How to Nurture Your Email Subscribers in the Lead-Up to Your Launch

Launching a new course or digital product is soooo exciting.

At the beginning stages of planning your launch, you dream about what your ultimate revenue goal would look like — can I hit $10K? $20K? $50K? Maybe even $100K?

But then reality sets in — you need to bring all of the pieces of the puzzle together to have a wildly successful launch campaign.

There’s building an audience, crafting copy for your email campaigns, writing your sales page, and preparing content for social media — and that’s just the beginning!

There are also many other elements that play crucial roles in driving new visitors through your funnel and, ultimately, to purchase.

But one thing that online educators often overlook is nurturing their email subscribers in the months leading up to their launch.

In this post, I’ll go over why this is important and how you can start doing it today.

I’ll also provide examples of online educators who have successfully implemented this strategy before their big launches so you can see how they did it (and learn from them). Let’s dive right in!

Automate a Welcome Email Sequence

Automated emails are an incredibly powerful tool for building and nurturing your email list.

I personally use Convertkit to automate my emails — it makes it super easy to set them up to go out to your subscribers at certain times or trigger when particular events occur, like when a subscriber opts in to download your cheatsheet or checklist, or when they sign up for your webinar or challenge.

For example, you might want to send a welcome email when someone opts into your list — automated emails make this easy to do.

It’s important to make sure your welcome emails are high quality. People don’t just sign up for your list for the sake of receiving your emails. They sign up for your list because they believe they’re going to gain something from you, so don’t waste the opportunity by sending them something that doesn’t deliver incredible value.

Here’s a basic outline you can follow for your Welcome Email Sequence:

• The Lead Magnet Delivery Email
  • Goal: Deliver your value-packed lead magnet
• The Welcome Email
  • Goal: Position yourself as the go-to expert and drive commitment to your business (psst: Swipe my free Welcome Email Template here >>)
• The Follow-Up Email
  • Goal: Reinforce your credibility with client results and drive commitment to your business
• The Segmenter Email
  • Position yourself as the go-to expert in your niché by sharing a hot tip they can’t Google and segment your list so you can market specific offers
• The Segmenter Email V2
• The Trust Builder
  • Create connection and trust by sharing a few personal things about yourself and segment your list so you can market specific offers

You can then follow up this initial welcome sequence with a more offer-specific sequence tailored to each segment you’ve elicited.

Psst: If you want to write a welcome sequence that nurtures your new subscribers and strategically markets relevant offers to them, swipe my Welcome Email Sequence from the Connection Copy Co. Shop.

Wondering “what on earth ‘segment’ means?” I’ve got you…

Segment Your List

Segmenting your email list is one of the most important things you can do to make sure your subscribers are receiving the right content at exactly the right time.

You can segment based on location, demographics and interests (to start). The more segments you create, the more relevant and effective your email marketing campaigns will become.

Once you have a few people in each segment, it’s a good idea to start looking at how they engage with your emails.

If someone hasn’t opened any of your last five emails but has clicked through from an ad or link within one of them multiple times — it may be worth moving them into a different segment and experimenting with sending them different types of content compared to what you’ve been sending everyone else on their level so far.

Send Consistent Email Newsletters

Now that you’ve got a solid foundation of email subscribers, it’s time to put those emails to work. Your goal is to nurture the relationship between your audience and your brand.

To do this, you should send consistent email newsletters that provide value and information in a way that keeps you front of mind and keeps readers coming back for more.

There are several things to keep in mind when sending out these newsletters:

• Send them regularly but not too often (once per week is great). You don’t want people getting tired of seeing your name in their inbox! If there are too many emails from one sender over a short period of time, readers may mark your emails as spam or unsubscribe altogether
• Include a mix of value-based content (tips or how-tos), myth-busting content (answers common questions people have about your product), and behind-the-scenes previews (a sneak peek into what will happen once you launch). This will ensure your readers always have a reason to keep opening your emails
• Use storytelling. Nothing will get your subscribers more hooked on your emails than a juicy story. Stories don’t have to be groundbreaking to have an impact. Every-day ordinary occurrences can provide a great link to your offer. Here are a few examples: What burning hot coffee on the floor taught me about growing a 6-figure design business, That time I drank sour milk and a lesson in client care, I was juggling an armful of LEGO when IT hit me
• Make sure each newsletter has an obvious call to action so readers know exactly where they should go next after reading through all its contents – whether that means signing up for beta access or sharing some social media posts with their friends! Using analytics tools like Google Analytics will let you see which parts were most popular with subscribers so you can focus more on those areas moving forward.

Give a Lot of Value

You should overdeliver when it comes to your email newsletters. Why? Because these people have signed up for BTS access, so you want to make them feel like VIPs, not just another Instagram follower.

I like to think of email newsletter content as tips and tricks you can’t Google and something my subscribers won’t come across in their Instagram feed.

• Include a lot of useful content and resources. A great way to do this is by giving away some of your best resources in the lead up to your launch
• Don’t just talk about yourself, talk about your audience too: there’s no point in launching something if nobody wants it! So make sure you keep talking about the problems that people have who might want what you’re offering, not just how amazing your offer is or what special features it has

Share Personal Anecdotes to Build Know, Like, and Trust

Sharing personal anecdotes is one of the most effective ways to build trust and rapport with your subscribers. It’s also a great way to add some emotion into your emails, which can help get your message across more effectively.

If you’re not sure what kind of personal stories would be relevant for your audience, here are some categories that typically work well:

• Your journey: What was it like before you started this business? Did you have any doubts or fears? What encouraged or inspired you along the way? How did things change when you finally launched?
• Your customers: What types of people use your products or services? What do they love about them? Where did they use them last week—and how did that experience turn out for them?
• Your team: If possible, share photos and profiles of each member so subscribers can get to know who does what at your organisation (especially if there are multiple founders). Talk about their backgrounds and why they were drawn to working with this business in particular— that will help readers connect with your business on a more emotional level. This is particularly important if you run a brand that doesn’t have one face or name to it.

Treat Subscribers Like Humans by Inviting Them to Respond

Email marketing is the most direct form of communication you can have with your customers, but it’s a challenge to keep it from becoming a chore. When people open their inboxes and find more promotional content, they feel pressured to delete or ignore it — even if they do want to hear from you!

To make sure your emails continue getting opened, try some of these ideas:

• Ask questions. Offer an opportunity for subscribers to respond with their opinions or experiences by asking questions at the end of each email campaign (e.g., “What was your favourite takeaway?” or “Have you ever tried this design tip before?”). That way, even if a subscriber didn’t find anything useful in the email itself, he or she might still reply just because they want more information about what you’re offering. This also helps build rapport between you and readers so that when something important comes along (like launch day), they’ll be more likely than usual to check out whatever it is you’re selling!
• Invite sharing stories related directly back into future content creation efforts (if applicable). For example: “We’re working on another blog post right now which we think will be very helpful for people who are looking into getting started with [your offer]. If there’s anything else we should include? Let us know!” By raising awareness ahead of time about what kinds of topics readers would be interested in seeing covered next time around — and making sure those topics align closely enough with what actually gets published down the line — your subscribers will be eager and ready to read your upcoming content!

Drop Hints About Your Upcoming Launch

Now that you’ve nurtured your subscribers and built a relationship with them, it’s time to start getting them excited about your upcoming launch.

Drop subtle hints every now and then about what you’re working on and when it will be available.

Clearly state the date and time the launch will take place so people can mark their calendars.

You can also give them a brief overview of what the launch will be, such as a new course or product.

Make sure to include a call to action at the end of each blog post or email newsletter to remind them to stay in touch during the launch period.

By following these steps, you can ensure your subscribers are engaged and excited about your launch, so they’ll be ready to buy when the time comes!

Conclusion

With the right mix of automation, segmentation and human interaction, you can keep your subscribers engaged and excited about your upcoming launch. This will help make sure they’re ready to pull out their wallets when the time comes.

If you’re planning to launch a digital product or course next year, you need my 50K Course Launch Roadmap.

I go through the 10 steps you need to take if you want to hit $50K in your next course launch.

You’ll learn:

• How to plan out your 50K launch from pre-launch right through to cart close
• The exact steps I take to debrief a launch to figure out what to improve
• Pinpoint exactly what you need to optimise to increase your launch sales

Ready to make your next launch more successful than your last?

Grab the 50K Course Launch Roadmap now >>

Cheers to your launch success!