Online retailers improving welcome emails

The Email Experience Council’s second “Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study” has been released. It shows a marked improvement in the presentation and content of welcome emails.

Not only are more online retailers sending out welcome emails – 72 percent in 2007 compared with 66 percent last year – but they are being savvier with content, format and distribution.

As one of the first communications an online customer receives, the welcome email plays an important role, advises Kara Trivunovic, director of strategic services at Premiere Global Services Inc., sponsors of the study.

“Welcome emails should set the tone of the program and the expectations of the recipient from an aesthetics and content standpoint,” she said. “It is said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression—and that adage holds true to the email channel as well. Properly executed welcome messages actually create anticipation in the recipient for the next message.”

The study also found that email marketers are ensuring their emails promote trust and give their customers format and frequency options. Key findings include:

- 75 percent of welcome emails contained the retailer’s brand name in the subject lines, helping the recipient to recognise the sender.
- 62 percent of welcome emails encouraged the recipient to whitelist them, up from just under half last year.
- 53 percent of welcome emails included a link to the retailer’s privacy policy, up from 45 percent last year.
- 98 percent of welcome emails contained a link to the retailers shopping website, up from 88 percent last year.
- Store locators were included in a third of welcome emails.
- 58 percent of welcome emails were CAN-SPAM compliant, up slightly from 52 percent last year

Tags: Email Experience Council, email marketing, subscribers, welcome emails