How to Create and Launch a Welcome Series

October 16, 2021 Tools and services, Website promotion

What should I write to a new subscriber? Is it possible to immediately offer your goods or services, or is it better to first write a welcome letter and say hello? Mikhail Terentyev, founder and head of the MailFit agency, answers these and other questions.

Often, after subscribing to a brand’s newsletter, the user immediately begins to receive promotions and company news in their inbox. The subscriber is confused and may unsubscribe from the mailing list, or even complain about spam. In this article I will tell you why it is important to first “say hello” and establish contact using a welcome letter, and only then start selling.

What are welcome letters and why are chains needed?

Welcome letter

A welcome letter is the first letter to new subscribers. In it, the company talks about itself and its products/services. A small presentation helps to establish communication and increase loyalty.

I recommend starting the launch of the welcome chain after confirming the user’s address using the Double Opt-In or “Double Confirmation of Subscription” system. It works like this: the user leaves his contacts → he receives an email asking him to confirm his address (usually this is a short letter with one button or link) → the subscriber clicks on the letter → his address is added to the database.

Implementing a DOI subscription helps protect your database from spam and ensure that your subscribers are real users interested in the content.

To take into account the client’s needs as much as possible and publish the information he needs, draw up a content plan in advance. If you don’t know how, fill out the form and receive a recording of a video lesson on the content plan

During the first contact with a new subscriber, it is important to interest the person and motivate him to take the target action. This could be ordering a product or service, subscribing, or other action. Another goal of a welcome letter is to please the user. This will motivate him to open future emails.

Welkom-chain

A welcome chain is a series of welcome letters that smoothly leads a person to a purchase and increases loyalty. The advantage of chains over single welcome letters is that the company has more opportunities to talk about itself and its product.

Typically, chains consist of 2-3 emails sent every two days. It is important not to “stretch out” the welcome mailing over time. At the subscription stage, a person is most interested in the company’s services and is highly likely to open all emails from the brand.

Statistics from Campaign Monitor that will inspire you to implement welcome emails:

• 78% of new subscribers expect a welcome letter from the brand after registration.
• The hottest period is the first 48 hours after subscription.
• Welcome emails have a 91.43% higher open rate than other emails.
• The read rate of the first letters is 42% higher than that of the regular newsletter.
• 26.9% is the average click-through rate for welcome emails.
• The conversion into purchases with welcome letters is 3 times higher than with promotions.

Letter structure and main blocks

Like any other, a welcome letter has a certain structure and consists of blocks. The purpose of all blocks is to provide maximum introductory information needed by a new subscriber.

I will show the standard structure of a welcome mailing using the example of a letter developed by the Mailfit agency for Spim.ru.

Hat with logo

This is a block that will be repeated in each newsletter, just like the footer with contacts.

The header is the first thing a new subscriber will see. It needs to be made recognizable and necessarily in the corporate style of the brand. A logo on a plain background or another design solution will be enough. The main thing is that in the first seconds after opening the letter the user can quickly read the header.

The logo icon must be of high quality and have the brand name written in alt-text in case the user’s images do not load. It is better to leave contacts, address and other information about the company for the basement.

Present

If a subscriber came to you from a lead magnet, then immediately after the header you should add a block with the promised bonus. This could be a promotional code, a link to download material, or another gift.

A standard welcome letter can be written without this section.

Greetings and thanks

Say “thank you” to a new subscriber for agreeing to leave their contact information with you. It’s great when the greeting is designed in the spirit of the brand, not only visually, but contextually.

For example: “Welcome to the world of exquisite fragrances” (for a selective perfume brand), “We are glad to have you on board!” (for aviation (for German language school).

Often a personal message from the company founder is added as a greeting and thank you. This works especially well when the CEO is a well-known media personality.

Company story

Next, say a few words about the brand, but try not to “spread.” Make the main emphasis in the text on the benefits for the new subscriber.

A couple of short paragraphs will be enough. Tell us what the company does and what it can offer the user. This will help to consolidate the reader’s basic associations with the brand and not dive too much into the nuances (all subsequent letters will be for this purpose).

Sections of the site and product stories

In the first letter you should not tell about everything at once. If you have a lot of products, show bestsellers. If there are many sections, tell us about the main ones, which are usually “in demand” among new clients. It is better to place other sections of the site and FAQ in the footer or block in front of it.

Welcome letters for technically complex services/products/platforms are a different story. One welcome letter will not be enough, so it is better to provide information in portions, in a chain.

Our task is to make the customer’s first touch with the product as positive as possible. Don’t forget about CTA buttons, because it is in the first 2 days after subscribing that the audience is most interested in the product.

Call to action (CTA) is a call to action. We recommend using strong verbs: look, buy, find out, order and others.

Offer for first purchase

This block is different from a gift to those who came from a lead magnet, because it is available to all new subscribers. Think about what you can offer the client to convince him to make his first purchase. For example, a discount on the first order, a gift with purchase, delivery at the expense of the company, free consultation, or something else.

Welcome offers are usually valid for a limited time. For example, 7 days after receiving it. Limited supply motivates the subscriber to make a purchasing decision faster.

Social media buttons

Offer to follow the brand’s accounts on Instagram, Facebook and your other platforms. So, in addition to a new contact in the database, you will receive new interested subscribers for free.

You can add social network teasers to this block. For example, three relevant posts from the Instagram feed. They will interest the subscriber to view the full profile.

Basement with contacts

Like the block with the header, the footer (also known as the footer) remains unchanged in almost all mass mailings that the brand sends to the subscriber. Legal information about the company, telephone numbers, user agreement and other elements are usually indicated here.

What a welcome letter from SPIM.ru looks like in its entirety - see the examples at the end of the article.

Non-public Tariffs Beeline Megafon MTS Tele2

It is difficult to imagine the life of a modern person without the Internet and communications, since it is on the Internet that he searches for the information he needs, communicates on social networks or develops his own business. Regardless of the goals, Internet access is required around the clock and without any restrictions. This necessity forces everyone to look for the most favorable rates from mobile operators. There are special very favorable non-public tariffs. These are advanced tariff plans that are designed for a limited number of VIP subscribers or internal use of the company. Access to non-public tariffs is usually available to corporate clients or company employees who have placed a special order.

The desire to save on subscription fees is obvious, and for this you can use special non-public tariffs from cellular operators. What kind of tariffs are these? They cannot be found on the operator’s official website, and the consultants in the salons simply shrug their shoulders. They are not intended for the general public, but an ordinary person with a regular SIM card can often connect to them.

Using non-public tariffs, which can be found in our catalog, it is possible to choose the optimal volume of traffic, the amount of the subscription fee and the cost of calls within the network. Non-public tariffs make it possible to avoid unnecessary costs for cellular communications and the Internet. We offer non-public tariffs that are almost equivalent to wired tariffs. For your convenience, a detailed description is provided for each non-public tariff presented in our catalog. It is completely true, which eliminates any pitfalls.

It has long been known that mobile operators change the terms of current public tariffs from time to time. Some of them work without significant changes for many years. If you have any difficulties choosing a non-public tariff, you can always contact our managers. We work individually with each client, we are ready to select the optimal non-public tariff taking into account your requests, requirements and financial capabilities.

The main advantages of non-public tariffs

Non-public tariffs have begun to attract more and more attention from subscribers of mobile operators. The increased interest is caused by more advantageous offers within one non-public tariff:

• higher volume of traffic;
• increased number of minutes;
• additional features.

Almost every mobile operator in Russia has non-public tariffs. In our catalog you can find unique non-public unlimited tariffs from the largest mobile operators in the country:

• MTS;
• Megaphone;
• Beeline;
• Tele2 and others.

What to write in a welcome letter

Depends on the direction of the business and the goal pursued by the company. Above, I have already briefly listed what should be located in each of the blocks. Next, I will give recommendations on content for popular areas of business.

• Online store → promotional code for the first purchase, main sections, bestsellers.
• Perfumes and cosmetics → top brand products, composition and how to use them.
• Clothes and shoes → technology, collections, uniqueness.
• Digital technology → the best models, their advantages and characteristics, situations of use.
• Real estate → current properties, advantages, manager contacts.

Helpful Tips:

• Write about the product in terms of benefits.
• Use storytelling.
• Tell us about the benefits for the subscriber.
• Offer a loyalty program.
• Show only a few best sellers, not all products at once.

Detailed description of the “Welcome” tariff from Beeline

We invite you to familiarize yourself in more detail with the characteristics of the fresh and current package from Beeline, which look like this:

• A package of 100 minutes for making calls to any number in Russia (provided you are on the territory of the Russian Federation), for calls to a whole list of international numbers. Calls to international destinations are valid subject to stay in the connection area;
• Calls to numbers of Beeline subscribers using a similar “Welcome>” tariff are available in unlimited mode;
• Internet traffic quota: 2 gigabytes;
• Text message quota: 50 to be sent nationwide.

As for the list of countries to which calls are available as part of the package, it is as follows:

1. Italy.
2. India.
3. China.
4. South Korea.
5. Canada.
6. Spain.
7. Israel.
8. Germany.
9. Finland.

Engaging new subscribers

The main goal of a welcome letter is to turn an enthusiastic subscriber into a regular customer. For this it is important:

• It's clear to talk about the company. So that a person has an image of the brand in his head.
• Offer a gift for the first action. This could be a promotional code for a purchase, a discount on free shipping, or anything else that the company can offer the client.
• Use CTA. Calls to action work both in text and on buttons. Use strong verbs that express action: buy, find out, look, order and others.
• Offer to join the loyalty program. Almost every brand has its own program, which is important to tell a new subscriber about.
• Provide links to social networks. If a person subscribes to your accounts, you will have more touch points with a potential client.

Services in excess of provided quotas

If suddenly during the period of using the package you use the provided service quotas, access to their use will be limited until the package activation procedure is repeated. For this purpose, you need to call the number 06740011. The package will be reconnected immediately. The procedure costs 500 rubles.

If the package expires and the subscriber does not initiate the reconnection procedure, access will only remain to receive incoming calls, as well as to those services that are not included in the package by default.