1st Impressions

[Tower - Justin]

My colleague Adrian mentioned to me that he wanted to revise Tower’s welcome-email, (That automated email you receive upon having your new affiliate account validated) pretty standard stuff.

Yes, they are automated. (In case you couldn’t already tell ) We always send a tailored follow-up email shortly after to ensure that…’personal’ touch, but the automated one is always a bit more generalized.

Anyways…I thought (& still think) he has stumbled upon a great opportunity here (As usual ), so I decided to make this post to hopefully get some quality feedback before anything is put into production.



Here is my thought-process:

I look at a welcome email as…’1st contact’
Sure, usually before signing up as an affiliate with any particular program…I would presume the majority of us tend to do our homework, but that welcome email is the actual 1st-encouter you have with the program as a bona-fide member.

Now, I borrow a quote from the late William Hazlitt – “First impressions are often the truest…” which has been modified to such modern-day equivalents as: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” & “First impressions are the longest lasting” (Origins unknown to me)

I am a big-fan of quotes; I believe them to be time and again…The most efficient way of getting the point across, & a likely contributor as to why the person’s words were cited to begin with.



In a nutshell:

* We want this welcome-email to thoroughly kick-ass.

* We don’t like to waste peoples time (Please excuse the hypocrisy which is the unnecessary length of this post)

* We want to minimize the number of questions affiliates have to ask (not that we don’t love to hear from you, just want to maximize time-management by minimizing questions that could have been avoided…So we can put more effort elsewhere) I hope I worded that correctly




The following points are a list of some of the things that a welcome-email could, potentially include:


• Username
• Password
• Welcome message/Closing statement
• Name/contact info of Manager
• Link to your members-area
• Commission-structure reminder
• Tracker examples ( generic trackers for players/sub-affiliates)
• Tracker directions (how to create/implement your own)
• Marketing tools available to you
• Directions on how to view/understand your stats
• Promotions/Offers/Events (to aid in marketing) what attracts players?
• Selling points (competitive advantages)
• Examples (pictures of banners) of banners accompanied by tracking-codes
• Payment information
• & of course…anything else you can think of



My question to you:

I you were to receive a flawless welcome-email…What would it consist of? Also, is there a point where this email could be considered too long/bulky? We don’t want to overload people with information & potentially lose their interest either…in pursuit of a happy-medium I suppose.



In Closing:

I ask you all not because I want you to do the dirty-work, but rather because your opinions matter to us. In the end, you are the end-users…& your input is what makes the difference.

One last quote, I promise - Jerry Maguire -“Help me…Help you”





P.S. – Yes, I will be mass-posting this across many forums. I know that some of you do not approve of this method…& I can imagine why. All I ask is that you try & relate to the purpose of doing so; I want to gather as much feedback as possible, that is all.

[RayUK]

I liked one I got recently (not a gambling programme) - it didn't include many techy details, just a link to the home page of the affiliate back end, a link to where I could get creatives etc. What I liked is that it seemed somewhat personally written, with the name of the manager at the bottom, his direct email address, and a statement welcoming me and saying that I could ask for help at any time, and thanking me for joining their programme, looking forward to working with me etc.

Commission structure, tracker examples, directions (tracker info and stat info), banner examples with codes I think are OK to leave out - perhaps say that such things are available in the affiliate area (and make sure they are too of course!). If you put everything in your list into the email it will be very long, and impersonal. That stuff is best left on the website.

I would say include the Username but I really hate it when I am emailed my password in plain text as it is insecure. I prefer it where you can retrieve a forgotten password by entering your username and sign up email in the affiliate area, and it emails you either your password or resets it and emails you that (and reminds you to change it immediately).

Current special promotions and offers etc. would be good to include, in case someone wants to get going right away.

All the above just my opinion of course - but that is how I see it as someone fairly new to all this.

--

Ray

[Tower-Adrian]

I agree Ray, having the password in the email is not the best idea and by far not the most secure. Having a link to the "forgot password" page is a great idea, and I will be going that route.
Keep the ideas coming guys and what you would like to see

Adrian

[CK]

I think an explanation of each of those points you made is a bit much. Personally I'd rather see a bulleted list with each one having a link embedded (assuming your mailer wont flag it as spam) and direct us where we need to go on your website. All of those questions should be answered on the site...so why not ship us to the right location

also first impressions are everything. I hit someone up on msn cuz I had no clue who they were and when I asked he said a program..I got confused so I asked if he was from so and so..he laughs says "no way f*k them"...that made up my mind before the sales pitch even came..I know thats a bit off topic but had to laugh when I seen the post 1st impressions.