4 Things Your Welcome Email Must Do (and Probably Doesn’t)

 4 Things Your Welcome Email Must Do (and Probably Doesn’t)
As a small business or nonprofit, you know how important a first impression can be. And with the end of the year fast approaching, those impressions are vital in order to finish out the year strong.
Whether it’s the first time someone walks into your store, the first time someone calls your office, or the first time someone looks up your organization online — you work hard to make sure customers and supporters walk away thinking positively about your brand.
But how about the first impression a customer has with your brand’s email marketing?
Have you put any thought into the type of experience you’re giving your customers or supporters when they receive an email from you for the first time?

The value of welcome emails

It’s easy to forget that each time a customer opens an email from your organization, they are actually having an experience that can impact the way they think of your business.
Like when someone decides to hop in their car and visit your location, they do so with certain expectations. The same goes for when someone decides to sign up to receive your emails. More often than not, those expectations will come from the initial experience that reader had with your business or cause.
That’s why it’s such a surprise that the value of the Welcome Email is often overlooked.

What is most often done wrong

Welcome emails are the automated messages subscribers receive when they sign up for your email newsletter.
Because welcome emails are automated and most email services provide stock content for businesses to put into them — many business owners don’t even know what the first experience they’re providing their readers looks like.
That’s a huge problem. Especially considering open rates for welcome emails are much higher than typical email correspondence. (The average open rate for a welcome email is between 50-60 percent.)
That’s a lot of people being served a less than optimal first impression. Even worse, that’s a lot of people setting low expectations for the emails they’re going to receive from your organization in the future.
Take this time to make sure your Welcome Email delivers a fantastic first impression so you can establish strong relationships for your end of the year efforts. Here are four things your Welcome Email must do:
New to Constant Contact? You can try it out with a free 60-day trial.

1. Reaffirm they made the right decision

The fact is, even customers who love your business can be reluctant to offer up their email address — especially if they are new to your business and haven’t built a strong relationship with you.
For the customers who do make the decision to subscribe, they’re going to want to know right from the start they made the right decision.
Here are three ways to do just that:
  1. Remember your subject line best practices: Just because Welcome Emails are automated, doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay attention to your best practices. A Welcome Email subject line should catch the reader’s attention, thank them for signing up, and give them a reason to open your email. Try something like “Thanks for signing up. Now what?”
  2. Let them know they’re part of a community: Don’t be afraid to showcase your success as an email marketer. Letting readers know just how many people are receiving your newsletter each month is a great way to reaffirm their decision to subscribe to your list.
  3. Make them feel safe: People are protective of their information online — and for good reason. Letting your customers know right from the start that you plan to protect their email address is a great way to make them feel safe and secure.

2. Tell them what to expect in the future

Once you’ve reaffirmed the reader’s decision to subscribe to your mailing list, offer some preview of what they can expect next.
It’s important that what you tell your reader in the Welcome Email is consistent with what you promised at the point of sign-up.
Take the time to revisit what you’re offering people at the point of sign-up. Remember to include details about the type of content you plan to send, how frequently you plan to send it, and the expertise you plan to share.

3. Make sure future emails get through

Even the most experienced email marketers can sometimes fall victim to SPAM filters.
If you’re a Constant Contact customer, you can use the Spam Checker to improve the likelihood of your emails making it through.
But you should also use your Welcome Email as a way to avoid getting flagged as spam, and to improve your chances of getting noticed in your readers’ inbox.
A great way to do that is by asking them to “whitelist” or add your business to their trusted contacts. That way, your emails will not only end up in the inbox (and out of the spam folder), but will also be more likely to be recognized by the reader.

4. Fulfill on your offer

It’s likely you made an offer of a download or coupon in exchange for your contact’s email address. After all, special offers are one of the reasons why people sign up to email lists. The Welcome Email is where you should fulfill on that offer. Since the Welcome Email is typically sent immediately after a new contact joins your list, you’ll be able to provide instant gratification to your new contact.

Remember this is your Welcome Email

Personalizing your Welcome Email will not only improve the first impression you’re able to make on your readers, it will also help set you apart from your competition.
While most businesses are sending welcome emails with static and un-engaging messaging, you’ll be providing an experience that will shape the way customers and supporters think of your brand.
Take the steps provided for you in this post and remember this is your welcome email. It’s your opportunity to introduce your email marketing and reintroduce your business or nonprofit to your target audience. Make sure it’s written in your words and that it reflects the personal experience you plan to provide your readers.
Make it memorable, and finish the year out strong with quality subscriber relationships. It’s time to get back to business!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Create a Social Media Posting Schedule

Image
You know that sticking to a schedule is important for your business. It helps you get through your never-ending To Do list and keeps everything running smoothly. The same is true when it comes to your social media marketing . Creating a social media schedule is the best way to stay on top of your social media marketing. Still not using email marketing to increase your social media reach? Start your free 60-day trial today! How can you create a social media posting schedule for your business?  Use these tips to create a schedule that works for your business. Understand which networks are right for your business  With almost two billion unique monthly users, Facebook is a good starting place for many businesses. But, depending on the audience you’re trying to reach, there are lots of other great networks to choose from — including Twitter , LinkedIn , Pinteres t, or Instagram Remember, you don’t have to be on every network. Start by building a presence on ...
Read more

4 Tools to Help You Integrate Your Social Media and Email Marketing

Image
  Many of you already use email and social media marketing to promote your small business or nonprofit. But how many of you integrate your social media and email marketing ? Here are 4 easy tools that will help you do just that: 1. Add social media buttons Adding social media buttons to your emails is a great way to let your readers know where they can find you on various social media networks. Fans can also click the button within your emails to see your organization’s social profiles. To add buttons, make sure you’re in the “Edit” mode of a block. Then, click the “Social” tab in the tools on the left side of the screen. When you click on one of the networks, you can choose which kind of button you want to use. Just make sure you add the link to your page in the link box. It’s important to use your unique Facebook URL, such as www.facebook.com/constantcontact , so that users are taken directly to your page. Click the “Insert” button to add the button to your block a...
Read more

Record shares of Americans now own smartphones, have home broadband

Image
  Nearly nine-in-ten Americans today are online, up from about half in the early 2000s. Pew Research Center has chronicled this trend and others through more than 15 years of surveys on internet and technology use. On Thursday, we released a new set of fact sheets that will be updated as we collect new data and can serve as a one-stop shop for anyone looking for information on key trends in digital technology. To mark the occasion, here are four key trends illustrating the current technology landscape in the U.S. 1 Roughly three-quarters of Americans (77%) now own a smartphone , with lower-income Americans and those ages 50 and older exhibiting a sharp uptick in ownership over the past year, according a Pew Research Center survey conducted in November 2016. Smartphone adoption has more than doubled since the Center began surveying on this topic in 2011: That year, 35% of Americans reported that they owned a smartphone of some kind. Smartphones are nearly ubiquit...
Read more