Altru Blog - Thank You for the Missed Opportunity

Posted: 27 Jul 2012 12:34 PM PDT

My quest to join every Altru user’s email list has prompted a few observations. If you missed the first one, check out these tips to turn visitors to subscribers. After I joined the lists, I received a confirmation email. More specifically, I received this confirmation email:

Over 50% of the confirmation emails I received looked like this. And what this looks like to me is a missed opportunity. Now that someone has subscribed, you want to escalate them to a patron, a member, or a volunteer – a constituent in some form.

In order to make the most of your first correspondence with a new follower, you should include these interactions in your response letter:

Thank You

- Obviously, you guys all have this one down.

What They Should Expect

- Do you email weekly? Monthly? Let subscribers know how often they will be hearing from you.

- Do you email your event schedule? Special announcements? Ticket on sale dates? Give your readers a preview of what information they’ll be receiving.

Benefits of Joining

- Will you be emailing coupons? Presale information? Tease your followers with some incentive to open those emails you send.

Current News

- This is something you should update often, so your content is relevant. Let your new subscribers know about the upcoming special events and exhibits, including links to buy tickets or sign up for programs.

What They Should Do Next

- What do you want your readers to do? Come to your facility? Become a member? Attend an event? Like you on Facebook? Target this content to steer readers in your preferred direction.

Also, it’s not be a bad idea to suggest they add your email to their address book, so they don’t lose your messages to their spam folder.

Example

- This may sound like a lot of information, but you can keep it short and sweet. Here is how your email could read:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear __________,

Thank you for joining our mailing list!

Now that you’ve signed up, we’ll be able to keep you informed on our upcoming features, as well as offer you some incentives for being a subscriber:

Receive our monthly newsletter with all the information about our upcoming exhibits and openings.
Be the first to know when events are announced and go on sale.
Receive exclusive offers to ticket presales and discounts for programs.

Next week, we’ll be hosting our annual Black Tie Gala, where we’ll be revealing our most exciting exhibit to date, paired with contemporary cuisine. Tickets are on sale now at the box office or call 555-555-5555 to reserve your space. Visit our Facebook page to view pictures from last year’s gala; this event is not to be missed!

Also, be sure to add newsletter@website.com to your address book, so our emails aren’t routed to your spam folder.

Thanks again for subscribing. We look forward to seeing you at the Museum soon.

__________

Privacy is important to us; therefore, we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe, or to receive less or more information.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

What else should you include in your thank you response? Let’s chat about it in the Altru Community!

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