You already know the importance of having a customer email list. However, determining what to send and how often to send it is usually a challenge for most eCommerce companies.
Send too often and your message is likely to get lost in the clutter. Don’t send frequently enough and there’s a good chance your brand is forgotten. See where there might be a problem?
So, how are you supposed to catch the attention of customers and build brand loyalty? The answer is by starting off with a welcome email series. Essentially, this is a few strategic emails that are sent out shortly after someone subscribes to your marketing list. Frequency can range from a few hours after the initial startup to a few days or weeks later.
Of course, there’s a bit of a knack to making it work in your favor. Our CAKE team has put together a quick guide of things to remember. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of a welcome email series.
Why is a Welcome Email Series Important?
They say you only have one chance to make a good first impression and this is true even with email marketing. In most cases, a shopper who has signed up for your email list is expecting some sort of special offer and already has an intention to buy.
The only thing that’s really left to do is to bring them back to the site to check out, turning them into a paying customer. With a welcome email series, you’re able to capture their attention and help entice them into making that purchase.
Why Institute a Welcome Series?
There are a variety of reasons why it is important to institute a welcome series. However, the most notable is attrition.
According to statistics from HubSpot, email marketing databases decay at an alarming rate of 22.5% annually. However, there are many reasons for this happening including people changing jobs and switching emails, lack of general interest in the type of product you have to offer, and more.
To keep potential customers engaged with your brand, it is important to start the marketing relationship off on a good foot—which includes utilizing a welcome series at the beginning and continuing to make contact thereafter to help minimize deliberate unsubscribes.
How Do They Educate and Convert Sales?
Welcome email sequences are an excellent way to educate and convert sales. The really exciting part of an email marketing series is that it gives you the customer’s full attention. Use it wisely!
This is a great time to do more than just offer a generous discount or special offer. Educate them on your brand, highlight a few bestselling products, or include customer reviews. Remember, we aren’t looking for just a quick sale here. We want to create brand-loyal shoppers who return to the site and regularly make purchases.
Why a Series and Not a Single Email?
This is a question that we get from our CAKE customers pretty regularly. The truth is that not every customer is going to open up every email you send. That’s why it is so important to make the practice a series of opportunities to put your brand in their inbox instead of just a single attempt.
Furthermore, customers might be at different places in the overall sales and brand trust cycle. Sending out a few special offers combined with information about your company is a great way to further that cycle along while still keeping the eCommerce site fresh on their mind. This is also a great time to highlight regular incentives like free shipping and give customer service information.
Stats to Consider About Welcome Emails
Still not sure? The data is simply too good to ignore. Consider these stats about the welcome email process.
- Open Rates for Welcome Emails: In most cases, shoppers pay much more attention to welcome emails at the rate of four times more opens and five times more clicks. In fact, the average open rate is 50% —making them 86% more effective than standard newsletters.
- The Expectation is Set: It’s reported that 74% of shoppers expect to receive a welcome email after joining your list and most believe that email should include some sort of discount or incentive.
- High Five for Higher Revenue: Data shows us that welcome emails generate an average of up to 320% more revenue per email than other promotional email series.
Welcome Email Series Ideas
In most cases, it is recommended to have five to seven emails in your sequence. A few ideas for a possible welcome email series include:
- Initial Email Plus Incentive: This is where you really hook them in. Welcome them to being a member of the shopping family by introducing a valuable discount or free shipping offer.
- Touch Point Emails: The next few emails are all about touch points. Share your brand story, highlight those top products, and make them feel the warm and fuzzies about why they should shop with you.
- Create Urgency: As you wind down your email marketing series, create urgency about why they need to shop with you. Remind them that their special discount is expiring or simply just offer a bigger incentive. Either way, make that final push to the website for a purchase.
Of course, these emails should visually match your website and brand and include photos for maximum effect.
Putting the Practice to Work
Now that you know the importance of having a welcoming series and have a few ideas on what to send, it is time to put the practice to work. Most email list platforms—including Constant Contact and MailChimp—feature the option to pre-schedule emails for sending at certain intervals. So, really the only thing you need to do is get to work putting them together!
Do you want to take your eCommerce marketing to new levels with a welcome email series but don’t have a whole lot of time? We know just the right recipe to make your process sweet. Please contact our CAKE team today to schedule an appointment.
