Why Do You Need A Welcome Drip For Web Push Notifications?
Pushing the hard sell on the first day someone signs up for your Web Push Notifications can be just plain annoying.
Imagine if someone asked you to marry them on the first date? Probably a little too much!
And that couldn’t be truer for the relationship you have with your audience.
If you’re serious about a long term relationship with your audience, you need to nurture them and earn their trust before they become loyal customers.
This is what make in the industry refer to the “Like, Know & Trust” factor.
A great example of this is Chubbies Shorts.
Their tutorial on how to build a pool for under $100 has 23 million views and over 500k views.
They put out fun content that relates to their brand and actually helps their audience.
When someone first signs up for your web push notifications, they are really excited about what you have to offer.
They have just primed themselves up with a lot of positive emotions about your brand by clicking the “Allow” button when the web push notification opt-in tab popped up.
They’ve now entered - let’s call it - the “courting phase.”
The “courting phase” is your time to spoil your new users into fans.
And a great way to do that is with a welcome drip campaign.
A welcome drip campaign is a series of messages that nurture your user to commit to your brand, and - more importantly - coaches your users to the success you want them to achieve.
Getting your users to click through your first few notifications is huge because it creates a pattern with them that encourages their attention to your business.
Plus, it improves your chances of having them open your notifications down the line.
The goal of a welcome drip campaign is for your users to say “yes” to committing to you for the long-term.
So let’s dive into the 3 key elements that need to be in your welcome drip to ensure it converts.
Step 1: You Must Hold Your Website Visitors Hand Through the Customer Journey After They Allow A Web Push Notification
A welcome drip campaign is a series of 3-5 web push notifications - sent in a short span of time like once per day (or every other day) - that nurture your user through the customer journey with each message.
Each web push notification in your welcome drip should gently guide your potential customer from one stage of the customer journey to the next.
So how do you do that?
First, ask yourself a few questions:
- What solution is my website visitors seeking when they come to my website? In the example of Chubbies above, the users may be seeking fun pool wear for summer! Not sure what solution they are seeking? Take a look in google analytics and see what key search terms are driving people to your website.
- What is your end goal? When someone makes it to the end of their customer journey, what do you ultimately want them to purchase? From there, you can work backward and ask yourself if the content in your welcome drip is leading down the path to your end goal.
- What do they need to do or see before they will buy from me? Not sure how to answer this? Interview past buyers and ask them!
If the content you send them to doesn’t knock them off their chair, they won’t be as likely to keep opening your notifications.
Step 2: Give Your Website Visitors Something Of Value To Begin The Trust Process
When you ask someone to purchase from you in the first web push notification, chances are slim that they will do so.
You haven’t established any trust. Again it’s like asking someone to marry you on the first date.
According to Influence at work “people are obliged to give back to others the form of a behavior, gift, or service that they have received first.”
This rule of reciprocity can be seen specifically in an example that Influence at work gives about a restaurant mint.
According to Influence at work, giving a mint at the end of a meal increased tips by 3%. If the server left 2 mints there was a 14% increase in tips.
That is not where it ends! When the server or bare metal server dropped a mint, walked away, and then came back and says, “For you nice people, here’s an extra mint,” there was a 23% increase in tip!
According to Influence at work what is key is being the first to give and most importantly what you give should be personalized and unexpected!
So how do you accomplish that in your welcome drip?
The first step is to figure out what we shared above, what solution your ideal client is seeking by coming to your site?
Let’s give an example. You are a health coach and you specialize in supporting busy entrepreneurs eat nutritious foods that can be prepped quickly!
What solution is your ideal client seeking when they come to your site?
They are busy entrepreneurs, they want to eat healthy, but they don’t know how!
What is their pain?
They feel unhealthy, weight gain, no energy.
What is your end goal?
You want to sell your private health coaching.
What do they need to do or see before they buy from you? Your coaching is expensive and they probably won’t drop $5,000 right away on the website for your services. If they are going to spend that much money, they need to see that you are an authority, success stories, and perhaps a glimpse of what it looks like to work with you.
What should your welcome drip look like?
Immediately: Link to your best article on 5 simple healthy recipes for busy entrepreneurs.
*Extra tip: Want to make the most out of your subscribers. Put a pop-up from on that blog post so you can also collect your subscribers email address. You can grab a free account with out sister company Hello Bar.
One Day Later: Send them to a video or piece of content that shares your core philosophies for health and nutrition. Gives them some actionable steps they can start taking today to get some quick wins.
One Day Later: Share a success story. “How Lori went from working 15 hours a day and burnt out to working 5 hours a day with a ton of energy.” Remember, your ideal client needs to see the possibility in this story. That this could happen for them too.
One Day Later: Give more value! Maybe it’s an awesome downloadable. Free video series or a mini-course.
*Knowing that your end goal is to get these people to hire you, make sure that the value you provide shows them what it would be like to work with you. Most importantly make sure that they can start to see some results through these valuable pieces of content.
One Day Later: Do you need more help? Let’s chat, grab a spot for one of my 30-minute free health chats.
*Now that you have given a ton of value, they know you are credible, this is a great time to introduce one of your products. Don’t think of this as sales, think of this as providing a solution to their problems.
Step 3: Test & Retest
Once you set up your welcome drip, it’s time to test. Only the numbers will tell you what is working and what isn’t.
The key metric you want to pay attention to is your click-through rate and where people are dropping off.
Standardly you will start off strong and have a high click-through rate on the first two pushes. From there you may see some drop-off.
Knowing that you should make sure to add extra value to keep your new user's attention in the welcome drip.
What is a good click-through rate?
Standardly in email, we are seeing 1-2% click-through rates.
Because push notifications are sent directly to the desktop and don’t have to battle the spam or promotions tab, we are starting to see higher rates!
We are seeing click-through rates starting at 5 % and going up to 12% on welcome drips.
A good benchmark to aim for is 3-4% to start. Once you hit that, test and tweak.
How many variables should I shift?
One mistake we see often is that too many variables are changed when users test. To start, roll out your campaign and keep an eye on your click-through rate.
From there, look at where users are dropping off and modify one message at a time.
Start with the headline, perhaps it’s not enticing.
From there if you are still seeing low click-throughs, try changing the offer and continue to repeat the process.
Don’t give up. Just like any funnel, welcome drips take time and testing, but when done right, you will start to see some awesome results.
Conclusion
When it comes to your welcome drip there are a few key components.
First, you must really get to know your users, understand what solution they are seeking on your website.
If you can already get your users some quick wins, you have proved value.
From there, you need to think about how you can guide them along the customer journey path.
Work backward from where you want them to end up and ensure every each point in your welcome drip is guiding them down the path towards your end goal.
Don’t forget to provide a ton of value. Just like dating, you really want to show your best self. Many fall into the trap and think if they provide too much value, their website users won’t buy from them, not the case! Show them some quick wins, they will want more!
Lastly, test and retest. The numbers don’t lie!
Want to get started with your welcome drip? Grab your Subscribers growth account and dive in!
