![From Name/Address
From Names:
Use the same from name as regular emails
Simple, logical and trusted brand
From Name/Address
Again, use same as regular emails
Avoid ugly, number-oriented if possible
Good Examples:
Olive Garden [newsletter@olivegarden.com]
MBNA America [MBNA@cardsatisfaction.com]
Magazines.com [offers@magazines.com]
Questionable Example:
Penny at MarketingProfs [support@marketingprofs.com]
Service@wedding.orders.com
14](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/welcome-email-best-practices-silverpop-110902030858-phpapp01/85/Welcome-Email-Best-Practices-Silverpop-14-320.jpg)
Welcome Email Best Practices, Silverpop
- 1. Using Welcome Emails to Drive Increased Engagement and ROI
- 2. Contents Why Welcome Emails? Elements of a Welcome Email Program Sample (Good & Bad) Welcome Emails & Best Practices Welcome Series REI 12-Part Welcome Series 2
- 4. List Churn and Inactives – The Good, Bad and So-So The bad news… A typical list will lose 1/3 of its members each year The good news… Bounces + spam complaints + • Churn can be reduced unsubscribes = 2-4% / month • You control most of your destiny 25% to 80% of your list is • Some inactives can be reengaged inactive Subscriber has not opened or clicked in specific time frame The so-so news… (e.g., 6, 12 months+) Most are lost 4
- 5. The Honeymoon is over! Research by marketing publisher MarketingSherpa shows email subscriber interest begins to disintegrate as soon as two weeks after the opt-in, as measured by the open rate. Within two months, the open rate typically falls 20% to 25%. 5
- 6. Why Recipients Unsubscribe -Too Frequent - Irrelevant Content/Offers 6
- 7. Welcome Email – eec Retail Research Study 72% of major online retailers send out welcome emails. 98% of retailers’ welcome email now contain a link to their shopping site 32% of welcome emails include a discount, reward or incentive 62% of welcome emails asked the subscriber to whitelist them 79% of retailers sent out HTML welcome emails Most of the HTML welcome emails were HTML “lite,” making extensive use of HTML text 53% of welcome emails included links to the retailer’s privacy policy 58% of welcome emails were CAN-SPAM compliant in terms of including both a mailing address and unsubscribe method *Email Experience Council’s second annual Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study (2007) 7
- 8. Elements of a Welcome Email Program
- 9. Subscriber Email Touch Progression Opt-in form DOI Confirmation Email Welcome Email or Series Regular Email Program 9
- 10. Engage and Delight…Every Step of the Way Dating Build trust with transparency Preferences on opt-in Engagement Welcome programs Bring the flowers Marriage Deliver on expectations Preference updates Move to lifecycle, trigger and behavioral-based programs Divorce Provide alternatives to unsubscribing 10
- 11. Goals and Purpose Goals: Purpose Speed up conversion Educate subscriber Minimize list churn Reward/Incent Strengthen brand Instill/reinforce trust perception Enable immediate “email Reduce inactivity experience” Provide administrative information 11
- 13. Timing The Good News The Bad News 61% of retailers deliver 19% take more than 24 their welcome emails hours to deliver their within 10 minutes of welcome emails, with sign up, with most of nearly a third of those those delivering within 3 taking more than a week minutes.* to deliver.* *Email Experience Council’s second annual Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study (2007) 13
- 14. From Name/Address From Names: Use the same from name as regular emails Simple, logical and trusted brand From Name/Address Again, use same as regular emails Avoid ugly, number-oriented if possible Good Examples: Olive Garden [newsletter@olivegarden.com] MBNA America [MBNA@cardsatisfaction.com] Magazines.com [offers@magazines.com] Questionable Example: Penny at MarketingProfs [support@marketingprofs.com] Service@wedding.orders.com 14
- 15. Subject Lines Good/OK Not So Good Welcome to Fetchdog! Take Welcome 10% Off Your Next Order No branding Branded No mention of email program Immediate value proposition No value proposition Welcome to Art.com - Take Thank you for signing up! 20% Off Today Signing up for what? Branded No branding Immediate value proposition Welcome to Sear.com Email Savings! Email program is branded Implied value proposition 15
- 16. Welcome Content Checklist Email address added Resources, key links Add to address book “Your gift” incentive Privacy assurance and Unsubscribe link link Reinforce value Link/instructions on how proposition to change preferences Upsell How to get started Call to action/”offer” When the first email will arrive 16
- 17. Sample (Good & Bad) Welcome Emails & Best Practices
- 18. Confirmation Emails – Are Not “Welcome Emails” • Primary Purpose is to confirm subscription • They aren’t a subscriber yet • Pre-selling and reminding of value proposition is good, but should not take the place of welcome email; or distract from confirmation action 18
- 19. Net a Porter: 3-Step Sign-Up/Confirmation Process 1. Opt-in form with minimal (but key) information requested 2. Double opt-in confirmation email 3. Further information collected on confirmation page for additional targeting 19
- 20. Net-a-Porter: Double Opt-in Confirmation Email 20
- 21. Net a Porter: DOI Confirmation Page – Collect Additional Data 21
- 22. Welcome – 4-parts will follow Overview Login immediately Value proposition Tips and community FAQ Support Resources contact
- 24. Key text navigation links Value Proposition Shopping link Administrative text links
- 25. Sears: Works Pretty Well Even With Block Images However, most critical shopping link is image only – should also be text link 25
- 26. Toys-R-Us: Disaster With Images Blocked 26
- 28. Top of email
- 29. Middle of email
- 30. Bottom of email
- 31. Best Practices Followed: Re-iterates benefits of signing up Set expectations on when first email would be received (though vague) Asked to be added to Address Book Link to privacy policy HTML to convey brand image Sent within 24 hours of registering Primary message is view- able in an images off environment
- 32. Welcome Email – Betty Crocker Confirmation/Welcome email received when registering for their website Cross promotes their newsletters in case you didn’t sign up when you registered for the website Great use of imagery Coupons Star Ratings Recipe Box Best Practices Followed: Primary message is view-able in an images off environment Email comes from Betty Crocker (From Address). Includes personalization (first name)
- 33. Good: Driving immediate engagement with Infiniti by providing key calls to action on the red buttons Needs to Improve: The entire main body of the email is an image Need a mix of text and HTML to optimize visibility in email clients and deliverability
- 34. Welcome Series Think Series, Not Just a Single Welcome Email
- 35. Welcome 1 - Overview 35
- 36. Welcome 2 – Getting Started 36
- 37. 1 Preferences Reinforce reminder Benefits
- 38. 2
- 40. REI 12-Part Welcome Series (Courtesy Smith-Harmon www.smith-harmon.com)
- 41. 1
- 42. 2
- 43. 3
- 44. 4
- 45. 5
- 46. 6
- 47. 7
- 48. 8
- 49. 9
- 50. 10
- 51. 11
- 52. 12
- 53. Takeaways Take baby steps Test subject lines Redesign for preview pane and blocked images Test layout, use of images, HTML Incorporate additional welcome content Monitor open, clicks and conversions for recipients of Welcome messages – impact on overall response rates Expand from a single welcome email to welcome program Continuously test 53
- 54. Q&A Follow Me Contact: Twitter Loren McDonald • @LorenMcDonald lmcdonald@silverpop.com Columnist • Media Post - Email Insider • MarketingProfs GetToThePoint • Many others… www.silverpop.com Blogs • Silverpop – “Tales” • http://marketing- suite.silverpop.com/loren- mcdonald.html 54