Have you checked your subscription confirmation page and welcome email messages lately? These are your ‘first impression’ opportunities to new subscribers and worth the attention you pay your newsletter, as well as updating on a regular basis. In Day 4 of Five Days to Increasing your Newsletter Subscriptions we look at subscription confirmations, an important contribution to the health of your subscriber list.
Day 4: Subscription Confirmations
The geek side of me comes out some days when I try to figure out who is using what type of email or subscription service, especially when they present a standard form that doesn’t – quite – graphically fit with the rest of the website. Don’t let your technology dictate user experience of your brand! And especially don’t miss out an opportunity by sending a “form letter” as your Welcome message. Business publications are the worst…
Bad example
CMO magazine has a plethora of newsletters you can subscribe to with lots of great information for measuring your marketing performance. But their confirmation messaging leaves… well, nothing to be desired. This is an example of their welcome email, which is pretty much the same as the confirmation page on their site the user sees first:
The email address you provided is june@onedegree
You are now subscribed to CMO Magazine’s:
CMO Adviser
CMO Now Playing
CMO Opinion
CMO Technology Watch
CMO on Brand
From the Editor
Special Announcements
To edit your subscription information please go to:
http://www.cmomagazine.com/subscribe/login.html?id=330170&email=june@onedegree
CMO Newsletters are sent from a cxomedia.com mailbox. Please add cxomedia.com to your approved sender addresses in your spam filter. [snip]
Kind of cold isn’t it? Of course this was sent in plain text as well — wouldn’t want to have any warm colours or anything to give the wrong idea… Could they maybe include a link to a key article or two to get me started? Or the latest issue? They do want me as a subscriber, right??
Great example
Consumer sites seem to pay more attention to the end user experience in creating their confirmation pages and emails. Plus if they’ve got something to sell (and you’re visiting cause you’re interested in buying something), they use this space to sell! I’ll use Tiger Direct as an example. The confirmation page offers links to deals right away. This is mirrored in a friendly welcome message set for success by promoting their latest features as well as subscription management information, refers to the mailing list as the preferred group and offers up a personalized deal link (oh, just for me?!). Plus one of my faves – it comes from a real person and signature!
Have fun with your welcome messages and update them on a regular basis to reflect your brand, offerings and what’s new for your customers. Most of all, make sure they remind your subscribers why they want to read your next issue and stay on your mailing list!
Tomorrow we finish with Subscription Promotion!