Key takeaways
- Reference how the subscriber joined (website, purchase, social) and tailor the first email to that source.
- Set expectations up front: tell subscribers what content they’ll get, how often, ask their content and frequency preferences and offer opt-out choices.
- Use a multi-message onboarding/welcome series that highlights products and offers relevant to the subscriber’s interests and referral source.
- Personalize recommendations using POS or e‑commerce data (e.g., cross-sell matching items) but avoid being overly personal.
- Use intelligent workflow tools to adjust the number and timing of onboarding emails based on subscriber actions or inactions.
Introduction
A good first impression is the foundation of all healthy interpersonal relationships, and this notion surely extends to marketing. A relationship between a brand and a consumer is subject to several variables, though the whole experience starts with the first impression. In the case of email marketing, the first message that a new subscriber receives will set the tone for the business relationship to come. If a positive chord is struck in the customer right from the onset, future exchanges are set on the proper course — obviously, the opposite also applies. For marketers looking to make the best first impression possible, here are four productive ways to start a new customer relationship.
Mention Your Referral Source
A good way to start off a relationship with a new customer is to make mention of the referral source. “If a customer opted in to your newsletter from visiting your website, simply include basic information about your company,” writes Huffington Post contributor Seamas Egan. “If your customer made a purchase, use your first message as an opportunity to reference this and extend relevant offers based on the product purchased. If the opt-in channel was social media, make your first message image-based and light on text content to mimic the experience on social platforms.”
Set a Proper Foundation
It’s important for marketers to maintain their attention on offering consumers precisely what they’re after. This increases the chances of lifelong brand loyalty being generated, which is something that all marketers pine for. The best way to ensure that an email marketing campaign gives consumers the exact content and special deals they’re interested in is to simply ask them what they’re looking for in your brand. “Set expectations early by letting new subscribers know what type of content they will receive and how frequently they will hear from you,” offers Egan. “Ask what type of content they are interested in receiving, how often they want to receive your emails, and whether they would like to opt out. Even if your subscribers choose to reduce the number or frequency of emails they receive, this step will help ensure the content they receive is relevant and most likely to garner future engagement.”
Use an Onboarding Series
A good way to follow a customer’s engagement commitment is to use an onboarding series meant to lead them down the path of a healthy, long relationship with your company. “Send a trail of messages that highlight products and offers that are most relevant based on their interests and purchases. Tailor your welcome series to reflect the referral source – whether it’s website browsing, a purchase, or social media,” says Egan. “If you’ve used an intelligent workflow tool in the past, use this to power your onboarding series and target your customers with more or fewer emails based on their actions or inactions.”
Personalize Your Emails
Marketers should use compiled customer data wisely. In this case, that means personalizing emails (while not making them too personal). Targeted product offers can be produced by leveraging customer information from your POS system or e-commerce site. Egan writes: “For example, if a customer purchased a dress, send an offer highlighting the matching handbag or pair of shoes to entice another purchase. Include as much data as you can to increase your message’s relevance and drive high open, read and click-through rates.”
FAQ
If the subscriber came from your website, include basic company information. If they made a purchase, reference that purchase and extend relevant offers based on the product bought. If they opted in from social media, make the first message image-based and light on text to mimic the social experience.
Tell new subscribers what type of content they will receive and how frequently you’ll email them. Ask which types of content they want, how often they want to hear from you and whether they would like to opt out or reduce frequency to keep content relevant.
Send a trail of messages that highlight products and offers most relevant to the subscriber’s interests and purchases. Tailor the sequence to the referral source and use the series to guide subscribers toward a longer relationship with your brand.
Leverage compiled customer data from your POS system or e‑commerce site to create targeted product offers (for example, suggest a matching handbag for a dress purchase). Include as much relevant data as you responsibly have to increase message relevance while avoiding overly personal details.
Use an intelligent workflow tool to power the onboarding series so you can send more or fewer emails based on a subscriber’s actions or inactions, tailoring cadence and content to behaviour.
Make the first message image-based and light on text to mimic the experience the subscriber had on social platforms.
Personalizing messages and increasing their relevance should drive higher open, read and click-through rates.
Set clear expectations about content and frequency, ask subscribers what they want to receive, allow them to reduce frequency or opt out and tailor messages to their referral source and interests to keep initial communications relevant.
