Uuhh… brrr…

The weather turned 180°.

One day I’m getting roasted alive by the summer heat.

Now I’m sitting at my desk feeling the cold breeze early in the morning, with my feet completely frozen.

So I shoved one of them under my cat Mika, who’s sitting underneath my desk.

She’s warm, puffy.

Perfect little heater.

Not the most welcoming one though.

She likes to fight, scratch, and usually wants nothing to do with being petted.

But give her food... and hehe...

Suddenly, she’s the most welcoming creature on earth.

Haha (she likes playing a lot that's why).

Speaking of being welcoming.

Today I want to talk about one of the most important flows in email marketing:

The welcome flow.

This is the sequence someone receives after joining your email list through a pop-up form, lead magnet, or any other method.

It’s your first real chance to introduce people to your brand, your story, and why they should choose you.

You get to bring them into your world.

So let me walk you through a simple 4-email welcome flow you can use for your brand to build trust, create desire, and make people choose you over your competitors.

Shall we dive in?

Email 1 — Founder Story + Deliver The Discount

I like putting the founder story in the first email because this is usually the email people open to claim their discount.

It's the perfect moment to build that first relationship and begin to form positive association with your brand.

First impression matters they say... so leave a good impression.

Tell them how it all started.

What problem were you facing?

What made you create the product?

What solution did you find?

And why did you decide to turn that solution into a business?

You can also share your mission and what you’re trying to build.

Again, the goal is to create positive associations with your brand and give people something to connect with.

Here’s an example from Al-Haq Thobes.

Email 2 — Why Us?

Now that they know your story, it’s time to answer:

“Why should I choose you?”

You can do this by showing your product’s unique mechanism, what makes it different, or even exposing the weaknesses of the alternatives.

The goal is to create contrast.

Here’s what we do differently.

Here’s a great example from Graza.

Email 3 — Don’t Take Our Word For It…

In this email you let your customers do the heavy lifting.

You want to prove your product actually delivers.

Show customer testimonials, case studies, before-and-afters, or stories from people who used your product and loved the results.

When people see other people like them that have tried the product and have found success from it they're likely more to purchase.

"If they tried and made it, chances are it will work for me too."

Here’s a great example from Wavy

Email 4 — Last Chance

One of the oldest copywriting principles in the book:

Urgency gets people to take action.

It creates FOMO (fear of missing out).

People tend to act more when they are about to miss something rather than wanting to gain something.

So if someone still hasn’t bought, remind them that their welcome offer is about to expire.

Because missing out on a great product with a no-brainer offer hits harder when there’s a deadline attached.

Here’s an example from BOXRAW.

One important note:

I don’t like using “Last Chance” when the discount doesn’t actually expire.

A lot of brands do this even though the code works forever.

I’d rather use “Last Reminder” in that case.

If the coupon really expires...

... then use “Last Chance.”

No fake urgency needed.

One more thing…

Don’t sleep on founder plain-text emails.

They consistently have the potential to outperform heavily designed emails because they feel like they came from a real person.

They’re simple.

They’re easy to digest.

And they can feel much more personal.

It's my secret weapon to build strong relationship with an email list of whatever size.

Do it right and you’ll make lots of moolah.

Now, one action for you to do today:

Structure your welcome sequence to form positive association, so your customers choose you instead of your competitros.

Talk about your story, your unique mechanism, and load your emails full with success stories/testimonials.

That’s it for today.

Talk soon,

Elton

P.S. Reply and let me know if you have any questions or if you found this helpful.

P.P.S. In future I will share the ultimate welcome sequence for coaches and service providers.