What to Include in a Welcome Email and Why It Matters?

What is a Welcome Email?

A welcome email refers to an email that is sent to a new subscriber after they sign up to your email list. It is not the same as a confirmation email – this type of email serves the main purpose of simply letting the subscriber know that they have been added to your email list.

A welcome email is used to set the tone for future interactions between the subscriber and your brand and has the potential to secure and strengthen your relationship.

Why Send an Email to Welcome a Subscriber?

Welcome emails are typically opened at a massive 86% higher rate compared to other email types, making it worth the time and effort that you will put in to crafting the ideal welcome email for your subscribers.

If you are able to deliver a welcome email that is well-crafted and provides interest and value to your recipient, then you might be able to get a competitive edge on similar businesses.

A welcome email or series that demonstrates you understand your subscriber along with offering appropriate, realistic expectations about the future can help subscribers feel more confident that their decision to subscribe to your email list was the right one.

What’s Included in the Best Welcome Email Examples?

The first email that a new subscriber receives from your brand can be a very powerful one, with the potential to strengthen the relationship. However, this can only be successful if your welcome email is written well and includes all the most important components of a good welcome email.

To be successful, your welcome email should include a clear understanding of the subscriber, an accurate representation of your brand and what you offer, and expectations for future emails that are clear. For the latter, you should focus on making it clear to your subscriber the type of content that they can expect to see in future emails, and the frequency of them.

What is the Purpose of Welcome Emails?

A welcome email should be well-written and designed to make a good impression on the reader. There are several different purposes for writing and sending a welcome email, which include:

Introduce Yourself

By now, your current customers and existing subscribers have probably developed an awareness of your brand, its values, and what you do over time, but your newest subscribers may not be as familiar with you.

While your marketing efforts have worked well so far to encourage them to subscribe, now is a good time to introduce your brand and let them get to know your business a little better. A good welcome email should include a concise summary of your business and an outline of the ways that you can help your new subscriber.

A Thank You

Everybody likes to feel appreciated, so your welcome email can be a great opportunity to thank your new subscriber for signing up for your email list. While it might be a small gesture, it can make a big impact when it comes to leaving a positive impression on your new subscriber and setting the tone for your future relationship.

What to Expect

Another purpose of your welcome email is a chance to let your new subscriber what they can expect from you. Do not assume that just because somebody has decided to subscribe to your email list that they are going to open and read every email they receive from you.

Your welcome email is an opportunity to set clear and honest expectations when it comes to how often the subscriber can expect to receive emails from your business and the type of content that they can expect from you.

How to Make an Impact With Your Welcome Email Newsletter

Welcome emails tend to be opened and interacted with at a higher rate compared to other types of emails. It’s important to take advantage of this and put strategies in place to ensure that your welcome email makes a big impact. One of the best ways to do this is by making the welcome email as personalised as possible.

You will be more likely to resonate with your audience when you send personalised email content. Send different welcome emails to your customers based on some factors that are unique to them such as their location, gender, interests, purchase history and more.

You can collect this relevant data using your sign-up form, or include a short survey in your confirmation email if you are using double opt-in. Incentivising your subscribers with a reward for providing this information can help you gather more insights that you can ultimately use to make a bigger impact with personalised email messages.

Welcome Series Email Examples – Tips to Consider

The average welcome email contributes an average of six percent monthly online revenue, according to research. However, the brands that perform better than others earn a huge seventeen percent of their monthly online revenue from their welcome series. Here are some of the tips that they put into practice:

Go Beyond Basics With Your Signup Form

The very beginning of your welcome series is the form that subscribers will use to sign up to your email list. To make a better impact, be clear, on-brand, and include an appealing offer. You can also use your signup form to gather some important data that you can use for personalisation in the future including interests, date of birth, product preferences, and more.

Take Your Time to Create a Great Subject Line

The subject line of an email will often be the main deciding factor when it comes to whether or not the subscriber opens and engages with the welcome email that you have created. Most brands find that including the word ‘welcome’ in the subject line helps to improve open rates. Spend some time testing subject lines to see what works best.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action

Since welcome emails tend to have higher click and conversion rates in comparison with other promotional email types, it is crucial that you include a CTA that stands out in order to drive sales and engagement.

What Do The Best Welcome Emails Have in Common?

If you are getting started with writing your welcome email, then include these five things that all the best welcome emails have in common.

Thanks

Your subscriber just did the thing that you wanted them to do, so make sure that they feel acknowledged and appreciated for taking the action.

Instructions

Your subscribers might need some directions when it comes to how to get whatever you promised them when they signed up, like free content or money off their next purchase. Make sure that the instructions you provide are clear.

CTA

Request that your new subscriber does something. Whether you want them to follow your social media pages, visit your website, or download something, a CTA that is followed in the welcome email can help you establish your brand as a trustworthy authority and help to strengthen your future subscriber relationship.

What to Expect

You are going to continue sending emails to your subscriber, so make sure that your welcome email is clear on what they can expect from you. Let them know what kind of content they can expect to receive in the future, and how frequently they will receive it.

Great Subject Line

You can include all the above in your email, but it’s going nowhere if your subscriber doesn’t even open it. You want to have an appealing subject line that gets the person to open the email and take a look. If they signed up to get something, like a discount or offer, make it really clear in the subject line that they have to open this email to get it.

How to Easily Create Amazing Welcome Emails

When creating a design for a welcome email, you will want the email to reflect your company’s style and branding. Take a similar approach as you do to the design on your website to maintain brand consistency between the two channels.

Write and stylise your presentation in a way that customers can read it easily while noticing the appealing design. Use effective colours that are consistent with your brand and write in short paragraphs to make it easy to digest.

How to Create the Best Welcome Email Automation Examples?

Most email marketing tools allow you to automate a welcome email or welcome series. The steps you will need to take will vary depending on the tool that you use but will usually involve heading to the Automations page or section in your dashboard.

You will usually be able to access the ability to configure your trigger settings – look for an option similar to ‘when somebody joins a list’ and select a list. Then, add your welcome email, and set the timing. Ideally, you want to have the email automatically sent immediately after somebody subscribes.

A good welcome email is more likely to be opened than any other type of email and can set the tone for your future relationship with your subscribers.