Of all the e-mail campaigns you ever construct, your welcome sequence is a very powerful.
Welcome emails see an common open price of 63.91 %—nearly thrice larger than all kinds of promotional emails mixed. And their click-through price is twice as excessive as the typical electronic mail, at 14.34 %.
However the affect of your welcome sequence goes method past mere metrics.
Get it fallacious and also you’ll flip prospects off earlier than you’ve even began to construct a relationship with them. Get it proper and also you’ll pave the best way for a lifetime of engagement, gross sales, optimistic opinions, and buyer referrals.
Working in your first welcome emails? Optimizing your current sequence? As a part of Drip’s Past the Inbox podcast, we spoke to advertising and marketing leaders at a few of our favourite ecommerce manufacturers to learn the way they use welcome emails of their promotional methods…
1. Share One Message Per Electronic mail
If you seize a brand new ecommerce lead, it’s extraordinarily tempting to inform them all the things about your model immediately—your story, your values, your finest merchandise and promotions…
Persistence, younger Padawan.
Cram too many issues right into a single welcome electronic mail and also you danger diluting your messaging, leaving prospects confused.
Margaux DelCollo, CEO and co-founder of TWEE, realized this lesson from an unlikely supply: not as an ecommerce chief, however throughout her time learning for a Grasp’s diploma in Museum Research.
“There was a category about how, if you go into the museum and see the little description on the piece of artwork, somebody will solely learn 50 phrases. And that was a very long time in the past, so it’s most likely even lower than 50 at this level.”
Nevertheless way back Margaux heard it, this studying has caught together with her, and it informs TWEE’s welcome sequence to at the present time.
“We actually tried to make one message for each electronic mail. The primary one is ‘Welcome’. The second is to inform you about how we’re a women-owned enterprise.
Later messages within the sequence contact on different key messages and values—from TWEE’s hottest merchandise to the model’s eco-friendly credentials.
“They don’t seem to be promoting emails,” Margaux explains. “They’re used to carry these individuals who have perhaps solely skilled us one or two alternative ways into our world. As a result of then you definitely see how particular we’re—and then you definitely purchase the product.”
Scott Brown of Paddle Smash makes use of this similar methodology for giveaways. In response to him, they drive electronic mail signal ups by gifting away a sure variety of Paddle Smashes per 30 days.
2. Be a part of Up Your Workflows
Keep in mind: your welcome sequence doesn’t exist in isolation.
Even when each topic line, hyperlink, picture, and sub-clause in your welcome emails is totally excellent, it gained’t ship the specified outcomes if it doesn’t match cleanly into your different automated sequences, resembling:
At on a regular basis carry model City EDC, their welcome sequence lasts for 10 – 15 emails.
If that sounds lengthy, that’s as a result of it’s—however solely prospects who don’t make a purchase order inside that time-frame really obtain the total sequence.
“We solely ship the welcome sequence till the primary buy is made, then we take them off the welcome sequence and convey them into one other sequence, which is the first-purchase sequence,” explains Yong-Soo Chung, City EDC’s founder and CEO.
This stage within the buyer’s lifecycle is important. Analysis exhibits that after a single buy, a buyer has a 27 % probability of returning to an internet retailer—however that leaps as much as 49 % after the second buy and 62 % after the third.
Or, as Chung places it: “We actually wish to get that second buy as a result of we discovered that after they make the second buy, the purchases that come after which can be rather a lot simpler.”
Haute Hijab is one other model that understands the worth of eradicating the friction between totally different sequences and campaigns.
Lindsay Dreyer, the corporate’s Web site Director & CRM Supervisor, spells out how its messaging seems to be from the angle of a brand new electronic mail subscriber:
“We give them a double opt-in as a result of we wish to do high quality management for our listing and ensure any individual actually needs to be there. The second electronic mail they’ll obtain is a promo code from us saying, ‘You have received 20% off in your first order.’
“From there, I put them right into a welcome marketing campaign the place I allow them to know what our model is all about and introduce them to [co-founder and CEO] Melanie Elturk and why she based the corporate.”
At this level, the welcome sequence introduces prospects to a different core factor of Haute Hijab’s advertising and marketing: its model group.
“Now we have a extremely strong Fb web page the place members talk with one another, simply discuss kinds or what is going on on with our model. They let others know, ‘Hey, they have a sale occurring proper now,’ or ‘Take a look at this new shade, this new cloth that Haute Hijab simply launched.’ So we let individuals know all of that info upfront.”
Then it’s time to introduce new electronic mail subscribers to the model’s loyalty program…
…and, in the event that they’re able to make their first buy, assist the client get essentially the most worth from their new product.
“Our new buyer drip is a bit more detailed about what they will anticipate now that they’ve made a purchase order,” Lindsay explains. “Here is some details about methods to care in your new hijab. Listed below are some styling ideas. And remember to redeem these factors if you come again.”
In brief, Haute Hijab has constructed a sequence of customer-first workflows. “All of those totally different automated flows are actually geared to the place the client is of their journey with us as a buyer.”
3. Promote Your USPs
There is perhaps 1000’s of different manufacturers in your area of interest, however not one of the others is precisely like yours.
Nevertheless, you’ll be able to’t anticipate customers to determine that out for themselves—it’s essential spell out what makes you distinctive. And your welcome sequence is the right place to do it.
Sensi Graves from Sensi Graves Swim says her model’s welcome sequence—comprising 4 emails despatched over a pair weeks—is all about sharing her story and explaining their key differentiators, from carbon neutrality to sustainable supplies to being designed by an athlete. “If it is for you, superior. Welcome to our group, listed below are another methods you’ll be able to join with us.”
That brings us to the second element of the model’s welcome sequence: cross-marketing.
“I am introducing a few of our highlighted Instagram posts in that welcome sequence, so it is all feeding into each other,” Sensi explains. “We simply wish to carry individuals into the model, present them what we’re all about, and hopefully assist encourage them to really feel stoked and superb.”
One other on-line service provider depends on common sense USP. Steven Sashen from Xero Footwear says it is about basic truths about how the physique strikes. He depends on these truths to focus on how Xero Footwear enhances the bodys efficiency, relatively than impedes it.
4. Construct an Emotional Connection
Buying selections aren’t all about chilly, onerous details; typically a model simply offers us a good vibe. However for that to occur, we have to type some type of emotional connection.
To’ak Chocolate goals to construct this connection in its welcome sequence by sharing particulars about its model story and historical past.
“We thought of how we might make this extra conversational and extra of a private perception from the co-founders and farmers,” explains associate and CEO James Le Compte. “It’s actually about creating an emotional reference to the model earlier than we do any promoting.”
Keta Burke-Williams, founding father of unisex fragrance model Ourside, agrees with this softly, softly strategy.
“Our welcome sequence gently encourages prospects to buy, but it surely’s actually about constructing the model story,” she says. “I might relatively have individuals who love us so that they’re inspired to buy, relatively than being delay by us attempting to upsell.”
That is particularly essential in Ourside’s area of interest as a result of, for a lot of prospects, fragrances are an emotionally pushed buy. “It is actually essential that we’re capable of tug at their heartstrings utilizing our story and what we’re all about,” Keta says.
5. Define the Kinds of Emails You Ship
Do you know that greater than half of customers unsubscribe from advertising and marketing emails as a result of the content material they obtain doesn’t match their preliminary expectations?
In different phrases, there’s a serious disconnect between the emails prospects assume they’ll obtain and the stuff manufacturers are literally sending them.
Happily, this drawback is definitely solved by taking the time to elucidate the kinds of content material you’ll be sharing along with your new electronic mail subscribers.
That’s exactly what snack model FFUPs does with its welcome sequence:
“For me, it is about model schooling,” says founder and CEO Sam Tichnor. “What are they signing up for, attending to know the model, versus doing one thing that is extra like, ‘Thanks for signing up, this is $5 off.’”
6. Encourage Buyer Self-Segmentation
In response to Mailchimp, segmented electronic mail campaigns obtain…
- 14 % larger open charges
- 11 % extra distinctive opens
- 101 % extra clicks
…than non-segmented campaigns.
So it seems like segmentation is an apparent win for ecommerce entrepreneurs. However there’s an issue: segmenting prospects who’ve solely simply signed as much as your electronic mail listing is powerful since you don’t know a lot about them (but).
For that purpose, deodorant model Duradry has constructed a component of self-segmentation into its electronic mail seize course of and welcome sequence.
“The preliminary concept was to gather buyer information immediately [through] a multiple-choice type,” explains founder and CEO Jack Benzaquen. This strategy enabled the model to share focused messaging from the get-go.
Right here’s an instance of Duradry’s personalised quiz
Apparently, Duradry experimented with ditching the multiple-choice type to see if it had a optimistic affect on electronic mail signups. In actuality, the other occurred.
Jack believes prospects wish to know that you simply genuinely care about their targets and preferences. “If you’re asking for some info that is associated to the explanation they’re at your website, they really feel that you simply’re serious about them.”
7. Welcome Flows Aren’t for Everybody
Keep in mind after I stated your welcome sequence is a very powerful marketing campaign you’ll ever construct?
Really, that’s not true for each model. Sorry.
For example, Naked Sort completely sells low-cost merchandise: sustainably made socks priced at round $10 per pair. Which means the trail to buy is often extraordinarily quick, explains founder and CEO Lucy Jeffrey: “It is simpler to transform somebody right away to purchase a pair than it’s with different merchandise that is perhaps rather a lot higher-value.”
Given this immediacy, a multi-step welcome sequence isn’t essentially the very best strategy. As a substitute, Naked Sort usually focuses on steering prospects towards its collections web page by way of emails and social media advertisements.
Click on-tracking software program reveals that prospects usually land on that web page and easily click on by every product in flip.
“Our prospects wish to be certain that they’ve seen all the things that is probably accessible to them,” Lucy says. “It is actually only one web page that exhibits the entire socks and they’ll click on by each single one.”
Bumpin Blends is one other model for which a standard welcome sequence isn’t essentially the neatest play. Not as a result of prospects convert instantly, however as a result of most of its leads come from an unconventional supply: an onsite quiz.
Founder and CEO Lisa Eberly Mastela says the quiz collects 7.5 occasions extra emails than the model’s electronic mail seize popups and subscription types.
Relatively than enrolling these leads right into a typical welcome sequence, Bumpin Blends sends them emails based mostly on their responses.
“When you do not take a look at inside three minutes, you are getting an electronic mail like, ‘Hey, right here’s your quiz outcomes,’” Lisa explains. “Then, quarter-hour later, we share a reduction code. The following day, the low cost code’s expiring and so they’re in our funnel.”
At this level, the model reverts to a extra conventional welcome move: “We simply welcome them into the household. As a result of they took the time to fill out a complete quiz on our web site, they’re , however there’s simply one thing maintaining them from trying out.”
Ship Extra Partaking Welcome Emails With Drip
The success of your welcome sequence isn’t all in regards to the messaging you ship in particular person emails, or how these emails hyperlink up with different campaigns and sequences. It’s additionally about how your emails appear and feel.
That’s why you want Drip in your nook.
Our intuitive point-and-click builder makes it a cinch to craft trendy, on-brand emails in only a few clicks. Begin with one among 50+ professionally designed templates, then customise each factor to match your branding.
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