3 builders who never spoke to each other

Make the welcome email ask what they are stuck on

Putting one question in front of a subscriber on the day they join produces a permanent supply of topics, product ideas and the exact words your audience uses, which is worth more than anything you could have told them in that slot. Seven operators run some version of it, filing the answers into a label or a spreadsheet and writing from them, and routing the reply into a matched resource rather than a generic sequence.

The method

1. 01

   Ask the new subscriber in that sequence to name the single biggest problem in their business, and filter the replies into a label so the answers become research.

2. 02

   Ask a question inside the first couple of onboarding emails and mine the answers for product and post ideas

3. 03

   Have the welcome sequence ask each new subscriber what their biggest problem is right now, then file the replies as both post ideas and sales page language

4. 04

   In your automated welcome email, ask the new subscriber which single problem they would want an entire issue written about, then build your editorial calendar out of the answers.

5. 05

   Ask every new subscriber in the welcome email what they want help with, then write from the replies, which also starts a conversation on day one.

What it returned

• Suggested wording asks what the subscriber's biggest struggle with the topic is

• Brennan Dunn labels the replies in Gmail as a topic stockpile and a source of the exact words his audience uses; Brian Casel asks what they are working on, their top goal and biggest challenge; providers now weigh replies in deliverability scoring

• Jay Clouse asks exactly that question on signup, which gives him a permanent supply of topics his readers have already asked for and removes the blank-page problem.

• Tiffany Uman prompts a reply in her welcome email asking what the subscriber wants to learn, and says the answers have been revealing enough to shape both content and her next step with that reader.

Sources

• Growth Flywheels | Customer CampKatelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · The Brilliance of Growth Flywheels · undated
• My First Year Teaching: How I Built My Audience - Double Your FreelancingBrennan Dunn · doubleyourfreelancing.com · Make It Easy To Enter Your Ecosystem · 2013-08-15
• Let your customers write your copy for youHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · undated
• 9 email marketing wins that take less than an hourNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · 4. Ask for replies · 2015-04-08
• Email marketing systems for professional bloggersNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · A few tips for your onboarding course · 2015-04-16
• Friday Feature: Peak PerformersTiffany Uman · sparkloop.app · ✏️ Steal this for your newsletter · undated