Create a recruitment invitation that will stand out to your customers and encourage them to click and participate. Everyone gets multiple emails every day, so you may have to invite people more than once, but following these best practices in invitation design will help you reach your customers with the right message.
Before you start recruiting, create short personas for each type of customer you are looking to recruit. This will help with developing recruitment messaging, as well as brainstorming sources, and ongoing engagement programs for each customer type.
Tailor the message to each persona that you have created, using the language that will be relevant to them. Remember that different personas will respond to different messages. Consider how much text and which words you are choosing that will suit your brand and your audience.
It’s important to tell people what the community is for, so your customers can get on board and be engaged with it. Think of what would appeal to your customers and communicate the purpose from their viewpoint. Create a purpose that members would relate to and want to be part of. Example: continuous improvement in products and services or influencing design/pricing/availability.
Set expectations right away on what being a community member will mean to your customers. Give them a taste of what you will be asking them to do, with actual example topics and hook questions. Members will appreciate the experience more if they know what they’re getting into, and the first experience (your Recruitment Survey) is short and easy.
Choose an email subject line that will stand out - short and engaging. Use humor if that resonates with your customers and is a reflection of your brand. Grab attention near the top of the email message with a direct way to join. Think about what makes your customers tick and create subject lines and calls to action that will work for each persona.
Here's a Sample Email to Use:
