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Tips & Strategies7 min read

How to write a welcome email sequence: 5 emails for coaches and course creators

What to send in a welcome email sequence, when to send it, and examples for coaches and course creators, set up as a WithMe sequence. $25/month billed annually.

WithMe Team·11 November 2026

A welcome email sequence is a short series of emails that goes out automatically when someone joins your list or buys from you. For most coaches and course creators, five emails over about ten days is enough: deliver what they asked for, tell your story, teach one useful thing, show proof, then make one clear offer. On WithMe you build it as a sequence that starts after a lead capture or after a purchase.

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. More than 8,000 creators use it. Email sequences are on the same plan.

Why does a welcome sequence matter?

People who have just signed up remember who you are. A week later, many of them will not. A welcome sequence uses that first week to turn a download or a first purchase into trust, and trust into the next sale. You write it once and it runs for every new person.

How many emails, and when?

Start with five. On WithMe each email's delay is counted from the moment the sequence starts, not from the email before, so plan the times as hours after sign-up:

Email 1, straight away (0 minutes): welcome and delivery.
Email 2, after 25 hours: your story and why you do this.
Email 3, after 3 days: one useful lesson or quick win.
Email 4, after 6 days: proof, such as a client result or a before and after.
Email 5, after 9 days: one clear offer with a link to the product.

Why 25 hours and not 1 day? A sequence sends a person at most one of its emails in any 24 hours. If the first email goes out a few minutes after sign-up and the second is set to exactly 24 hours, the second can be pushed back by a full day. Leave at least 25 hours between emails.

What goes in each email? Examples for a coach

Here is a sequence for a nutrition coach whose lead magnet is a free 7-day meal plan and whose paid offer is a 12-week coaching programme.

Email 1, Subject: Your 7-day meal plan is here. Say thank you, give the link again, and tell them what to do first: pick one day and cook it tonight. Tell them what the next emails will cover.
Email 2, Subject: Why I stopped counting calories. Two or three short paragraphs about how you started, the mistake you made and what changed. End with a question they can reply to.
Email 3, Subject: The 10-minute breakfast my clients swear by. Teach one thing they can use today. No pitch, just value.
Email 4, Subject: How Sarah lost the 3pm slump. Share a real client result, with permission, and what she did in plain steps. Only use results you can stand behind.
Email 5, Subject: Want me to coach you for 12 weeks? Explain who the programme is for, what they get, the price and a payment plan if you offer one. Link to the product and give a deadline if you have a real one, such as a promo code that expires.

What changes for a course creator or a buyer?

For a course lead, swap the coaching story for the problem your course solves, and make email 5 the course offer, with a promo code link that applies the discount at checkout.

For buyers, the job is different: help them start and finish. Use a sequence that starts after a purchase. Email 1 says welcome and tells them where to begin, email 2 checks in after the first lesson, email 3 shares a tip that most students miss, and a later email asks for feedback or offers the next step. You can use the customer's first name in these emails.

WithMe already sends a purchase confirmation and a signup confirmation, switched on or off on the Automated Emails tab, and a lead capture emails the file it gives away. So your first email does not need to repeat the receipt or the download link, though repeating the link costs nothing.

How do you set up a welcome sequence on WithMe?

Open Email Marketing, go to the Sequences tab and click Create New Sequence. Give it a name, for example Welcome Series.
Choose the trigger. Pick After Lead Capture for people who download a freebie, or After Purchase for buyers.
Choose who it is for. For a lead capture trigger, tick the lead captures under Lead Capture Assignment. For a purchase trigger, tick the products under Product Assignment.
Add each email with Add Email. Under Send Timing, set Send after in minutes, hours or days from the trigger, then write the subject, preview text and body. You can add images, a link to one of your products and personal tokens.
Click Send test on each email to see it in your own inbox. Test emails are marked [TEST] in the subject.
On Review & Activate, click Send test sequence to receive every saved, active email at once, without the delays.
Click Activate Sequence. A sequence needs at least one email and at least one lead capture or product before it can go live.

What should you know before you switch it on?

For lead capture sequences, leave out name tokens. A lead may have given only an email address, so the name tokens are not offered there; the email and product name tokens still are. Purchase sequences can use the customer's first name.
Connect your own sending domain on the Delivery tab first, with the DKIM and SPF records it shows you, so the From address is on your domain.
Sequences that start from an action, such as a lead capture or a purchase, do not count towards the one-email-a-day limit for broadcasts and timed sequences. They are limited only by the 24-hour rule within each sequence.
A sequence starts for people who sign up or buy after you activate it. Each email can be paused on its own, and the Recipients tab shows who was sent what and whether they opened or clicked.

What is not included?

A sequence does not stop when a lead buys. If someone on your lead welcome sequence buys the product before email 5, they still receive the offer email, so write it in a way that reads fine to a new customer. There are no branching paths, no tags, no template gallery, no subject-line A/B test and no double opt-in on lead capture forms. The delay before the first email is set on each email, not on the trigger.

How much does WithMe cost?

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. Lead captures, broadcasts and sequences are on the same plan as courses, memberships, community, coaching, webinars and digital products.

Welcome sequence questions

How many emails should a welcome sequence have?

Five is a good start: delivery, story, a quick win, proof and an offer, over about ten days. Add more only when you have something useful to say.

When should the first welcome email go out?

Straight away. Set the first email to send after 0 minutes, so it goes out within minutes of the sign-up or purchase.

Can a WithMe sequence start when someone downloads my freebie?

Yes. Choose After Lead Capture as the trigger and tick the lead captures it applies to. Each new sign-up then gets the sequence.

Can I use the subscriber's first name?

In purchase sequences, yes. In lead capture sequences the name tokens are not offered, because a lead may have given only an email address.

Does a WithMe sequence cost extra?

No. Sequences are on the plan: $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply.

Start your 14-day trial at https://www.withme.so/become-a-creator.