Problems with your welcome campaign

When you arrive somewhere it’s always nice to be welcomed. Whether it's at your local pub, your sisters’ place or a grand hotel who offer turn down service. A welcome campaign does the same thing for your prospects.

Undoubtedly, if they’ve signed up, submitted or sold their soul to you...the good businesses will welcome them with open arms and tell them more about who you are, what you’re about and how you’re going to make their life a hundred times better. 

Depending on if you’re one of the good ones, you have a welcome campaign in place which is great news. 

This blog will explain why you need a welcome campaign plus establish 4 common problems with real life examples. 

Why do I need a welcome campaign?

A welcome campaign isn’t about selling. Selling is a big no no.

It’s all about the relationship building.

You need a welcome campaign because;

• It clarifies who you are 
• Shows your prospects how you can better their lives
• Increases conversions
• Builds trust
• Adds value

As a result, people are very good at follow up in terms of;

• Thanking people for their order
• Telling them their order is on the way
• Asking for a review

Beyond this a lot of businesses fall flat and with it so many wasted opportunities.

We will highlight the most common problems with welcome campaigns and give you some real life examples of companies who are doing it really well so you know what your customers are looking for.

Problem 1: Inauthentic

No one likes a bullshitter. 

The people you’re spouting nonsense to suss you out quickly and just smile and uh huh to everything you say…it’s boring and a little pathetic.

If you’re trying to land prospects through disingenuous methods, it won’t just lose you leads - it will also tarnish your reputation. 

Another way you can be inauthentic is if the tone isn’t aligned with your business. For example if you run a financial firm that handles pension investments and you try and inject inappropriate humour that isn’t relevant to your target audience it will leave people feeling a bit icky.

Being inauthentic can also come across when you’re trying too hard. People love success stories but they want salt of the earth stuff. They’d much rather hear about Joe Bloggs succeeding by hard graft than some Kardashian who has made another billion. 

Inauthenticity breaks trust and what we want your welcome campaign to do is build trust.

Let’s look at Groupon as our example

Let's review a typical follow up email from Groupon (I can’t call it a welcome campaign). Groupon is a large company who sells items at much lower cost. It’s all about saving people money with deals.

What makes Groupon inauthentic;

• A lot of offers. It’s all buy buy buy.
• No personalisation. You get lumped in with everyone else.
• No segmentation, you get ads for everything from A to Z.
• No personality or tone...just adverts!

If Groupon had a nurture campaign that added value and was more customer focused we could expect much more active engagement and more conversions.

Imagine Groupon had a strategy besides just selling (which is slimy as hell). They would segment according to demographics (at least) and psychographics if they were being ambitious. They would create copy that added something to their list rather than just pummelled them with offerings. 

You can already envision how much more effective that would be because it would be authentic.

Problem 2: Not relevant to customer

Everything should be about the customer experience. 

If you’re sending out a welcome campaign that doesn’t focus on your customer then is it a welcome campaign?

I would argue that no it isn’t.

Adding value builds trust which is why this first impression should be much more focused on your customer as an individual and what’s relevant to them. 

A florist wouldn’t send out cookery tips, it would be weird. Just like it’s weird to receive emails about rabbit care when you only have hamsters…

You’ve got to use your knowledge base and your understanding of your customers to make reading your email interesting and relevant.

Motherly do this really well. Motherly is a lifestyle brand redefining motherhood. 

Take a look at this great email from Motherly

Obviously this is very relevant to me personally which is why it hits that value point.

I have a toddler so my time is limited, the fact that they have foreseen my obstacles to consuming their content makes me feel understood. 

This email isn’t plugging anything or selling anything, it’s a pure value add. 

When I signed up for Motherly, they asked about my child’s age so I have been segmented accordingly and I only ever get content that is relevant to his age bracket. 

They’re using their knowledge base, only sending me relevant content and it’s not selling me anything. Check check check.

Problem 3: Slimy sales right off the bat

You know those car salesmen in old movies? The ones who used to put sawdust in the engine to keep it running a few hours after purchase just for it to fall apart…

No one likes a slimy seller. Especially when you’re meant to be welcoming them into your list and building trust.

Bulldozing your customers with products before they even know who you are comes off as pushy and a little desperate. Especially when you’re pushing a sale without any lead up or benefits highlighted.

Imagine you’ve just signed up to an artist you like and the first communication you have is selling their paintings...sure you’ve shown interest but there has been zero opportunity for any relationship to develop. Slimy.

A company that knows how to make an offer is Vets4Pets

Before this email I had weeks of intentional information. Content about how to manage fleas, how to care for their dental health and how to keep them safe during fireworks. 

The reason I’m using this particular email as the example is because of how it makes the offer. 

We know that welcome campaigns shouldn’t be about selling at all so this is for further along the line but what does this email do really well (besides a good offer);

• Personalisation - they address me by name and my cats all by name
• The benefits for my precious furbabies are highlighted
• Not just an offer, a plan to help me care for my pets
  
  

I get an email from Vets4Pets weekly and one out of six emails is an offer. Predominantly it’s valuable tips for my cats, who are always addressed by name.

Problem 4: No follow through

What is the point if you’ve sent out an email to say hello and then had no further follow up?

Yes, it is critical that you introduce yourself but then you need to layer that. You need to tell your prospects more about what you do and why that should matter to them.

Your customer journey will help you establish where your customer is which will signpost their awareness level. This combined with that clever behaviour tracking you’re doing will help you figure out what they want.

When you know what they want, give it to them.

Subsequently, a welcome campaign;

• Clarifies who you are 
• Shows your prospects how you can better their lives
• Increases conversions
• Builds trust
• Adds value

A ‘hello and welcome’ is not quite the same as a three or four email welcome series that really nurtures that new relationship.

Yeo Valley’s follow through is really strong. Yeo Valley are an organic farm in Somerset who make yoghurt, milk, butter and more.

Yeo Valley have fabulous follow up

Yeo Valley is wholesome. 

They have a wonderful lead magnet that is unassuming and really effective but beyond that they have a welcome campaign that really gets you on board with their story, their passion and how their products should become part of your life.

But then they follow up as well. 

They have recreated a campaign that catches the people who haven’t directly engaged with their welcome campaign or responded regularly to the yeokens strategy.

They don’t sell, they don’t bullshit, they just ask you to re-engage  with a little freebie. 

On top of this, the email is personalised so it’s really very effective. 

In conclusion, it’s really helpful to dissect good and bad welcome campaigns because it makes us optimise our own welcome series to make sure we are intentionally customer focused.

Your customers are your bread and butter so put them on a pedestal, invite them in with a lovely cuppa and make them feel like you’re the mate they never knew they were missing.