Welcome Email Review

WELCOME EMAIL REVIEW

Ideas to Make Your Business Flourish

Connie Harrington, Strategist

Accende Consulting

Benefits of Effective Email Welcome Program • Gets customers engaged from

the start which reduces future

list churn and spam complaints

• Introduces customers to entire

email program

• Encourages customers to

perform key functions, such as:

• Confirm preference profile

• Provide additional contact details

• Take advantage of an incentive

68%

32%

Companies Sending Welcome Message

Yes

No

Source:

Silverpop (2011)

Opportunity Companies are using timed series of welcome e-mail series to:

• Provide greater brand insight

• Highlight offerings

• Collect additional customer data via surveys or polls

2

Welcome Email Best Practices • Merge confirmation and/or transaction

into true welcome email

• Send welcome ASAP – the ideal:

within 10 minutes of sign-up

• Include “thank you” in the message to

show appreciation

• Remind new subscribers to add you to

their whitelist

• Include a link to online preference

center

• Tell subscribers how often to expect

emails

• Link to privacy policy and unsubscribe

page

• Consider expanding welcome email

into a welcome series

Source: Email Institute (2010)

3

B2C Welcome Email Metrics

• 77% send welcome emails within the first

24 hours

• 76% explain the benefits of being a

subscriber

• 87% include a home page link

• 24% include progressive profiling (asking

subscribers for more information about

themselves to boost relevancy in future

emails)

• 9% use a welcome series of two or more

emails

• 89% send HTML emails

• 68% ask for address book add

• 71% are fully CAN-SPAM compliant

• 15% include “forward to a friend” link

Source: Responsys and Smith-

Harmon (2009)

4

Key Welcome Email Elements • Content

• Use white space and clear, simple writing to

enhance readability

• Use the same “from” address that will be used

in other communications

• Set expectations of future email deliveries

• Tone • Personalize with customer’s first name

• Extend appreciation for choice to sign-up

• Reflect brand voice to establish consistent

interactions with customers

• Rewards • Reinforce benefits of sign-up

• Surprise new contacts with an immediate

reward for sign-up

• Offer incentive within first 30 days

5

Key Welcome Email Elements (continued)

• Segmentation • Send distinct email stream to new

customers

• Differentiate welcome emails based on

sign-up location and/or product selected

• Solicit data via preference center and

respond with targeted content

• Design • Use HTML and mirror corporate website

• Reflect brand visual identity, but ensure

primary content is accessible in images-

off environment

• Convey email purpose via a pre-header

• Optimize for mobile viewers; include

phone number near top for on-the-go

interaction

Opportunity Welcome emails enjoy

high open and click

rates*

• 57.8% total open rate

(14.7% for all other

messages)

• 14.4% total click rate

(vs. 2.7% for all other

messages)

*Source: Experian

Marketing (2010)

6

Key Elements of Email Engagement

Primary drivers in successful email

engagement include:

• Time – delivering short, easy sign-up

process and timely communications

delivered when expected

• Trust – making customers comfortable

so that they are willing to hand over

personal information and conduct

transactions

• Interest – providing engaging content

that is relevant to customers

• Value – answering the question:

“what’s in it for me?”

7

Source: Email Institute (2010)

WELCOME EMAIL

EXAMPLES

8

Example #1

Features • Employs clean design

and layout style that

reflects brand

• Reinforces benefits of

sign-up

• Links to shopping site

• Asks for address book

add

• Supports key message

delivery in images-off

environment

9

Example #2 Features • Uses content blocks to

differentiate key

message focus areas

• Thanks subscriber for

sign-up

• Sets email content

types and frequency

expectations

• Promotes

complementary

offerings

• Encourages contact list

add

• Provides free offer to

reward sign-up

10

Example #3

Features • Includes letter from key

individual to facilitate feeling

of personal connection

• Identifies benefits of sign-up

• Provides clear action links

• Encourages participation in

social communities

• Highlights mobile

communications opportunities

11

Example #4

Features • Provides navigation that

mirrors web site on top and

bottom

• Highlights relevant new

member gift to encourage

using site

• Includes call-out that details

how to get started using site

functionality

12

Example #5

13

Features • Provides physical store

addresses based on

contact’s location

• Includes brief poll to

solicit preferences

• Outlines sign-up

benefits

• Links to reference

information on site to

address key questions

WELCOME EMAIL SERIES

OPPORTUNITIES

14

Benefits of a Welcome Email Series

• Capitalizes on contacts’ high initial

attention

• Facilitates education on offerings

• Drives contacts to next-level

relationship

• Allows sustained brand reinforcement

• Supports phased data collection to

foster targeted messaging

Email # 1

Email # 2

Email # 3

Opportunity

A welcome series typically sees 2x the lift in terms of welcome

program response.

Source: Epsilon

15

Example #1: Basic Welcome Series (1 of 2)

1

Message #1

Features • Simple,

conversational

message that

welcomes

subscriber to

community

• Includes links to

key web sections

16

Message #2 Features • Provides step-by-step instructions

on site functionality

• Links to web store and blog for

additional resources

2

17

Example #1: Basic Welcome Series (2 of 2)

Example #2: Extended Welcome Series (1 of 5)

Member Mail #1: Welcome 1

18

Features • Sustains member

engagement focus for full

year

• Mixes education, brand

awareness and revenue

generation opportunities

• Features member-submitted

photos to build sense of

community

• Aims to foster member

dialog and collect preference

data to target content

• Member Mail #2: Email Preferences

• Member Mail #3: The Co-op

• Member Mail #4: The Dividend

2

3 4

19

Example #2: Extended Welcome Series (2 of 5)

• Member Mail #5: Visa

• Member Mail #6: Stewardship

• Member Mail #7: More Benefits

5

6

7

20

Example #2: Extended Welcome Series (3 of 5)

• Member Mail #8: Educational Opportunities

• Member Mail #9: Online Adventures

• Member Mail #10: See the World

8

9

10

21

Example #2: Extended Welcome Series (4 of 5)

Member Mail #11: Outlet Shopping

22

Example #2: Extended Welcome Series (5 of 5)

11

Award-winning, year-

long engagement

campaign culminates

with a one-year

anniversary message

(not shown)

Keys to Optimized Welcome Series

• Create distinct email stream for new contacts

• Migrate new contacts to regular communications at

welcome campaign end

• Consider cadence – capture interest without creating

overwhelm

• Use subject line to differentiate welcome emails from

transactional emails

• Focus on one concept per email

• Preview next welcome series email in the current one

• Take a phased implementation approach by

improving current welcome messages while

designing series

• Test quantity of messages, subject lines, designs,

timing, incentives, etc.

• Monitor performance and, if possible, compare to

prior approaches to demonstrate ROI

Opportunity

In 2009, just 9% of

brands used a

welcome email

series.

Source: Responsys

& Smith-Harmon

23

SUMMARY & RESOURCES

24

Recap of Key Opportunities • Capitalize on new contacts’ high

attention level with well-constructed

welcome messages

• Target goals to achieve with introductory

message(s), such as: • Reinforce brand

• Confirm transaction

• Collect contact data

• Maintain top-of-mind visibility with an

welcome series • Build trust-based relationship through meeting

delivery expectations and phased information

collection

• Test parameters to ensure right fit for audience

needs

25

Opportunity

New subscriber email

activity nearly doubles

activity by all other

subscribers (34% vs.

18%)

Source: Epsilon, June/July

2011

Useful Online Resources

Online Research Reports

Retail Welcome Email Benchmark: Results of survey of

112 of the largest online retailers published by Smith-

Harmon (March 2009)

>> View Report

How U.S. Marketers Use Email: Survey of 252 interactive

marketers on email trends and tactics published by Forrester

(May 2011)

>> View Report

26

Online Welcome Email Galleries

Email Institute Email Gallery: Many welcome messages (and other

email samples), searchable by industry and other parameters

>> View Gallery

Email Sign-Up and Welcome Messages: User-compiled welcome

and sign-up messages for both mobile and desktop readers

>> View Gallery

27

Useful Online Resources (Continued)

28

THANK YOU