Traffic is good, but conversation is better. And to have a conversation you have to have a voice. Does your email marketing have a voice that speaks with feeling? Does your brand speak in a characteristic voice from the get-go?
All of your email marketing – and especially welcome emails – are opportunities to shape your brand voice, and evoke the feelings that you want people to associate with your brand. This is what humanizes your brand and lets you have a conversation instead of simply delivering a sales pitch.
So what feeling do you want your product to evoke?
To start your thinking, develop a few bullet points that uniquely describe your product, service or promise for your customers. These define your brand values. Here are some examples:
- Quality – “the highest quality… “
- Exclusiveness – “be a member of our club where… “
- Curation – “the perfect selection of… “
- Prices – “lowest prices in the market for…”
- Scarcity – “the only place you’ll find… “
- Service – “the best customer service…”
Pinpointing the right “feeling” for your brand value has traditionally been left to advertising agency specialists. But I’m a big fan of writing these yourself and starting to create your marketing voice on your own. You’ll find that the results are more imaginative and original. Start by simply jotting down two or three phrases. Those values are your voice – the feeling you want your customers to have about your brand. And that voice should be reflected in every customer interaction and across the board from your logo, design, and copy to customer service and responsiveness.
Here’s what we wrote for Personalics:
- Easiest to on-board (one click)
- Zero upfront commitment: No integration cost or upfront fee
- Smart multi-channel, personalized messaging
Those phrases describe value to the customer. We want marketers to feel that Personalics is making their lives easier.
So how can your unique feeling be evoked in your welcome email? Let’s take a look at how some very different companies create different feelings with their brand voices exhibited from the get-go through their welcome emails.
Example #1: Warby Parker – Be happy
This is a welcome email from Warby Parker eyewear:
The first message is, “with us, you’ll feel happy. Our brand will make you do the happy dance.”
Let me emphasize that this is the very first email a subscriber receives after signing up. Warby Parker’s product – glasses – is mentioned only once in that email.
You don’t see in this email an eyewear product, fancy images or discounts – not even a personalized message. What you get is a promise of feeling happy enough to dance. There’s also the feeling that the buyer will be doing something good for others – giving free glasses to people who can’t afford them. Buyers aren’t just consumers – they’re part of a social mission, a family of people who make the world a better place.
This kind of socially aspirational marketing voice is, of course, the privilege of a well-known brand that manufactures its own products.
Now, the point isn’t your email should welcome new customers by inviting them to dance. What email marketing should do is reflect your unique voice in a consistent way across channels. If your store sells commodity products and your unique value is lowest price, and you rave about that on your homepage, then you want your customers to feel that they’re getting a great deal. They will expect discounts and membership privileges from the very first email.
Example #2: Shwood – Spirit of adventure
Here’s an example of another eyewear company’s email marketing, showing different approaches by different companies in the same vertical. Shwood starts its welcome email with an inspiring image, and then clearly states the brand’s promise and commitment.
In the middle of the welcome email Shwood includes a discount incentive, following that with an illustration of the company’s distinctive collections.
At the end of the email, Shwood introduces its ‘Journeys / Photo Essays’ feature, connecting the brand to adventurous travel – awe-inspiring, exotic, and memorable. The introductory image and the ‘Journeys’ section at the end say that you will experience the world in a unique and adventurous way through Shwood’s “eyes.”
Example #3: Estee Lauder – A gift for you
Another voice is that of well-known cosmetics company Estee Lauder, which pioneered the “gift with purchase” promotion in 1946.
The company’s welcome email uses the direct looks of its high fashion models to say, “Welcome to our world” — the same direct “look” that has characterized the company’s advertising for seven decades. It radiates a feeling of exclusivity, and that you’re now a member of an special club of elegance.
Example #4: AHAlife – Your one-of-a-kind life
Artisan gift retailer AHAlife immediately establishes its socially conscious brand, telling the story of its mission and including a video by the company’s founder. You’re not a shopper at AHAlife – you’re part of a movement to preserve artistry in an age of cheap mass production.
Example #5: Ann Taylor – Real style for real women
This welcome email from women’s clothing retailer Ann Taylor highlights the new arrivals and ‘must haves’ for “real” women who know and value classic, sophisticated style. The voice is chatty, lightweight and friendly. It says, “We’ll make you look great, whatever your size and your budget.”
Example #6: Gap Factory – Contemporary, casual, thrift
The Gap Factory‘s welcome email is casual, like its clothes, and as you would expect for a factory outlet, focused on its unique value proposition: discounts.
Example #7: CHIEF Supply – Unvarnished value
CHIEF Supply is a good example of a commodity brand that differentiates itself by with selection – 55,000 product offerings – quality, and service in addition to competitive prices. Besides emphasizing the 15 percent discount being offered, CHIEF Supply’s email marketing is down-to-earth in explaining the reasons that customers buy from the company.
So think carefully, what feelings can your unique values evoke with your welcome email wording? Are you incorporating your brand voice in the welcome email at all? Are you making your customers ‘feel’ your brand?
