Schedule an Automated Campaign
Most ESPs offer two types of e-mails: 1) Broadcasts, and 2) Autoresponders.
Sometimes they are called by different names like “Campaigns” and “Blasts”, but they usually do the same thing.
Broadcasts are your one-time messages that go out to everyone on the list (or specific segments) at random times. If a broadcast message goes out today, and someone joins your list tomorrow, they will NOT receive that broadcast message. They missed it for good. Broadcasts are customarily used for weekly or monthly newsletters or for announcing other time-sensitive information such as sales.
Autoresponders are emails that are sent automatically in a particular timed sequence when someone signs up for your list. For example, welcome emails are autoresponders that are triggered to be sent as soon as someone signs up. You can have as many autoresponders set for whatever frequency you'd like, although typically you don’t want to send more than one email a day. Whatever day someone signs up, they start the automated sequence from the beginning and receive the emails in the order you set. This is great to introduce new subscribers to you and what you do as a sales funnel.
Automated Campaign Examples
Example 1: For my Wildly Successful Travelpreneurs newsletter I have only one welcome email setup that gets delivered as soon as someone subscribes. The welcome message introduces me and sets expectations about what they can expect to receive and how frequently. I also link to my freebies page on Payhip as I like to deliver some value right from the start and my social media accounts. It's short and sweet. Then I ask the subscriber to hit reply to my email and introduce themselves because I like to know who's on my list. I keep it simple with only one welcome message because the subscriber will be getting weekly newsletters from me so it might overlap if I had a longer sequence and if someone received 2 emails from me in one day they might feel overwhelmed and unsubscribe.
Example 2: For my video series freebie, I have set up 5-part series. First, a welcome email with the first video, followed by the second video the next day and the final video on the third day. A week later, I send them an email asking if they followed through with the tasks I gave them in the mini-course while sharing a bit more about my story. Then another week later I send another email to set expectations about how much I’ll contact them and also mention how we could work together. This email could also be used to offer a discount on something you offer.
You could also set up an automated email sequence to release daily lessons for an email course (as your lead magnet). Some people suggest long and complicated automated campaigns and they can work but as always do what you can with what you have. If all you can do right now is set an automated welcome email - then do that! Actually, you should definitely have at least 1 automated welcome set to deliver once someone signs up for your list.
Create a Custom Campaign
Your automated email sequence will obviously be different depending on what you're offering. If you offer an ebook or checklist download, you'll typically want your first message to deliver that promise. A second email could be asking people what they thought of the ebook/checklist and reminding them to download it if they haven't already.
If you don't offer an instant benefit to joining your list like an ebook or checklist, you should create a welcome email similar to the one I have for my newsletter that welcomes your subscribers, introduces you/your blog, specifies what you're going to send them in the future, and showcases some of the highlights of your blog or social accounts that they may have missed. (Or a combination of some of those things.) You don't want someone signing up for your list and then not hearing from you for a week. A welcome email helps set the stage for what they can expect from you moving forward after joining your list.
Sometimes they are called by different names like “Campaigns” and “Blasts”, but they usually do the same thing.
Broadcasts are your one-time messages that go out to everyone on the list (or specific segments) at random times. If a broadcast message goes out today, and someone joins your list tomorrow, they will NOT receive that broadcast message. They missed it for good. Broadcasts are customarily used for weekly or monthly newsletters or for announcing other time-sensitive information such as sales.
Autoresponders are emails that are sent automatically in a particular timed sequence when someone signs up for your list. For example, welcome emails are autoresponders that are triggered to be sent as soon as someone signs up. You can have as many autoresponders set for whatever frequency you'd like, although typically you don’t want to send more than one email a day. Whatever day someone signs up, they start the automated sequence from the beginning and receive the emails in the order you set. This is great to introduce new subscribers to you and what you do as a sales funnel.
Automated Campaign Examples
Example 1: For my Wildly Successful Travelpreneurs newsletter I have only one welcome email setup that gets delivered as soon as someone subscribes. The welcome message introduces me and sets expectations about what they can expect to receive and how frequently. I also link to my freebies page on Payhip as I like to deliver some value right from the start and my social media accounts. It's short and sweet. Then I ask the subscriber to hit reply to my email and introduce themselves because I like to know who's on my list. I keep it simple with only one welcome message because the subscriber will be getting weekly newsletters from me so it might overlap if I had a longer sequence and if someone received 2 emails from me in one day they might feel overwhelmed and unsubscribe.
Example 2: For my video series freebie, I have set up 5-part series. First, a welcome email with the first video, followed by the second video the next day and the final video on the third day. A week later, I send them an email asking if they followed through with the tasks I gave them in the mini-course while sharing a bit more about my story. Then another week later I send another email to set expectations about how much I’ll contact them and also mention how we could work together. This email could also be used to offer a discount on something you offer.
You could also set up an automated email sequence to release daily lessons for an email course (as your lead magnet). Some people suggest long and complicated automated campaigns and they can work but as always do what you can with what you have. If all you can do right now is set an automated welcome email - then do that! Actually, you should definitely have at least 1 automated welcome set to deliver once someone signs up for your list.
Create a Custom Campaign
Your automated email sequence will obviously be different depending on what you're offering. If you offer an ebook or checklist download, you'll typically want your first message to deliver that promise. A second email could be asking people what they thought of the ebook/checklist and reminding them to download it if they haven't already.
If you don't offer an instant benefit to joining your list like an ebook or checklist, you should create a welcome email similar to the one I have for my newsletter that welcomes your subscribers, introduces you/your blog, specifies what you're going to send them in the future, and showcases some of the highlights of your blog or social accounts that they may have missed. (Or a combination of some of those things.) You don't want someone signing up for your list and then not hearing from you for a week. A welcome email helps set the stage for what they can expect from you moving forward after joining your list.