How to Build Your First Automated Welcome Series Campaign in Keap Step-by-Step

In today’s competitive landscape, building immediate rapport with new leads is crucial for conversion. An automated welcome series in Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) doesn’t just greet new contacts; it nurtures them, educates them, and guides them towards becoming valued customers. This guide breaks down the process of setting up your first Keap welcome campaign, ensuring your new leads receive a personalized, engaging experience from day one. We’ve seen firsthand how a well-crafted welcome series can significantly improve engagement rates and streamline your sales funnel, allowing your team to focus on high-value interactions.

Step 1: Define Your Campaign Goals and Audience Segment

Before you dive into Keap, clearly articulate the primary objective of your welcome series. Are you aiming to educate new subscribers, drive them to a specific offer, or simply build brand awareness? Understanding your goal will inform every subsequent decision, from email content to call-to-actions. Simultaneously, identify the specific audience segment this welcome series is for. Is it for new website sign-ups, recent purchasers, or event attendees? Defining your audience allows you to tailor your messaging, tone, and offers for maximum impact and relevance. This strategic clarity at the outset is what separates effective automation from mere activity, ensuring your efforts directly support your business objectives.

Step 2: Map Out Your Campaign Flow and Content

With your goals and audience defined, it’s time to sketch out the sequence of events. A typical welcome series might include 3-5 emails spread over a week or two, but this can vary. Consider what information your new contacts need to know, what value you can provide, and what actions you want them to take. Outline the subject line, main message, and call-to-action for each email. Think about the logical progression of information and how each email builds on the last. This blueprint will serve as your guide when building the campaign within Keap, ensuring a cohesive and compelling user journey. We recommend starting simple and iterating as you gather data.

Step 3: Build the Campaign in Keap’s Campaign Builder

Log into Keap and navigate to the Campaign Builder. Start a new campaign and give it a clear, descriptive name. Your first element will be a “Goal” that triggers the campaign—this could be a web form submission, a tag applied, or a product purchase. Drag and drop the appropriate goal onto the canvas. Next, connect your goal to a “Sequence” element. Inside this sequence, you’ll build out your email series. Drag in a “Delay” timer before each email to space them out effectively, followed by an “Email” icon for each message. This visual drag-and-drop interface makes it intuitive to structure your campaign’s flow and logic.

Step 4: Craft Your Welcome Series Emails

Within each “Email” element in your Keap sequence, design and write your messages. Personalization is key here; utilize Keap’s merge fields to address contacts by their first name. Focus on providing value and guiding the recipient towards your desired action. Ensure your subject lines are engaging and your email content is clear, concise, and mobile-friendly. Include a clear call-to-action (CTA) in each email, whether it’s clicking to your website, watching a video, or booking a consultation. Remember, the goal isn’t just to send emails, but to prompt engagement and move your contacts further down your sales funnel.

Step 5: Add Automation Rules and Testing

Beyond sending emails, consider adding additional automation rules within your Keap sequence. This might include applying a specific tag after a contact opens an email, assigning a task to a sales representative if they click a specific link, or moving them to a different campaign based on their behavior. Once your campaign is built, rigorous testing is non-negotiable. Use a test contact (or several) to go through the entire campaign as if you were a new lead. Check for proper timing, accurate merge fields, working links, and correct automation triggers. This critical step ensures a flawless experience for your actual leads and prevents costly errors down the line.

Step 6: Publish and Monitor Your Campaign

Once you’ve thoroughly tested every aspect of your Keap welcome series and are confident in its functionality, it’s time to publish your campaign. Simply click the “Publish” button within the Campaign Builder. After activation, it’s crucial to continuously monitor its performance. Keep an eye on key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates directly within Keap’s reporting. This data provides invaluable insights into what’s working and what isn’t. Be prepared to iterate and optimize your emails, delays, and automation rules based on these insights. An effective welcome series is not a set-it-and-forget-it endeavor; it requires ongoing attention to maximize its impact on your business.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Keap CRM Data Protection: Essential Backup and Recovery for Business Continuity