Welcome emails are among the most critical communications you’ll ever send to the recipients. But why did I say that? Well, your welcome email is their first impression of your brand that hits their inbox. You should do everything to make it count!
Your flawless welcome email should do 3 things:
- Remind your email subscribers why they joined, and don’t forget to thank them!
- Invite engagement via an exclusive offer or other CTA
- Set the tone for upcoming email communications
Before getting into some welcome email examples of successful senders who are doing well in all 3, let’s begin with a story of this plot out in real life.
My favorite store is in my home state of California. Whenever I walk in, I’m greeted right at the door by a friendly, smiling owner who always thanks me for coming and asks me if I’d prefer a complimentary glass of champagne. After that, she leaves me to browse that shop at my own speed while assuring me that she’s always close by if I feel the need for some assistance.
New items are strategically placed in front of the store every time, so I can’t miss any of them, and an amazing Spotify playlist subtly buzzes in the background. That shop is unintimidating, easily navigable, and welcoming. Such a nice place!
Why am I sharing all this? Because your welcome email should offer this exact same experience. It doesn’t need to be coupled with a free glass of bubbly, though; it should be instructive, timely, and friendly.
Just like my most preferred store makes me visit it repeatedly, your welcome email is your first shot at winning your subscriber’s loyalty.
What does a welcome email mean in real life?
A welcome email is like a hello, with a little introduction. It’s the first message that you send to a customer, generally after they sign up for your email list or fill out the form pasted on your website.
The target of a welcome email is to confirm the sign-up completed by your new audience member. After that, it’s meant to greet them, welcome them into your business, and setting the groundwork for whatever your brand represents and offers.
Why are welcome emails crucial?
Welcome emails are superbly important and can have a huge impact whether you’re running a small blog or a humongous multimillion-dollar business.
Your welcome emails set the tone and help the new audience bond with you. That’s why it’s crucial to, just like IRL, be approachable, genuine, human, even funny if your brand demands that.
People expect a welcome email to hit their inbox to confirm a purchase or signup; it’s like second nature at this point in today’s digital lives. Due to that, they attain the highest open rates and click-through rates among all email communication.
We found that the welcome emails’ average open rate is more than 78%! The average click-through rate is still 26%! So, 8 out of 10 new subscribers are likely to open your message, and around 25% will click through to your website and complete the action on the CTA you desire. That means this crucial email will not just boost your email deliverability but also the conversion rates.
Tips for Effective Welcome Emails
1) Your Subject Line Should Be Transparent
The subject line is undoubtedly the very first thing any new subscriber will notice in their inbox. Hence, you want, and you should make it count.
Skip the uncertainty and avoid subject lines with clickbait, so you begin on the right foot!
Things such as, “You’re all signed up. What happens next?” or “Welcome to X! What now?” r are great.
Now, let’s cherish some sweet examples from a few well-known brands.
Asa the pic shows, all of these subject lines offer a friendly feel, but there’s no confusion at all about the reason for emails landing in your inbox:
Why do we adore these welcome email subject lines? Here are the reasons
- Each one is straightforward and simple. You immediately know about the sender and why you received an email.
- Every subject line starts with a strong greeting – “Hello!” “Congratulations” “Welcome.”
- Discounts are presented to incentivize new subscribers, which makes them make a purchase.
Often while, subject lines prove to be a pain point while crafting other messages. However, it’s safe to keep things straightforward when we talk about your welcome emails.
2) Use Curiosity to Your Advantage
It’s pretty easy for readers to simply sleep on your welcome emails unless you compel them in at least some way to click through. A combination of an attractive subject line and “clearly incomplete” body copy from GoDaddy does exactly that.
At first glance, this message doesn’t seem like much out of the normal, but there’s actually a lot going on here:
- This message does a tremendous job of arousing the reader’s interest right from the word “go.” Beginning with the subject line, which says “Get online with the right domain,” any reader naturally feels curious about what that “right” domain might actually be. Now, this wonderful subject line implies that the reader can’t just pick any old domain and hence need to read on to quench the thirst for learning more.
- GoDaddy seems to offer a helping hand by promising ten tips, but just five are listed. Such an incomplete list highly encourages readers to tap through GoDaddy’s blog to figure out what else they should know. In simple words, it fills the reader with the desire to want more.
All your welcome messages need to follow a straightforward principle. Undoubtedly, you can offer in a deal or discount (which many others besides GoDaddy do too), but you should also offer opportunities for the new members of your email list to engage with your content anyhow.
3) Make Your Message Actionable
“Thank you’s” are certainly important, but your welcome email should also target to give new readers at least something to do. If you give your subscribers a whole lot of new information, they’ll just click away and forget about you.
Rather, you should use your welcome email to begin a conversation with them. Your target should be to make them open a dialogue and begin building that trustworthy relationship.
We’re displaying a simple, text-only email that accomplishes actionable perfectly:
What this email is doing perfectly:
- The message appears actionable in more than one way. The sender is asking the recipients to not just respond to the email but also to click through to additional resources.
- Although sometimes it’s perfect for nailing down just one CTA, this easy-to-navigate and straightforward design offer the reader several options without overwhelming them.
- There’s a lot of content available, from ebooks, blog postings, and brand kits, to videos. This email does a tremendous job of pointing new subscribers to a mixture of free resources as per their interests.
In simple words, this welcome message represents an introduction to check out everything the brand offers. You should likewise target to highlight the advantages of staying in touch with your brand and offer your list with some action to take in the procedure.
4) Add a Personal Touch (this is ultra-crucial)
It’s truly a no-brainer that your emails need to establish a personal connection instead of presenting themselves as a big sales pitch.
This particular welcome email from AirBNB appears like something from a friend and not from anyone who wants you to take any action. All the while, it’s taking a minimal approach to copy and imagery.
This email doesn’t have anything over a couple of dozen words, but it successfully manages to speak volumes:
What makes AirBNB’s email so effective?
- The headline says, “This is where it all begins,” and that’s something that presents the engagement of the reader with the brand as a type of journey. A unique and personalized CTA further illustrates it, “Find a Place to Call Home” instead of a generic “Click Here!” message (which is traditional and boring).
- The image is personal. It’s a subtle touch; pictures of real people are much more striking versus or clip-art or generic stock photos.
- Finally, in the end, the “sent with love from AirBNB” shows off the subtle capacity of a well-crafted email signature.
In order to build a personal relationship with the new subscribers, your welcome email is your first opportunity to push the proceedings further.
5) Introduce and Utilize the Power of “Free”
Keep in mind that your welcome emails are your sole chance to make a robust first impression on your email list.
And one of the perfect ways to begin perfectly is by offering your list something entirely for free. Take a gander at this bold (and amazing) welcome email from Flywheel:
Let’s see how Flywheel utilizes the power of free to the best:
- The headline clearly describes the advantages here. Not only does their headline establish value but it creates curiosity as well. (We’ll tap on this next!)
- The message offers value for free. Using lead magnets such as an e-book indicates that Flywheel is willingly offering something valuable to its subscribers in exchange for just their attention. No gimmicks or hidden terms, nothing!
With a quick “freebie,” you can always score good points in terms of “reputation” and “brand awareness.”
And by following up such free content with relevant messages, you can ra[pidly turn those one-time downloaders into happily paying customers with time.
6) Never Overlook The Basics of Design
It’s just natural to get somewhat discouraged when you see all of these beautiful emails but feel as if you don’t have any creative bone in your body, right? Thankfully, the elements of an attractive email design don’t need to be rocket science.
Let’s concentrate on this welcome email by Sprout Social, and you’ll notice that often it’s pretty minute details of email design that add charisma to your message.
What makes this email design work perfectly:
- The text is easily readable. No Papyrus or off-the-wall fonts are there, just a simple, sans-serif typeface, and that’s truly something easy on the eyes.
- All colors stand out and don’t clash. Oftentimes, several marketers try to overdo color, but this three-color scheme ( green, gray, and white) displays the impact of minimalist design.
- From the start, the email flows very well. The message is broken up into sections by the images and copy. Meanwhile, the numbered list format supports flow as well.
- Thanks to the simple white background, the bright green CTA buttons are truly tough to miss.
Seriously, though: when in confusion, keep the design simple. The easier your messages are to read and understand, the better your results will be! That’s a thumb rule of email marketing.
7) Deals & Discounts Do The Trick
It’s true that it depends on your business, but in most cases, there’s a great chance that somebody signed up for your email list with the core intent of getting a great deal.
Why not make that promise come true immediately and include some sort of discount offer in your welcome email?
Here’s an example from Fossil, who doesn’t add any spices in telling that this welcome message is meant to offer them a discount. It’s simple as that:
How this welcome email amazes their discount:
- The message calls itself a “thank you” note, these sort of welcome emails are staples in the eCommerce world and are a superb way of pushing forth the proceedings with a new subscriber.
- This message is redeemable in brick-and-mortar stores and online as well.
- It’s straightforward in terms of messaging and copy, making this email strictly all about the deal.
If your end-aim is to bring more people into your store and your basic content strategy is mostly centered around deals, regularly switching up your welcome autoresponders in accordance with your current promotions will be cool.
8) Remind Your Email Receivers Who You Are And What To Expect From You
In this digital age, people mostly have short attention spans, and not to feel surprised, even shorter memories. Don’t you think me and you are in the same line?
They might know your website like the back of their hand. However, when you drop anything into their inbox, the deficiency of context might make them think twice about who you are.
This is why it’s crucial to state exactly who you are (no matter what you’re 100% sure that they already know) and why you’re emailing.
A short reminder like this will help close the loop in their mind why they signed up for you:
“This is [YOUR NAME] from [YOUR COMPANY]. You’re receiving this email for a reason you signed up to receive our tremendous recipe-book on [TOPIC].”
Now, this email from fonts.com is doing exactly that:
How this welcome email sets expectations by making a quality introduction:
- The headline is big and bold and points out the exact reason why they’re receiving an email. It directly says, “Thanks for Signing Up!”
- This message touches on not just what sorts of content will be delivered but also how frequently.
- Begins the relationship right off the bat, including a bundle of free, cool fonts available for download, which is a form of saying thank you for signing up.
People value their inboxes and time, so it’s crucial that you let each subscriber know what you’re targeting to send them ahead of time.
When you clear expectations, your subscribers know how valuable this new relationship is going to be!
Welcome email best practices
I mentioned in this guide’s opening that welcome emails highly work because of their right timing. It’s crucial they are sent straight away when your new subscriber has completed the opt-in process. Never “batch” them to arrive in some days, or even 1-2 hours later. You’ll actually crush your results if you miss the right time.
However, that’s not all you could do with your welcome message. Here are other tremendous practices prepared by LCA experts that’ll help you make an amazing impression on the majority your new subscribers & customers:
- Thank them: Let your subscribers know how valuable their time is for you and your high appreciation for their investment and interest in your business.
- Set the Tone: When anybody opens an email, they’ve got some expectations – consciously and subconsciously. So, you need to let your reader properly know what to expect, what sort of content will be delivered to them, how often you’ll send them messages, and establish yourself as friendly and trustworthy.
- Introduction: You know what a bad assumption leads to… so never assume anyone who receives the message already knows all about you. Offer them a quick rundown of your brand and about yourself if required. (Unless you’re Adidas, then they know about you. But we’re guessing you’re not Adidas. If you are, though, awesome, big thanks for reading our tips!) You should encourage a small dialogue even by asking a few questions (mostly 1-2 sensible questions), asking for feedback even.
- Make them feel they’re special: Now, that’s where you present an offer, a limited-time item, a discount, or anything that makes them feel like the effort of signing up, checking your email, opening it, and reading this message is entirely worth their time. All of us value our time, and all of us love a great offer. Your subscribers are in no way different. Offer them that tingly feeling, and it will work!
- Be helpful, and be a useful resource: Offer them some quick and helpful resources and/or content with a few links to your ebook, guides, videos, blog, or any materials that would be engaging, helpful, and cool for your audience. It needs to present value to your readers anyhow. This also opens the doors of getting clicks through to your site and getting your new customer to explore various other sides of you and your brand—even the chances of share increase.
- Have an attainable goal: You already know that the click-through rate is high for welcome emails. Hence, the potential impact of your first message, setting a goal to reap the benefits of this unique situation is so crucial. Reap the benefits of having the attention of your audience and share a few of your crucial USPs such as free global free returns, CSR, shipping, and even your most important/favorite links they wouldn’t necessarily know about, and brand awareness will automatically increase.
- Network: Undoubtedly, let them know where you’re special releases and offers lay, or you’re posting your great videos, etc. Give them clickable links pointing to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, wherever you’re networking, include them in your network too!
- Adios! Au revoir! Pa! Bye, bye for now: Finally, you should sign off with your contact info, the spot for customers to direct questions, and you should even introduce other members of your team. Put a face to the brand, and that’s how you make it personal.
- The last one…automate: You can generate automated welcome emails to send welcome emails when any new member to your email list performs a specific action, such as registering that form on your site or filling it. That’s how such emails hit your inbox so rapidly. Even better, automating also lets you personalize your message.
Use the info they’ve offered you, and customize your greeting and welcome them by name. There’s no hassle of filling in their first name manually, as the automation will do it for you.
And the message sends as part of your email series by itself, so you don’t need to check for new signups and manually hit send. Everything is readily done for you!
And in case you genuinely aim to dive deeper, you can even have diverse versions of your welcome email sent automatically on the basis of the location of your audience who signed up, or if they buy, you can customize it as per their action, further personalizing the user experience and the relationship they’ll further have with your business!
Takeaways for a perfect welcome email campaign
- Keep your welcome emails strictly on brand and make them directly reflect your website.
- Be encouraging and inviting with your recipients! Let them know that you’re glad to land in their inbox.
- Always limit your scroll and make getting to the point quickly your necessity. Stick to one CTA when possible, and Share value fast.
- Images aren’t always the answer! Make your copy strong, and don’t distract from it with unwanted images.
- Get your subscribers interested by sharing a part of your brand’s history. Attempt to build a connection early to make them return and to create brand advocacy.
- Welcome emails are a decent type of email campaign to automate. This part truly needs to be nailed.
- Never bury your welcome email’s lead with too much exposition. Instead, jump right in and offer value in the form of discounts or information.
- Lastly, make your welcome emails fun! Put your best foot forward and never hesitate in testing new concepts to keep your new subscribers interested and engaged.
The Conclusion
These elements prove to be the building blocks of a perfect welcome email – one that links subscribers to your brand strongly and firmly shows them your expertise and makes them feel excited about your future emails from you.
A well-crafted welcome email is a solid way to begin building relationships with your subscribers and creating a strong community around your brand.
Leverage these tips, and you’ll improve your chances of consolidating lasting relationships with all your subscribers, which in return will lead to a more satisfied and cheerful customer base.
