Author: Erik Devaney

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How to Create a Pivot Table in Excel: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

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The pivot table is one of Microsoft Excel’s most powerful — and intimidating — functions. Pivot tables can help you summarize and make sense of large data sets.

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However, they also have a reputation for being complicated.

The good news is that learning how to create a pivot table in Excel is much easier than you may believe (trust me!).

I’m going to walk you through the process of creating a pivot table and show you just how simple it is. First, though, let’s take a step back and make sure you understand exactly what a pivot table is and why you might need to use one.

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In other words, pivot tables extract meaning from that seemingly endless jumble of numbers on your screen. More specifically, it lets you group your data in different ways so you can draw helpful conclusions more easily.

The “pivot” part of a pivot table stems from the fact that you can rotate (or pivot) the data in the table to view it from a different perspective.

To be clear, you’re not adding to, subtracting from, or otherwise changing your data when you make a pivot. Instead, you’re simply reorganizing the data so you can reveal useful information.

Video Tutorial: How to Create Pivot Tables in Excel

We know pivot tables can be complex and daunting, especially if it’s your first time creating one. In this video tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a pivot table in six steps and gain confidence in your ability to use this powerful Excel feature.

By immersing yourself, you can become proficient in creating pivot tables in Excel in no time. Pair it with our kit of Excel templates to get started on the right foot.

What are pivot tables used for?

If you’re still feeling a bit confused about what pivot tables actually do, don’t worry. This is one of those technologies that are much easier to understand once you’ve seen it in action.

Remember, pivot tables aren’t the only tools you can use in Excel. To learn more, take a look at our guide to mastering Excel.

The purpose of pivot tables is to offer user-friendly ways to quickly summarize large amounts of data. They can be used to better understand, display, and analyze numerical data in detail.

With this information, you can help identify and answer unanticipated questions surrounding the data.

Here are five hypothetical scenarios where a pivot table could be helpful.

1. Comparing Sales Totals of Different Products

Let’s say you have a worksheet that contains monthly sales data for three different products — product 1, product 2, and product 3. You want to figure out which of the three has been generating the most revenue.

One way would be to look through the worksheet and manually add the corresponding sales figure to a running total every time product 1 appears.

The same process can then be done for product 2 and product 3 until you have totals for all of them. Piece of cake, right?

Imagine, now, that your monthly sales worksheet has thousands upon thousands of rows. Manually sorting through each necessary piece of data could literally take a lifetime.

With pivot tables, you can automatically aggregate all of the sales figures for product 1, product 2, and product 3 — and calculate their respective sums — in less than a minute.

how to create a pivot table in Excel

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2. Showing Product Sales as Percentages of Total Sales

Pivot tables inherently show the totals of each row or column when created. That’s not the only figure you can automatically produce, however.

Let’s say you entered quarterly sales numbers for three separate products into an Excel sheet and turned this data into a pivot table.

The pivot table automatically gives you three totals at the bottom of each column — having added up each product’s quarterly sales.

But what if you wanted to find the percentage these product sales contributed to all company sales, rather than just those products’ sales totals?

With a pivot table, instead of just the column total, you can configure each column to give you the column’s percentage of all three column totals.

Let’s say three products totaled $200,000 in sales, and the first product made $45,000. You can edit a pivot table to say this product contributed 22.5% of all company sales.

To show product sales as percentages of total sales in a pivot table, simply right-click the cell carrying a sales total and select Show Values As > % of Grand Total.

pivot table, value field settings

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3. Combining Duplicate Data

In this scenario, you’ve just completed a blog redesign and had to update many URLs. Unfortunately, your blog reporting software didn’t handle the change well and split the “view” metrics for single posts between two different URLs.

In your spreadsheet, you now have two separate instances of each individual blog post. To get accurate data, you need to combine the view totals for each of these duplicates.

pivot table, city employees live in

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Instead of having to manually search for and combine all the metrics from the duplicates, you can summarize your data (via pivot table) by blog post title.

Voilà, the view metrics from those duplicate posts will be aggregated automatically.

pivot table, check box with name of city

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4. Getting an Employee Headcount for Separate Departments

Pivot tables are helpful for automatically calculating things that you can’t easily find in a basic Excel table. One of those things is counting rows that all have something in common.

For instance, let’s say you have a list of employees in an Excel sheet. Next to the employees’ names are the respective departments they belong to.

You can create a pivot table from this data that shows you each department’s name and the number of employees that belong to those departments.

The pivot table’s automated functions effectively eliminate your task of sorting the Excel sheet by department name and counting each row manually.

5. Adding Default Values to Empty Cells

Not every dataset you enter into Excel will populate every cell. If you’re waiting for new data to come in, you might have lots of empty cells that look confusing or need further explanation.

That’s where pivot tables come in.

pivot table, choose default values

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You can easily customize a pivot table to fill empty cells with a default value, such as $0 or TBD (for “to be determined”).

For large data tables, being able to tag these cells quickly is a valuable feature when many people are reviewing the same sheet.

To automatically format the empty cells of your pivot table, right-click your table and click PivotTable Options.

In the window that appears, check the box labeled “For Empty Cells Show” and enter what you’d like displayed when a cell has no other value.

pivot table, empty cell value

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How to Create a Pivot Table

Now that you have a better sense of pivot tables, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how to actually create one.

On creating a pivot table, Toyin Odobo, a Data Analyst, said:

"Interestingly, MS Excel also provides users with a ‘Recommended Pivot Table Function.’ After analyzing your data, Excel will recommend one or more pivot table layouts that would be helpful to your analysis, which you can select from and make other modifications if necessary."

They continue, "However, this has its limitations in that it may not always recommend the best arrangement for your data. As a data professional, my advice is that you keep this in mind and explore the option of learning how to create a pivot table on your own from scratch."

With this great advice in mind, here are the steps you can use to create your very own pivot table. But if you’re looking for other ways to visualize your data, use Excel graphs and charts.

Step 1. Enter your data into a range of rows and columns.

Every pivot table in Excel starts with a basic Excel table, where all your data is housed. To create this table, I first simply enter the values into a set of rows and columns, like the example below.

pivot table, list of people, education, and marital status

Here, I have a list of people, their education level, and their marital status. With a pivot table, I could find out several pieces of information. I could find out how many people with master’s degrees are married, for instance.

At this point, you’ll want to have a goal for your pivot table. What kind of information are you trying to glean by manipulating this data? What would you like to learn? This will help you design your pivot table in the next few steps.

Step 2. Insert your pivot table.

Inserting your pivot table is actually the easiest part. You’ll want to:

  • Highlight your data.
  • Go to Insert in the top menu.
  • Click Pivot table.

pivot table, insert pivot table

Note: If you’re using an earlier version of Excel, “PivotTables” may be under Tables or Data along the top navigation, rather than “Insert.”

A dialog box will come up, confirming the selected data set and giving you the option to import data from an external source (ignore this for now).

It will also ask you where you want to place your pivot table. I recommend using a new worksheet.

pivot table, random generator

You typically won’t have to edit the options unless you want to change your selected table and change the location of your pivot table.

Once you’ve double-checked everything, click OK.

You will then get an empty result like this:

pivot table, choose pivot table field

This is where it gets a little confusing and where I used to stop as a beginner because I was so thrown off. We’ll be editing the pivot table fields next so that a table is rendered.

Step 3. Edit your pivot table fields.

You now have the “skeleton” of your pivot table, and it’s time to flesh it out. After you click OK, you will see a pane for you to edit your pivot table fields.

pivot table, pivot table fields

This can be a bit confusing to look at if this is your first time.

In this pane, you can take any of your existing table fields (for my example, it would be First Name, Last Name, Education, and Marital Status) and turn them into one of four fields:

Filter

This turns your chosen field into a filter at the top, by which you can segment data. For instance, below, I’ve chosen to filter my pivot table by Education. It works just like a normal filter or data splicer.

pivot table, selecting fields

Column

This turns your chosen field into vertical columns in your pivot table. For instance, in the example below, I’ve made the columns Marital Status.

pivot table, single and married data

Keep in mind that the field’s values themselves are turned into columns and not the original field title. Here, the columns are “Married” and “Single.” Pretty nifty, right?

Row

This turns your chosen field into horizontal rows in your pivot table. For instance, here’s what it looks like when the Education field is set to be the rows.

pivot table, education degree data

Value

This turns your chosen field into the values that populate the table, giving you data to summarize or analyze.

Values can be averaged, summed, counted, and more. For instance, in the below example, the values are a count of the field First Name, telling me which people across which educational levels are either married or single.

pivot table, married vs single by degree

Step 4: Analyze your pivot table.

Once you have your pivot table, it’s time to answer the question you posed for yourself at the beginning. What information were you trying to learn by manipulating the data?

With the above example, I wanted to know how many people are married or single across educational levels.

I therefore made the columns Marital Status, the rows Education, and the values First Name (I also could’ve used Last Name).

Values can be summed, averaged, or otherwise calculated if they’re numbers, but the First Name field is text. The table automatically set it to Count, which meant it counted the number of first names matching each category. It resulted in the below table:

pivot table, column labels

Here, I’ve learned that across doctoral, lower secondary, master, primary, and upper secondary educational levels, these number of people are married or single:

  • Doctoral: 2 single
  • Lower secondary: 1 married
  • Master: 2 married, 1 single
  • Primary: 1 married
  • Upper secondary: 3 single

Now, let’s look at an example of these same principles but for finding the average number of impressions per blog post on the HubSpot blog.

Step-by-Step Excel Pivot Table

  1.  Enter your data into a range of rows and columns.
  2.  Sort your data by a specific attribute (if needed).
  3.  Highlight your cells to create your pivot table.
  4.  Drag and drop a field into the “Row Labels” area.
  5.  Drag and drop a field into the “Values” area.
  6.  Fine-tune your calculations.

Step 1. I entered my data into a range of rows and columns.

I want to find the average number of impressions per HubSpot blog post. First, I entered my data, which has several columns:

  • Top Pages
  • Clicks
  • Impressions

The table also includes CTR and position, but I won't be including that in my pivot table fields.

pivot table example, hubspot impression data

Step 2. I sorted my data by a specific attribute.

I want to sort my URLs by Clicks to make the information easier to manage once it becomes a pivot table. This step is optional but can be handy for large data sets.

To sort your data, click the Data tab in the top navigation bar and select Sort. In the window that appears, you can sort your data by any column you want and in any order.

For example, to sort my Excel sheet by “Clicks,” I selected this column title under Column and then selected Largest to Smallest as the order.

pivot table, sort by clicks

Step 3. I highlighted my cells to create a pivot table.

Like in the previous tutorial, highlight your data set, click Insert along the top navigation, and click PivotTable.

Alternatively, you can highlight your cells, select Recommended PivotTables to the right of the PivotTable icon, and open a pivot table with pre-set suggestions for how to organize each row and column.

pivot table, create pivot table

Step 4. I dragged and dropped a field into the “Rows” area.

Now, it's time to start building my table.

Rows determine what unique identifier the pivot table will organize your data by.

Since I want to organize a bunch of blogging data by URL, I dragged and dropped the “Top pages” field into the “Rows" area.

pivot table, apply filters

Note: Your pivot table may look different depending on which version of Excel you’re working with. However, the general principles remain the same.

Step 5. I dragged and dropped a field into the “Values” area.

Next up, it's time to add some values by dragging a field into the Values area.

While my focus is on impressions, I still want to see clicks. I dragged it into the Values box and left the calculation on Sum.

pivot table, sum of clicks

Then, I dragged Impressions into the values box, but I didn't want to summarize by Sum. Instead, I wanted to see the Average.

pivot table, average

I clicked the small i next to Impressions, selected “Average” under Summarize by, then clicked OK.

Once you’ve made your selection, your pivot table will be updated accordingly.

Step 6. I fine-tuned my calculations.

The sum of a particular value will be calculated by default, but you can easily change this to something like average, maximum, or minimum, depending on what you want to calculate.

I didn't need to fine-tune my calculations further, but you always can. On a Mac, click the i next to the value and choose your calculation.

If you’re using a PC, you’ll need to click on the small upside-down triangle next to your value and select Value Field Settings to access the menu.

When you’ve categorized your data to your liking, save your work, and don't forget to analyze the results.

Pivot Table Examples

From managing money to keeping tabs on your marketing efforts, pivot tables can help you keep track of important data. The possibilities are endless!

See three pivot table examples below to keep you inspired.

1. Creating a PTO Summary and Tracker

pivot table, pto tracker

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If you’re in HR, running a business, or leading a small team, managing employees’ vacations is essential. This pivot table allows you to seamlessly track this data.

All you need to do is import your employees’ identification data along with the following data:

  • Sick time
  • Hours of PTO
  • Company holidays
  • Overtime hours
  • Employee’s regular number of hours

From there, you can sort your pivot table by any of these categories.

2. Building a Budget

pivot table, budget

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Whether you’re running a project or just managing your own money, pivot tables are an excellent tool for tracking spend.

The simplest budget just requires the following categories:

  • Date of transaction
  • Withdrawal/expenses
  • Deposit/income
  • Description
  • Any overarching categories (like paid ads or contractor fees)

With this information, I can see my biggest expenses and brainstorm ways to save.

3. Tracking Your Campaign Performance

pivot table, campaign performance

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Pivot tables can help your team assess the performance of your marketing campaigns.

In this example, campaign performance is split by region. You can easily see which country had the highest conversions during different campaigns.

This can help you identify tactics that perform well in each region and where advertisements need to be changed.

Pivot Table Essentials

There are some tasks that are unavoidable in the creation and usage of pivot tables. To assist you with these tasks, I’ll share step-by-step instructions on how to carry them out.

How to Create a Pivot Table With Multiple Columns

Now that you can create a pivot table, how about we try to create one with multiple columns?

Just follow these steps:

  • Select your data range. Select the data you want to include in your pivot table, including column headers.
  • Insert a pivot table. Go to the Insert tab in the Excel ribbon and click on the “PivotTable” button.
  • Choose your data range. In the “Create PivotTable” dialog box, ensure that the correct range is automatically selected, and choose where you want to place the pivot table (e.g., a new worksheet or an existing worksheet).
  • Designate multiple columns. In the PivotTable Field List, drag and drop the fields you want to include as column labels to the “Columns” area. These fields will be displayed as multiple columns in your pivot table.
  • Add row labels and values. Drag and drop the fields you want to summarize or display as row labels to the “Rows” area.

labled pivot table

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Similarly, drag and drop the fields you want to use for calculations or aggregations to the “Values” area.

  • Customize the pivot table. You can further customize your pivot table by adjusting the layout, applying filters, sorting, and formatting the data as needed.

For more visual instructions, watch this video:

How to Copy a Pivot Table

To copy a pivot table in Excel, follow these steps:

  • Select the entire pivot table. Click anywhere within the pivot table. You should see selection handles around the table.
  • Copy the pivot table. Right-click and select “Copy” from the context menu, or use the shortcut Ctrl+C on your keyboard.
  • Choose the destination. Go to the worksheet where you want to paste the copied pivot table.
  • Paste the pivot table. Right-click on the cell where you want to paste the pivot table and select “Paste” from the context menu, or use the shortcut Ctrl+V on your keyboard.
  • Adjust the pivot table range (if needed). If the copied pivot table overlaps with existing data, you may need to adjust the range to avoid overwriting the existing data. Simply click and drag the corner handles of the pasted pivot table to resize it accordingly.

By following these steps, you can easily copy and paste a pivot table from one location to another within the same workbook or even across different workbooks.

This allows you to duplicate or move pivot tables to different worksheets or areas within your Excel file.

For more visual instructions, watch this video:

How to Sort a Pivot Table

To sort a pivot table, you can follow these steps:

  • Select the column or row you want to sort.
  • If you want to sort a column, click on any cell within that column in the pivot table.
  • If you want to sort a row, click on any cell within that row in the pivot table.
  • Sort in ascending or descending order.
  • Right-click on the selected column or row and choose “Sort” from the context menu.
  • In the “Sort” submenu, select either “Sort A to Z” (ascending order) or “Sort Z to A” (descending order).

Alternatively, you can use the sort buttons on the Excel ribbon:

  • Go to the PivotTable tab. With the pivot table selected, go to the “PivotTable Analyze” or “PivotTable Tools” tab on the Excel ribbon (depending on your Excel version).
  • Sort the pivot table. In the “Sort” group, click on the “Sort Ascending” button (A to Z) or the “Sort Descending” button (Z to A).

pivot table sort by

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These instructions will allow you to sort the data within a column or row in your pivot table. Please remember that sorting a pivot table rearranges the data within that specific field and does not affect the overall structure of the pivot table.

You can also watch the video below for further instructions.

How to Delete a Pivot Table

To delete a pivot table in Excel, you can follow these steps:

  • Select the pivot table you want to delete. Click anywhere within the pivot table that you want to remove.
  • Delete the pivot table.
  • Press the “Delete” or “Backspace” key on your keyboard.
  • Right-click on the pivot table and select “Delete” from the context menu.
  • Go to the “PivotTable Analyze” or “PivotTable Tools” tab on the Excel ribbon (depending on your Excel version), click on the “Options” or “Design” button, and then choose “Delete” from the dropdown menu.

pivot table tools

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  • Confirm the deletion. Excel may prompt you to confirm the deletion of the pivot table. Review the message and select “OK” or “Yes” to proceed with the deletion.

Once you complete these steps, the pivot table and its data will be removed from the worksheet. It’s important to note that deleting a pivot table does not delete the original data source or any other data in the workbook.

It simply removes the pivot table visualization from the worksheet.

How to Group Dates in Pivot Tables

To group dates in a pivot table in Excel, follow these steps:

  • Ensure that your date column is in the proper date format. If not, format the column as a date.
  • Select any cell within the date column in the pivot table.
  • Right-click and choose “Group” from the context menu.

pivot table tools analyze

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  • The Grouping dialog box will appear. Choose the grouping option that suits your needs, such as days, months, quarters, or years. You can select multiple options by holding down the Ctrl key while making selections.

pivot table tools, date range

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  • Adjust the starting and ending dates if needed.
  • Click “OK” to apply the grouping.

Excel will now group the dates in your pivot table based on the chosen grouping option. The pivot table will display the summarized data based on the grouped dates.

Note: The steps may slightly vary depending on your Excel version.

If you don’t see the “Group” option in the context menu, you can also access the Grouping dialog box by going to the “PivotTable Analyze” or “PivotTable Tools” tab on the Excel ribbon, selecting the “Group Field” button, and following the subsequent steps.

By grouping dates in your pivot table, you can easily analyze data by specific time periods, such as months, which can help you get a clearer understanding of trends and patterns in your data.

How to Add a Calculated Field in a Pivot Table

If you’re trying to add a calculated field in a pivot table in Excel, you can follow these steps:

  • Select any cell within the pivot table.
  • Go to the “PivotTable Analyze” or “PivotTable Tools” tab on the Excel ribbon (depending on your Excel version).
  • Go to the “Calculations” group. In the “Calculations” group, click on the “Fields, Items & Sets” button and select “Calculated Field” from the dropdown menu.
  • The “Insert Calculated Field” dialog box will appear. Enter a name for your calculated field in the “Name” field.
  • Enter the formula for your calculated field in the “Formula” field. You can use mathematical operators (+, -, *, /), functions, and references to other fields in the pivot table.
  • Click “OK” to add the calculated field to the pivot table.

The pivot table will now display the calculated field as a new column or row, depending on the layout of your pivot table.

The calculated field you created will use the formula you specified to calculate values based on the existing data in the pivot table. Pretty cool, right?

Note: The steps may slightly vary depending on your Excel version. If you don’t see the “Fields, Items & Sets” button, you can right-click on the pivot table and select “Show Field List.” They both do the same thing.

Adding a calculated field to your pivot table helps you perform unique calculations and get new insights from the data in your pivot table.

It allows you to expand your analysis and perform calculations specific to your needs. You can also watch the video below for some visual instructions.

How to Remove Grand Total From a Pivot Table

To remove the grand total from a pivot table in Excel, follow these steps:

  • Select any cell within the pivot table.
  • Go to the “PivotTable Analyze” or “PivotTable Tools” tab on the Excel ribbon (depending on your Excel version).
  • Click on the “Field Settings” or “Options” button in the “PivotTable Options” group.
  • The “PivotTable Field Settings” or “PivotTable Options” dialog box will appear.
  • Depending on your Excel version, follow one of the following methods:
  • For Excel 2013 and earlier versions: In the “Subtotals & Filters” tab, uncheck the box next to “Grand Total.”
  • For Excel 2016 and later versions: In the “Totals & Filters” tab, uncheck the box next to “Show grand totals for rows/columns.”
  • Click “OK” to apply the changes.

The grand total row or column will be removed from your pivot table, and only the subtotals for individual rows or columns will be displayed.

Note: The steps may slightly vary depending on your Excel version and the layout of your pivot table. If you don’t see the “Field Settings” or “Options” button in the ribbon, you can right-click on the pivot table, select “PivotTable Options,” and follow the subsequent steps.

By removing the grand total, you can focus on the specific subtotals within your pivot table and exclude the overall summary of all the data. This can be useful when you want to analyze and present the data in a more detailed manner.

For a more visual explanation, watch the video below.

7 Tips & Tricks For Excel Pivot Tables

1. Use the right data range.

Before creating a pivot table, make sure that your data range is properly selected. Include all the necessary columns and rows, making sure there are no empty cells within the data range.

2. Format your data.

To avoid potential issues with data interpretation, format your data properly. Ensure consistent formatting for date fields, numeric values, and text fields.

Remove any leading or trailing spaces, and ensure that all values are in the correct data type.

Pro tip: I find it easier to arrange my data in columns, with each column having its own header and one row containing distinct, non-blank labels for every column. Keep an eye out for merged cells or repeated header rows.

If you’re working with complex or nested data, you can use Power Query to turn it into a single header row organized in columns.

3. Choose your field names wisely.

While creating a pivot table, use clear and descriptive names for your fields. This will make it easier to understand and analyze the data within the pivot table.

Pro tip: If you‘re focusing on business-related queries, I find that using natural language makes it easier to look them up.

Suppose you’re searching for the number of subscriptions live in 2024. Click the “Analyze Data” option under the “Home” tab. Type “subscriptions live in 2020” in the search bar. Excel will show you the data you are looking for.

4. Apply pivot table filters.

Take advantage of the filtering capabilities in pivot tables to focus on specific subsets of data. You can apply filters to individual fields or use slicers to visually interact with your pivot table.

Pro tip: Did you know you can link a specific Slicer to many pivot tables? When you right-click on the slicer, you will see an option called “Report connections” appear.

You can then choose the pivot tables you intend to connect, and then you're done. I found that this same technique can also be used to join several pivot tables together using a timeline.

5. Classify your data.

If you have a large amount of data, consider grouping it to make the analysis simpler. You can group data by dates, numeric ranges, or with your special kind of classification.

This helps to summarize and organize data in a more meaningful way within the pivot table.

Pro tip: Additionally, you can sort the Field List items alphabetically or in Data Source order, which is the order specified in the source table.

I've found that alphabetical order works best when dealing with unknown data sets with numerous fields.

But what if you want to monitor a certain entry and that it should always be at the top of the list? First, choose the desired cell, then click and hold the green cursor border to move it up or down to the desired location.

You'll know where the object will be dropped by a thick green bar. You can also click where you want the entry to appear and type the text to move the entry in a Pivot Table list to change its location.

6. Customize pivot table layout.

Excel allows you to customize the layout of your pivot table.

You can drag and drop fields between different areas of the pivot table (e.g., rows, columns, values) to rearrange the layout and present the data in the most useful way for your analysis.

Pro tip: In addition to the standard layout, you can select a layout design from the list by clicking on “Report Layout.”

Infancy: if you want a specific default layout every time you open a pivot table, select “Files” > “Options” > “Data” > “Edit Default Layout.” You can change the layout options there to suit your preferences.

7. Refresh and update data.

If your data source changes or you add new data, remember to refresh the pivot table to reflect the latest updates.

To refresh a pivot table in Excel and update it with the latest data, follow these steps:

  • Select the pivot table. Click anywhere within the pivot table that you want to refresh.
  • Refresh the pivot table. There are multiple ways to refresh the pivot table:
  • Right-click anywhere within the pivot table and select “Refresh” from the context menu.
  • Or, go to the “PivotTable Analyze” or “PivotTable Tools” tab on the Excel ribbon (depending on your Excel version) and click on the “Refresh” button.
  • Or, use the keyboard shortcut Alt+F5.
  • Verify the updated data. After refreshing, the pivot table will update with the latest data from the source range or data connection. We recommend confirming the refreshed data to make sure you have what you want.

By following these steps, you can easily refresh your pivot table to reflect any changes in the underlying data. This ensures that your pivot table always displays the most up-to-date information.

You can watch the video below for more detailed instructions.

These tips and tricks will help you create and use pivot tables in Excel, allowing you to analyze and summarize your data in a dynamic and efficient manner.

Digging Deeper With Pivot Tables

Imagine this. You’re a business analyst. You have a large dataset that needs to be analyzed to identify trends and patterns. You and your team decide to use a pivot table to summarize and analyze the data quickly and efficiently.

As you explored different combinations of fields, you discovered interesting insights and correlations that would have been time-consuming to find manually.

The pivot table helped you to streamline the data analysis process and present the findings to stakeholders in a clear and concise manner, impressing them with your team’s efficiency and ability to retrieve actionable insights. Sounds good right?

You’ve now learned the basics of pivot table creation in Excel. With this understanding, you can figure out what you need from your pivot table and find the solutions you’re looking for. Good luck!

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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16 Great Examples of Welcome Emails for New Customers [Templates]

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Welcome emails can arguably be one of the most powerful tools for setting an incredible first impression for pre-email customers. Nevertheless, the process of creating a persuasive welcome email is not always smooth.

Good welcome email examples can serve as the inspiration to make an amazing first impression.

→ Download Now: 8 Free Customer Onboarding Templates [Free Kit]

Having so long been in the role of a copywriter, I always find myself in search of good email examples. In this blog, I‘ve pulled together the most inspiring welcome emails that I’ve come across that will help you create your own.

Table of Contents

Pro tip: Use HubSpot's free email marketing software to easily create a high-quality welcome email sequence like the ones featured below.

HubSpot email template

Each example below showcases different tactics and strategies for engaging new email subscribers. Let's dive in.

The Components of an Impressive Welcome Email

I believe that one factor that really impacts the customer onboarding proces s is the welcome email.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all format, there are several key components that can help your email stand out from the crowd and connect with your intended audience. These include:

1. Compelling Subject Lines

Making sure recipients actually open your emails is the first step in making a good impression.

Subject lines are critical, so opt for short and straight-to-the-point subjects that state clearly what you’re sending, who it’s from, and why it matters to potential customers.

Pro tip: Keep email subject lines short enough to get your point across and grab the recipient's attention. A good rule of thumb is to keep it to 30-70 characters in length.

2. Content Recommendations

While the main purpose of welcome emails is to introduce your brand, it’s also critical to add value by providing the next steps for interested customers.

Pro tip: I think a good place to start would be by offering links to your website‘s great content, which will give your customers more context if they’re curious about what you do and how you do it.

3. Custom Offers

Personalization can help your welcome emails stand out from the pack. Customized introductory offers on products are something consumers often want.

If you base these offers on the information they’ve provided or data available to the public through social platforms, welcome emails can help drive ongoing interest.

4. Clear Opt-Out Options

It’s also important to offer a clear way out if users aren’t interested. Make sure all your welcome emails contain “unsubscribe” options that allow customers to select how much (or how little) contact they want from you going forward.

In my opinion, if there’s one thing that sours a budding business relationship, it’s the incessant emails that aren’t easy to stop. So, always give customers a way to opt out.

Examples of Standout Welcome Emails

So, what does a great welcome email look like?

I’ve collected some standout welcome message series examples that include confirmation messages, thank you emails, and offer templates to help you with your customer onboarding process from start to finish — and make a great impression along the way.

1. Food52

Type of Welcome: Confirmation

Welcome email from Food52

Sometimes, the tiniest of elements in a welcome email can speak volumes about a brand. When it comes to Food52's welcome email, the preview text at the top of the email, “We brought snacks,” definitely accomplishes this.

Also known as a pre-header or snippet text, the preview text is the copy that gets pulled in from the body of an email and displayed next to (or beneath) the subject line in someone‘s inbox.

So when you see Food52’s welcome email in your inbox, you get a taste of their brand's personality before you even open it.

Welcome email preview from Food52

I also liked how Food52‘s welcome email does a good job of building trust by putting a face (make those two faces) to their name. As soon as you open the email, you see a photograph and message from the company’s founders.

What I like: I particularly like the introduction of the email copy, which reads, “Hello there! We're very excited that you're here,” as this sets a welcoming and friendly tone from the onset, making the reader know that they are appreciated and they belong.

2. Monday.com

Type of Welcome: Video

Monday.com welcome email

From the subject line down to the conversational tone in the email body, the welcome email above keeps it friendly and simple, so the focus stays on the introductory video inside.

Monday.com is a task management tool for teams and businesses. The welcome email you receive when you sign up makes you feel like a CEO because Roy Man is speaking directly to you.

What I like: I love how the email even personalizes the opening greeting by using the recipient's first name, which is well known for increasing email click-through rates (especially if the name is in the subject line).

In my experience, the more you can make your email sound like a one-on-one conversation between you and your subscriber, the better.

If you have just so many details that you need to inform your new customer about, follow Monday.com's lead and embed a video rather than spelling them all out in the email itself.

3. Kate Spade

Type of Welcome: Thank You

Kate Spade welcome email

Let‘s face it: The internet-using public is constantly bombarded with prompts to sign up for and subscribe to all sorts of email communications.

So, as a brand, when someone takes the time to sift through all the chaos to intentionally sign up for your email communications, it’s a big deal.

To acknowledge how grateful they are to the folks who actually take their time to subscribe, Kate Spade uses a simple but effective tactic with their welcome emails. They say “Thank You” in big, bold lettering.

What I like: To be honest, I am a big fan of what this email looks like. The envelope graphic — which virtually simulates the joy of receiving a physical thank you note — is a nifty and visually appealing way to draw attention to the email.

4. Lyft

Type of Welcome: New Customers

Lyft welcome email

I think if there‘s an ideal "attitude" that welcome emails should give off, Lyft has it.

The company’s simple but vibrant welcome email focuses entirely on the look and feel of the app, delivering a design that's as warm and smooth as the lifts that Lyft wants to give you.

At the same time, the email‘s branded pink call-to-action (CTA) draws your eyes toward the center of the page to "Take a Ride," inviting language that doesn’t make you feel pressured as a new user.

What I like: I particularly like the email's simplistic look, white space, and a CTA to perform the desired task. This makes it easier for the customers to concentrate on the primary message and take the intended action.

5. Munk Pank

Type of Welcome: About Us

Munk Pack welcome email

The Munk Pank's welcome email is the story of why the company was founded. This is a healthy snack store founded by a husband and wife.

In their welcome email, they mention that they started the company because they never seemed to find nutritious snacks to keep them energized and on the go.

In my opinion, this is an excellent version of a welcome email. The brand lets its customers know they can relate to the problems they‘re facing and that they’ve been there. This helps in building trust and relatability.

It also gives customers a peek into what they should expect from their products.

The email ends by sharing the company’s mission to help them live a healthy lifestyle.

I also like how this welcome email lets subscribers know that they're joining a tribe that is concerned about their healthy eating and lifestyle, a mission that goes beyond snacks.

What I like: A personal message from the founder gives the product a face and acknowledges the brand’s dedication to making people’s lives healthier.

6. Who Gives a Crap

Type of Welcome: Product Story

Who Gives a Crap welcome email

Who Gives a Crap is an organization that sells organic toilet paper, and they're passionate about it. I found their welcome email to be equally fun and informative.

They state all the reasons why you should opt for organic and eco-friendly products. Then, they sweeten the pot (pun intended) by noting that they donate 50% of their profits to global sanitation projects.

The email reminds the buyer that they still get the toilet paper at the same price they do in the supermarket. It also has a compelling CTA in its welcome email: 10% off its products for people who subscribe to its email list.

The company added its “Shop Now” button for convenience, so if readers are convinced to buy, they can do so in one click.

What I like: I like that the email is entirely in a playful tone while the message is extremely clear about the company's nature-friendly principle and donation policy.

This creates a message that is both fun and informative, and it becomes something that someone will remember for a long time if it is their first experience with the business.

7. SAXX Underwear

Type of Welcome: Free Gift or Offer

Saxx Underwear welcome email

SAXX Underwear specializes in men's underwear, and its welcome email is very catchy and creative.

The subject line, “Welcome to you and your balls,” is just a taste of how the company uses a humorous and relatable tone to connect with its audience.

Their welcome email is visual, too. It demonstrates their comfort guarantee with images of models wearing their boxers. The welcome email also gives a 10% off code for first-time buyers and directs them to their store.

To me, what really stands out in the SAXX Underwear welcome email is the tone of the copy and the careful yet bold and catchy choice of words.

What I like: I'm impressed by the sincerity of the brand in the first email when it presents the refund policy.

Knowing that they can return the product very easily if they are not fully satisfied with the brand’s items makes the customers who are choosing a product for the first time feel more confident, and as a result, they might try the products.

8. InVision

Type of Welcome: Product Demo

InVision welcome email

When you sign up for InVision's free prototyping app, the welcome email makes your next step very clear.

To guide people on how to use InVision’s app, the company’s welcome email doesn't simply list out what you need to do to get started. Instead, it shows you what you need to do with a series of quick videos.

Given the visual, interactive nature of the product, this makes a lot of sense.

What I like: I find this welcome email particularly helpful. In fact, it offers a step-by-step guide to further interactions. This highlights the user-friendliness that the company provides, along with the smooth onboarding process.

9. Drift

Type of Welcome: Confirmation

Drift welcome email

There is no fancy design work, videos, or photos. The welcome email Drift sends after signing up for its newsletter is a lesson in minimalism.

I love how the email opens with a bit of candid commentary on the email itself.

“Most people have really long welcome email sequences after you get on their email list,” Dave from Drift writes, before continuing: “Good news: we aren't most people.”

What follows is simply a bulleted list of the company's most popular blog posts. And the only mention of the product comes in a brief postscript at the very end.

Based on my experience, if you‘re trying to craft a welcome email that’s non-interruptive and laser-focused on adding value instead of fluff, this is a great example to follow.

What I like: The conversational tone of the email creates a personal feel that clearly distinguishes it from the common marketing communication, which is usually impersonal and generic.

10. Inbound

Type of Welcome: Event Signup

INBOUND welcome email

Inbound attracts business professionals from all over the world. I believe that is the reason why its event confirmation email is simple and easy to follow, with useful links for event information, help, and accessibility.

Keep scrolling, and you’ll see even more useful additions, like:

  • Links to add the event to your calendar.
  • Social media sharing buttons.
  • Directions through Google Maps.

What I like: I like how this all-in-one approach of the welcome email ensures that even if people who wish to attend only see one email, it will include everything they need.

11. Creative Capital

Type of Welcome: New Donor

Creative Capital welcome email

Nonprofit marketing can be a challenge, but this email sheds light on endless possibilities. In this welcome email, donors to Creative Capital get a healthy dose of inspiration.

The email begins with a striking GIF that combines the work of supported artists with bright thank-you messages. It continues with a poetic message about the types of artists the org supports.

This is a chance to inspire every donor. It reminds them who their donation is supporting and why that action has massive value.

What I like: I really like how the animated GIF at the email's beginning does all that to catch the attention and set the tone for the rest of the message.

12. Baltic Born

Type of Welcome: Customer Loyalty

Baltic Born welcome email

Frequent shoppers can end up in more loyalty programs than they can count, so it’s important for these welcome emails to stand out and show off a big offer.

From the start, this email focuses on concrete rewards. Then, it gives a clear explanation of Baltic Born’s reward system. It continues with a button that compels the recipient to get more points.

And, the monochromatic design is attractive but not distracting or overwhelming, making it easy to read on mobile devices.

What I like: The effective part of the email is that it tells everything about the loyalty program in a straightforward way and gives easy guidelines on how to get the points.

This makes it easy for me to engage with the brand and feel rewarded for my loyalty.

13. PepTalkHer

Type of Welcome: Confirmation

PepTalkHer

While many subscribers click submit to solve a problem, positivity is key in a welcome email. This org supports women on their path to wage equality.

It could be tempting for this email to start with emotionally charged language or statistics that show how big a problem the gender pay gap is.

Instead, PepTalkHer shows its understanding of its target audience. This email centers on the support, value, and overall awesomeness of this community.

It also adds useful links to social media and website channels. This helps jump-start each signup’s journey.

What I like: I think it’s amazing that this email’s priority is placed on the benefits it brings to the reader. This creates a sense of belonging and encourages long-term engagement.

14. Third Love

Type of Welcome: Discount Code

Third Love

As generative AI runs to the forefront of email marketing strategy, personalization is more important than ever before.

This email grabs subscribers with a personalized offer. The customer experience begins with a well-designed online quiz.

Then, the results of that quiz are woven into a useful and personal email that includes size and product recommendations, along with a discount offer.

What I like: I love the email's writing style, which provides a personal touch and a signoff that sounds both supportive and genuine.

15. Swipe Files

Type of Welcome: New Customers

Swipe Files

There’s nothing quite like a personal welcome email to make an impression on new subscribers. I believe that good writing is good thinking, and this welcome email is a great example of that idea.

This message reads authentic, kind, and curious. It uses direct language, easy-to-read paragraphs, and simple CTAs. This shows every subscriber what they’re getting into with their subscription and leaves them excited for more.

What I like: This email is more of a personal letter from the founder and less of a welcome email. That's what makes it stand out and appealing to the reader.

16. Oui the People

Type of Welcome: Discount Code

Oui the People welcome email

I think powerful graphics are a great way to make a strong first impression.

After signing up for skincare brand Oui the People’s mailing list, the welcome email that hits your inbox makes a gorgeous visual statement that shows the brand’s vision and personality. Then, it uses bold type to make a compelling offer.

The copy that follows not only matches but amplifies the vibe of the opening image.

“Together, we’re going against the grain of traditional beauty to create (damned good) products that feel like they were designed just for you and all of your glorious complexity. Life-changing, not you-changing.”

The one-two punch of graphics, CTA, and copy makes this welcome email difficult not to engage with.

What I like: I love how the powerful and poetic copy perfectly complements the email‘s visuals, reinforcing the brand’s unique vision and values.

Welcome Email Templates

Need help getting your welcome email efforts off the ground? I’ve got you covered with free welcome message templates that streamline the connection process.

Each template shows a different way you can welcome your customers. These examples make it simple to send a welcome email to meet your customers’ needs at their current spot in the customer journey.

1. About Us

An About Us welcome email introduces new subscribers to your company with a firsthand story. It gives you a chance to share who you are, what you do, and what you stand for.

This helps you develop a relationship with your subscribers, which can help them feel more invested in your brand.

I strongly believe that this is also a chance to set the right expectations about the content or benefits you offer to your subscribers.

Click to Save Template

Hey [First name],

Welcome to [Brand name]. We're thrilled to have you join us on our mission to [insert company mission or vision].

We started [Brand name] to solve [insert the problem your product or service solves] because [creation story for your founder(s)]. We want to inspire people to [insert big-picture product impact].

We are constantly refining our product to live up to our vision.

We believe that [our product] will make a difference for you too, and we can't wait to hear your story. Please feel free to reply to this email and tell us about you and what you hope to achieve.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. We look forward to hearing your story.

Looking forward to hearing more,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

2. Product Story

Product story emails showcase your product or service and give you a chance to educate and inspire with your welcome. A product story welcome email doesn't just have to be about how you created your product. It can tell stories about:

  • The problem your product or service solves.
  • Product benefits.
  • The materials you use to make your product.
  • Key product features.

This welcome email can help you expand brand awareness as well as improve customer engagement and conversions.

3. Video

Video welcomes are a quick and powerful way to connect with new customers, subscribers, or employees. You can feature the people, culture, or messaging that represent your brand in your video. Videos are also a great way to share:

  • Product features and benefits.
  • Tutorials.
  • Promotions.

Video welcome emails can help your business stand out from companies sending text-only email communication. They're also a quick way to grab attention as you begin your relationship with a new contact.

Welcome to [Brand name], [first name of your subscriber].

We're excited to share this video message [insert link to the video]. It will tell you a little bit about [content of your video].

Watching this quick video is just the first step toward reaching your goal of [desired outcomes for contact]. Our team is always here to offer you the guidance and resources you need.

Thank you for being a part of the [Brand name] community.

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

4. Free Gift or Offer

Free gifts and welcome offers give new subscribers and customers a tempting reason to engage with your brand. I think they can be very useful for creating urgency.

These welcome emails are also a great way to highlight personalized offers for the latest addition to your email list.

A free offer or exclusive gift can improve customer retention and loyalty, as well as build anticipation for future offers.

Hey [First name] —

Welcome to [Brand name]!

As the latest (and greatest) addition to our community, we‘d like to give you a free [insert gift item]. It’s our way of saying thank you for choosing us for your [product type] needs.

To claim your [offer], just add the promo code FREEGIFT at checkout, and your gift will be on the way to you soon.

If you have any questions or feedback until then, please get in touch at [contact information]. We're always here to help.

All best,

[Signature or Brand name]

Click to Save Template

5. Event Signup

An event signup welcome email is key to the event registration process. This one piece of communication:

  • Confirms successful event registration.
  • Offers important event logistics.
  • Highlights speakers and other event details.
  • Prepares attendees for the event.

This type of welcome email is also a first step to connecting with a customer. It builds trust and shows how they can benefit from further engagement.

Hi [Attendee name],

Thank you for registering for [Event name]. We can't wait for you to join us during this important event.

This email includes your registration confirmation, event location, date, and more.

  • [Registration Confirmation Details]
  • [Attendee name]
  • [Attendee email]
  • [Registration type (such as VIP, General Admission, etc.)]
  • [Number of tickets]
  • [Confirmation code]
  • [Event name]
  • [Event location]
  • [Date and time]

This session will include [featured panels, speakers, sessions]. We‘ve also organized [meeting rooms, mixers] for networking opportunities and connecting with your peers.

You’ll also have the chance to see [special events, attendee-only exclusives].

Note: You‘ll need your confirmation code or badge to enter the event, and we’ve attached a PDF with other helpful tips.

If you have any questions about your registration, contact [Event organizer] or respond to this email.

Thank you again for registering for [Event name]. We can't wait to see you there!

Best regards,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

6. Confirmation

Confirmation emails can sometimes feel cold or impersonal, so this is another email where it‘s vital to add some welcome. A confirmation email assures your subscriber or buyer that they’ve successfully completed the signup.

It's also a chance to share useful information to make them feel more comfortable about what comes next.

For example, you might want to add order details, shipping, or the day of the week your newsletter comes out.

Based on my understanding of customer experience, personalizing this welcome email can go a long way to building trust with your subscribers.

Hi [First name],

Thank you for your [subscription] to [Newsletter or Brand name]!

There‘s just one more step to complete the process and join [Brand name’s] community of [term that describes your customers, such as business owners, rock stars, nature lovers]. Click the link below to confirm your subscription.

With that one click, you‘ll be the first to know the latest updates, products, and resources from us. You’ll also have access to quality content and support.

Thank you again for subscribing. We can't wait to share and learn with you.

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

7. Free Trial

Your welcome email for a free trial is important because it sets the tone for your relationship with each customer. I feel this is a chance for you to say thank you, offer extra help, and set expectations for your product.

This first email is also a chance to show users how to make the most of your product and point out features and benefits they might miss on their own.

This welcome email has a specific goal — to turn that free trial into a paying customer. With that in mind, it's important to strike a balance. This email should point out tips, features, and details but not overwhelm with too much information.

Hi [First name]!

Thank you for signing up for your free trial of [product or Company name]. We can't wait for you to try out our [product].

With your free trial, you'll have access to [popular features] so you can test what works for you. To make the most of your free trial, [outline the first step], then [list two or three potential use cases].

If you're looking for support or instructions, check out [links to support, help, and social media resources]. You can also take a quick look at the product video below for a quick walk-through.

We'll be in touch with next steps for your trial soon. Until then, thank you again for choosing [product or brand name]!

Hoping this is helpful,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

8. Thank You

Thank you welcome emails lead with gratitude to your subscribers and customers. Whether they're signing up for your newsletter, RSVPing for an event, or making a purchase, this welcome email leads with the positive.

Hi [First name],

Thank you for choosing [Brand name]. We're so happy you decided to [join, subscribe, complete a purchase].

Giving you a great experience is our top priority — and on that note, we want to make sure you know that our [Customer loyalty team, customer support team, social media community] is here with news, offers, and more just for you.

Again, thank you for choosing [Brand name]. We look forward to offering you quality products and winning service for many years to come.

All best,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

9. Welcome Email Template for New Customers

Your new customer welcome email often marks the beginning of the customer relationship. This email usually contains a lot of information. It might include order confirmation, product information, helpful tips, or a review request.

At the same time, I believe it needs to set a tone that emphasizes the character and value of your brand and products. So, it needs to be welcoming, engaging, and encouraging.

Hi [Customer],

This is really exciting: Welcome (officially) to [your product or service here]. We’re so lucky to have you.

[I/we] are here to help make sure you get the results you expect from [your product or service], so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. [I’d/we’d] love to hear from you.

To help you get started, [I/we] recommend checking out these resources:

  • [Resource 1]
  • [Resource 2]
  • [Resource 3]

If you need support, you can reply to this email or give us a call at [555-555-5555]. [I/we] can talk you through the details and information you need to get started.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

[Your company/name]

Click to Save Template

10. Discount Code

In my experience, discount codes always make great welcome emails. This is because they lead with something your subscriber wants.

It encourages a purchase, but this email is also a chance to show appreciation, develop brand awareness, or boost new products.

To make the most of these emails, I always try to add limited-time or occasion-specific offers. This adds urgency and gives you a chance to quickly boost your customer relationship.

[First name],

You don‘t have to wait to experience [popular products]. As a welcome to our community, we’re offering you a special discount.

To use your discount, just enter the code WELCOME10 when you check out. You can use this code to purchase [specific products or special promotion].

One more thing: Be sure to take advantage of this offer before [expiration date].

If you need any help or guidance using your discount code, just get in touch with [support team information.]

Thank you!

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

11. Customer Loyalty

Some customers will get more than one welcome email from you, so it's important to make your welcome email specific.

One example is your customer loyalty program. When someone signs up to be an affiliate or joins an incentive program for your brand, they need a different kind of welcome.

As you draft this email, focus on personalized connection. Whether you're offering thanks for their support, sharing sneak peeks, or giving exclusive offers, each customer needs to feel special.

Use surveys, interactive features, and integrations to collect feedback from current customers. Then, once your subscribers become loyal customers, you can use these tools to make your loyalty welcome email super personal.

Hey [First name],

Welcome to [Brand loyalty program]! You‘ve joined an exclusive group of customers who make our brand and products better, and we are so excited you’re here.

Customer loyalty at [Brand name] means [outline top loyalty program benefits]. It's a personal thank you for choosing our products.

Your membership also includes these perks:

[Benefit 1]

[Benefit 2]

[Benefit 3]

To make the most of your benefits, [share first steps to activate membership].

We also want to hear from you! Contact us with any questions or feedback — our team is always here to help.

Your first purchase, [name of first product purchase], set you on the path to becoming one of our most loyal customers. We can‘t wait to see what you’ll do as part of our [Loyalty program] community.

Kind regards,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

12. New Donor

Each new donor has a major impact on your business's future. So, the way that you welcome each donor is a key part of their experience.

This welcome email is a chance to offer thanks, review your company's mission and vision, or ask for continued or deeper engagement. The donor welcome email is also a time to:

  • Share inspirational stories.
  • Highlight the problems your organization is working to solve.
  • Offer recent data on the status of your work.

Dear [Donor name],

I'm writing to personally welcome you to [Nonprofit Organization name]. Thank you again for your generous donation.

Your contribution is making an immediate impact on our work to [revisit your mission and/or vision].

With your support, our team will continue to [outline important services and impact]. With continued work together, we can make a lasting difference.

We will stay in touch with updates and events at [Nonprofit Organization name]. We'll also share critical updates on how your contribution is improving [share recent data and statistics toward critical goals].

Thank you again for your donation and for choosing to be a part of [Nonprofit Organization name]’s vision.

Best regards,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

Now that you’ve seen some great examples of welcome emails and templates, let’s dig into the process of writing a great email and catching customer attention.

[Paragraph Snippet]

1. Write a catchy subject line.

Research shows that while more than 90% of welcome emails are opened, just 23% of them are actually read. That means if your welcome email doesn't catch the eye of your new customers, they may not know you sent it at all.

The best tool you can leverage to increase email open rates is the subject line. A catchy and actionable subject line can draw customers in and make them curious about your content.

Here are a few strategies that I follow while writing a subject line:

  • Always include what your email is promoting and how it will benefit your customers.
  • Keep it concise. This is because the reader can only see a sentence or two in the preview.
  • Give enough information to pique the reader's interest, but not all so that they need to open your email for the full details.

2. Restate your value proposition.

Although this may seem like an unnecessary step to take, it can actually offer some significant benefits.

The most obvious benefit is that it gives the customer some reassurance that they made the right decision signing up. I believe it's never a bad thing to remind customers why they created an account with you.

This clarifies exactly what they can expect to achieve with your product or service.

This also gives you the opportunity to clearly explain any ancillary services or features that you offer that could create more stickiness with your business.

This is especially true if you have a complex solution with unique features that customers might not know about.

3. Show the next onboarding steps.

Now that you've reminded them why they signed up, get them fully set up with your product or service. Usually, there are steps that users must take after signing up to get the most out of the platform. Examples include:

  • Completing their profile information.
  • Setting preferences.
  • Uploading necessary information (such as contacts into a CRM, profile picture for a social media profile, etc.).
  • Upgrading their account or completing an order.

4. Generate the “A-ha” moment.

This is one of the most important steps to take in a welcome email, and there's a substantial and data-driven reason behind that.

Former Facebook head of growth, Chamath Palihapitiya, discovered that if you can get a user to acquire seven friends within 10 days, they are much more likely to see Facebook's “core value” and become a returning active user.

This is known as an “a-ha moment,” in which the customer understands how they benefit from using your product or service.

The goal is to get the user to this aha moment as quickly as possible so your product sticks and the customer achieves success as soon as possible.

This will produce a better overall customer experience and ultimately help your business grow.

To get this done, first identify your business's “core value” and the obstacles or prerequisites customers must complete to receive this value. Then, you can use your welcome email to guide new customers through these tasks.

5. Add helpful resources.

As mentioned in the previous step, you want the user to see the value immediately. But, customer success doesn't stop there. Depending on the nature and complexity of your product, customers may need more help.

For example, customers might need guidance on troubleshooting, using advanced features, or getting the most value out of your core features.

It‘s likely that you’ve already created help content addressing common questions from customers. Whether it's tutorial videos, an FAQ page, or helpful blog posts containing best practices, this help content is essential to customer success.

Why not include it in your welcome email? This gives them the tools they need upfront without forcing them to search for the information after a problem arises.

6. Provide customer service contact information.

The final step to setting your customers up for success is making sure that they know how to contact you.

You can spend all the time in the world creating excellent help content, but you can't foresee every possible problem that will arise for your customers.

Even if you could, customers are only human, and not all of them will be willing to pore through your help resources to find the answer to their questions. So it's best to be forthright with customers on how they can get in touch with you for help.

In my experience, adding this contact information to your welcome email is a great way to lay the foundation of trust needed for building a relationship. It drives customer loyalty and reassures readers that you’re available if they need you.

The best place to add your contact information is in your email signature. This way, you won’t distract recipients from reading the body of the email, but your contact details will still be easy to find. Avoid sending customers on a treasure hunt just to find a way to ask you a simple question. This will lead to frustration and send them into the arms of your competitors.

Including your profile picture in your signature is another best practice. This reassures the reader that there’s actually a human behind the email, which makes you that much more approachable in case they ever need to contact you.

You can set up a signature containing these elements easily with a tool like HubSpot’s email signature generator. Just select a template, type in your details, add your picture, and you’re done. 

7. Conclude with a call-to-action.

You should wrap up your welcome email with a call-to-action that entices customers to begin the onboarding process.

After you‘ve demonstrated your company’s values and explained how you're going to help them achieve their goals, customers will be eager to get started.

So, make things easier for them by providing a button at the end of the email that triggers the first step in the onboarding process.

Here's one example of what this could look like:

Welome to Food52

Pro tip: To scale the process, you can use the steps above to create an AI prompt that will generate a first-draft welcome email in seconds.

Just plug your value props, next steps, and CTA into a tool like HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant to get started. You can even use the same prompts to create matching ad copy or landing page content.

Get Started with HubSpot's Campaign Assistant

How to Write an Employee Onboarding Welcome Email

Welcome emails aren't just for customers. The onboarding process has a huge impact on how the new employees feel about your company, so it's important to give it the time and energy it deserves.

One of the important parts of this process is the onboarding welcome email. It has to match the company’s tone and outline all the expectations you have for the new employee.

If this is your first time writing an onboarding email, you’ll find the following steps helpful.

Here are the steps that I follow when writing an onboarding email.

1. Decide on the content of your onboarding email.

Before you start, it's important that you are aware of the content of an onboarding welcome email.

The contents are going to vary based on the conditions. For example, an email onboarding remote employees is completely different from an onboarding email for an employee who will work onsite.

For an onsite employee, the onboarding email should include:

  • Welcome events.
  • First-day schedule.
  • Arrival instructions.
  • How to access their workstation.
  • Break room details (where to warm lunch, get coffee, etc.).
  • Dress code.
  • What they're required to bring (passport, ID, social security card, or any other paperwork).
  • Parking information.
  • Contact information.

For a remote employee, the content may include:

  • First-day schedule.
  • Contact information.
  • Signup details for collaboration tools.
  • Welcome video conference meeting (time to be held).

Again, you can change the content based on your company's needs.

2. Decide on the tone you want to use in your email.

The next thing you need to decide on is the tone you want to use in your onboarding email. Do you consider your company friendly, casual, or super formal?

Whatever your answer is, it should be reflected in the tone of the onboarding email. This gives the employee an idea of the kind of workplace environment they should expect.

It also sets the tone your new employee is expected to use when representing your brand.

3. Draft your onboarding email.

The next step is to draft your onboarding email. While the tone of your email might change to fit your needs, here is an example of a template you can use.

Dear [Employee's name],

We are very excited to welcome you to [company name]. Please remember to carry your ID to get easy access to our premises. We expect you to be in the office by [time], and our dress code is [formal/super casual].

At [company name], we pride ourselves on creating the best environment for our employees. As you‘ll see, our team has already prepared your workstation for you and set up your software to make your first day easy. You’ll also be given access to your designated parking spot, a customized company bag, t-shirt, and mug, among other goodies.

Our team has also planned all the details for your first week to ensure you settle easily. You‘ll receive a document with your schedule and agendas for your first week from HR when you arrive. Human Resources will also help you fill out the required paperwork and answer all your questions. After the meeting with HR, you’ll be assigned a mentor who will show you the ropes of our company and how we get things done.

Our team is excited to meet you during the [planned event].

If you need any clarity before you arrive, please contact me by phone [phone number] or email. I'll be more than happy to help.

Welcome to the [company name], [employee name]. We are looking forward to working with you and watching you grow and soar to greater heights!

Warm Regards,

[Signature]

Click to Save Template

4. Edit your email.

After writing your email, make sure you edit it to include all the necessary details.

I always make sure to check for any grammatical errors with tools like Grammarly and HubSpot's AI Email Writer if a copy needs a refresh. You can also have a colleague double-check the email.

Remember to attach any necessary documents, links, or images as supplemental information.

5. Send or schedule the email.

Lastly, send the email or schedule it so it’s received in a timely manner. For example, you want to avoid sending an onboarding welcome email on Sunday evening, which may give the wrong impression.

This will allow the new employee to be psychologically prepared and find the necessary documents.

Make a Great First Impression

Bottom line? Whether it's in person, over the phone, or by email, first impressions matter.

Your welcome email is often the first chance a prospective customer or contact has to see what your brand is all about, and if you don’t stick the landing, they’ll likely go somewhere else.

Luckily, writing a great welcome email can be simple. You need to focus on what matters, such as compelling subject lines, great content, personalized offers, and always, always a way to opt-out.

Your first impression can help lay the groundwork for long-term relationships. And, the welcome email examples I have shared in this blog will help you in this process and inspire you to create your own standout welcome emails.

Posted on

Content Mapping 101: The Template You Need to Personalize Your Marketing

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When prospects first come to your business page, they probably won’t just click and buy your offering immediately.

Download Now: Free Content Marketing Planning Templates

In fact, they may have different goals for visiting your page — some might want to learn about you and your products or services, others may be sold on you but aren’t sure what they need from you. Still, others have a different goal in mind.

That means you’ve got to ensure that they can easily find the content they need. I’ve found one of the best ways to make sure you’re getting the right information to the right prospect is by building out a content map.

Content mapping allows you to create highly targeted, personalized content at every stage of the buyer’s journey, helping to nurture leads and prospects toward a purchase decision.

In this post, I’ll show you what a content map is and how you can start content mapping for your brand. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

For example, if your business is building a brand new website, you’ll have to begin creating a content map based on why the customer is going to your page.

If customers are coming to your website looking for a credible solution worth paying for, they need to establish that you’re trustworthy before making a decision.

At this point, your marketing team begins to map out the kind of content needed to build that trust between the company and the customer.

graphic showing the kind of content you need to build trust between a company and customer

Image Source

Why is content mapping important?

Content mapping helps you plan for content creation that supports the customer journey and creates a more cohesive, personalized customer experience.

When it comes to content, one size rarely fits all. On the contrary, each piece serves a different purpose.

To ensure that your company's content is effective at generating leads, you need to deliver diversified content that covers different topics that your buyers are searching for at each step of the way.

Content mapping is the process of doing just that.

Let’s say your prospects are visiting your website because they already know you but just need to decide what service to go with. If you don’t have any service comparison content, it may detract them from finishing the process.

That’s not to say that it’s mandatory. Many of my clients don’t have and don’t need this. However, if it’s applicable to your business, you may want to consider this strategy.

Here’s the thing. Coming up with topics for a highly targeted content strategy isn't always easy. However, content mapping with the audience in mind can help you put together a manageable plan that you can actually follow.

How to Create a Content Map

1. Download a content map template.

To help you brainstorm and map out content ideas for targeting specific segments of your audience, check out our free template resource: The Content Marketing Planning Template.

cover photo for a download of HubSpot's content mapping template.

Download Your Free Template Now

The template includes an introduction to content mapping, a crash course on buyer personas and lifecycle stages, a content mapping template (plus examples), a website content map template, and bonus buyer persona templates.

With the template, you'll:

  • Learn how to understand buyer personas and lifecycle stages.
  • Identify problems and opportunities that your audience needs help with.
  • Brainstorm highly targeted content ideas that incorporate personas and lifecycle stages.

2. Identify the buyer persona you want to target.

Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers.

They help you understand your customers (and prospective customers) better and make it easier for you to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups.

The strongest buyer personas are based on market research as well as on insights you gather from your actual customer base (through surveys, interviews, etc.).

Depending on your business, you could have as few as one or two personas or dozens. If you’re just getting started with personas, don’t go crazy! You can always develop more personas later if needed.

So, what’s my take on buyer personas? I love them, but my advice is to keep it simple.

When I work with clients to develop buyer personas, we focus on going as narrow and detailed as possible, because it’s far easier (and more effective!) to market to just one person than it is to market to a segment of a population.

And while each persona doesn’t represent every single person in that segment, you can get pretty close.

3. Consider that persona’s path to purchase (lifecycle stages).

The buyer persona you target with your content is only half of the content mapping equation. In addition to knowing who someone is, you need to know where they are in the buying cycle (i.e., how close they are to making a purchase).

This location in the buying cycle is known as a lifecycle stage.

Our Content Mapping Template divvies up the buying cycle into three lifecycle stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.

  • Awareness: In the awareness stage, a person has realized and expressed symptoms of a potential problem or opportunity.
  • Consideration: In the consideration stage, a person has clearly defined and given a name to their problem or opportunity and is looking for a solution.
  • Decision: In the decision stage, a person has defined their solution strategy, method, or approach and is looking for a provider.

By combining buyer personas with lifecycle stages, you can hone in on specific segments of your audience and tailor content to resonate with each of those segments.

4. Brainstorm questions the personas have in the awareness stage.

Your awareness stage content should target prospects early in the buying cycle.

People in this segment are just becoming aware that they have a problem.

At this stage, think of how your content can help people become more informed about the problem in general, and you'll (hopefully) find that they continue moving closer to a purchasing decision.

Important questions to start thinking about:

  • What problem are they likely trying to solve, and what are the symptoms that are causing this problem?
  • What information will help them identify their problem(s) and that our product or service is designed to solve them?
  • How can we build trust and provide more value than our competitors from this early stage in the journey?

5. Identify awareness stage content.

Taking your buyer personas' questions into account, you can turn them into topics for awareness stage content.

The content you want to provide them should speak to their current needs, not jump straight into product-focused content.

This can take the form of insightful blog posts, webinars, ebooks, or social media posts that give information to solve initial concerns and slowly familiarize prospects with how your product can help them.

Looking for advice? I recommend putting yourself in your customers’ shoes and thinking of questions you’d ask in your place.

What information would you look for? And here’s the kicker — you already know these questions because you probably answer them every day!

6. Brainstorm ways to position your solution as your persona enters the consideration stage.

At this point, you’ve provided your prospect with enough information to become fully aware of their problem, and they know it can be remedied.

This is when you should begin trying to move them closer to a purchasing decision and become more interested in your product offering, using consideration stage content.

7. Identify consideration stage content.

Your consideration stage content can more explicitly mention how your product or service could potentially solve a problem.

At this point in the buying cycle, people are still evaluating their options. Your purpose now is to help them narrow down the solution that works the best and provides them the most value.

The types of content used for the consideration stage can look like this:

  • Videos comparing and contrasting offerings
  • Whitepapers
  • Charts and infographics

8. Brainstorm objections that would stop them from buying in the decision stage.

Now that you’ve identified the “why” behind your prospect choosing your solution, it’s time to consider the “why not”.

Some competitors may have a more affordable solution, different methods of remedying issues, or more authority (popularity) in the market.

While some of these aspects cannot be changed, you can still appeal to the prospect and move them closer to purchase if your offering is a real value add, regardless of the rest.

Pro tip: You don’t always have to be the cheapest! Quality wins over quantity. I’ve made choices that have been more expensive or not as well-known due to how well the solution met my needs, overcame objections, or added value.

9. Identify decision stage content.

At the decision stage of the buyer journey, you can primarily lean into marketing your products or services.

If someone has reached this stage, they've already identified a problem and a solution, and are now getting ready to pull the proverbial trigger toward a purchase decision.

This is where you can directly present the prospect with examples of positive experiences or success derived from your product or service offering, with decision stage content like:

  • Case studies (social proof)
  • Customer testimonials
  • Product demos

10. Determine how these content pieces work together.

Now that you’ve identified all the different types of content that buyers of each stage are looking for, it’s time to map the ideas.

Content Mapping Template

Screen capture of Hubspot's Content Mapping Template.

This content mapping visualization keeps the marketing strategy focused on the goal specified with all the steps necessary to gradually reel in buyers.

Our template can also help you to schedule when you want content published on a monthly or quarterly basis if you want to manage it in one place.

You can approach content mapping to serve more specific strategies this way, too. I’ll discuss content mapping for your website in more detail below.

Website Content Mapping

Website content mapping is the process of planning the pages, blog posts, and offers you’ll publish on your site and identify which buyer personas those pages and posts will serve.

Website content mapping also identifies which pages and posts address different lifecycle stages.

Website content mapping is a key element of website personalization. In essence, you’ll create different pages, posts, and offers to address different buyers at different points in the buyer’s journey.

To give you a better idea of website content mapping, I will walk you through a simple example.

Content Map Example

The buyer persona (and a key problem or opportunity that the persona is struggling with) is at the start of the grid.

Jenny is opening a gym. Her problem is that she needs gym equipment but has a limited budget. She has taken to the internet for a solution.

In the awareness life cycle stage, she’ll be looking for introductory content to gain knowledge about the types of equipment necessary to bring customers into her gym.

In the consideration life cycle stage, she’ll have a better understanding of her need for equipment and price expectations.

She'll be looking to create a clearer budget for different items and should consider how long this investment will last — seeking templates that outline that information.

Finally, in the decision stage, Jenny has identified her needs and is looking for a provider to fill them.

She will feel inclined to request demos, consults, or quotes from a company that has guided her through her journey to their solution of cost-effective gym equipment.

An example of a content map showing customer personas and the content meant for each one.

This type of content map works because it segments personas as they progress through the buyer lifecycle. If you have more than one persona, you can expand your map into a segmentation grid.

Content Segmentation Grid

A content segmentation grid is a tool to help businesses plan the content they will produce based on the different types of audiences they want to reach.

A common mistake I see marketers make when it comes to content planning is that they’ll understand the need to make personalized content for customers as they navigate the buyer stages.

But they'll ignore the need for individualized messaging.

A content segmentation grid solves that problem as marketers will be able to better serve every customer segment at each stage they reach.

So, instead of writing messaging for one buyer persona, you can potentially increase engagement and conversions across different audiences.

Now that we’ve explored what content mapping is and you’ve seen how to get started, you might be wondering what type of tools you can use to start content mapping.

Content Mapping Tools

Content mapping may seem like a difficult task that requires highly specialized software. It’s not true. All you need to get started are simple business tools you may already be using in your day-to-day.

We’ll start with the most basic tools you need to start content mapping, such as word processors and visualization tools.

Pro tip: When looking for the right content mapping software for your business, take into account the size of your business and your budget.

You’ll also want to make sure you have at least one tool to visualize your content map and one to research your personas.

1. Google Docs

Pricing: Free

Screen capture of Google Docs to show that you don't always need content mapping software to build a content map

First up in your content mapping tech stack is your preferred word processor, Google Docs.

It has the feature to draw and insert different types of diagrams into documents, which can be translated into a content map to align your marketing mix with your goals.

I highly recommend this tool because it makes it easier to share work across your team, and you never have to worry about backing up your content map once you’ve created it.

What I like: Not everyone has the funds to buy software from the beginning if they’re starting a business. With Google, you get access to Docs along with an entire suite of tools that can help you with your content mapping process.

In fact, Google apps may be enough to run most of your business and content operations.

2. Lucidchart

Pricing: Free basic plans are available. Individual plans cost $9 a month. Team plans cost $10 a month. Enterprise plan pricing is available upon request.

Screen Capture of Lucidchart, a flowchart tool being used as an example of content mapping software

If you’re more of a visual person, then a flowchart tool is a must. Also, if you’d prefer to create a content map with lines and diagrams, then you need a more sophisticated tool than Google Docs.

Lucidchart’s flowchart maker is a top-of-the-line tool that also allows you to connect different apps and services.

Like Google Docs, it allows you to work collaboratively, but Lucidchart takes it a step further and provides users with more visually appealing formatting.

What I like: Lucidchart’s integration allows you to directly embed your flowcharts into other tools, and even edit the charts in the external tool like Microsoft Powerpoint, for example.

3. Buyer Persona Tool

Pricing: Free

content mapping software, hubspot

Before you can even begin to create a content map, you need to identify the buyer persona(s) you’re creating content for.

HubSpot has a buyer persona tool made to build and save professional buyer persona documents with its intuitive generator. The generator is easy to use and allows you to add a name and avatar to humanize your persona.

And if you want to take it a step further, HubSpot also has a list containing even more buyer persona resources to build out your customer profiles for your business, too.

What I like: The persona generator is visually appealing, making it easy to understand. And while there are only 7 sections it has you fill out, you can add and customize your own sections to flesh out your personas on a deeper level.

4. Marketing Hub

Pricing: A free basic plan is available. Starter plans cost $15 a month. Professional plans cost $800 a month. Enterprise plans cost $3,200 a month.

content mapping software, hubspot

In the Marketing Hub, there is an SEO Topics tool that provides content mapping capabilities to help users organize their ideas for organic-focused awareness stage content.

With this capability, your team will be able to collaborate and execute your content map once it’s ready for deployment.

What I like: The tool also has a performance tab, so you can regularly check how your topics are doing and help you determine if those topics are working for you or not.

5. Miro

Pricing: Free plans are available. Starter plans cost $8 a month. Business plans cost $16 a month. Contact Miro for enterprise pricing.

Screen capture of Miro, a visual workspace tool with a content mapping template used as an example of its capabilities as content mapping software.

Image Source

Miro is a visual workspace with versatile functionality. I like it for content mapping because it’s easy to use and allows you to lay out your buyer’s journey and its respective content with graphics and other assets to make it easy to understand.

It’s intuitive and easy to use, and I love how colorful it is.

The platform can easily integrate with over 100+ apps and lends itself to collaboration, so you can work with teammates on the project together.

Miro also has a number of tutorials on their site so you can learn how to get the most out of the platform.

What I like: If you don’t know where to start, Miro houses a large library of over 2500+ workspace templates to choose from.

6. ClickUp

Pricing: Free plans are available. Unlimited plans cost $7 a month. Business plans cost $12 a month. Contact ClickUp for enterprise pricing.

Screen capture of ClickUp, a project management tool, showing you can use it as content mapping software.

Image Source

ClickUp is a project management tool great for businesses of every size. It’s one of my favorite tools and I use it everyday in my own business.

The platform has a feature called ‘Whiteboards’ that can be used to brainstorm and plan out workflows. ClickUp is a great collaboration tool and through the “Whiteboards” function, you can work on the same board at the same time.

This platform also has a native docs feature, so you can also use that to build out your content if you’d like to keep everything in one place.

If you’d like to use it in conjunction with your existing suite of tools, ClickUp can be easily integrated with over 100 tools.

What I like: Since ClickUp is a project management tool first and foremost, you can actually take your “Whiteboard” and create tasks for your team members within the feature. This makes it easy to go from planning to execution.

7. SurveyMonkey

Pricing: Team advantage plans cost $25 a month. Team premier plans cost $75 a month. Contact Survey Monkey for enterprise pricing.

Screen capture of SurveyMonkey, a platform used to collect data used as an example of content mapping software for personal building.

Image Source

Before you start mapping out all the content you’ll create for your customers, it’s important you get to know those customers first.

This is where a tool like SurveyMonkey comes in handy. SurveyMonkey is an online software platform designed for creating surveys and data collection.

This is one of the most widely used survey tools and is a great option to gather data about your customers to build out your personas.

I like exploring their extensive library of templates that you can choose from if you’re not sure what kind of questions to ask and features an easy-to-use interface.

SurveyMonkey also offers Market Research Solutions if you need in-depth data.

What I like: To make sure their customers are as educated as possible on surveys and data collection, they provide blogs, a resource center, and a help center.

8. SEMRush

Pricing: Pro plans cost $129.9 a month. Guru plans cost $249.95 a month. Contact SEMRush for business pricing.

Screen capture of the SEMRush homepage. SEMRush is an SEO tool.

SEMRush is one of the most used SEO tools out there.

SEO is very important in the content creation process as it can drive more traffic to your website, but it also has a place in the content mapping stage.

With SEMRush, I like to do keyword research to see what customers are likely to search and use that information to create personas.

This platform features a user-friendly interface and includes a variety of tools like a backlink checker, competitor analysis, and organic research, so you’ll get access to tools you can use during content mapping and in other areas of your business.

What I like: SEMRush has a search intent feature that tells you not only what people are searching for, but why, which is a fantastic bit of information to collect.

9. Qualtrics

Pricing: Pricing must be requested.

Screen capture of the Qualtrics homepage. Qualtrics is a survey and market research platform.

While most businesses might be able to use platforms like SurveyMonkey that I mentioned earlier or even Google Forms to collect information from their customers, some companies may require more robust solutions.

Qualtrics is a customer experience company that offers three solution suites: Customer Experience, Employee Experience, and Strategy & Research.

Because of its complex interface and high price point, Qualtrics is best suited for companies requiring large-scale market research and high-level data collection.

What I like: Qualtrics is capable of delivering incredible results because of its ability to be customized and can be integrated with a wide range of tools.

Tools to Help Implement Your Content Map

1. HubSpot CRM

Pricing: Free

Screen capture of HubSpot CRM, showcasing its lead scoring capability

HubSpot’s CRM is the one tool you need to compile all of your data from current and prospective customers.

The CRM will allow you to discern different lifecycle stages and pinpoint commonalities between customers who are ready to purchase based on lead scoring.

Your content map can help someone build a lead scoring system to identify high-value leads who have consumed the content close to a purchasing decision.

What I like: HubSpot’s CRM has the ability to create contact lists using customized criteria. When used together with the lead scoring, you can create multiple lists of your personas to deliver content to in a streamlined fashion.

2. Content Hub

Pricing: Professional plans cost $800 a month. Enterprise plans cost $3,600 a month.

A content management system is probably the most important tool for your content mapping efforts.

A CMS will allow you to publish personalized content that targets different site visitors at — you guessed it — different stages of the buyer’s journey.

With Content Hub, you can continue testing and retesting your content for better results.

What I like: Content Hub is fully integrated with HubSpot’s CRM platform and Marketing Hub, allowing you to create a seamless experience for your customers as they receive the content you’ve designed for them.

It will help you execute your content map flawlessly.

So, are you ready to begin creating your own content map? Before you start, let's hear some tips from marketers who attribute part of their success to this strategy.

Content Mapping Tips From the Pros

1. Educate your audience.

When it comes to content mapping, creating high-quality material is important. Just ask Adanna Austin, a business coach and consultant at Marketing Dynamics Business Solutions.

“We all have to create compelling content to attract our ideal clients, build an active and engaged audience, and get daily sales. Spend time building your audience by educating them and engaging with them,” Austin says.

Austin also emphasizes that variety is key.

“No one has built a business by posting the same image or type of image every day on socials and not having convoys with their audience. It is not just about showing up, but doing so with intention so you can attract your ideal clients who will buy from you,” she says.

2. Give your prospects the information they need before they ask for it.

When asked about the benefits of content mapping, Digital Atlas Marketing Founder Laura Hogan focused on the importance of foresight.

"With content mapping, you can give your prospects the information they are asking for before they even ask for it. Buyer personas and lifecycle stages allow you to be one step ahead of the game by mapping out what your prospect's next steps are and delivering them the content from numerous different avenues,” Hogan says.

Hogan says her team creates buyer personas as part of their onboarding process.

From there, “everything we do — from content offer to daily tweets — is centered around that document. We also always ask ourselves, ‘Would business owner Bob open this email, click this tweet, or download this offer?’” Hogan explains.

3. Provide different conversion paths for different personas.

No two customer journeys are cut and paste. Everyone’s path looks different. Marc Herschberger, director of operations at Revenue River Marketing, explains.

For example, Herschberger notes, when mapping out content for a site's visitors, teams have to remember that some personas would rather speak to someone on their terms, rather than fill out a form for a consultation.

“Understanding how they are most comfortable when it comes to making decisions can help you understand what points of conversion will be the most relevant and successful for that persona,” Herschberger says.

He continues, “Optimizing your site pages (landing and thank you pages, as well)...and workflows with direct contact information (phone #, email, etc.) is a great way to ensure that visitors, prospects, and leads who may shy away from form submissions still have readily available, alternate means of converting.”

4. Create specific content that appeals to specific personas.

Mapping out buyer personas and lifecycle stages is extremely important when creating content, shares Spencer Powell, CEO of Builder Funnel.

“In terms of buyer personas, it‘s easy to see that a marketing director will have different questions, information needs, and interests compared to a CEO,” says Powell. “Both of these personas may be searching for your product or service, but they’ll be looking for different topics.”

To get around this, Powell recommends creating content that appeals to each audience. That allows you to be more effective in attracting that specific audience.

“By the same token, each persona of yours may be in a different stage of the buying process, so it's important to think through and create content that appeals to someone looking for basic, high-level information such as an ebook, as well as specific information like a pricing guide or case study,” Powell says.

Powell also suggests that teams dedicate an entire section of their site to each audience. This allows them to curate content for that specific audience.

“We actually took this concept and went a step further by creating unique brands for each one of our vertical markets. Each brand has its own section of the website, its own blog content, and its own premium content (downloadable offers).

It's really helped us attract and convert visitors at a higher rate because all the content is more relevant to that persona,” Powell says.

5. Pull content topics from your sales process.

"By taking the buyer and buying stage into account when creating content, you can be sure that you're designing content to help move them through the buying process,” notes Diona Kidd, a managing partner at Knowmad.

In addition to mapping content to the buyer profile and buying stage, Kidd’s team regularly pulls topics from the sales process.

“Then we offer the content in later sales calls. This helps us not only evaluate the relevancy of the content but also the interest of the buyer. We encourage clients to do the same,” Kidd says.

Content Mapping is Key to Your Company’s Growth

Delivering the right content at the right time can do wonders for your company’s growth.

By meeting prospects’ needs based on their persona and lifecycle stage, you’re delighting them at every turn, boosting your chances of winning a loyal customer and turning them into a brand evangelist.

I’ve walked you through the importance of having a content map and the tools I recommend you use. The most important part of the process, and the one you’ll want to spend time on, is persona building.

Remember, everything you do in the content mapping process hinges on your personas.

If you’re ready to start researching your personas and building your content map but still need a little more guidance, remember you can always use HubSpot’s content planning template.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in March 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.