5 goals fashion ecommerce reaches thanks to welcome emails

If you’ve not up to speed on the idea of meeting and exceeding the expectation of online customers, you need to recognize that today’s typical consumer is very aware of the many ways they can find what they’re looking for and with price comparison sites and is able to access any number of your competitors.

Smart shoppers know they’re in a strong position and look for the very best offers before deciding who they will buy from. It’s not enough to be just like everyone else, you need to offer something extra.

Welcome emails in your email marketing can sometimes be just the thing you need. They are a great chance to communicate that your fashion ecommerce has that something extra beyond a great selection or outstanding customer service.

Going the extra mile - great customer experience

To start out, let’s make it clear that a well-run, competitive online store is more than just quality products and timely delivery.

It’s not enough for fashion ecommerce to stand out from enormous competition from bigger brands that often have stationary stores and more resources to finance promotions and discounts.

This “extra” that you need is all about the little things that make up a great customer experience and result in them identifying more strongly with your brand.

One element of a perfectly planned customer experience in your online store should be your welcome message.

This is the mail that your subscribers receive automatically after signing up for your newsletter in the double opt-in model after setting up an account in your online store. 

This is when the attention of new subscribers is the most focused on your and your brand because they know they have to confirm their subscription by clicking on a link in the message.

This is one of the most-opened messages you will send to subscribers, with an Open Rate often over 50%.

The #openrate for welcome mesages is over 50% #emailmarketing Click to Tweet

Remember that once your welcome message is set up, it will automatically be sent to customers thanks to signup autoresponders. 

With just a few extra clicks in the campaign creation process, you can enhance the customer experience in your online store but not only welcoming new customers but showing them that are you committed to doing the little “extras” that make them happy.

I’ve put together 5 examples of effective welcome emails from fashion ecommerce that will give you some professional inspiration when it’s time to put together your own campaign and build the image of your online store.

...and believe me, you don’t have put in hours of work to do things the right way.

1. Build trust and a good image right from the start

Convenience and trust are key driving forces when choosing a retailer to purchase with online

Social proof strongly supports the offer value, regardless if potential customer reads an online review or a testimonial on the main page of your e-store.

Try using the power of social proof concept in the welcome message. You will leverage your brand image and make a great first impression.

The following welcome campaign from navabi combines elements of both: PR, highlighting the company's mission, and the confirmation for the recipient that he has made the right choice, because many other customers think the same.

It's also a good opportunity to send additional information that are not available anywhere else. Make an effort and showcase your brand through storytelling. You will be perceived as unique and not one of many.

The icing on the cake is the invitation to start a long-term relationship with the brand shown as a handwritten signature of the sender and simple but meaningful thank you for joining the group of customers.

Welcome message: navabi

2. Focus on the deliverability of your campaigns and increase their future reach

As I mentioned, the welcome message often achieves a very high Open Rate.

Each of these opens is registered by email service providers and helps to indicate that the message was not spam. This helps to protect your reputation as a sender.

The same applies when your subscribers add you to their list of contacts and other kinds of engagement with your message. The more they open, read, reopen or forward your message, the more signals they are sending that your future messages will be welcomed too.

This means that your newsletter lands in inboxes and not spam folders.

Take advantage of the high engagement in welcome messages and the benefits they bring.

Here’s a welcoming email from COS that clearly tells new subscribers about the benefits of joining the newsletter. When your subscribers sign up, they’re telling you that they’re interested in your message so use that interest to help protect the reach of your future campaigns.

Welcome message: COS

By increasing the deliverability of your messages, you increase the chances that more subscribers will receive them, click on links, go to your landing pages and move towards conversion which is, after all, the point, right?

3. Use the first conversion to encourage customers to buy in a limited time 

A good time to influence a purchase decision is right after a conversion.

Conversions are a process that start with completing certain goals that you set, like signing up for a newsletter or buying a certain product.

These actions show that customers have trust in you and are engaged with your message and provide you with a window in which to encourage further movement along the conversion path for other processes.

Lots of ecommerce platforms use this strategy right after signing up for a newsletter by offering a surprise discount or some other enticement to buy now. Take a step further and add a time element to your offer.

This sense of urgency increases the chances that customers will make the decision to buy now as long as they don’t get distracted by something else. 

4. Use exceptional content to get attention and send visitors to your site

Because of the way that Google’s algorithms evaluate your internet store, you can get more traffic by using the phrases that customers use when they search.

Of course the more visitors come to your site, the better your chances that more of them will end up making a purchase.

On top of that, the dedicated blog for your online store can help it to become a source for useful information, knowledge or recreation for your subscribers.

Getting your fans to return to your site more often to check out the content you add means more traffic looking at your offers as well.

Online fashion label Coast is a good example of this idea and they use their welcome message to tell everyone about their blog and all the cool stuff you can find there.

Welcome message: Coast

Blog: Coast

 

5. Learn more about what your subscribers like and create segments in your mailing list 

The use of targeting and personalisation have an enormous impact on the effectiveness of your email marketing.

Using the feedback you get from every interaction with every subscriber to tailor your content according to their preferences is the key to driving sales and conversions.

You can start collecting this information that tells you about subscriber preferences right from the start of your relationship.

If you have IT support, you can create a dedicated configurator that will enable you to divide your subscribers on the basis of information they share on their signup forms.

This is what Selfridges is doing in the example below.

Welcome message: Selfridges

You can also take advantage of a much easier way to quickly divide your subscribers according to their common interests and preferences.

Of course, I’m talking about using tagged links. FreshMail lets you place specially tagged links in your welcome message that places addresses in different segments according to what subscribers show an interest in. 

When your database is segmented into to groups based on their common interests, it’s just a matter of creating dedicated campaigns that feature the items and offers that appeal directly to the needs and wants of your customers.

And how do you use welcome messages to improve customerce experience in your ecommerce store?