How to welcome new subscribers

Let’s consider your store’s email newsletter for a moment.

You see, as your subscriber, when I grant you my email address I want platinum status membership to your brand.

I want access to your very best. Not everything. Just the best.

The best work, the best offers, the best everything you put out there.

Why? Because I’ve given you access to two precious things. My time. My space.

I can follow you and like you and all the other action verbs we associate with online conversation. However, I’m not always there to hear. I may miss what you have to say.

As your subscriber I’ve given you the opportunity for something much much more. A chance to really connect. That’s why, I believe, you should take me seriously.

What do I want?

Thanks for asking. I subscribed for a reason. I’m looking to improve something. Think (just for a few seconds) about what that could be. Take a look at why I registered for your newsletter.  What did you promise me? It may give you a subtle hint.

I’m looking to learn something. Something that will help me improve.

I’m looking for reassurance. Some insight that tells me to keep going. That I’m doing well.

I’m looking to do better. Show me how.

That’s the permission I granted you when I registered for your newsletter. It’s not all about the products you sell. It’s about how you add value.

I don’t care what you sell. This matters to specialists and it matters to those that mutter how ‘we’re not really a coooool brand’.

Just give me access to your best stuff.

If you think that’s a voucher, make it exclusive to me.

If you think that’s a product, let me hear about it first.

If you think that’s a product review, make it apply to what I want to know.

The problem?

We (as marketers) are too busy chasing numbers.

“Look! We now have 10,000 likes on Facebook! We’re killing the competition with their measly 7,500!” (when we last checked a few minutes ago).

“20,000 followers on Twitter!” That shows commitment to our strategy. “Boom. We’re destroying targets. People love us! We’ve got something to shout about.”

Email is the introvert that isn’t invited to the social media par-tay. And yet, it’s where we can engage in meaningful one-to-one conversations if we just put our mind to it.

Secretly, the businesses that succeed online succeed through email. They make that conversation one-to-one. Just like I (your subscriber) asked for. Just like I registered for.

So. What don’t you do? THIS:

Introductory Email Sent from AllSaints

AllSaints’ first email newsletter tells me about the great stuff happening on their other channels. I didn’t ask for ‘even more’. I requested to ‘know first’. Remember?

Newsletter Subscription Form At AllSaints.com

Think like this. Twitter and Facebook followers download your singles. Newsletter subscribers bought the album and they’ll probably buy the t-shirt too.

That’s how you treat your email database and decide upon your strategy for recruiting new subscribers. Subscribers don’t just hum along with your hits on the commute to work. They’re front row centre at your next gig. Believers.

This is the value of an introductory newsletter. It’s your opportunity to reaffirm the reasons why people subscribe. Not to sell. To connect. More importantly, to show how your email newsletter adds value to your subscriber’s world (not to pitch social connections).

Email is a critical component in lifecycle marketing for your ecommerce business. An introductory newsletter sets the scene far beyond the subscription carrot you may have dangled (eg. the 10% discount code).

That little ‘subscribe now’ button will help your store thrive. Use it well. For me and you.

Written By:

Ian Rhodes

Twitter

First employee of an ecommerce startup back in 1998. I've been using building and growing ecommerce brands ever since (including my own). Get weekly growth lessons from my own work delivered to your inbox below.