WOW, did you see this?

http://www.returnpath.net/blog/2008/06/research-study-creating-great.php

"A shocking 60% of the companies in our survey did not send a welcome message. Of the 40% that did send a welcome message, only 33% sent it within 24 hours. The remaining 7% took anywhere from two days to three weeks."

Bonnie made a few GREAT points at the Return Path Email Expert Seminar in Dallas last week, she said "asking for the data and failing to use it is worse than not asking for the additional data at all". "You should set your customers expectation up front by sending them a welcome email". "This also allows you to verify the email address is good, remind the customer what they signed up for, how often they might get it, etc. Don't ask for the information if your not going to use it"

This should be a simple thing to do. Make sure you email environment is set-up to do trigger based emails. The minute someone sign-up's for one of your emails, they get a welcome email in minutes.

-Dennis
Eloqua

Comments

Dennis -

Good to meet you at EIS. Do the results of that study *really* shock you? In a few weeks, BrontoFire: Welcome Messages is launching. Kimberly and I review a few big name retailers...most of whom do not sent welcome messages. Those that do...well...aren't that great. Go figure.

Check out the May BrontoFire on our blog or YouTube.

http://blog.bronto.com/2008/05/28/brontofire-live-%e2%80%93-subscription-landing-pages/

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3L20Z4sHRyg

Cheers.

dj at bronto

yes they do shock me considering how many of the brands in some of these studies are with or have access to the majority of our services and email experts out there. Might be a technology issue, but doubtful. Plus, we've had years to learn this. Starting to think this might be a new training session in MAAWG or other email groups.