Quality welcome emails are vital to email marketing and are typically opened more than any other email companies send. Many clients have reached out to us for advice and assistance with their welcome emails, and for good reason. Why? In addition to having beautiful open rates, first impressions are important. And welcome emails are often subscribers’ first initiation to a brand. In this first email, brands will want to be sure to do a few key things to introduce themselves to subscribers. We’ve compiled a list of key tips to keep in mind when writing these welcome emails, and we’ve rounded up some of our favorite examples for inspiration, in the hopes that this will help you fine-tune your welcome email campaign.
Subscribers expect to receive an initial email immediately after subscribing to your email list. This would explain why the open rate of welcome emails is about 50%, which is much higher than other types of emails. It’s important to capitalize on this opportunity to give them a bit of information and an immediate point of action while they will be on the look-out for it. They’ve just subscribed to your list, so your first email should be crystal clear, engaging, and visually appealing, representing your brand well. You’ll want to give some information but not overwhelm readers with too much content. Be clear and concise while including the elements essential to a strong welcome email.
1. Welcome subscribers, helping them feel like they are part of something. Communicate in a friendly way, thanking them for joining your mailing list.
2. Introduce your brand, giving an accurate picture of who you are and what you offer.
3. Give basic information. Identify: what information do your subscribers need to know? Think types of products or services offered, upcoming promotions or events, what to expect from further emails, etc.
4. Get readers excited about your product or service, including visually appealing elements. You’ll want to point out how what you offer is unique, that your product is the very thing your readers have been looking for, or how it can be the answer to the problem they’re having right now.
5. Give a call to action, leading them to take the next step. Include a link to “Shop Now,” access a special offer, complete their profile on your website, download content, or another actionable link.
▪ In your first email, you establish your brand’s identity. You will want to keep this consistent throughout all your branding and future email campaigns, if possible. Give special attention to the tone of voice, color scheme, style of images and graphics, and the use of fonts, knowing that this will give readers a picture of who you are right off the bat.
▪ Take great care to keep your call to action specific and easy to see. These should be clear and stand out visually. If you include a fair amount of text in your email, don’t hesitate to strategically place multiple CTAs throughout the email so that readers are pointed back to taking action after reading. After all, a beautiful welcome email that doesn’t prompt readers to further interact with your website will not significantly affect the conversion rate among your subscribers.
▪ Be sure to write an engaging subject line, as this will affect your email open rates. Need help crafting quality subject lines? View our article here.
▪ Be sure to test how these emails are doing by analyzing open and click through rates. (More information on this can be found in our Subject Lines article.) If you haven’t yet, be sure to try A/B testing and monitor the results using analytics. Most importantly, test the conversion rate by seeing how many people took the step of action you led them to take in your email.
And now for some of our favorite welcome email examples! Notice how each email we rounded up welcomes readers and gives a great first impression of the brand.
Subject: We’re here to solve a problem.
Dims’ welcome email has a unique look with clearly defined “value propositions” immediately. In other words, it does a great job of pointing out why their product is valuable and why readers would want to learn more about it. In addition to the use of web fonts, they feature close-up details of their product to emphasize quality and start out the email with a product-related play on words.
Subject: Welcome to Airtable!
This email educates readers immediately with a video, giving them easy access and a first action point all at once. This is helpful for a business that offers a website service readers will need to learn to navigate. There are no extra bells and whistles here, which keeps the overall reading time down.
Subject: Welcome! Here’s Your Discount Code
This email captures the heart and tone of Magnolia creators Chip and Joanna Gaines well. The “hero” image of the couple makes you feel like you could be part of their family, which is exactly what they write later on: “we’re so glad you’re officially part of the family.” This sweet message adds to the personal touch, and a 15% offer prompts readers to take action. While this email’s text is a bit on the lengthy side, there are three well-designed action points at the end of the email.
Subject: Wondering how Havenly works?
This email brilliantly answers the question in the subject line, spelling out the process in a detailed, organized, and modern way. Simple colors add to this aspect. Multiple steps take you through multiple CTAs, and there is one at the end so that a reader does not have to scroll to the top after reading through to “begin.” Notice clear and concise headers that break up the text and summarize points, with details in smaller fonts for readers who want more information.
Subject: Emails made for you
This email’s content stuck out to us. Well-written text is split into sections to inform the new subscriber about what they’ve signed up for. Content is featured in the form of 8 individualized CTAs, ensuring that every reader will find at least one interest there and click to find out more information. This individualized aspect is reiterated at the very end as BBC promises readers to customize emails sent to them based on their interests.
Subject: Welcome to Wynd
This email is simple but has a crisp, sophisticated look. It includes the elements of a great ecommerce website welcome email, from the initial welcome message and discount code to a call to action and front-and-center product highlights, even including apparent endorsements from well-known brands such as Time and CNN.
Subject: Welcome To Trade Coffee
This email has a minimal yet fun look, which appeals to their audience. Product is featured in a nice way, along with more details further down in the email as a call to action to learn more. A simple color scheme with the use of negative space keeps up with a modern theme. They feature product variety, leading readers to “Find (Their) Favorite” as an enticing call to action.
Subject: Welcome To The Team
This email has an extremely polished look. Brand-specific photography looks nice and adds a more personal touch, being much more effective than stock photos. It is well-polished and clear-cut, and it gives the impression of being geared to the specific audience they hope to appeal to. A short paragraph provides just enough explanation about the brand and ends by welcoming the reader to the team once again.
Subject: Welcome!
Barebones is an outdoor goods company, so why not appropriately feature a high-quality action photo of a man outdoors? Quick and to the point (in a good way), this email is the shortest we’ve featured, which helps busy readers get all they need to know at a glance. Overall, the welcome is inviting and very easy to digest, and the discount code gives readers what they need to take the next action step.
That sums up our welcome email essentials, tips, and roundup! We hope this article has been helpful in highlighting some of the key aspects of welcome emails, and we hope you find to be a very helpful resource. Simply put, sending out an engaging, friendly initial welcome email to your subscribers is a great way to convert new readers and build interest in your brand. As you put these ideas into practice, don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you may have, and be sure to comment with your thoughts and ideas below.
