5 top tips to achieve your welcome flow goals

With extremely high open and conversion rates, welcome flows are one of the most important marketing points in the customer lifecycle – and present an opportunity you can’t afford to miss. Read on to learn how to get the most out of your welcome flow.

A welcome flow is a series of communications sent to people when they first subscribe to your newsletter, join your customer club or sign up for subscription services. Welcome flows are highly effective. Almost 75% of people expect to receive a welcome email when they subscribe to a newsletter; open rates are double that of any other marketing email you’ll send, and customers spend 58% more money when they’re converted through a welcome message. So, it’s crucial to nail your welcome flow! 

When designing your welcome flow, start by identifying your goals. What do you want your new subscribers to gain from your communications, and what do you want to gain from them? This will vary widely based on which touchpoint you are attracting subscribers from, the nature of your industry and product, and more. Do you want to introduce the consumer to your product? Build a relationship with your brand? Is the subscriber ready to buy, or do you have to lay some groundwork?

No matter these specifics, there are a few universal goals of a welcome flow.

• Build brand trust and loyalty
• Foster a relationship with the customer
• Nurture your leads and, eventually, make sales
• Answer customers’ questions and address their pain points
• Prime your subscribers for what they can expect from your brand
• Show that you’re paying attention by sending personal communications across channels

With these goals in mind, let’s look at the 5 best practices to achieve them, and build a long, healthy relationship with your new subscribers!

5 top tips for welcome flows

1. Build expectations

Add value immediately. Use your welcome flow to tell new subscribers what’s in store – how frequently you will be sending emails, what they can expect to gain from them – and then follow through on those promises.

Welcome flows are also an opportunity to present your company. This is the perfect opportunity to tell your new subscribers who you are, what you do and why they should be a part of that.  Tell and sell your core brand story, key differentiators from competitors, and provide information on different aspects of your offering – and track what they click on to learn more about what they care about.

2. Deliver on your promises and provide helpful resources

If you made promises to your subscribers, such as a piece of gated content or a discount, deliver on it as fast as possible. This will show that you pay attention and react when you express interest.

After providing what they came for, anticipate what they might want from you next by sending supplementary content or upselling.

3. Nail the timing 

Now that you’ve gotten them to subscribe, you have no time to waste. New sign-ups are expecting a welcome message from you right away, so set your first communication to send out instantly. Don’t let it end there with only one touchpoint – make a flow spanning across channels over several weeks to several months, and time it in tandem with the sales cycle. The longer the sales cycle for your product, the longer the welcome flow should be.

Find the frequency balance – you don’t want to spam your subscribers, but you don’t want to contact them too little, especially when their interest in your brand is at its peak. Be intentional with how often you contact your subscribers, and make sure that each touchpoint adds value and moves them further in the customer journey. 

4. Be personal

Most people don’t sign up for a newsletter at the first touchpoint. Collect data on how, where and why customers interact before they sign up, and use it to send the right message. Employ A/B testing on different subject lines and messages to ensure you send the best one.

As always, include a personal touch: use their name in your message, show them personalised product recommendations based on their viewing history on your website, and show the human side of your brand. You can also take the opportunity to ask for more information about subscriber preferences which will allow you to show them more of what they want to see from the start. Make sure to communicate with them across channels, and track their engagements, to create an unforgettable customer experience across touchpoints. Remember, you’re building a relationship with your welcome flow – if you do it right, the sales will come.

5. Stay connected

Leverage subscribers’ interest towards your social channels so they stay up-to-date across touchpoints, and you can boost SoMe traffic. Take the opportunity to collect consent for communicating to recipients across other channels, such as SMS. Make your welcome emails interactive and give users the opportunity to reply and provide feedback, making it clear where they can reach you. A relationship is reciprocal, and the better in touch you are with your subscribers, the better you know how to communicate with them going forward.

If you follow these five top tips for welcome flows, you will be well on your way to building deep and long-lasting relationships with your customers, and showing them why they should love your brand.