DIGITAL SUMMIT: ATLANTAFirst Impressions: The Power of an Amazing Welcome Email

Speaker

Senior Manager, Customer Success, BlueHornet

@pilarbower

@bluehornetemail

linkedin.com/in/pilarbower

Pilar Bower

• 74.4% of consumers expect a welcome email when they subscribe. [source: BlueHornet]

• People that read at least one welcome message read more than 40% of their messages from the sending brand during the following 180 days. [source: ReturnPath]

• The average open rate for welcome emails is 50% — 86% more effective than email newsletters. [source: Emma]

Why A Welcome Email?Industry Stats

Welcome Emails

• Determine your goals and desired actions first o As you are mapping out your email flow

and content, the goal is to move your subscriber to the next step in the process

• Benchmark current program before launching new one!

• Engagement o Increase in Open & Click rates

o Increase Conversions

o Increase likelihood of a second purchase/upsell

o Each message in a series will have a different conversion goal based on the primary message

• TEST, TEST, TEST

• Improve sender reputationo Lower spam complaints in the long run

o Decrease in unsubscribes and non-engagement

Success Metrics

Welcome Emails

• “Once the initial welcome message has been read, read rates of subsequent messages drop dramatically. However, read rates still level off at significantly higher rates for those who did not read a brand’s welcome messages.

• In fact, those who read welcome emails tended to hover around a 50-percent read rate in the 180-day period covered in this study.

• Those who don’t read the welcome message started with low read rates and stayed there.”

Success Metrics

Welcome Emails

1) Subject line: Thank you for visiting the PUMA store.

o Content may not be different, but it reminds the subscriber where they signed up

2) Contests: Thank you for entering the St. Lucia Island Getaway sweepstakes

o Many contests include opt ins for multiple 3rd parties

o An explicit Welcome email can alleviate spam complaints and engage the subscriber

o Set expectations for future emails

By Acquisition Source

Columbia Welcome Program

Newsletter Welcome Loyalty WelcomePerformance over promotional:

• Open Rates +197%

• CTR +448%

• CTOR +85%

• Revenue per Email (RPE) +2000%

By Acquisition Source

Welcome EmailsSample Flow Chart

General Newsletter

Sign Up

Welcome 1: Intro, expectations

Welcome 2: Follow us on Social

CTA to Create AccountEnd Series

Immediately 3 days 21 days

Purchase or Loyalty Sign

Up

Loyalty Welcome 1: What it means

(no offer)

CGR Welcome 3: **Loyalty Surprise 25% Off Coupon

Loyalty Welcome 2: Social Points,

reiterate value props of Loyalty Club

End Series

Immediately 3 days 7 days 28 daysUsed

Coupon

Yes

CGR Welcome 4: Coupon Expiration

(in 2 days) Reminder

No

Purchases or Creates Account/joins

Loyalty Program

YesYes

End Series

Welcome 3: Popular Blog &/or video

content CTA to Create Account

Yes

Welcome Emails

Email 2 Content Example:

• Social Promotion: use this time to inform subscriber of your social channels

Email 3 Content Example:

• Popular or seasonal blog content

• Videos

Email 4 Content Example:

• Offer

• Cross-sell/Up-sell/Product Recommendations

Email 5 Content Example:

• Request for Product Review

Onboarding Content

Welcome Series Example

• Introduces the brand along with promoting key brand initiatives

• Tailors subsequent welcome messages around click behavior

Progressive Profiling

• Progressive Profiling: use this time to learn more about your subscribers, implicitly (click behavior) and explicitly (preference center)

• Collect profile information when you have least information, and audience is most willing to share

• Collect actionable content that will assist you with future targeting relevancy

• Focus on building relevance in messaging; engagement is a side effect

Collecting Subscriber Data

Progressive Profiling

• Campaign images allow subscribers to easily see type of messages they are subscribing for and generates a larger CTA in the welcome email

• Required fields

o Email

o Zip

o Birthday

o Gender

• New preference center led to a 17% increase in the number of subscribers who completed their profile in just two months

Profile/Preference Center

Attrition was reduced by

giving subscribers a choice

of which communications

they’d like to receive.

PacSun saw 2.86%

growth in subscribers

with a gender value.

Product Recommendations

• Insert recommended products or content in promotional emails related to user’s behavior

• Introduce new products to loyal visitors, and best-sellers to new customers!

• Use clickstream, profile, and purchase data to drive engagement, lower bounce rates

Supercharge your Customer Lifetime Value

Post-Purchase EmailsTransactional Emails Transactional Emails can be an

important part of the Onboarding

process!

• A purchase may be the first touchpoint/opt in for your new subscriber

• Optimize your confirmation emails to be part of that experience

• Ask for the opt in if not on marketing list

• Consider delaying your normal Welcome email for 24 hours

o If Customers are receiving 2 emails at the same time (transactional email & Welcome email), they will likely show more engagement to transactional emails and ignore the subsequent message

Cross-sell products related to

most recent purchase

Post-Purchase Emails

Performance over promotional:

• Open Rates +45%

• RPE +114%

Product Reviews

CLIENT SPOTLIGHTBikeBandit

BikeBandit Welcome ProgramBy Acquisition Source: Non-Purchasers

BikeBandit Welcome ProgramBy Acquisition Source: Purchasers

BikeBandit Welcome ProgramResults

BikeBandit Welcome Program

• Welcome converted to riding-style personalization, earning significant amount of additional revenue

• Because of first iteration’s success, they are continuously testing and optimizing

• Separate flows for variations of source and Preferences set vs. No Preferences set:

o Newsletter

o Purchase

o Account Registration / No Registration

o Next: Guest Checkout (Purchase, No Reg)

Progressive Profiling

BikeBandit Welcome ProgramThere’s more!

Additional Examples & Wrap Up

Welcome Email Examples

Welcome Email Examples

• Personalize your initial Welcome Email, based on acquisition source

• Understand how to map your most important content offerings into a series of Onboarding Emailso A Welcome/Onboarding Series evolves the initial greeting into a strategically designed,

calibrated series of automated messages designed to convert your new subscriber into an engaged, loyal customer in a highly personalized and systematic way

• Effectively collect & use data from your new subscribers through Progressive Profiling

• Build a framework of rules and workflow to keep your subscribers on the right track in their email communications lifecycle

• Don’t neglect your transactional/post-purchase emails

Takeaways

Session Outline

Q&A

• Enter to win a GoPro 4 or Beats by Dre headphones

• Pick up your BlueHornet water bottle

• Chat with one of our email experts

Booth 16

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