The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships WELCOME

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1 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships WELCOME An Experian Marketing Services white paper

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3 Table of contents About this paper...2 What is Welcome Series marketing?...3 Components of a Welcome Categories of Welcome Subscription thank you for joining...6 Informational...7 Welcome category performance metrics...8 Getting started About Experian Marketing Services...12 An Experian white paper Page 1

4 About this paper This paper provides an overview of Welcome Series marketing campaigns, including the components that deliver success, the main categories of s, and a strategy for implementing one in your own organization. It also contains metrics that compare the performance of various Welcome Series s to standard promotional s. For this study we looked at twenty-seven clients from the Catalog, Consumer Products and Services, and Multi-Channel Retail industries all of which deployed a welcome series between November 2010 and April For the most part, the Welcome Series campaigns deployed by these companies contained four s, including the first contact; though a handful of companies launched programs with up to six separate s. This paper, however, reports metrics on just the first four s of the Welcome Series. Page 2 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships

5 What is Welcome Series marketing? Good marketing strategies, like good manners, make strong first impressions and are the foundation for building lasting relationships. Marketers are wise to build a customer thank you strategy into their marketing. After all, new subscribers have already shown their interest in your company by choosing to opt in to your marketing. Why not keep the momentum going? Keeping the momentum going is at the heart of Welcome Series marketing. A Welcome Series provides a unique opportunity to acknowledge, educate, and engage your subscribers. Such programs begin with an expressing a sincere thank you for joining the program and often contain a special offer. The series continues with educational information such as tips, best practices, links to how-to videos, as well as special offers that keep your brand top-of-mind and rewards subscribers for their continued interest. And they work! s that are part of a Welcome Series outperform standard promotional s in terms of response and revenue earned. For instance, according to Experian primary research across multiple verticals, standard promotional s have a.06% response rate and earn $.06 in revenue per , while Thanks for Joining Us s that kick off a Welcome Series have 0.95% response rate and earn $1.29. Moreover, Welcome Series s promote customer retention by educating customers on new ways to use products and services they ve purchased from you. They also remind customers of the benefits they ll reap from enrolling in your loyalty programs or credit card ( Get free shipping if purchased with our credit card or Loyal customers take additional 15% off list price. ) Finally, Welcome Series s are excellent vehicles for directing customers to an preference center (EPC). An EPC provides a personalized web page for customers and prospects to opt in and opt out of your promotions, newsletters, and product enhancements, and indicate topics or categories of interest to them, as well as how often they wish to receive promotions. You can also use an EPC to survey customers, test their interests in future product expansions or business initiatives, and gauge other marketing considerations. Most importantly, s with EPCs have lower unsubscribe rates than s with a simple unsubscribe link. An Experian white paper Page 3

6 Components of a Welcome There is an art to creating a Welcome Series marketing campaign. All of the s should acknowledge the recipient s loyalty and invite them to engage with your brand. Effective s are ones that: Address the user s interest. Use what you ve learned about the customer, even if it s just his or her name, to personalize your message. The strongest personalization will come from the information provided in the EPC, so build programs that make use of that data. Promote your brand. Subscribers chose to hear from you, so make your correspondence to them as attractive and engaging as possible. For instance, consider using product photos that click through to your website. Drive engagement. Ask your subscribers to rate their shopping experience or register for your loyalty program. Collect their preferences. Direct them to your EPC and encourage them to create a profile. The information you collect here can be leveraged for future mailings. Promote social sharing. Make it easy for your subscribers to post a description of what they ve just purchased to their Facebook page, or Tweet about the great deal they received to their followers. Include an invitation to join your mobile program. Ask subscribers to sign-up for text messaging to get promotions, offers, and new events sent right to their phone. Highlight a product. Experian research shows product-centered s have the highest transaction rates. Time your strategically. A welcome series can be sent days, weeks, or months after the initial sign-up. Test the timing that works best for your business and brand(s). Page 4 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships

7 Categories of Welcome s There are two basic welcome categories: Thanks for Joining Us (subscription) and Informational. Thanks for Joining Us s are sent when customers or prospects opt in to your list. Opt in can occur at numerous touch points, such as your home page, e-commerce check-out process, in-store POS, or when customers join your rewards/loyalty club or exclusive deals program. The first contact acknowledges or confirms the customer s subscription, conveys the Welcome Series value proposition, and sets the tone for future communications. Informational s provide your customers with useful information related to your company s products, brands, loyalty clubs, private label credit cards, surveys or other programs. The four main types of informational s are: Loyalty clubs: Include an invitation to join the program, as well as an explanation of the benefits of membership, such as any exclusive offers, special updates about new products, or private sales to members only. Product: Pictures or a description of hot-selling products and must-have features you offer. Credit card: Promotes the benefits of getting the company s credit card. Stores and Brands: Newsletters about the company or sister brands services and programs, social media sites, and mobile marketing opportunities. Informational s made up 69% of the volume of the Welcome Series s in this study. An Experian white paper Page 5

8 Following are some examples used by Experian Marketing Services clients, along with their use cases: Welcome series type Goal Sent when Notable trends Bass Pro Shops Subscription Encourage multiple purchases First or second s of the Welcome Series Transaction rates for welcome s with offers are almost double those without offers What makes this Thanks for Joining Us strong? To start it offers several points of engagement (Forward to a Friend, Shop Now, Get a $10 Gift Card), along with one-click access to the recipient s account. Page 6 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships

9 Welcome series type Goal Sent when Notable trends Sport Chalet Informational Promote loyalty, sell additional products and programs The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th s in the Welcome Series are great opportunities to provide this information to your subscribers s focused on product information had the highest transaction rates What makes this informational strong? Strategic use of photographs portray a wide array of interests, ensuring it s relevant to a greater swath of recipients. And by promoting both product choices and expert advice, the communicates a sense of community. An Experian white paper Page 7

10 Welcome category performance metrics As stated earlier, Experian monitored the Welcome Series and standard promotional campaigns of 27 companies across multiple verticals over a fivemonth period. We found that overall, welcome categories generate higher transaction rates and revenue, as well as higher opens and clicks than basic promotional s. 40% Open and click rates 35% 33.7% 30% 25% 24.6% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Unique opens 9.2% 10.3% 6.5% 1.8% Unique Clicks Information Thanks for joining us Promotional Both categories of the Welcome Series have open and click rates that are more than double those of promotional mailings. Page 8 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships

11 Transaction and revenue per rates 1.00% 0.95% $1.29% $1.40 $ % $ % 0.25% 0.00% 0.06% $0.06% Promotional 0.34% $0.46% Information 10.3% Thanks for joining us $0.80 $0.60 $0.40 $0.20 $0.00 Both welcome categories generate high transaction rates and revenue per . For Welcome Series information s, the higest transaction rates were for those s focused on products 0.50% 0.45% 0.40% 0.30% 0.20% 0.21% 0.10% 0.08% 0.00% Credit card Loyalty club Products 0.19% Stores and brands While all four informational types offered above-average transaction rates, those that focused on products performed the best in the series. An Experian white paper Page 9

12 1.2% Free shipping has the highest transaction rate of any offer type in the Welcome Series 1.0% 1.01% 0.8% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2% 0.0% 0.12% $ off 0.37% % off 0.02% Bonus points Free shipping 0.26% 0.24% 0.49% 0.10% Free shipping / $ off Free shipping / coupon Free shipping / product sample Gift card Of all the offers tracked, clearly free shipping is the most enticing, and performed more than 2x better than all other offers. preference center Welcome s that include an preference center have stellar retention rates. In fact, the unsubscribe rates are 18% lower than when s merely provide the recipient with an unsubscribe link. In addition to maintaining the best possible subscription rates, an EPC enables subscribers to choose the frequency and types of communications they receive, essentially personalizing a marketing plan based on their unique interests. Tip: Information gathered on the preference center can be used for targeting and segmenting future s. Page 10 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships

13 Placement Series placement has a major impact on welcome performance. The initial welcome generates the highest response in opens, clicks, transactions, and revenue per . However, even the fourth in the series provides response rates that are 4x higher than those of promotional s. Getting started Implementing a Welcome Series campaign makes good business sense, and we encourage all companies to consider one. This section contains our best practices for Welcome Series campaigns, however, please keep in mind that the messages, timing and other components are best considered on an individual company basis, and should include testing. Before you begin, answer the following questions: What are your goals? Which groups are you targeting? subscribers, new loyalty program members, or first time buyers? Which message will you include in each part of the series? Essential Requirements Optimal Timing Other Desired Features Initial Welcome Thank-you, Preference Center (on all) social media connection (on all) Within 1-2 days of joining/buying Mobile sign-up, special offer 2nd in series Programs benefits of credit cards, loyalty clubs, products, stores/ brands Days or weeks, depends on brand, product, and established cadence of other communications Link to credit card and/or loyalty sign-up, store offers or on-line coupon code 3rd in series Loyalty clubs, products, stores/ brand Daily/Weekly/ Monthly Additional benefits, special programs and offers 4th in series Products, credit cards, loyalty clubs Daily/Weekly/ Monthly Dynamic product content/ offers based on purchase or preference center information An Experian white paper Page 11

14 About Experian Marketing Services Experian Marketing Services is a global provider of integrated consumer insight, targeting, data quality and cross channel marketing. We help organizations from around the world intelligently interact with today s dynamic, empowered and hyper-connected customers. By coordinating seamless interactions across all marketing channels, marketers are able to precisely plan and execute superior brand experiences that deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximize profits. For more information, please crosschannelmarketing@experian.com. Page 12 The role of a Welcome Series in building long-lasting customer relationships

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16 Experian CheetahMail 29 Broadway, 6th Floor New York, NY Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. 4/2012