Take Your Subscribers Back to School

It’s the start of September, and teachers everywhere are scrambling to pen lesson plans for that first day of school. So maybe it’s a good time for you to prepare for your new students, too.

What’s that? You don’t have any students? Maybe not technically, but everyone who signs up for your emails is like a student walking into your classroom, ready to learn how your business can help them.

So, are your pencils sharpened and your apples polished?

It never hurts to double-check, so here’s a little something to help you through those bumps of a new beginning: A Guide to Welcoming Your New Students (aka Subscribers).

Write Your Name on the Blackboard

For most kids, this isn’t their first First Day of School. And for most of your subscribers, these probably aren’t their first marketing emails.

But this time is different. It’s your classroom. Everything’s new, and they’re not quite sure what to expect. What will they be doing? How much will they learn?

Answer their questions up front, on your sign-up page or web form. Explain your schedule, what they’ll be reading, and what you hope they’ll learn.

Sort Them Into Classes

Schoolchildren have different class schedules based on their strengths and interests. When they grow up and start signing up for emails, guess what? They still have different strengths and interests!

Get them into the right groups by setting up custom fields on your web form. Later, you can segment them so you can send each the “lessons” they need most.

Set Assignments

Teachers work hard to get the attention of a classroom of children. It would be foolish for them to go through that just to say, “Okay, talk to you later!” and leave.

But that’s what marketers do every day on their thank-you pages. They leave new subscribers to their own devices until the next email goes out.

When people sign up, their eyes are on you. Take advantage of that on your thank-you page. Offer something to do – articles to read on your site, things to go buy, something to think about for next time, questions to email you about.

Pass Out Textbooks

If you promised an incentive in exchange for signing up, distribute it with a link on your confirmation page (here’s why).

This could be an e-book, a music file, a whitepaper – whatever is most appropriate. If you didn’t offer an incentive, it’s still a good idea to offer materials. List sites that relate to your topic – instructional videos, lists of suppliers and the like.

Instruct Them to Raise Their Hands

In your welcome email, invite feedback. Your subscribers are the type of people your brand attracts. If they tell you what they want, you’ll be able to attract even more of those people.

And by asking at the get-go, whenever readers have constructive criticism or a question, they’ll know to bring them straight to you.

Send Them Out To Recess

In your first few emails, invite your new readers to drop by your social media pages, the comment areas on your blog, or your site’s user forum, if you have one.

There, they can play around a little, start their own conversations and get to know each other.

Make sure to moderate those spaces, answering direct questions and deleting spam comments, but hang back a little – the playground is everyone’s chance to play.

Your Homework

It’s time to grade yourself. What score would you give your current first-day experience?

Your homework is to think carefully about each of the suggestions above. Which make sense for your campaign? Do they all?

What else do you think could make things with your new subscribers run smoothly?

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By: Amanda Gagnon
Education Marketing Associate

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9 Comments

  1. scott

    good analagie,haven’t really looked at it like this but definetly a good way to think of it.

    9/2/2010 8:48 pm
  2. Paul

    As Scott mentioned, very nice analogy! My daily missives provide great content that my subscribers really like. Even without following any of your tips (which I will!) I had an a-ha! that I need to incorporate current events/activities into my emails so people see they are ‘real-time’.

    I pride myself on new and NOT recycled material. Reading them, however, you cannot tell if it was written last night or 3 years ago (although much of the material is ‘timeless’).

    Thanks for the insights!

    9/3/2010 9:37 am
  3. Del Chatterson

    Good stuff. I also used the "Back to School" theme for a recent email broadcast and Blog entry.

    A great current theme that leads to relevant content on: recommended reading lists, how you spent your summer holidays, checklist for new learning, business checkup and plan for the year, etc…

    9/3/2010 2:33 pm
  4. Frank

    - Answering their questions on (or near) the opt-in form is a great idea. I’ll start doing that.
    - Q. for Paul re his comments above:Do you really contact your list every day? They don’t consider that excessive? I put out a weekly newsletter and that sometimes seems like too often. Have a great weekend!

    9/3/2010 3:53 pm
  5. kari

    Useful information as ususal. thanks so much for the lesson!

    9/3/2010 5:06 pm
  6. Leon Noone

    G’Day, I was about to revamp my “Thank you” page. Your suggestions are most timely as well as useful.

    And what you say about creating positive expectations is so important. New subscribers ‘sign up’ with expectations that they’ll benefit from what we say. There’s no better opportunity to reinforce that.

    One little thing: if possible, “make ‘em laugh.” Make sure you have fun.

    9/3/2010 8:16 pm
  7. Angela Wills

    I have a close friend who’s a teacher and I was just yesterday asking her for advice on the structure of a coaching program I’m doing. Teachers are a GREAT source for this type of information as they are following systems that have been developed over many, many (often hundreds) of years.

    This post has done an awesome job of pointing out how we can use those methods in our businesses!

    Thanks for the post (and ideas) ;)

    9/5/2010 12:27 pm
  8. Amanda Gagnon

    Del ~ Those are creative email theme ideas. Thanks for sharing them!

    Frank ~ Daily emails can work for small tips and little bits of new content, or for sharing an idea or program that you add to a little every day.

    Optimal frequency is always going to depend on the content and the audience.

    Leon ~ Good point! Most people do enjoy fun. :)

    9/8/2010 8:26 am
  9. EM

    Another great show n tell!

    Of course, with the evolution of the web, this student-teacher model is more than it used to be.

    It’s not a matter of teaching and listening. It’s guiding and learning and vice versa. It’s an interaction (both ways) that is taking place (the more real-time it is, the better) with the teacher/guide taking the lead.

    10/5/2010 7:29 am

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