I realized not everyone will understand the word “indoctrination” or “email series” for that matter. So, let me begin with a few definitions.
What is An Email Series?
An email series is an automated way to send information to your prospects and/or clients on your email list. The reference of “series” means more than one. This could mean 3 to 5 or more emails in one series.
What Do I Mean By “indoctrination”?
Well, it’s a set of things someone needs to know about you when they first meet you. It’s helpful information that encourages the person to get to know more about you.
For example, when you sign up for Digital Marketer email list you are immediately added to their “indoctrination” email series. You start receiving emails that help you understand who Digital Marketer is, what they stand for, and how they can help you grow your business.
And it should be the same for your business.
As you get new subscribers, you need to provide a few emails to help your subscribers get to know you better.
An Example of An Indoctrination Series
1. Welcome Email
The first email you send should be a welcome email.
You’ll want to thank them for joining the family. Next, you’ll want to address how you help improve their business.
Share what they can expect from you. Give them an idea of the type of information you’ll be sharing and how frequently you’ll send emails.
In the latter part of the email, you’ll want to educate the reader on how to “whitelist” your email address so your messages don’t end up in the spam folder.
Ask them to connect with you on social media platforms by providing buttons and/or links for easy connection.
Then wrap up the email with a P.S. providing a sneak peak about what’s coming next. This will help them look for your next email.
2. Because You’re New Here Email
Always provide value in the eyes of your subscribers. They signed up with you for a reason, so don’t let them down with dull emails.
In the second email, send them a round up of some of your best content and why you think they should read it. Again, close the email with a strong P.S. that whets their appetite for what’s coming next.
3. Just Like I promised
In the third email, you’re fulfilling your promise to send whatever you hinted at from the second email.
In the P.S. you may want to share testimonials so the readers start to get a good view of you. Maybe add a P.P.S. to hint at the next topic you’ll share.
4. About Me
In the fourth email, you might to craft a message to share something personal about you. Tell a story of why you started your business, or how you came to be in this line of work.
People love hearing stories of how you got started in business, and why you do what you do.
In the P.S. encourage the reader to hit reply and share something about them.
Now you know what an indoctrination series looks like.
How Do You Plan an Indoctrination Series?
Have you ever heard the phrase penny wise but pound foolish? Skimping to save in one place but foolishly overspending in another area.
Well, writing emails without a strategy behind them is like being penny wise and pound foolish.
You see, every email you send must do two things:
- Cause the reader to know, like, and trust you.
- Guide the reader to take action.
If your emails don’t do that, you’re missing the potential of email marketing.
After all, you want to increase your sales, right? When you build relationships with your prospects, the sales follow.
Step 1: Assess Your Content Assets
The first thing you need to do when planning your indoctrination series is identify all your content assets. Everything from web pages, blog posts, videos, brochures, direct mail, training material, ebooks, special reports, etc.
Armed with what you have available, you can then move to Step 2.
Step 2: Map out the Storyboard
In this step, you’re going to create a storyboard of the various emails that will go into your indoctrination series.
Figure 1 Storyboard of Indoctrination Series
Notice the template above has the following columns:
- Day – On which day do you want to send the email?
- Email Type – Specifically what type of email is it going to be (welcome, content, personal, etc.)
- Subject Line – List the actual subject lines you plan to use here
- Content ideas – list the ideas you want to include in the email
This storyboard is a great tool to help you organize your thoughts and validate each email is building the case to get to know you better and helping to guide the reader to take action. It’s also good to provide your content creator guidance on what you want written.
Step 3: Identify Your Goals
The last thing you need to do before you move to the content creation step is to identify a goal for each email.
For example, in the welcome email we want the readers to connect with our social media profiles or click a link for more information.
In the Because You’re New Here email we want readers to click links to valuable content we share.
You get the idea. Every email has a purpose and you want to be able to track it. And in order to track it, you must identify what you want to track.
These goals will be used later in the on-going maintenance process, which is a topic for another day.
There you have it in under 1,000 words…How to Plan Your Indoctrination Email Series.
If you need help planning your indoctrination email series, email me at [email protected].
–
