Quarter of B2C Marketers Send a Welcome Email Series

Not only are more B2C marketers sending welcome emails, more are sending welcome email series. The first weeks of an email marketing relationship are the most critical, so they deserve the extra attention that a welcome email series can provide.

Twenty-five percent of marketers send a welcome email series, according to ExactTarget research involving more than 160 B2C brands, including retailers, restaurants, manufacturers, travel and hospitality, and nonprofits. Of those marketers that send welcomes, 31% send a welcome email series rather than a single welcome email.

With 30% of retailers sending a welcome email series, they are nearly twice as likely as non-retailers to do so. And the percentage of retailers sending a welcome email series has tripled since 2009.

Many welcome email series included three emails, but a few included as many as five. Most of the emails in these series were interspersed with the brand’s usual promotional emails rather than all sent sequentially.

The messaging in each of the emails generally was one of the following:

• Promotional welcome offer, which tended to be a percentage-off or free shipping offer
• Reminder of soon-to-expire welcome offer
• Touting private label goods
• Follow us on social media
• Download our mobile app
• Explanation of website features and tools
• Introduction of store services

Welcome email series are even more powerful when you tailor them to different subscribers based on how they joined your email list (homepage, store, etc.) or their previous interactions with your brand.

Below are six of my favorite welcome email series from Barney’s, Crate & Barrel, eBags, Target, Vera Bradley and Zulily.