In the past, email marketing was simply sending as many emails to as many people as possible and just getting your message out there. However more recently the focus has changed and it’s now about sending relevant, personalised emails and creating a relationship with your audience.

The best way to start this relationship is by creating an effective welcome campaign. The welcome message that a member receives as confirmation that they have signed up to receive your emails can often be their first interaction with you as a brand. This welcome message provides you with the ability to introduce yourself, as well as to ensure your members are aware of the benefits they can gain from receiving your emails.

Welcome campaigns often have one of the highest engagement rates of marketing emails which are sent. Research by Return Path discovered that ‘Welcome messages were read 42% more often than others’. With such high engagement rates it’s important to ensure that your welcome campaign is as effective as possible.

So what makes a good welcome campaign?

Obviously it will be dependent on the type of industry which you operate in and the audience you are sending to. However by following this formula you can build brand loyalty and introduce your members to your emails.

1. Confirmation: The first stage of a welcome campaign is the initial confirmation of sign up message. In this first message, you should thank the user for signing up to your emails, however you should also provide them with a bit of information about you as a brand. This can help to personalise their experience with you, make a positive impression and help to create a relationship. I would also recommend setting the expectations of the type or amount of emails which they will be receiving from you. This provides your members with a teaser and can persuade them to open and interact with your emails.

2. Information Gathering: The next stage of your welcome campaign is to find out some more information about the member. When they signed up for your emails you may have collected some information or maybe just their email address. By focussing this next email on them you can direct your recipients to a preference centre which will allow them to update their preferences and ‘personalise their emails’. The more details which you collect, the more you can segment your data and ensure that you are sending relevant emails, thus resulting in higher engagement rates.

A good example of this can be seen in Selfridges’ welcome emails that encourage their members to personalise their emails:

 

3. Personalisation: The final stage of your welcome campaign is to use the information which you have just collected from your members to send them relevant content. By sending a message such as this you are proving that you are taking into account the information they provided, and it is being used to benefit them. It will also encourage members to continue to provide you with information in the future

Throughout all these messages you should ensure you have provided links to your other channels, specifically social channels. You may find that some members will be more likely to interact with you through these channels, so you need to ensure they are aware you are present on social and make it easy for them to interact by providing clear links.

By following these steps you can create an effective multi-wave message welcome campaign and start to build a relationship with your customers. Good luck.

 

By Gemma Walton, marketing expert at SmartFocus. 

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