Email welcome programs engage your potential customers as soon as they show an interest in your business by signing up for your newsletter. Many brands however still don’t have one and are missing a massive opportunity
Here’s a few questions for you:
- When would you expect to hear from a business after you’ve made an enquiry?
- When do you think potential customers most want to find out more about YOU?
- When do you think they are most likely to convert after visiting your website?
The answer to all of these questions is STRAIGHT AWAY.
What are welcome email programs?
Let’s first look at a scenario we all find ourselves in when shopping around for products or services. Say for example you were looking into purchasing a service for your business, such as HR support. You visited a few different company’s websites and left your email address to subscribe to updates from each company.
- Company 1 never emailed you and you forgot all about them.
- Company 2 added you to their mailing list and you eventually started to receive their monthly email newsletter.
- Company 3, on the other hand, added you into their targeted welcome email program. You immediately received an email from them welcoming you to their company. The email told you all about who they are and expanded on the benefits of using them. Over the following days, you received two more emails which told you what you will receive from them in the future and extra information such as testimonials, videos, case studies, blogs and free guides.
Which company would be freshest in your mind and would you be most likely to purchase from?
Effective email welcome programs are your first opportunity to engage potential customers, to welcome them to your brand, to tell them more about you and offer solutions to their problems. Subscribers EXPECT to hear from you when they give you their email addresses, so don’t miss out on your chance to make a fantastic first impression. Email welcome programs typically receive open rates of over 50% and a previous client saw an open rate of a whopping 77% on their first welcome email in a series of four. This just goes to prove how engaged potential customers are with your brand when they subscribe and why it’s so important to make that first impression count.
What should be included in your email content?
Here are a few tips:
Be specific: Tell customers how you got their email address. Did they sign up through your website or did you take their details at an event? Help them remember so it is not a surprise to be hearing from you.
Set expectations: Tell subscribers what you will be sending them in the future, whether that be blogs, special offers, new products etc. Tell them how often you will be contacting them and give them the opportunity to change their preferences.
Reinforce your brand: Share any content you have to make it impossible for your subscribers to not want to buy from your business. Provide testimonials from clients, user reviews, video content, blogs and case studies. Share whitepapers or other content to prove you are an expert in your field.
Be relevant: Use any information you have on the subscriber to make your welcome message more relevant. If you are a clothes retailer and know the subscriber was looking at jeans on your website, send them a special offer on a product they were looking at. If you are a b2b business, perhaps you know the business sector of your prospect? If so, then send them information on how you support other clients in that sector or a blog on issues particular to them.
Data capture: This is a great opportunity to find out more about your potential customers. Ask them to give you more data such as their business size, sector or turnover in return for a white paper or special offer.
Ask them to trust you: Don’t forget to request that the subscriber adds your email address to their safe sender’s list. This is so important. Show how valuable your future communications will be and highlight in every email how to make you a trusted sender. This will mean that future emails from you will be more likely to get into their inbox and not be put straight into the spam folder.
When should email welcome programs be sent?
Interest in your product or service is at its strongest right at the point when a customer signs up so DON’T WAIT, capitalise on this interest to maximise your chance of making the sale. In the majority of cases, ‘the early bird catches the worm.’ Most people expect to receive emails from you as soon as they sign up and if they don’t, they think something is wrong.
How many communications should you send?
Email welcome programs can be very simple or very complex. It could be simply one email. It could be three to five emails over a number of days. Or it could be a combination of channels, perhaps including email, direct mail campaigns and a follow up by phone. The nature of your email welcome programs should be based on your type of business and what you want to achieve.
Find out more
For more information about incorporating email marketing in your business, get in touch.
