Congratulations, a new customer has signed up to receive your emails!  Now what? It’s obvious that they want to hear from you — this is the opportune time to make an impression that will leave them wanting more.

Welcome emails allow you to engage with your prospective customers when their propensities to open, click and transact in emails are at peak levels. So why do so many businesses still rely on very generic confirmation emails that miss out on the opportunity at hand and are neither engaging nor of any value to the recipient?

Maybe they don’t realize how easy it can be to optimize welcome messages in order to make open rates, clickthroughs and ROI soar.

Thankfully, there are a number of proven tactics for making your welcome emails all they can be and more. Among the best practices discussed in Experian CheetahMail’s new white paper, The Welcome Email Report: Benchmark Data and Analysis for Engaging New Subscribers Through Email Marketing, here are a few best practices that are definitely worth considering:

• Give a formal introduction: Include your brand name in the “from” address, and be sure to “welcome” your subscribers in your subject lines. Also include whitelisting instructions so that the subscribers can add the “from” address to their list of accepted senders.
• Gain insight on their interests: Use category navigation links or images and other clever calls to action from which you can infer subscriber interests. Leverage the click-through data for segmentation and targeting from the start of the subscriber relationship with your email program to increase engagement and relevancy
• Recognize past purchasers: Include dynamic messaging to recognize existing customers who are new to your email program. Using any data you have to drive any communication, even the initial welcome, can make an immense positive impact on the customer relationship.

Don’t forget to check out The Welcome Email Report: Benchmark Data and Analysis for Engaging New Subscribers Through Email Marketing to learn more.

As we’ve discussed on this site before, welcome campaigns are a critical tool in jump starting profitable customer relationships. This week, Experian CheetahMail has a new case study that illustrates how incentivized welcome emails can earn higher order values, click rates and revenue per email.

In the case study, we see that Sundance Catalog was able to increase average order sizes by 2x just by adding a basic incentive to multiple types of welcome emails. Even better, Sundance was able to prove the value of incentives by testing two types of welcome emails — those sent to new subscribers who opted-in by completing an email sign-up form on the website, and those who opted-in as part of their eCommerce checkout process. In both instances, the welcome emails with the special offer outperformed the standard, control message with no offer.

Of course, incentives are not a perfect strategy for every brand. Sundance was wise in their methodology, performing a thorough test before they committed to making any final changes to their welcome email program. As a best practice, we typically recommend that most brands do the same before they begin offering discounts.

To read more about Sundance and welcome email incentives, read the full case study now.

As the marketing geniuses behind Head and Shoulders shampoo once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” First impressions can make or break a friendship, a job interview, or a business relationship. This is especially true when someone opts in to your email marketing program.

Be sure to make new subscribers feel welcome by sending an appropriate and timely welcome message (and maybe an offer) to them. Or better yet, design an entire welcome series of emails. A welcome series is a string of welcome emails that not only says hello to the new subscriber but also can provide them more information about your brand and what you offer.

Regardless of whether you create one welcome message or a whole welcome series for your customers, be sure to take these 10 best practices into account:

1. Thank customers for providing their contact information
2. Send the welcome email as quickly as possible
3. Confirm source of acquisition (kiosk, POS/store, eCommerce, email sign up, etc.)
4. Test the inclusion of an offer or coupon in the welcome email
5. Accurately and creatively introduce your brand identity
6. Set expectations as to the types of emails your new subscribers will receive and how often they will receive them
7. Provide a link to “My Account” or “My Preferences”
8. Provide a link to white listing instructions in the email
9. Provide links to a store locator when appropriate
10. Test the inclusion of lifestyle or product imagery in the email

Below are four examples of welcome emails that treat the welcome process slightly differently:

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