Welcome in 2023 With the Perfect Welcome Campaign

Increase Engagement and Drive Conversions With Carefully Crafted SMS Welcome Messages

As your brand begins setting the tone for a prosperous 2023, it's essential to fully prepare with a well-designed SMS welcome campaign. Welcome campaigns are your brand’s first impression, and if successful, can help you connect with your customers to drive conversions. Like any first impression, the way you introduce yourself is crucial and can make or break customer retention.

Sending a welcome message to a new customer only happens once, so you must make it count. To help you get started, we have compiled a step-by-step guide for crafting the perfect SMS welcome campaign for 2023. 

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Prepping Your Welcome Campaign Strategy

With welcome campaigns having the highest success rate on average, creating an effective campaign strategy is a must. Here are some critical elements to consider when prepping for your welcome campaign:

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Set goals that are realistic and measurable 

As with any SMS campaign, you must start with a clear and specific goal in mind. This will help you focus your efforts to create a campaign that is tailored to achieving that goal. Your objective should be purposeful and attainable, and should speak to what you want to accomplish. 

For example, your goal could be to increase customer retention by 10% within the first month of the welcome campaign. Outlining this intent will help you measure the success of your campaign to determine any necessary adjustments for meeting your goals.

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Define your target audience

To define your target audience, you should start by considering your existing customer base and the characteristics that they share. By identifying similarities, you are able to see what type of customers typically favor your brand so you can focus your efforts on targeting customers with similar characteristics. 

During this phase, you should also consider your campaign’s intent. Is your campaign for the general public coming to your site or is this a unique in-store opt-in campaign that will run for a limited time or season? This will help you further define your segments.

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Develop an A/B testing strategy

Prior to launching a new welcome campaign, it's important to test your messages and ensure that they will resonate with your target audience. Testing allows you to evaluate different versions of your messages and see which ones are most successful at achieving your goals. 

A/B testing allows you to start with a small sample of your target audience to create two or more versions of your message. You can then track response rates and engagement levels to see which version is most effective at achieving your goals. You can then identify the strengths and weaknesses of each version and make any necessary adjustments before launching your campaign to your entire audience. 

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Crafting Your On-Brand Welcome Series

Now that you’ve outlined your campaign goals, defined your target audience, and tested your message for effectiveness, it’s time to create the perfect welcome message. Explore the key elements to include in your welcome campaign.

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Make it a meet-cute moment

A welcome message gives your brand the opportunity to get to know your new subscribers while introducing yourself for the first time. Don’t forget to let your brand’s personality shine through. Consider looping in elements of witty humor or story-telling to make your welcome message memorable and personal to your brand. 

For example, you could use a humorous anecdote to illustrate a point or a story while explaining the benefits of your product or service. Be sure to think like a customer and imagine what you might like to hear as a new subscriber. 

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Get personal with opt-in locations and segmentation

When creating a welcome message, it's important to add elements of personalization for each individual subscriber. This could mean using their name, mentioning something specific about their interests, or tailoring the message based on their location or other demographic information. By making your message personal, you can create a stronger connection with your audience and make them feel valued and appreciated. 

Sweeten the deal with a compelling call to action 

Create a clear and compelling call to action for your welcome campaign. Your CTA should explain what the recipient will receive by responding to the message, and how it will benefit them. This could be a link to your website or simply a suggestion to reply with a keyword to receive more information. The goal is to encourage subscribers to take the next step in their relationship with your brand.

To take it a step further, consider enticing your subscribers with a discount. Most people enjoy getting a good deal, and offering a discount can sweet-talk customers into making a purchase. In fact, 68% say that they are more likely to join a brand’s marketing list if they receive an instant coupon. By offering a discount, you can help to build goodwill and strengthen relationships with your customers, as it shows that you are willing to provide value and reward their loyalty. 

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Make it visual 

51% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if they receive a text message with images and media. Including an image in your welcome message can help to catch the recipient's attention while conveying your message in a visually appealing way. Additionally, using a visual element that is relevant to your message can help to reinforce the message and make it more memorable for the recipient. 

For example, if your brand sells outdoor gear, including an image of a person hiking in the mountains while using your gear can help to showcase the benefits of your brand and its products to make your offerings appealing to potential customers.

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Be Timely

Welcome messages should be sent immediately after a new customer subscribes (this is after the initial double opt in authentication). By reaching out to new customers right away, you can encourage them to take action by confirming their email address or completing their profile. This can help to keep customers engaged with your business and prevent them from losing interest or forgetting about your brand. Sending your message immediately after opt-in will also help you provide customers with personalized information that is timely and relevant to their current interests.

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Managing Your Launched Campaign

Your campaign has gone live – congratulations! Now it’s time to monitor results, celebrate the wins, and identify areas of improvement for future optimization. Here’s how: 

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Harness engagement before it fizzles out

Be intentional with your welcome messages; don’t approach this opportunity as a one and done. By using a drip campaign strategy, you can develop a series of messages that will be sent to new subscribers over a period of time. These messages should be concise and engaging, and should build on one another to create a sense of anticipation and excitement. 

You can also use this opportunity to get to know your subscribers while introducing them to your brand, and is a great time to test out questions for zero-party data insights. 

24 hours after your initial launch, consider sending a follow-up message promoting new products or with a reminder to use a discount code. After 4 days, send a final reminder to use the discount code or to further promote your brand. This will not only help to increase engagement by keeping your brand top of mind, but will also express your commitment to the relationships you build with subscribers. 

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Track response rate and monitor engagement 

Just because your welcome campaign has launched, doesn’t mean your job is done. By tracking the response rate and measuring engagement, you will walk away with valuable data that can be used to improve and reshape future campaigns. 

Closely monitoring performance will also help you allocate your resources more effectively. With an understanding of which areas are driving conversions, you can focus your efforts and resources on those areas to achieve the best possible ROI. Additionally, analyzing results will help you get to know your customers even better–their interests, needs, motivations, etc.

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Say Hello the Right Way: Transform Your Welcome Campaign with Voyage

At Voyage, we understand the importance of creating and sending welcome messages that are both compliant and on-brand. Our Professional Services team is dedicated to helping you craft the perfect welcome series that will maximize the impact of your SMS program's launch. With our user-friendly platform, you can create custom messages and flows that represent your brand's unique voice while staying true to compliance.

In addition, Voyage also makes it easy to track the success of your campaigns. Our dashboard allows you to view your upcoming campaigns at a glance and create new ones directly from your calendar. You can also access the reporting section of your account to view key performance metrics from every single one of your SMS campaigns and automations. This ensures that you always have access to the information you need to make data-driven decisions and optimize campaigns to improve performance.

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SMS Best Practices

Continue to learn about SMS marketing campaigns in our new guide — The Definitive SMS Marketing Guide. In the guide, we cover everything about SMS, from the optimal candidate for managing your program to setting up a successful acquisition channel, all the way through benchmarks, best practices, and stellar campaign examples.

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To learn more about SMS best practices and more, download the Definitive SMS Marketing Guide today!

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