“And how about you?” he asks. “What do you do?”At that point, would you walk away?
In real life, you’d never ignore someone right as he began to express interest in you. But in your business, there’s a good chance you’re doing just that if you don’t send welcome emails—messages that introduce your company and its value to a new email subscriber.
When you gain an email subscriber, that person has never been more interested in hearing from your business. Compared with other promotional emails, welcome emails are four times more likely to be opened and five times more likely to be clicked, according to a report by Experian Marketing Services.
That means welcome emails are prime real estate for educating new prospects about your business and for encouraging them down the path toward becoming a customer. Welcome emails set the tone—not only for your future communications, but for the ongoing relationship between you and your customers.
The best welcome emails result from the combination of Digital Marketer strategy and marketing automation software that automatically sends relevant emails when new leads come in. That’s why Digital Marketer, a leading strategy and consulting group, and Infusionsoft, a leading provider of sales and marketing software for small businesses, have teamed up for this e-book on crafting effective welcome emails.
In this piece, we’ll explain what every welcome email should include, analyze examples of successful emails, and explore why welcome emails are the perfect start to a relationship that can continue well beyond the first sale.
One of the best ways to attract new leads and convert them into customers is through email marketing—and a welcome email should be part of those broader efforts.
According to technology firm Gigaom Research, 86 percent of digital marketers at companies of all sizes regularly use email marketing—and they consider email more effective for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention than any other tactics.
The popularity of email marketing also means that your prospects already see plenty of marketing messages in their inboxes. To get email addresses, you first need to give. Think about something you could offer as a “lead magnet” to prospects that would compel them to hand over their email addresses, like a helpful piece of content, a free consultation, or a video course. In any form, a lead magnet should attract your target audience by offering a specific solution to their problem.
After you collect an email address by offering a lead magnet, it’s time to send your welcome email. If you use marketing automation software like Infusionsoft, the welcome email can be automatically triggered as a result of an action the prospect takes, like filling out an online form.
The software also allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your welcome email by measuring metrics like open rate and recording actions like links clicked. These insights help you better understand your prospects’ interests and behaviors, allowing you to send emails that resonate with them and increase their affinity for your company.
Some prospects thoroughly investigate your company before giving their email addresses to you. Others, though, might have glanced at your website for only a matter of seconds before signing up. For that reason, your welcome emails can’t assume that prospects know everything—or anything—about your business.
Use the welcome email as an opportunity to introduce your company, its values, and its differentiating qualities. To provide more information, turn the welcome email into a multi-day email series—sending resources like answers to frequently asked questions, top-selling products, or a roundup of your best blog posts.
The dividing line between the inbox and the spam folder is engagement. When your emails are regularly opened and clicked, email service providers recognize them as messages people want to receive.
Digital Marketer uses a three-part welcome series that’s designed to increase that engagement. The emails bounce subscribers around from the inbox to the blog to social accounts—helping to improve email deliverability and compel subscribers to spend more time with your company. In a subtle way, the welcome emails shift subscribers’ habits, moving them closer to the next steps with your company.
Your email should include a clear, straightforward subject line (like “Welcome to [Company]!”) and an introduction to your business and its offerings.
To personalize the email and differentiate it from the marketing emails to come, consider sending the welcome from the CEO rather than from your company. Consumers like seeing that there are real people behind your brand.
Joining an email list involves some mystery for subscribers. Will your company send emails on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis? What exactly will be in these emails: promotions, special offers, helpful tips, company news, event information?
While you have their attention, tell new subscribers what kind of emails they’re going to receive and how often they’ll receive them. It’s better to be upfront about your intentions now than annoy prospects over time with unexpected emails, which can lead them to unsubscribe—and lose interest in your company. Here’s how Digital Marketer sets expectations.
New subscribers now understand who you are, what you’ll be sending, and how your emails are going to help them. They trust you a little more than they did when they signed up for your emails. So now you can ask a small favor or two in return.
Digital Marketer asks for two “micro-commitments” that both move the relationship forward and ensure continued communication. The welcome email asks subscribers to follow Digital Marketer CEO and founder Ryan Deiss on Facebook and Twitter, explaining that social channels are a primary method of communication.
It also asks them to “whitelist” Digital Marketer as an email sender, a tactic that can improve email deliverability—even if only a small percentage of readers comply with the request.
Back to the example of meeting someone at a party: If you hit it off, you don’t end the night with, “Well, it was nice meeting you.” You make plans to continue the relationship (or at least drop hints about doing so).
A welcome email should end the same way. Give subscribers a preview of what’s coming to their inboxes next, like a helpful video or special offer. Here’s how Digital Marketer teases its three-part welcome series, creating suspense that entices readers to open the next emails they see.
Why the email works: In three simple, visually-appealing points, Aritiza tells new subscribers what sets their company apart from countless other places to shop. The email also introduces a playful brand voice that helps subscribers feel more connected to the company. View Aritzia's email online(credit: Really Good Emails)
online (credit: Really Good Emails).
In a world where almost everyone gets too much email, email marketing remains the most effective tactic for acquiring, converting, and retaining customers—but only when done right. And that starts with your welcome email. When you gain a new email subscriber—someone who willingly surrendered her email address to your company—she deserves a warm welcome. Welcome emails are better opened and better-read than any other marketing emails your company will send. They bridge the gap between collecting leads and converting them to customers, allowing you to introduce your business and educate them about your offerings. When you send an effective welcome email, you start a relationship with your subscribers that can last for many more emails—and sales— to come.
Unlike other software companies, Infusionsoft is solely focused on small business. We accelerate small business growth with technology, sales and marketing strategy, and a community of industry leaders, business owners, coaches, and consultants. Our powerful, integrated sales and marketing software solution combines CRM, marketing automation, e-commerce, and payments solutions with a vibrant marketplace of apps, integrations, and partners.
DigitalMarketer.com is a community where marketers, growth hackers, entrepreneurs and small business owners come to get ideas on driving more traffic, increasing conversion rates, and boosting social engagement. In a sea of marketing and business growth blogs, Digital Marketer is unique because it’s owned and operated by real marketers who actually sell their own products and services online.
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