You’ve heard the stats:

Email marketing has the highest ROI out of almost any other digital marketing strategy. Some reports show an average ROI of 4400% or $44 earned for every $1 spent. 🚀
Why does email marketing have such a high ROI?

‍

Because people want to hear from you—some are even begging to hear from you. People who subscribe to your list:

• Choose to opt-in
• Confirm their subscription yet a second time
• Actively engage with your content on an ongoing basis
  

While email marketing is an outstanding way to engage your most loyal fans, not all email marketing strategies are created equal.

In other words, you’ll see better results if you adhere to some proven email marketing best practices.

Let’s start with your first opportunity to influence subscribers: the welcome email. Here are some ways to make your welcome email stand out from the crowd.

✅ Trigger your welcome email to send immediately

Let’s look at some stats:

• 74% of consumers expect a welcome email as soon as they subscribe (WordStream)
• Welcome emails have a 91.43% open rate (Hive)
• Welcome email read rates are 42% higher than the average email (Campaign Monitor)

When you consider these three stats collectively, it says customers are actively waiting to read your welcome email.

Don’t keep them waiting. ⏲️

“Customers are most "ready to buy" right after taking action, especially if that action involves them actively asking for your 15% off discount code like most DTC brands offer on their opt-in boxes. Waiting longer does nothing but frustrate customers who told you they want your solution right now.” -Danavir Sarria, Founder of SupplyDrop

No matter what ESP you use, you can set up a trigger that will schedule your welcome email to send immediately.

🤯 Hook them with a killer subject line

Look. I’m a copywriter and a content marketer, so subject lines are a big deal to me. A good subject line is more interesting than who wins the Superbowl. I’m serious.

The recipe for a stellar subject line is easy:

• 1 part clear
• 1 part creative

That’s it.

You’ve probably seen a million subject lines that say, “Welcome to <insert DTC brand of choice>. Yes, it’s descriptive. It’s also boring AF.

Here’s a better example from Cat Person.

It’s short. It’s sweet. It’s descriptive. It’s funny, AND it’s cute. The subject line makes you want to click and find out what Cat Person is all about.

I wanted to get a better idea of how other copywriters pick good subject lines, so I talked to Richard Michie, CEO of The Marketing Optimist.

He talked about brainstorming, research, and testing.

Michie said:

“We spend at least 20% of our time writing subject lines. We come up with a list of at least 20 and then cull them back to get to around 5 well-crafted, to the point, killer subject lines. Then we’ll ask the team, our clients, friends, family—the dog to give feedback. From there, we narrow it down to two—the subject line we love and the one the client loves. The only way to find a winner is to split test in the wild. Most email software lets you do this easily. The winner becomes your “banker” or the one you’ll test against next time.”

You can write a million subject lines, but the best way to see what will resonate is to test it with your audience.

🦷 Get them to sink their teeth into your brand

When someone subscribes to your list, your brand is at the top of their mind. They’re patiently waiting for you to enter their inbox with more information.

This is the perfect time to get subscribers to take some sort of action that will keep them coming back for more.

All you have to do is create the opportunity and make the ask.

Some ideas?

Encourage them to start shopping on your website by sending a unique coupon code. This is an especially smart strategy for a DTC brand. Here’s an example from Plus.

Ask them to join your rewards program. Ikea does this.

Explain how to start using your services. YouTube Premium does this.

Another thing to keep in mind if you want to get your subscribers to engage is to appeal to their emotions. I talked to marketing professional Dylan Bridger.

He said:

“A memorable welcome email tells a story that appeals to the emotions and then soft-sells the product. By telling a story, you entertain the reader and paint a vivid image of how your product fits into their life. This drives immediate sales (because people buy based on emotion?, and makes the reader crave your next email (because you entertained them).”

Remember!

Your welcome email is your first impression. It’s an opportunity to get your subscribers to click and learn more, make a connection, and start buying. It’s worth it to get it right. 4400% ROI worth it.