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We see this a lot and it makes us angry! E-commerce sites encourage visitors to sign up to Email newsletters, but which don’t bother to send an immediate series of targeted welcome Emails to the subscriber. If you’re one of these sites, you have to sort this out. great welcome emails for ecommerce. It’s hard enough to get people to sign up to emails these days. We get so many emails so when someone is actively asking to hear from you that’s a big deal. Great welcome emails for ecommerce sites have the potential to increase new customer conversion by 40% in our experience.
So when you do get a new subscriber, you can’t wait till the next time you send a newsletter out. You need to respond quickly because they’re very likely to be in buying mode and want to hear more from you. Whether that’s an opening offer or more reasons why they should pick you vs. a competitor of yours. Here are some tips when you’re starting to think about welcome emails.
Great welcome emails for ecommerce mean making a great first impression…
It’s wasteful to ruin the efforts you’ve put into the design of your brand and site by sending generic welcome messages. This is common with sites that use MailChimp and the default double-opt-in process or the default “final welcome email” from MailChimp. If you haven’t made the effort to customise the automated confirmation email process then do it. Otherwise you get the grey, boring default process below (not exactly inspiring as a first communication):
It’s grey, it’s dull, it’s the MailChimp default set of form templates. If you use the double opt-in process and don’t customise the look and feel of these templates then you’re missing an opportunity to communicate your brand assets consistently to your new Subscriber. If you use email clients like gmail you can click to confirm your subscription without opening the email, but lots of people open email in smart phones and don’t necessarily have this feature enabled within their mobile device.
So try and make the experience consistent with your brand. Use your logo and colour palette. And use your tone of voice rather than the default MailChimp instructions.
Here’s an example from chiacharge.co.uk
Tim Taylor has done a great job at building a community around his brand. His friendly tone comes through on these first communications, which are personal and inviting. And this transcends into his subsequent welcome emails.
Some of you might not have a double opt-in process. In which case you can ignore the above, but ensure that the welcome emails that follow are consistent with your brand look, feel and tone.
Here’s Tim’s first welcome email from Chia Charge. You can see how his logo is used throughout and he’s consistent in his tone and message:
Great welcome emails mean being friendly and helpful
If your subscribers can see you actually care about them, then you’re already increasing your chances to convert them into customers.
A welcome email series is the first step towards conversion, so infuse your brand’s personality to your messages. So many companies send monotonic, uninspired emails. Be different and send something a little unexpected. If you’re a small business, use that to your advantage to project your passion and service levels. Write really personal emails that come from your business owner, like Tim does in the example above. People buy from people, after all.
Let them know what they will get
Make sure your recipients know what their subscription is all about: how often they’ll hear from you, what kind of content they will receive etc. You might not see the advantage of this, but from a subscriber’s perspective, it’s a sign your brand is honest and wants to keep its subscribers informed. Plus, it’s a way to describe everything this subscription will bring to your new subscribers’ life!
A welcome series is also an opportunity to bring people back to your website, your social media pages, your blog and so on. So Make sure these links are on your welcoming emails. And make sure you’re clear on the role of your emails vs. social media in particular. In my opinion, your email list needs to be treated with greater respect than your social media followers. They should be the ones to hear about exclusives first, to get special deals and so on. Companies like MailChimp make it really easy to share your email newsletters through social media, when they’re sent out. But think about the implications of this. If it no longer feels special to be part of your newsletter subscriber base, people will unsubscribe.
Examples of great welcome emails for ecommerce sites
Michaels.com
This crafty ecommerce site has its welcome series on point! They express gratitude, showcase their brand, and their email layout looks like one big arts and crafts project. It clearly show they value their future communication with their subscribers. Quoting “We’re going to send fun stuff like DIY tips and tricks, invites to in-store events, and exclusive deals and coupons.”
Food52.com
These foodies know how to welcome their new subscribers. First, their preview text at the top of the email, “We brought snacks” sets the tone and definitely adds flavour to their message. Also, putting a face (or two in this case) helps build trust and shows a sincere desire to meet subscribers’ expectations.
If you have examples of great welcome emails for ecommerce sites you can share then please do. We’d love to hear about them. And if you have any questions about this post, get in touch!
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This post first appeared on Blog - The Rais Customer Converter Marketing, please read the originial post: here
