4. Remember the good old days of first generation AOL
email? A long awaited reward after agonizing through the
dial-up process, the words “You’ve got mail” meant
running to your computer full of excitement to see who’d
dropped you an electronic note.
5. Fast forward to 2017, and can you even imagine someone
getting excited over such a thing? I mean honestly, is there
even a single person in existence today who’s thinking to
themselves, “gosh, I’m really not getting enough emails!”
Just imagining what that automated AOL voice would
sound like today is laughable. The words “You’ve Got
Mail” would be interrupting Spotify playlists practically
every other minute. The horror!
7. While email marketing is still one of the most effective
means of communication, it is, unfortunately, harder than
ever for us to compete for consumers’ attention in their
inbox. Early on marketers spoiled email marketing with
floods of spam. And now, the average person is getting a
shocking 150 emails a day. Now how does that make you
feel? Where’s that excitement? We went from “You Got
Mail” to “I hate email” in no time flat. These days, by the
time I’m done with my work email for the day, I don’t even
want to look at my personal emails.
8. This is why, as a marketer, your welcome email is one of
the most important elements in your email marketing
program as, if done well, it will help you set the stage for
your entire email marketing relationship with your
customers going forward.
9. According to BlueHornet, the average open rate for
welcome emails is 50% which is 86% more effective than
email newsletters.
But here’s the most encouraging news: people who read at
least one welcome message will read more than 40% of
their messages from the sending brand in the following
180 days.
Source: http://www.bluehornet.com/wp-content/uploads/Welcome-Email-Guide-Infographic.pdf
10. “People who read at least
one welcome message will
read more than 40% of their
messages from the sending
brand in the following 180
days.”
11. • 74% of consumers expect a welcome email when they
subscribe.
• Welcome emails, on average, have a 4x open rate and 5x click-
through rate when compared to standard marketing emails.
• Subscribers who read at least one welcome email read 40
percent more content from the sender over the next 180 days.
Not convinced? Consider these stats that shine a light on
why you need to invest time in your welcome emails
(research from BlueHornet):
14. Set expectations for your email subscribers by:
• Stating the frequency of the emails. 43% of subscribers
would like for businesses to email them less frequently. The
preferred frequency will be different depending on your
consumer base, what kind of product or service you provide,
and the type of information you’re sharing (see tactic 2 for
more details.) You need to determine (via a survey to your
customers) what that sweet spot is for your brand specifically.
15. • Establishing a consistent email design. Not only should your
emails have a consistent look and feel when it comes to their
graphical design, but following a similar formula when it
comes to messaging – whether it be the subject line or body
copy – will play a large part in helping readers to recognize
your email right away. This is important for a few reasons:
16. Familiarity is comfortable. Consumers need to know what
they can expect in order to build trust. They want to know that
upon clicking, they’re not going to be faced with a spammy mess
of an email like the countless others they encounter on a daily
basis.
1
17. Brand recognition builds credibility. Once you’ve established
a strong email design, readers will start recognizing your emails
instantly. That recognition enriches your brand’s credibility
because you’re standing out from all the other email noise. Your
company name and overall message is starting to pop into their
heads each time they see your email fly into their mailbox, which
means you’ll be top of mind when your specialty comes up in
other areas of their life as well.
2
18. Consistency is just plain professional. You wouldn’t have a
website that uses a drastically different color scheme, font type,
and story progression from page to page, so why would you
switch up the look and feel of each of your emails? Some of the
most successful companies have a general formula when it
comes to their email design, and there’s a reason.
3
19. “43% of subscribers would like
for businesses to email them
less frequently.”
22. Guide them through the benefits of your entire email
marketing program and what they can expect to get
out of it right from the first email by:
23. • Including a road map for your customers on what they can expect to see
in the upcoming emails from you. What type of content will you provide?
How will this add value to their lives? All in all, why should they keep an
eye out for your future emails?
24. Think of your welcome email series as a show on Netflix. You decide
to give episode one a try, and by the end you’re hooked (or at least
willing to give episode two a go to see if you’re actually interested.)
Before you know it you’ve skipped a couple of meals and ended up
watching 9 years’ worth of television in just 2 days. Your goal is to
have the same basic effect on your email readers: hook them on the
first one so they keep coming back for more.
25. You can accomplish this by providing them with truly valuable content that helps
walk them through their entire purchase journey, from A to Z.
26. • Addressing obstacles to ownership: In your welcome emails provide tips,
ideas, research and/or suggestions that will help your customers
overcome their biggest barriers to purchase. This requires really knowing
your customers and what their major pain points are. If you are not
already aware of these, you can easily survey your customers, even within
the first email if you’d like. This will prompt engagement which will help
consumers to buy into what you have to say, since they know they can
expect messaging specific to their needs. It doesn’t hurt to make them feel
heard and understood either, which surveys help to do.
27. Once you have a grasp on their biggest barriers to purchase, you can then
provide content that feels custom to their purchase journey. Start small,
especially in your welcome email, by offering high level information that
would be relatable to most anyone, then gradually dive deeper as your email
series goes on. This will ease your customers into things and give them the
confidence they need to keep following along the path you’re setting for
them, ultimately leading to sales engagement.
30. Include case studies and social proof of how your products
helps increase the quality of life for your current customers.
31. It’s sad but true – your prospects don’t trust you. Humans are
naturally social creatures, looking to others to decide on our next
steps. (Click to tweet) Not to mention, with the ability to access
their peers’ thoughts and opinions in just a few clicks, consumers
are smarter than ever. The best assets your marketing team can
have are happy customers. Build relationships with your brand
evangelists and lean on them to help create compelling content,
such as case studies or video testimonials. Beyond that, happy
customers make the best references during the purchase process.
Hearing that your solution is great from you is expected, but
hearing it from a peer is impressive.
32. “Humans are naturally social
creatures, looking to others to
decide on our next steps.”
33. Highlight one of these customer featured pieces somewhere within your
welcome email to make a big impact on your readers. Include a quote or snippet
from the asset within the email’s body copy and then link your CTA to a landing
page on your website. (Note: customer content is high value to your audience,
so we recommend gating the piece behind a form on the landing page,
prompting visitors to fill in their profile information so you know exactly who is
engaging most heavily, and therefore who to reach out to first and what the
conversation should look like.) Knowing they have more content like this to
look forward to in emails yet to come will keep your readers excited (yes, that’s
right, excited!) when the time comes for your next email to pop into their inbox.
34. Armida Markarova is the Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at
Marketing Strategy Hub, a marketing consultancy firm that offers
marketing education (workshops, seminars, webinars and
coaching), strategic marketing plan development and project based
services to help you turn your marketing dollars into business
outcomes that matter.
35. GET NEW CUSTOMERS AND SELL MORE.
We are only a phone call or email away.
armida@marketingstrategyhub.com
773-992-8107
LET US HELP YOU
