Today I once again direct your attention to the very useful Marketing Profs newsletter, where a recent entry by Laura Forer entitled The Indispensable Welcome Email [Infographic] caught my eye. This well-constructed infographic highlights the value and impact of effective communications, especially at the start of the business relationship. Regular readers of this blog will recognize this as an important topic for us here at QIC, having been the topic of posts by several of my colleagues as well as the subject of a dedicated page on our web site.

As you will see when you examine the infographic, the author provides a persuasive case for the use of welcome emails for marketers and/or brand owners. But I would submit that this type of email also has great value in the context of incentive and recognition programs. Let’s look at a few of the nine takeaways provided by the author to explain what I mean.

• Subscribers who receive welcome emails show 33% more engagement with the brand. This is critical, since engagement is one of the key contributors to the success of an incentive or recognition program. That’s why we virtually insist that all programs send an informative welcome email immediately upon program enrollment.

• Familiarizing subscribers with your emails more likely helps your future measures to be opened. In addition to the welcome email, we highly recommend that program sponsors send regular e-statements with participant point balances and other helpful news. Clearly, these emails need to be opened to have an impact. That’s why setting the stage with the welcome email is so important.

• Add trending features and highlight important information within the email . . . As implied by both of the immediately preceding points, you as program sponsors need and want to have a clear methodology for communicating with your program participants. Once that has been established through the welcome email, you have the perfect vehicle to convey critical program information on a timely basis.

There are several other important metrics in Ms. Forer’s infographic, but I found these takeaways compelling and actionable. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss how email communications can impact your current – or planned – incentive or recognition program.