The Art of the Welcome Email
A brand’s welcome email is a valuable opportunity to engage new users. This often-undervalued tool generates 4 times the total open rate and 5 times the click through rate when compared to regular bulk promotional messages. The welcome email is the very first email interaction that a user receives, and can often impact their decision to continue to use your service or shop your product.
There's no cut and dry formula for a successful welcome email – messaging will differ greatly between industry and target audience. However, there are several actions that brand marketers can take as they design their welcome email:
Provide a clear call to action: One goal of a welcome email should be user engagement. You don’t want this new user to read the email, and then move on. Instead, a user should immediately recognize the call to action and quickly follow through. Groupon and Lumosity both leverage clear calls to action that stand out from the rest of the messaging.
Each has a clear call to action – “Personalize your deals” and “Start today’s training” – which drives users right back to the site. Most people, especially today’s multi-tasking moms, don’t have time to sift through unclear welcome emails for the next step. With a clear call to action, the brand is able to direct the user’s experience.
Show some personality: Another function of the welcome email is to set the tone for the brand. For example, a welcome email from a home décor company will have a much different tone than that of a popular clothing brand. Whatever the industry or product, though, this initial email must be in line with the brand’s unique voice. Disney Baby does this very well, as it pulls in very brand-specific phrases such as “magical moments” and “pint-sized magic kingdom.” It resonates so well with their target audience of moms, as it is very representative of the Disney brand.
Educate users: Another purpose of the welcome email that shouldn’t be overlooked is to educate. One welcome email that does this well is from Pinterest. This popular online tool does an outstanding job – it clearly sets up the user for what to expect as they explore the website. With clever graphics, it gives a high-level explanation of how to use the site and leaves users wanting more.
There are many actions a brand can take to craft a successful email, and these three should be at the top of their list. To understand what a target audience wants to see in a welcome email, brand marketers must stay on top of their specific trends and behaviors. This is clearly the case when a brand markets to moms who want only the best for their family. To learn more about consumer trends that impact marketing to moms, download our free white paper.
Posted by Amie Reardon