Aloha Welcome Email & Unsubscribe Best Practices

Aloha: Welcome Email and Unsubscribe Best Practices

Twitter Hashtag #SPOPAloha

Speaker and Agenda

• Loren McDonald

– VP, Industry Relations

– Silverpop

– Kumu (“teacher)

• Welcome Emails

• Unsubscribe Process

• Q & A

Why Aloha?

1. aloha (ah-low-ha): A greeting, hello or goodbye

2. The “hello” (welcome process) is an important driver of early engagement and minimizing the “goodbye (opt-out)

Aloha (Hello): Welcome Emails

When Harry Met Sally…

“We're talking dream date compared to my horror.

It started out fine, she's a very nice person, and

we're sitting and we're talking at this Ethiopian

restaurant that she wanted to go to. And I was

making jokes, you know like, "Hey I didn't know that

they had food in Ethiopia? This will be a quick meal.

I'll order two empty plates and we can leave." Yeah,

nothing from her not even a smile.”

Harry

Welcome emails may be the most

important email your company

sends.

Conversion Impact from Welcome Emails

• Text• Single email• IT Generated• No marketing messaging

• HTML• 2-part email series• Marketing generated• Promotions, education

75% increase in conversions

The Email Relationship Phases

Opt-in/ Welcome

• “First Date”

Core Program

• Dating• Engagemen

t• Marriage• Honeymoon

is Over

Opt-out

• Divorce

Within two months of opt-in, the open rate typically falls 20% to 25%.

Source: MarketingSherpaa

Bring the Flowers

'a 'ole (ah-oh-lay) - no, not, never

Not Much Better

Still, Not Much Better

Welcome Emails: Goals and Purpose

Goals• Speed up conversion • Minimize list churn• Strengthen brand

perception• Reduce inactivity

Purpose• Educate subscriber• Reward/Incent• Instill/reinforce trust• Enable immediate

“email experience”• Provide administrative

information/tools• Set expectations

ElementsOf Welcome

Emails

Timing / Cadence

From / Subject

Design / Format

Content /Purpose

Series

Internet Retailer 500

22% send NOemails

Silverpop Study - 2009

Timing

The Good News

61% of retailers deliver their welcome emails within 10 minutes of sign up, with most of

those delivering within 3 minutes.*

The Bad News

19% take more than 24 hours to deliver their welcome emails, with nearly a third of those

taking more than a week to deliver.*

*Email Experience Council’s second annual Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study (2007)

Timing / Cadence• Immediate• Suppress regular emails• Transactional OK• Move to a series

Immediate

3-7 days

7-14 days

Immediate

Stand alone

Email # 1

Email # 2

Email # 3

3-part series

Sample From Names

• From Names:– Use the same from name as regular emails– Simple, logical and trusted brand

• From Name/Address– Again, use same as regular emails– Avoid ugly, number-oriented if possible

• Good Examples:– Olive Garden

[newsletter@olivegarden.com]– MBNA America

[MBNA@cardsatisfaction.com]– Magazines.com [offers@magazines.com]

• Questionable Example:– Penny at MarketingProfs

[support@marketingprofs.com]– Service@wedding.orders.com

Subject Lines

Good/OK• Welcome to Fetchdog! Take

10% Off Your Next Order– Branded– Immediate value proposition

• Welcome to Art.com - Take 20% Off Today

– Branded– Immediate value proposition

• Welcome to Sears.com Email Savings!

– Email program is branded– Implied value proposition

Not So Good• Welcome

– No branding– No mention of email program– No value proposition

• Thank you for signing up!– Signing up for what?– No branding

Design/Format

Image Blocking

Pre-header & Navigation

Social Sharing/Following

Simple Text

Big & Small

Content Blocks

Bullets / Buttons

Welcome Email – Betty Crocker

• Cross promotes their newsletters in case you didn’t sign up when you registered for the website

• Great use of imagery• Coupons• Star Ratings• Recipe Box

• Best Practices Followed:• Primary message is view-able in an

images off environment• Email comes from Betty Crocker (From

Address).• Includes personalization (first name)

Content/Purpose

Email address addedAdd to address bookPrivacy assurance and linkLink/instructions on how to change preferencesHow to get startedWhen the first email will arrive

Resources, key links“Your gift” incentiveUnsubscribe linkReinforce value propositionUpsellCall to action/”offer”Etc….

Sample Welcome Content Checklist

Incentive

Get Started

FAQ

Benefits

Payment Options

Personality

Covering the bases

Offline Purchase

Cross Sell

Things You Can Do

Welcome Series

Fossil #1- immediately after opt-in- product info- sales- special offers

Fossil #2- 5 days after opt-in- apparel categories- store locations- request catalog- create account

Fossil #3- 10 days after opt-in- 24/7 shopping- Gift cards- Feedback

Welcome to the Tafford Community

Tafford #1

Three Reasons You Will Love Tafford + A Special Offer

Tafford #2

Personalize Your Tafford Experience

Tafford #3

2009 Welcome Series Indexed Results…

Welcome #1 Performs 6X Better!

Aloha (Goodbye): Unsubscribe Process

Why Recipients Unsubscribe

• Too Frequent

• Irrelevant Content/Offers

• Also, lack of email address change functionality

Jupiter Research (now Forrester)

Aloha (unsubscribes) are a good thing

Increased spam complaints

Annoyed customers / prospects

Weakened brand reputation

If unsubscribing is not easy, you risk:

Keys to Unsubscribe Process?

Unsubscribe Process

Good Welcome Process

Increase EmailRelevance

Monitor Engagement

Re-engagement Programs

Make it Easy to Unsubscribe

Offer Alternatives

Ask for Feedback

Administrative Footer - Obvious

Make sure links are not just

images

Euphemisms – lolo (crazy, stupid)

Where’s the unsubscribe link?

Don’t Require Magnifying Glasses

- Appropriate font size- Easy to read font color

- Tiny, tiny and buried

Link at Top of Email - Depends

- Use if high complaint rate

- Potentially only with specific ISPs

Pupuka (Ugly) Opt-out Page

Kraft Preference/Unsubscribe Center

Note Timing to Minimize Complaints

“You’ll still receive transactional emails”

What You’ll Miss…

Goodbye doesn’t have to be pupuka

Golfsmith – Branded and Helpful

- Names specific list- Link to preferences

Web site

wrapper

So What are the Alternatives?

Alternatives

Frequency

Format

ChangeEmail

Profile/Preferences

Channel

OtherEmails

Typical retention is 20-30%

Alternatives at Opt-out?

Silverpop Study of Internet Retailer 500 - 2009

Channel/Communication Preferences

Email Frequency

Change Email Address

Multiple Lists

Interest Preferences

Why Are You Unsubscribing?

Kraft

Office Depot

Staples

Missing:- Frequency Option

- RSS or catalog option- Contact info.

Parting Thoughts• Create a world-class welcome program

– Test elements– Move to a series– Monitor impact

• Make it easy to unsubscribe, but easier to stay– Understand why subscribers are leaving– Improve core email program– Focus alternative options on key reasons they are

leaving

pau (pow)

Finished, all done.

Resources

• Resource Center– White papers– Webinars– Blogs– Case studies– Newsletters– http://www.silverpop.com/marketing-resources/index.ht

ml

• Many presentations on SlideShare– www.slideshare.net/Silverpop

Q & A / Reminders & Contacts

• Loren McDonald– lmcdonald@silverpop.com– Twitter: @LorenMcDonald

www.silverpop.comTwitter: @Silverpop

Webinar Hashtag: #SPOPAloha

Mahaho!

On Twitter: @Silverpopwww.slideshare.net/silverpop

www.silverpop.comToday’s Webinar Hashtag: #SPOPAloha