Are You Welcoming Your New SaaS Email Subscribers ... or Not?
Many Saas companies have ways of getting prospects to sign up for their email lists or newsletters. But then they don't do a good job of welcoming those new email subscribers.
Maybe the prospect entered their email information to download the company's new eBook or white paper. Perhaps they registered for a webinar. Then what happens?
For many SaaS companies, the new email subscriber might receive an email with a link to the content, like this:
And then ... that's it!
No more emails, no more contact from your company, despite the prospect wanting to read your lead gen content piece. Or they might simply download the content right off your website without receiving any email at all.
These companies are missing out on the benefits of a welcome sequence for new email subscribers. In fact, these SaaS companies are basically squandering a unique opportunity.
Now why would we say that? Well, think of it this way...
Have you ever gone to a party you were invited to, then not felt very welcome when you arrived?
No SaaS welcome sequence? Your new email subscribers will not feel welcome to the party
Say your friend invites you to her party. She tells you how much fun and festive it will be, all the great people that will be there, and you really should come. Excited, you get all dressed up, head over, walk in the house and ... nobody greets you.
There are a lot of people there, but they don't even glance at you, seemingly cloistered off in their own social circles. You see your friend engrossed in conversation with some of these unfamiliar people. She sees you, briefly waves hi, then goes back to her conversation. You end up wandering around a bit, feeling bored and out of place. Eventually, you just wander out of the house and head home, wondering what streaming series would be fun to watch on a Saturday night.
New subscribers to your SaaS company's email list will feel the same way if they are not made to feel welcome. In fact, it's even worse ... when you were invited to the party, at least you went into your friend's house. The unwelcomed email subscriber may never even learn about your company's software product if they never receive a proper welcome sequence.
Welcome your new email list/newsletter subscribers like you would an invited partygoer
So what if instead...
Your friend got your text saying you were headed over to the party and greeted you warmly as you came in the door. And your SaaS email subscriber receives a friendly welcome email.
Then your friend shows you around the house and introduces you to her friends. And your SaaS email subscriber receives more emails sharing relevant content and warming them up to the idea of taking a further step toward potentially signing up.
Eventually you may end up nibbling on appetizers, having a drink, and maybe even engaging in some pleasant small talk with some new acquaintances. Your email subscriber may end up signing up for a product demo.
As you warm up to the party, you might have a second drink and get involved in a fun group conversation. Your new email subscriber may end up signing up for a free trial of your SaaS account, or maybe sign up for a freemium account
Finally, you are truly in the mix at this celebration ... doing shots, hitting the dance floor, and having the time of your life! And your email subscriber has now become a paying customer --- maybe at your premium level of pricing.
Just remember, you would not be having this grand a time at your friend's party if they had not given you a warm welcome. By the same token, your email subscriber would not ultimately have turned into a paying customer without receiving a welcome sequence.
Before we understand WHY SaaS companies need welcome email sequences for new email subscribers, we must first understand WHAT a welcome sequence is. First things first --- a welcome sequence is NOT the same as an onboarding sequence.
The difference between welcome sequences and onboarding sequences
Look around and you will see many using the terms "welcome sequence" and "onboarding sequence" interchangeably. This is understandable, since onboarding emails will often "welcome" customers to a company's products or services. Accordingly, welcome emails are often considered a subset of onboarding emails, if not the same thing entirely.
Hence you will see a lot of content out there that just treats welcome emails and onboarding emails as one and the same. Or they might define welcome emails as emails sent "to new email list subscribers/customers upon signing up for an email list/email newsletter, subscribing to a service, or completing a purchase." In other words, they do not differentiate between (1) emails sent to email list and newsletter signups and (2) emails sent to those who have actually subscribed to or purchased the company's product.
But here we want to differentiate between welcome and onboarding emails. Welcome emails are sent to new signups for your SaaS company's email list or newsletter. Onboarding emails are sent to new subscribers to your SaaS product, whether or not they are paying subscribers.
Accordingly, we prefer this definition of a welcome sequence from Klaaviyo:
A welcome email series is a sequence of automated emails sent to new subscribers after they sign up to join your list. Welcome emails introduce people to your brand after they’ve signaled interest and are a great opportunity to establish credibility and build trust, introduce products, and gather more information on subscribers.
So the welcome sequence comes after new subscribers have joined your email list. They do NOT come after the user has signed up for a free trial or paid subscription --- those are onboarding sequences.
For the purposes of this article, here are our working definitions of onboarding and welcome sequences:
Onboarding Email Sequences: These are sent to new subscribers for the SaaS platform, whether those are new subscribers to the free trial (or freemium account) or new paid subscribers. The goal of onboarding email sequences is to get free trial or freemium account users to become paying customers or, in the case of paying customers, to move them toward becoming long-term users at a premium subscription level.
Welcome Email Sequences: These are sent to new subscribers to the SaaS company's email list, who have not yet signed up for a free trial, freemium account, or paid subscription. The goal of welcome email sequences is to move email subscribers closer to doing those very things.
Got it? Good. Let's move on to why welcome sequences are so important for SaaS companies.
Welcome sequences to the rescue in driving SaaS revenue
Once you have a new lead, it is time to nurture that lead along the road to becoming a paying SaaS customer. Welcome sequences can do just that. They are also a fantastic opportunity to understand your target audience and segment it in a better way.
One reason to send welcome sequences is to meet the expectations of your leads. According to Invesp, 74% of new subscribers to your email list are expecting to receive a welcome immediately after they subscribe. And according to Experian, emails sent right after a subscription happens have 88% more opens than those sent sometime later. This is largely because people are accustomed to receiving welcome emails soon after having devoted time to getting themselves familiar with a brand’s story.
Going beyond the prospects' expectations, the numbers show that welcome emails are effective. One study showed that welcome emails have an average open rate of 50% --- which is four times the open rate of traditional marketing emails. And disparity on clickthrough rates is even more...welcome emails have a clickthrough rate of 320%, 5 times the rate of traditional marketing emails.
Then we have the direct impact of welcome emails on SaaS revenue. Email marketing in general results in an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, which is higher than any other marketing channel. For welcome emails in particular, they generate 320% more revenue per email than other promotional emails.
So it's clear that welcome email sequences can be a huge benefit for SaaS companies. But how many SaaS companies are taking advantage of this benefit?
Too many SaaS companies ruin their parties by not welcoming their guests
You wouldn't want your party to be a dud because you failed to properly welcome your guests. Likewise, you don't want your SaaS company's financial success - or even survival - to fall victim to a lack of welcome sequences.
We aren't the only ones shocked at how few SaaS companies are sending out welcome sequences. Research shows that only 57.7% of brands send welcome emails to new email subscribers. In our experience auditing welcome series, we have seen many SaaS companies simply do not send them at all.
Without welcome sequences in place, your new subscribers are being wasted. Not only that, you are wasting the high-value content you are using to generate leads. After all, why go to the trouble of producing the content and gating it (with a required email subscription) if you don't pursue that new lead?
According to the Content Marketing Institute, the average portion of the total marketing budget spent on content marketing is 26%, with the most successful organizations spending 40%. Sure, a lot of that content marketing spend is on ungated content that the company will use for SEO purposes, to draw visitors to their site and increase brand awareness. But for the marketing spend on gated high-value content, why not make use of it for lead nurturing?
Implement welcome sequences for new subscribers to your email list or newsletter
The bottom line?
Be a good host.
Just as you would welcome guests to your party, give a warm welcome to new subscribers to your SaaS email list or newsletter. With a welcome sequence in place, you will have yet another source for new customers and higher revenue.
