it's working properlybefore you start sending out
these emails live.
All right, that is the overviewof how to set up and automate
your welcome sequence. Let'stalk about some action steps.
Start by writing your fivewelcome emails. If five feels
super overwhelming, start withjust the first email for right
now. Set aside some blocks oftime that you can use to work on
(23:39):
writing these emails where youcan turn off everything else and
just really focus in on theemails.
And I would really encourageyou, like I said earlier, focus
on the content before you worryabout the automations. Then take
a minute to map out the way yourautomation is going to work. The
easiest way to do this is justto sketch it out on paper. It
does not need to be anythingfancy, really, just as important
(24:01):
that you visualize it and youthink through the process. So
whatever works for your brain.
Think through anything that youmight need to do for your
existing email list before youstart this automation. One
simple example is from my list,I knew I wanted this weekly
emails tag so I could excludepeople from getting weekly
emails while they were in thesequence, but that meant I
(24:24):
needed to create the tag, and Ineeded to add the weekly emails
tag to all the people currentlyon my list, or no one would be
getting my weekly emails atfirst.
So it's just a little extra stepI needed to do that I might not
have recognized or thought abouthad I not mapped everything out
on paper first. And then pick aday. Block out half a day on
your calendar to get it all setup and kick off your testing so
(24:50):
that you can make sureeverything is working.
Now, if you are thinking thatyou're going to need multiple
welcome sequences for differentcategories on your list. Then I
recommend you start with oneform, or one freebie, one
category, get that one all setup perfectly, and then you can
typically in your email platform- I know Kit allows this. You
(25:11):
can typically duplicate thatentire automation to use it
again for a different emailsequence.
Now, there is one importantthing to know if you're using
Kit especially, and this mayapply to other email platforms
too. The email sequence and theautomation are two separate
things. I always build mysequence within the automation,
(25:33):
but that also means when I hitthe duplicate button, it is
duplicating the automation, butthat automation is still tied to
my original sequence. So if Istart editing those emails, I'm
editing the emails that are inboth automations, not just the
new copy.
So what you need to do isduplicate your automation, but
(25:54):
then go in and create a brandnew sequence for your automation
to run through. Don't edit thoseoriginal ones, or you'll be
editing in both of theautomations. Now, if writing
those welcome emails feels superdaunting for you or you're not
sure where to start, I want toshare two really great resources
to help.
So first of all, my friendNicole Kepic has some amazing
(26:17):
welcome sequence emails. Ibelieve she called it her red
carpet welcome. They arepolished and professional and
welcoming and friendly and sellwithout ever being salesy, just
like she always does. These areperfect if you want that more
polished approach.
And then if you prefer youremails to have a little bit more
(26:41):
quirkiness, a little bit morefun, check out Liz Wilcox's
templates. Hers have lots ofpersonality. They are a little
less polished. They are a littlemore casual and relaxed. So
depending on which of thosefeels more aligned for you,
either one of those is a greatoption. In fact, I have actually
(27:01):
used both of theirs to createdifferent welcome sequences at
different times.
I'll link to both options in theshow notes so you can pick the
one that works best for you.
Now, once you have set up yourautomated welcome sequence, I
would love to hear how it'sgoing. Drop me a DM on Instagram
@kristendoyle.co if you have anyquestions, or if you would like
to see a screenshot of myautomation setup. I know
(27:22):
sometimes it's really helpful toactually see it visually in
order to kind of put thosepieces together. So I am happy
to share my system and how thatworks if that is something that
would help you to implement yourown welcome sequence a little
more easily.
Seriously, though, just get itset up. It doesn't have to be
perfect. You can always go inand edit those emails, tweak the
(27:46):
tags you're using. You canchange all of those things down
the road, especially as you seewhich of those emails are
he important thing is just tostart. Start welcoming new
working well and which onesaren't. T
subscribers to your list theright way, instead of ignoring
them or throwing them straightinto the deep end. I hope this
episode has helped you get readyto automate your own welcome
(28:09):
sequence. Like I said, if youhave any questions, feel free to
DM me over on Instagram@kristendoyle.co and I'll talk
to you soon.
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