You’ve probably been hearing your whole life about the importance of making a good first impression. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first day of school, a job interview, or a date, people will remember what they first thought about you.
The same is true for your email marketing. You need to deliver the right information to your new contacts, so they understand the benefit of your messages and want to keep reading. You’ll do this with a welcome email.
One major way welcome emails are different from other emails
A welcome email is very different from a promotional email or email newsletter. Both of these emails have specific purposes and CTAs—either to entice a contact to make a purchase or to keep a prospect engaged and educated.
However, a welcome email might offer several different CTAs to allow your contacts to learn about your brand or products. Consider this example from Red Wing Work Boots.
Source: Really Good Emails
This email includes four distinct calls to action:
- Browsing the boots
- Testimonials
- Learning about the company
- Finding a store
It’s the perfect introductory email for a contact to get all the information they need.
Timing is everything with welcome emails
When you sign up to receive something, you probably want it immediately—and so do your customers.
The most successful welcome emails are sent to contacts within minutes of them filling out an email signup form or being entered into your email list. You don’t need to send these emails manually. It’s fairly simple to set up a workflow that will automatically fire off these emails to new contacts.
And, since customers are expecting your email, they are 10x more likely to open it.
How to measure your welcome email performance
You will only be sending emails to contacts who opt in to receive your messages. This is a huge benefit for you and your reporting. Unlike some of your other emails, your contacts expect to receive their welcome email and are looking forward to opening it.
Using the dashboard and tools in your ESP, you’ll be able to get a fairly accurate picture of your email’s performance. Consider metrics like open and click-through rates to determine how well your audience is engaging with your content. For example, in a welcome email, a high unsubscribe rate shows your content is not what your audience is expecting and could mean you need to change your email copy or sign-up form information.
Does it really matter?
A welcome email can go a long way to converting your leads into customers, but there are more pieces to the puzzle.
Regardless of how great your welcome message is, it means nothing if you don’t have supplemental messages as part of your welcome drip campaign. Use these campaigns to provide useful introductory information and tips that you wouldn’t naturally include in your welcome email. Customers that engage with this series will be more likely to remain engaged throughout the lead nurturing process.
What now?
Now that you understand the importance of a welcome email, basic steps to build your message, and the proper way to track its effectiveness, you’ll want to put your plan into action.
Don’t forget to think a few steps ahead. After your welcome email campaign is over, you’ll need to nurture these contacts in another drip campaign. You might want to consider an email newsletter to can help keep your contacts informed and educated while they progress through the buyer’s journey.