You know the routine: you opt-in to someone’s subscriber list, and soon you receive a confirmation email from them, welcoming you to the list, newsletter or whatever you just opted in for. The fact that we are expecting these emails is a primary reason why they are usually opened. But how does the sender craft these emails for best results?
What elements are necessary to not only welcome them, but also identify what they can expect and what you have to offer them during their time with you?
Welcome emails are generally opened at a pretty high rate, but it’s what you include in them that sets the stage for what follows. Let’s take a look at 7 of the ways you can compose your emails for best results.
7 Ways to craft effective welcome emails
Don’t batch: send them immediately – While it might be more server-efficient to batch your emails to send out together, its poor form to do so with a new subscriber. Demonstrate that you care a little by sending these right away.
Use a reply email address – Make sure this happens. Having a no-reply email only serves to show that you really don’t give a flip about them. Also, employ a recognizable name in the “From” field; company name, etc.
Split-test your welcome email subject lines – This is quite easy to do, and can make a big difference in your open rates. Wouldn’t you want to do this for a possible 15-20 percent increase in opens?
Use your social media channels – Encourage your subscribers to follow you on your social media channels, and even help them by ensuring that you have links and buttons on your email template.
Personalize your welcome emails – If you’ve collected names, you’re going to want to personalize your welcome emails to help get the relationship off to a warm and fuzzy start. Don’t get overly cozy, but friendly and polite is good.
Consider offering an incentive – A lot of companies opt to send along a coupon or other incentive as a welcome gift. Not a bad idea, and can move relationship from a subscriber to a buyer swiftly.
Optimize for mobile – These days more than half of all emails are being read on a mobile device, so wouldn’t it be a good policy to use a responsive design so that your emails can be read anywhere, anytime?
