Can You Sell in Your Welcome Sequence?

You can't sell in your welcome sequence, right? Lots of people think that you can't pitch in your welcome sequence. 

But is that really the case? 

Could you use your welcome sequence as a way to promote your services, programs, courses, and digital products to your brand new subscribers? 

Today we're tackling this common email marketing myth.

If you’ve put together a welcome sequence for your business, you may have come across this already. There's this idea that you cannot sell in a welcome sequence — that it's all about nurturing and sales should be nowhere to be found in this first sequence.  

Let's take a look at that idea, dig in a little further, and see if it’s really serving your business goals for email marketing.

One reason this myth is so pervasive is that there's this idea that selling on its own is just off-putting. Selling isn’t seen as neutral. It's seen as negative. If you're selling to brand new subscribers, they're going to be looking for the unsubscribe button as soon as they see a pitch. Instead, your welcome sequence needs to be all about adding value, establishing trust, and building a relationship with your subscribers.

But why can't it be both? 

Because if your welcome sequence is doing that — if it's adding a ton of value, if it's establishing you as an expert, and it's building a relationship with these new subscribers… why can't you also share the other ways that you can help them — that are also paid.

Another reason why this myth is so common is that there's this idea that your welcome sequence stands apart from all of your other marketing. It’s viewed as a separate sequence that’s not part of the bigger funnel in your business. It's sort of like this silo of intro content that someone has to get through before they can learn anything else about what you do or be put in your marketing pipeline.

But separating your welcome sequence from your other marketing can make it feel really disjointed. It also doesn't serve you or your subscribers in the best way. 

Because if you have an offer that can help them, why are you hiding it or waiting until they get through a certain amount of emails before you even share it as an option? 

Sure, there will be people that aren't ready to buy yet. But there may be people that need that exact thing and are just waiting for someone to share the solution with them.

In this way, pitching in your welcome sequence can be another way you add value.

Instead of thinking of your welcome sequence as a standalone sequence, you can design it to naturally flow into the rest of your funnel and naturally lead to your offer.

Here's how this might look in practice: 

#1: Create a Relevant Lead Magnet

You want to start with how people are entering this funnel and look at the lead magnet that you're putting out there. 

Ideally, you want to create a relevant lead magnet that closely relates to your offer. That way, it's a natural slide into the offer rather than a big jump from whatever free thing you're offering to whatever paid thing you're pitching.

#2: Send Strategic Nurture Emails

Next, you want to follow up with strategic emails. These would be the bulk of your welcome sequence — the emails that are introducing them to your business, sharing even more value, establishing yourself as a trusted expert, and building a relationship with your new subscribers through engaging and entertaining content. 

#3: Share Your Offer

Then you can follow up with a carefully crafted pitch that feels like a next step.

When you do it in this way, it won’t be off-putting. It won't automatically send subscribers running away from your list. It will actually feel like a really natural progression.

Instead of having a dead-end sequence that just leads to your newsletter, your welcome sequence can be a fully functioning funnel that continues snagging new clients and students and sales for you on autopilot.

So my question for you:

Are you using your welcome sequence to make sales? Or have you been using it just for nurturing and keeping pitches away from your welcome sequence? 

If you've been afraid to sell your welcome sequence, you totally can. Not only is it okay to sell, your welcome sequence is actually an amazing way to grow your business with email marketing.

Since it's a sequence everyone gets, you want to put your best foot forward by sharing your best offers with people.