The pitfalls of a Welcome email
I have double opt-in set up - so this person could have easily grabbed the book and never confirmed and he would have walked away with his freebie. But he chose to confirm - but then in minutes un-subscribed.
Conclusion - my welcome email sucks.
I think a lot of people consider it to simply be a routine mechanism to confirm that it all worked, and you're now set-up. But it's an essential step to set the tone of what they can expect from you - and you need to sell it to them. So far you only really sold them the freebie (which they haven't even had a chance to form an opinion on yet) not the value of being on your list.
This also highlighted to me the danger with single opt-in (i.e. they are subscribed as soon as entering their email - no confirmation link necessary) as there is no filter for free-loaders, so you will get more unsubscribes from the welcome email. This will make for depressing & distorted analytics.
Obviously some people simply want to take the freebie and run - and you need to expect that, and not be sad when they leave, because they'd be no use sticking around on your list anyway.
But one final thought I had was this - do you really need an instant Welcome Email at all in some cases? By sending something instantly, you catch them just when they are thinking of doing the old 'download & dash' and hand the unsubscribe option to them on a plate. They might not even read your email, because they already have in their head a pre-made opinion to unsubscribe.
Why not delay your first message a short while (not too long mind) so they are in a different frame of mind - that way they might actually digest what you say in your first mail, and see the value in staying.
It might have also given them enough time to actually take a look at your freebie and realise how great your stuff is...
No signature here today!
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