A "Welcome" Message Keeps 'Em Coming Back
The Email Experience Council and the Direct Marketing Association announced the release of its second annual Retail Welcome Email Subscription Benchmark Study, examining the welcome emails of 118 of the top online retailers to identify best practices and benchmarks in the areas of merchandising, relationship-building, deliverability, and CAN-SPAM compliance.
Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, Ph.D., DMA's executive vice president and chief operating officer, says "... welcome emails have significantly higher open rates than regular emails...", while Kara Trivunovic, director of strategic services at Premiere Global Services, notes that "... emails should set the tone of the program... (and) properly executed welcome messages actually create anticipation in the recipient for the next message."
The report says, in the Executive Summary, that In 2006, only 66% of major online retailers sent welcome emails. With 72% sending welcome emails this year, it appears that more retailers are recognizing the value of these critical emails. Instead of engaging subscribers with incentives and links to products, departments, loyalty programs, catalogs and other shopping-related material, a great number of the largest online retailers simply say hello and leave it at that.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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Mike - you're an excellent writer. Strong voice and clear pathways to sensible insights.
ReplyDeleteSo - what's the verdict on subject lines that are mash-ups of all the features' headlines? Was this a fad, or is it really starting to become a best practice.
I think it is a best practice. As both publisher and avid reader, this method has proven itself as the best way to lure folks to open the message.
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