When was the last time you signed up for something and did not get a receipt of you doing so? Did it give you confidence in the company you have just signed up for? Did you go to your inbox to check something arrived only to be disappointed nothing showed up?
Here is the key; you checked your inbox for an email to turn up. This is often the first and the last time you, as a customer, will be waiting in your inbox for something to appear.
So as a marketer, why not use this to your advantage?
If you do not send a welcome email, you are missing out on one of the best ways to improve deliverability, increase engagement with your customer and nail your inbox placement.
“But I do have a welcome email, it is sent from my CRM/eCommerce system”, thats a great step forward, but it is not in the right direction. This means your domain and IP for your marketing emails has not been used and therefore has no impact on their inbox placement in future.
Now you may be wondering how so, so let me explain…
An Inbox in the modern world is a plethora of behavioural algorithms that records how you react to the emails you receive. If a customer opens your first email you have sent them, clicks or engages with it in any way, regardless of where your email goes first off, the inbox now will see your message as friendlier and will increase your chance of hitting the inbox.
“But how do I get people to engage with my welcome email content?!” I hear you cry. Incentivising sign up of course! Now I am not saying everyone here needs to add a 15% off your next order or indeed give any money off at all, but it is a good start. A content mini-series, eBooks and helpful blogs are all great, but make sure the recipient needs to click through to get the full details. Driving that customer back to the site, landing page or hosted content is a great way to for that inbox algorithm to really think favourably of your campaigns. Letting you customer know what is to come is also a great way of engaging your customer and get them checking their inbox for further messages.
You may be thinking “This all sounds great, but how can you make it better?’” Double opt-in gives you a chance for your first interaction with your customer to include 2 emails, 2 calls to actions and therefore doubling your chance to look great to the inbox. A welcome series containing further incentives, content and call to actions will maximise your welcome email results. Just make sure you let them know it’s coming!
The bottom line is the more you can get your customer to engage the better, and the best time to start great inbox placement is at the start of your customers’ journey with you.
