Over the course of my career I have acquired a great deal of information regarding the retail industry by both conducting my own research and learning from the various retail clients I have had the opportunity to work with. (OR just by being a shopaholic and subscribing to every retailer to get the latest news, fashion and deals!)

I would like to share some of my knowledge through some of these blogs. Such as different programs or emails that retailers should be sending (which I will call therapy sessions), as well as some of my favorite emails, subject lines and programs as they come.

There is no better way to start a good retail program than with a welcome email - and since I am new to the company I thought it would be a great way to welcome myself to the blogging world by speaking to them. :)

First impressions are EVERYTHING. Just as someone who has been hired for a new job; you know you presented yourself well enough to get hired, but now you need to give a warm welcome, and show your peers what they can expect from you. Same thing goes for a welcome email.

Once a customer signs up for your brand you have them, you know somehow along the way you peaked their interest. So follow up! Acknowledge that they signed up, and thank them. Sending an email days after may cause a person to lose interest. Don't make them forget you! Stay top of mind while you are in the 'honeymoon phase'.

Below I have some of my tips and tricks, but one of the most important rules I would have to note when sending a triggered welcome message - keep the branding and marketing message CONSISTENT with your normal lines of business. Most retail companies never send out text based emails, so why are they sending out a text based welcome? Pure laziness maybe, but you would be surprised how many TOP retailers are still sending out poorly executed welcome programs.

My tips and tricks;
- Welcome emails should be sent before a customer is pushed into the business as usual email strategy
- Send within the first 24 hours - the more immediate the better (these messages should be auto-triggered)
- Encourage your customer to 'Add to Address Book'
- Set customer expectations; how often will you be contacting them? What types of emails will you be sending?
- Be CONSISTENT - From line, HTML and personalization should be consistent with the future emails you will be sending
- And last and most importantly, follow up the initial welcome email with a specially designed and targeted welcome series

A welcome series is a great way to collect data about your consumer; Who is the person? What are they clicking on? How can we keep them engaged?

Attached are also a couple of my favorites. :) Enjoy and be sure to follow me for more of my Retail Therapy!
(Next therapy session; Subject Line Testing)

From: Coach
Subject Line: Welcome. Thanks for signing up.
Date: Monday, July, 19, 2010

This email follows many best practices but what I like the most is the consistency of season, and the up-to-date product images that you can click through to view the product.



From: Shopbop
Subject Line: Shopbop Email Subscription Confirmation
Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I love the look and feel, and the 'What To Look Forward To' section - however, I wish the subject line was more personable and made you feel part of a brand.

From: Gap
Subject Line: Thanks For Signing Up With Gap.com. Enjoy Your Special Offer
Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

While simple I like the 'TELL US WHAT YOU WANT' link to the preference center.

 

From: Hotel Max
Subject Line: Your Stay with Us
Date: September 1, 2009

From: Hotel Max
Subject Line: Thank You for Visiting!
Date: September 2, 2009

Last week, I was up in Seattle for a meeting and stayed at the Hotel Max. After checking in at the front desk, I went up to my room and got online to catch up on my email. Amidst the regular cast of characters in my inbox was an unexpected surprise. Apparently, the minute I checked in, scratch that, the SECOND I checked in, Hotel Max sent me a welcome email. Talk about timely. Signed by the hotel manager, the email was personal and helpful, plus I have to give them kudos for taking the opportunity to plug the restaurant that's attached to the hotel.

To round out the customer service experience, they also sent me a follow-up email asking for feedback about my stay. I won't go into the details, but I did have some feedback and decided to send it in. I got a prompt personal email from the hotel manager letting me know what they were doing to fix the snafu. The only puzzle in all of this is that the first email I received welcoming me to the hotel lists one guy as the hotel manager, but the personal email I received was from a completely different guy who also held the hotel manager title. My guess is that there was a personnel switch and no one updated the emails. Oops. Now that's the perfect example of why it's so important to make sure the content in your triggered messages is up to date.

From: lululemon athletica
Subject Line: Welcome to online shopping at lululemon
Date: August 20, 2009

From: lululemon athletica
Subject Line: The new items you've been waiting for are here!
Date: August 26, 2009


I am in the middle of a huge love affair with lululemon. There is something irresistibly cool and hip about their workout stuff, and I am definitely not the only girl out there who's figured that out. If you haven't visited their site, do it now. I am all over the amazing texture in the navigation and the simplicity of  the graphics.

Their welcome email was really fresh and unbelievably simple. It didn't fall back on the same ole copy that everybody uses. (i.e. "You're on the inside track! Now you'll be the first to know about special sales and events." Sound familiar?) Instead, they went for an inspirational shot with a simple "Thanks for registering!" headline and a clear shop-now CTA.

The second email I got from them hit the mark for me as well. I love how they picked up the navigation treatment from the site and the message felt timely and focused. They're showcasing all their new stuff in a simple, clean, and compelling way. No fuss, no muss.

Plus, the fact that they're saying this is what's new THIS WEEK, makes me wonder if they'll send an email each week with new stuff. It'll be fun to see how the emails evolve. Potentially a "shop all new items CTA" at the bottom would have been a good addition, but the top nav does give people a way to engage with the site as a whole. And who can resist the way they dropped some logic at the end... "Love Your Failures". Ain't that the truth.

From: iTunes Store
Subject Line: Your Season Pass for Top Chef Masters, Season 1
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009

From: iTunes Store
Subject Line: New episode for download - Top Chef Masters, Season 1
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009









I recently had the misfortune to have a back spasm that put me completely out of commission for a week +. On the bright side, I have the best mother-in-law in the whole wide world: she got on the first plane she could catch from San Diego to San Francisco and picked up my 2 kids, then took them with her for 10 days! (Which in turn, enabled me to knock back the Vicodin, and catch up on some TV)... which brings me to my post:

We haven't had a TV for years now... not because we are snobs or anything, we just don't have the space (or much time to watch it for that matter). For years, our only TV watching options had been to either invite ourselves over to somebody's house or wait for our favorite shows to come out on DVD some time after the end of the season. Nowadays there are many more options: Netflix has lots of TV (and other) content that can viewed instantly, as do most of the major networks and Hulu (although the download quality leaves something to be desired).

...And then there's The iTunes Store! Most of the shows that I'm interested in watching are available there and the download quality, while not perfect, seems much better than the above mentioned options. The full episodes become available when they are aired on their respective networks. Plus, I really liked the Thank You message The iTunes Store sent and that there have been follow-up emails when new episodes of (my show of choice) Top Chef Masters have become available. My only minor complaint is concerning the Thank You email and its "Other TV Shows" recommendations for me: they haven't quite figured out my tastes yet.  :)

From: South Seas Island Resort
Subject Line: Experience South Seas
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Unfortunately, I received this email immediately after booking my South Seas travel (and simultaneously signing up for their email program) for roughly double the featured "spring rate." Ouch! Where's my "thank you"? Where's my "welcome to our email program"? As much as I love an offer, and as much as I love a resort, and as much as I am a total customer service snob, seriously, what's the likelihood that I'm going to book again in the same season? This message just made me feel silly for paying more :).

But alas, which of you will I see at the fabulous South Seas Resort for the Email Insider Summit next week!? And if you haven't yet booked your travel, perhaps you can take advantage of H2WHOA!

From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Good for You!
Date: Friday, March 13, 2009

I recently started a new email account, and this Barneys New York email is my favorite welcome message so far. The copy congratulates me on signing up and thereby joining the "email cognoscenti," the message is branded to set expectations for future Barneys emails, and the messaging is simple, direct and draws me back into shopping. My favorite part is their humorous approach - their fashionable but still roller-wearing model looks both sassy and beautiful. The playful copy beneath the CTA "Leave your rollers in - we don't care!" ties it all together: the funny photo and the benefits of being part of the email program (high-fashion shopping prior to primping :)

From: Smith-Harmon
Subject Line: Smith-Harmon Releases Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study
Date: March 10, 2009

The 3rd Annual Study Covers Trends and Best Practices for Creating an Impactful and Engaging Welcome Email

SEATTLE, March 10, 2009 — Smith-Harmon, Inc., an email marketing strategy and creative services agency, today announced the release of the Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study. Looking at welcome email trends and best practices among the nation’s top online retailers, the study also includes advice and insights from Responsys, which partnered with Smith-Harmon on this study

“The welcome email is probably the single greatest opportunity that email marketers have to engage subscribers and drive action,” says Lisa Harmon, co-founder and principal at Smith-Harmon. “Welcome messages generate superior open rates and, done well, create a halo effect that boosts subscribers’ engagement with subsequent promotional and trigger emails.”

Given the golden opportunity that welcome emails present marketers, it’s unfortunate that so many still let the moment pass—or bungle the interaction with uninspired messaging. After examining the welcome email practices of 112 of the largest online retailers, Smith-Harmon found that only 76% of them sent out welcome emails. While that’s up from 72% in 2007 and 66% in 2006, it’s disheartening that more companies aren’t seizing this key marketing moment.

“The very first step in any email program is to acquire names to send your message to, but often in that process, we fail to set solid expectations on what the subscriber has really just agreed to receive,” says Stefan Pollard, senior strategic consultant with email service provider Responsys, which partnered with us on this study. “This gap is where the welcome email shines in its importance to start that new relationship with a wealth of information that the sign-up process may not have had time to communicate. More than simply confirming that an action has been taken, the welcome email is the first chance you have to engage your new subscriber and provide immediate value from your email program.”

We found plenty of opportunity for improvement, as some retailers didn’t make the strongest first impressions. For instance, 23% of retailers took more than 24 hours to deliver their welcome emails, greatly diminishing their effectiveness.

Others didn’t take advantage of their welcome emails to set expectations and drive engagement and sales. For example, only 76% explained the benefits of being a subscriber and only 87% included a link to their homepage.

Many retailers also failed to use their welcome email for progressive profiling, asking subscribers for more information about themselves and their interests to boost the relevancy of future emails. Only 24% of retailers did this, down from 28% in 2006.

"Creating welcome series rather than a having a single welcome email is also a growing trend," says Aaron Smith, co-founder and principal at Smith-Harmon. “Our award-winning work on REI’s year-long welcome series for new co-op members proves that these can be very effective at driving long-term engagement.” At least 9% of retailers are currently using welcome series of two or more emails.

Other key findings from the study include:

• Text-only welcome emails are becoming increasingly antiquated. More than 89% of retailers sent HTML welcome emails, up from 78% in 2007 and 69% in 2006.
• The role that welcome emails can play in ensuring future deliverability of emails is growing. More than 68% of retailers used welcome emails to ask new subscribers to add the sender to their address book, up from about 62% in 2007 and 49% in 2006.
• The number of top online retailers making their emails CAN-SPAM compliant rose significantly. Nearly 71% included both an unsubscribe link and their mailing address, up from 58% in 2007 and 52% in 2006.
• While 15% of welcome emails include a forward-to-a-friend link, none of those studied included a share-with-your-network (SWYN) link. We expect many marketers to adopt SWYN this year, including adding it to their welcome emails.

Download the Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study >

From: Sirius
Subject Line: Talk to Us Request
Date: December 10, 2008

From: Tim Westergren at Pandora
Subject Line: Welcome to Pandora
Date: December 9, 2008

While I do love all things girlie (beauty, clothing, shoes), I think it's important to take a look at some OTHER industries, to see what they're doing with email. Recently, I ventured into the world of Sirius and Pandora, and I really like the way they communicate with their customers in their triggered emails.

The first email is one I received from Sirius. While it's far from flashy, the sentiment made me read it to the end. The back-story is that I filled out an online form asking about a song that was played on The Coffee House. Within 24 hours, I got this nice note from them telling me they were on it. They also let me know that they value my feedback and that they're dedicated to customer care. And it didn't come across as lip service. I think they actually mean it. The two suggestions I'd make as far as copy goes is to change the "from" field to Sirius Customer Care and to make some of the text clickable so I can easily get back to the site. They might want to think about adding in a logo to align it with the brand, too.

The second email is the welcome message I got from Pandora after creating an account. Again, nothing too fancy, but engaging all the same. It made me feel a part of the community, like I belong in this really cool music world where I get to create my own radio stations. (I LOVE PANDORA! Totally addicted.) I'll be interested to see what the next round of emails looks like from them. I'm hoping they do a welcome series that tells me how to amp up my Pandora experience.

From: Me
Subject Line: Put Your Welcome Message to Work with the Welcome Message Checklist
Date: Friday, August 15, 2008
Check out the checklist >
BTW: Interested in joining the eec Design Roundtable? See details here >

Welcome messages show some of the highest open rates in the email world. Per yesterday's MINI post, we’re surprised by how many senders neglect to even send a welcome or, almost as bad, send lusterless messages that feel downright unwelcoming.

To help you make the most of your welcome, the EEC Email Design Roundtable have added a Welcome Message Checklist to our email checklist series in the eec’s Whitepaper Room. With so many details to think about, our checklist offers a collection of ideas that you can easily apply to your own message style. Check out the checklist >

From: MINIUSA
Subject Line: What's Your Carfun Footprint?
Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008

Two weeks ago I had an extremely positive customer experience buying a new MINI. It was quite honestly the first time I've gone through the car purchase process without feeling like I was being totally snowed. The sales and finance folks were friendly, fast and straightforward. And beyond that, the visit was enhanced with little touches that packed a punch. For instance, come pick-up time, the car was not only ready-to-go on the sales floor; it was also enshrouded in a car cover, which I ceremoniously removed, like opening an enormous present.

After being treated so well at the dealership, I was wondering what kind of "Congratulations!" or "Welcome!" message I'd receive via email that week. In fact, I was secretly hoping to receive a welcome series so I could revel in new-car-ness for weeks on end. But alas, the first mail I got was this (albiet cute) "Carfun Footprint" message.

Now I don't pretend to imagine that most consumers make big purchases and then impatiently wait to see what kind of email follow-up they'll receive. But I do think that MINI is missing an opportunity to reinforce my positive purchase experience and potentially upsell me on the auto-sense windshield wiper upgrade I'm so going to need come end-of-summer in Seattle.

From: eleVAte
Subject Line: Welcome to eleVAte!
Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2008

First of all, I love Virgin America.
Second of all, I love this eleVAte welcome email for at least two reasons:
(1) It includes all the details I need to revisit the site, which inspired me to actually keep and file the email away.
(2) Welcome emails are sometimes made to do too much, which turns into a law-of-diminishing-returns, over-messaged mess. This one is super-simple, which makes the three icons and buttons to book, edit preferences and view routes POP!

From: BabyCenter
Subject Line: Welcome to BabyCenter
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2007

BabyCenter is basically the bible to every new mom I know (and it seems like almost everyone I know is a new mom!) They recently underwent a brand refresh, and I am a major fan of their new logo; it reminds me of lollipops.

I signed up for their email program yesterday and received (immediately, for bonus points!) a very well-written welcome message. The copy body highlights the specific benefits of being a member of the BabyCenter community, while managing to make a person-to-person connection. (It's signed Tina Sharkey, Chairman.) The email also includes a number of intelligent links, including my profile, articles and online shopping.

Here are a few ways the campaign could be rendered even more effective, from top to bottom:

1) Above the logo and website navigation, add language similar to the below:

"View here if you're unable to see images in this e-mail.
To ensure receipt of our e-mails, please add babycenter-email@babycenter.com to your address book."

"View here" links to a hosted version of your newsletter, which allows users with disabled images to view graphics.

2) Include "Forward this email to a friend >" in the upper-right.

3) Add alt tags to your images. This will allow users with images disabled to get a sense of what they're missing, inspiring them to enable images or click through.

4) Break up your navigation items into separate graphics rather than a single, image-mapped graphic. Some email browser strip out image map links, preventing users from clicking through!

5) Jazz up the creative a little! Add some color to the "My Profile", "Quick Links" and "Shop" sections. Pair photo thumbnails or icons with each Quick Link. This will help to distinguish and draw attention to the messaging.

6) For your primary calls-to-action, try using HTML buttons as opposed to text links. They'll grab more eyes and generate a higher CTR.

7) There is a slew of "fine print" messaging that needs to be added to the footer below the creative, some of which has legal ramifications. The most important is to include an unsubscribe link, plus your company's postal address so that you are in compliance with CAN-SPAM. Something like the below should work:

If someone sent you this message and you'd like to receive BabyCenter e-mails, subscribe now.
Unsubscribe from BabyCenter e-mails.

Copyright © 2007 BabyCenter LLC | 163 Freelon Street | San Francisco, CA 94107 | View our privacy policy.

I'm feeling more welcome already...

From: Apple
Subject Line: Thank you for your interest in iPhone.
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

I signed up to receive iPhone product updates the day the gadget was announced, but only received this Welcome message today. Of course it's beautiful, and almost because of that I have to point out that the bottom legal copy is misaligned in IE7. But who cares about PCs, right?

From: Borders Rewards
Subject Line: Welcome: Make Reading More Rewarding
Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I was amazed to receive this Welcome message from Borders just one day after signing up for their free Rewards Program in one of their airport retail locations. That was until I sat down for lunch and read a newspaper article detailing how Borders was watering down it's Rewards Program and pissing off a lot of customers. I was probably just part of the mad rush to sign up unwitting new members to it's inferior new program.

All the same, Borders does do something good here: allow new customers to personalize their email experience from the outset, encouraging subscribers to "customize the email you receive from us so you get the email you want when you want it."

On a random note, "Become Online Registered" sounds extremely awkward to me. Why not "Register Online"?

From: info@mercedes-benz.com
Subject Line: Mercedes-Benz brand world - your registration
Date: Monday, July 10, 2006

First impressions are critical. The content and quality of your welcome message will influence a subscriber's behavior forever, determining whether or not he or she will continue to open - or even subscribe to - your campaigns.

I was disappointed by the Mercedes-Benz Brand World welcome message, which was not only dry but also, for reasons I cannot pinpoint exactly, feels very "English as a Second Language." Even the subject line - "Mercedes-Benz brand world - your registration" - is flat, sounding more like a rote operational message than a gracious welcome.

This message does nothing to service the website behind it, which is actually quite lovely. Click here to check it out.

From: macys.com
Subject Line: macys.com | Welcome to macys.com! Free shipping on macys.com!
Date: Friday, January 20, 2006

First impressions are critical. When someone first subscribes to your email list, it's because they actually want to hear from you. Take advantage of that initial excitement by sending them something GOOD! I'm amazed at all of the dry, text-only confirmation messages out there. Often, I don't even GET a welcome message. By contrast, this is a model welcome EDM. It not only delineates all the great reasons to register or sign up for a credit card; it also starts our subscription with a FREE SHIPPING offer. This is a great way to convert subscribers into buyers right off the bat.

From: Williams-Sonoma
Subject Line: Welcome to Williams-Sonoma!
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005

While most retailers leave it at "Thank you," Williams-Sonoma includes a bonus in their welcome message - a free recipe. A first-time discount or free shipping offer would make this welcome even better.