Relationship Building 101
Consider this … If you met someone at a business function and wanted to build that relationship for the benefit of both parties, would you just send them an email saying it was a pleasure to meet them? No! You’d probably continue to follow up with that prospect knowing that they showed an interest in your service or product.
So, when a visitor comes to your website and signs up to receive information such as a monthly newsletter or some type of subscription, do they receive a “Thank you” or “Welcome” response from your company? Other than the initial welcome message, do you have any further communication with these prospects other than the information they signed up to receive?
If you answered ‘no’ to the question above, then you might want to think a bit more strategically when it comes to building and nuturing a relationship with the prospects that you will probably never meet but have shown and interest in what your company is offering.
Sending a series of automated welcome messages just might do the trick! Over and above confirming the subscription that the visitor has requested, sending a welcome series can also help set expectations, offer valuable information and assist in building the relationship. What about surveying your subscribers to determine preferences and profiling attributes, explaining benefits and even provoding additional ways to interact such as your social network site (your company is participating in social networking aren’t they?).
Of course, before planning a series of welcome messages, it is important to think about what you want out of each message as it relates to your business as well as the interest of the prospects. Bottom line, all messaging should be valuable and beneficial to the subscribers in order for them to remain engaged with your brand.
When do you start communicating with a new prospect? – the initial message is obviously sent immediately upon subscription. After that, it would be necessary to test the timing of any remaining messages to find out what will work the best. However, remember that the welcome message will depend upon the type of strategy and the goals you want to achieve. To start out on the right foot, here is a great overview provided by ListTrak that will help you in formatting your communication for building that online relationship.
