How to Build a Welcome Email Campaign? Examples and Best Practices
Did you know welcome emails have 4x more opens than regular marketing emails? A welcome email campaign is essential to create that first impression with your email marketing subscribers and build a lasting relationship.
Welcome email series allows you to convert new subscribers into paying customers and start a long-term readership with them. But to move subscribers to the next stage in the email marketing funnel, your welcome emails must be engaging and provide value. We will show you how to build an effective welcome email sequence, explain the components of a welcome email, and list the best practices and inspiring examples of a welcome series.
What is a Welcome Email Campaign?
A welcome email campaign is a series of emails you send to new subscribers who recently opted-in to your mailing list. The goal of a welcome email series is to introduce your brand, build trust, and gradually move your subscribers across the sales funnel.
A well-executed welcome email sequence does the following:
- Talks about value-proposition: Welcome emails immediately deliver what you promised during the sign-up process. For example, 25% off after signing up with us.
- Guides subscribers toward the next step: The welcome email series shows subscribers what to do next — start a download, start a purchase, or create an account. This email usually aligns with your strategic brand goals.
- Shows gratification: It’s a way of thanking subscribers for investing their time, energy, and trust in your business.
To amplify your success with welcome emails, it’s important to understand why you must use them as part of your email campaigns.
The Importance of Welcome Emails
Welcome emails are beyond implementing email branding — they build personal relationships with subscribers.
Here are more ways welcome emails can open up possibilities for your business:
- They encourage subscriber engagement: Welcome email newsletters are sent immediately after the subscriber takes action; sign up, or purchase products. This promptness encourages replies and in certain cases, email forwarding.
- They build trust and credibility: Sending your brand stories, information, and updates, creates a transparent communication model and builds long-term trust in your business.
- They have a higher click rate: Welcome emails have a click rate of 14.4% compared to 2.7% in the other types of emails. Plus, these emails also have a conversion rate of 0.94%.
- They encourage further interaction: The use of CTAs such as ”learn more”, and ”get this now” in your welcome emails encourages subscribers to explore your brand.
- They provide offers and discounts: Many welcome emails start by fulfilling promises — a free download, an email coupon upon sign-up, or other offers to promote interest in subscribers.
A well-done welcome email is warm and speaks to subscribers in their language. That means, using lesser email abbreviations and a better email tone.
But how can you create an effective welcome email if you don’t know its components? That’s why we have them outlined for you.
The Components of a Welcome Email
To set the stage for effective onboarding, you need to personalize your welcome emails to each of your target audiences.
There are more elements you must add to your welcome emails, such as:
- Powerful subject lines: Craft a compelling subject line that mentions your brand benefits or offers an incentive. Your subject lines must be concise with information about who is sending the email, the purpose of the email, and the benefits of opening the email.
- Greeting: Use a personalized greeting, ideally addressing the recipients by their names.
- Brand-consistent design elements: Keep your brand colors, email fonts, and graphics consistent to help subscribers easily identify your brand presence.
- Brand introduction: Give subscribers a brief introduction about your brand values, identity, and how your email marketing newsletters will help them.
- Express gratitude: Thank your subscribers for becoming a member or joining your newsletter. A simple appreciation can make subscribers feel valued.
- Next steps: Inform subscribers what they should do next and what to expect. For example, tell them about the type and frequency of your email newsletters or direct them toward a product or service for sale.
- Content or product recommendations: You can provide subscribers with exclusive content or product recommendations. This way, your welcome emails will have more information than merely a brand introduction.
- Exclusive offer or welcome gift: Send a welcome gift or an offer in your first welcome email. This encourages subscribers to review more products and take the desired action.
- Social media links: Encourage subscribers to follow you on social platforms to stay updated about new product arrivals, exclusive offers, and industry news. Combine social media and email marketing to enhance the overall impact.
- Opt-out options: An unsubscribe option is critical to maintaining trust in your business. It lets subscribers decide how often they want to receive your emails and when they want to leave. Follow email unsubscribe law and allow recipients to leave when they want to.
While these components work in tangent to create a perfect welcome email, subject lines decide if the recipient will open your email in the first place.
Here are several subject line ideas you can use as inspiration to modify yours:
| Types of Subject Lines | Examples |
|---|---|
| Personal | ”Welcome to TexMex, [Recipient’s name] |
| Promotional | “Hello [Subscriber’s Name]! Unlock VIP Access with Our Welcome Gift”. |
| Question subject lines | ”Strawberry or Vanilla? We need you to help us!”. |
| Holiday subject lines | ”Feel merry with a 10% off on your next order”. |
| FOMO (Fear of missing out) | ”5 hours till this great offer expires” |
Looking for more subject line inspiration?
Here’s a list of subject line ideas for different types of emails:
Moving on, let’s learn how welcome emails work.
How Do Welcome Emails Work?
A welcome email series is fully automated and personalized and consists of 4-6 emails that steadily build a relationship with subscribers. Typically, these emails are a mix of varied email content and offers to help subscribers understand how your brand can solve their problems. You must send valuable resources, answer common questions, and prompt subscribers to take the desired action.
Email sign-offs are a great place to include questions or important information.
An example of a welcome series:
| No. of Emails | Welcome Email Series | Key Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Email #1 | Introduce the brand and express gratitude | Brief brand introduction and personalized greeting. |
| Email #2 | Instruction on account set-up | Provide knowledge and toolkits for future reference. |
| Email #3 | Provide exclusive access or offers | Create urgency and encourage immediate action such as a purchase or signing up for other materials. |
| Email #4 | Educational email | Provide subscribers with resources, guides, and industry tips to empower knowledge. |
| Email #5 | Gamified welcome email | Reward subscribers for opening and interacting with your emails. |
Since welcome emails are the first few emails your audiences receive, you must be extra careful with them. Sending them without user action can trigger spam traps and damage your IP reputation.
Only send them after the user takes action.
With so much work to be put in, you might wonder if welcome emails are necessary. They are and let us tell you why.
Should You Use Welcome Emails?
Whether you are a startup, an entrepreneur, or a blogger, welcome emails are integral to your brand communication and customer onboarding. Since these emails are triggered by a user action (sign-up, purchase, etc), they require more focus on the details.
While most ESPs send automated welcome emails on your behalf, they are generic and dull. That’s why it’s imperative to build your welcome email series from the ground up, according to your brand values and identity, making sure you have all the components in place and the messaging is on point.
How to Write a Good Welcome Email Campaign
Writing a great welcome email involves considering your audience’s needs and expectations. Plus, if your platform requires verification and activation steps, you must guide the users to the specific destination. You can do this by providing support links and resources in your emails.
The following suggestions will help you plan your welcome emails with ease:
1. Understand your audience
Although your audience voluntarily signed up to receive your email newsletters, ensure you understand their preferences. Include an unsubscribe link in a prominent location. Most ESPs, including Campaign Refinery, automatically add an unsubscribe link for the welcome emails.
2. Set Clear Goals
Define the purpose of your welcome email — is it to onboard customers, drive email engagement, promote products, or invite them to follow on your social platforms?
This will enable you to tailor your welcome emails to solve a purpose and strengthen subscriber relationships.
3. Offer a Confirmation
Include the main offer in your subject line, and send automatic confirmation emails. Immediately inform subscribers that their sign-up or purchase is successful. As the first email they receive, it helps build credibility and trust in your business.
4. Personalize Your Emails
Personalization in welcome emails can foster a sense of belonging for new subscribers. Include your recipient’s name and write engaging subject lines. Use your brand logo and follow email design best practices.
The most popular welcome emails have the word ‘’welcome’’ in them. This makes it easier for subscribers to spot your emails and open them. You can also use specific layouts for segmented subscribers based on their past behavior and preferences.
5. Talk about the benefits of subscribing
You may want to be modest while telling your subscribers what your brand can do for them. Set clear expectations in the first 2-3 welcome emails and gradually move to selling your products or services.
This way, your subscribers will have ample time to understand your brand and the benefits of using it. You can also use this opportunity to tell them about your business goals and product updates to keep their interests alive and convert them into paying customers in the future.
6. Include a clear CTA
A welcome email allows you to include purchase links or downloadable in the CTA. You can use these to increase engagement and build your sales funnel. Plus, welcome emails are also a good opportunity to ask for feedback and reviews from subscribers. Utilize email surveys to collect feedback.
You can mix and match images, fonts and typefaces, and CTA placements to invoke curiosity and interest in your subscribers. And you can do these for any type of welcome email.
Types of Welcome Emails
The best welcome emails share brand stories and incentivize subscribers. You can engage subscribers through different types of welcome emails:
1. Classic Welcome Email
Welcome-aboard emails are commonly the first email in the series. This is a great place to send brand information and express gratitude for a subscription or purchase. The classic welcome email newsletter is also an opportunity to include a CTA for immediate engagement. You may also use email marketing memes to stir up curiosity and intrigue.
Hi [subscriber name],
We’re happy you are here! You have been added to our mailing list and will receive exclusive updates on your favorite products. Watch out for emails on Tuesdays and Fridays. See you inside!
[signature]
This type of email is usually short and gets straight to the point.
2. Exclusive Access Welcome Email
As the name implies, exclusive access emails provide access to exclusive content, product offers, and discounts. For example, you can talk about your product story and end it with an offer — ‘’A first-time buyer? Great! Get 10% off on your first order.’’
Or you could include a sneak peek into your product launch while giving customers a chance to pre-order their favorites.
The time-sensitive nature and fostering of a sense of community make these emails warm and friendly.
3. Educational introduction email
If you deal with complex products, you can send subscribers an educational introduction email. You can outline the product features, benefits, how it solves your subscribers’ challenges, and how to use it.
You may also use videos for product tutorials and features. Videos help your brand stand out from companies that use less visually appealing welcome emails. If you have pretty huge files as email attachments, read our guide on how to send a large video through email.
4. Confirmation welcome email
Confirmation emails help you send important updates to subscribers — email after a successful completion of a purchase or an event sign-up.
Most often, these emails can feel cold and impersonal. That’s why it’s important to address recipients by their name and include personal details.
Hi [Subscriber first name],
Thank you for subscribing to [newsletter or brand name].
You have reached the final step to enjoy the benefits of the newsletter. Click the link below to confirm your subscription. And with that, you will know important updates, behind-the-scenes, and other exclusive offers.
Thank you again for traveling on this journey with us. We can’t wait to have you onboard!
[Signature].
There are more welcome emails such as a free trial, welcome emails for new customers, discount codes, social connection emails, and customer loyalty. Using any of these emails depends on your brand goals and user interaction within the sales funnel. Let’s look at how popular brands have handled their welcome email sequences.
5 Examples of Stellar Welcome Email Campaigns
Although welcome emails seem simple, they are the most important in your email marketing campaigns. Managing them the right way is crucial to keep subscribers’ interests alive. Subscribers are looking forward to interesting information that they can use for different purposes. These brands knew this and nailed the welcome email copywriting.
1. Gawker Newsletter – Promotional
Gawker understands their target persona — dog lovers. Maybe they used a mix of behavioral segmentation and psychographic segmentation models to narrow down their audience. Firstly, the headline is bold and immediately informs the essence of the email. Secondly, the copy beneath the image is empathetic which adds a personal touch.
The email then moves to the different stories revolving around pets and saving their lives. That’s why their subject line is: In the mood for giving some of your life spans to dogs. This is a great starting point, considering animal lovers’ mindset towards the health of their pets.
2. Prima — A message of gratitude
Thank you emails are usually simple and get to the point. Prima uses an off-white background with a legible typeface to thank subscribers. Gratitude emails act as a token of appreciation for the subscribers and need to be professional and polite.
3. Snagajob — Get Started Email
Subscribers love emails that tell them how to move steps. Snagajob’s welcome email uses a relatable image and a suitable headline.
Here are other key features:
- High-resolution image,
- Simple CTA,
- Highlights the next steps,
- Uses social network buttons.
Tip: If you want your email marketing to work alongside the other marketing channels, include your social links in every email. This also makes it easier to know your customers better.
4. Nowadays — Discount email
As a cannabis-infused beverage company, Nowadays uses an eye-catching image to garner subscribers’ attention. Then, it offers a 15% discount on the first order gradually moving to the brand story. This smooth transition does two things: makes subscribers happy to sign up and deepens the bond through the brand story. The brand subtly uses the CTA twice in the email, encouraging the reader to click on the button.
5. Mailcharts — Introduction email
A question in the subject line is a great way to have the attention of the subscriber.
Mailcharts’s subject line: How can I help you with email marketing? shows expertise and the willingness to help.
The email body copy is short and crisp giving subscribers the power to contact the brand when they need it.
The email also unpacks three critical components in a single passage:
- Email frequency,
- Opt-out options,
- Contact information.
While there are no CTAs, the introductory email instills trust and curiosity in the subscriber. The brand makes it clear about its availability and reach. Notice the P.S. at the end that convinces readers they are with the right person for the job.
This email works better for a strong reason — inviting subscribers to share their problems instead of merely providing brand information.
A successful welcome email campaign is all about giving your subscribers what they need. But to understand that, you must utilize segmentation strategies and other email best practices.
Best Practices for Welcome Email Campaign Success
An uncluttered email design and a compelling CTA are the outset of welcome emails.
Follow these tips to write effective welcome emails:
- Know the source of sign-up: While welcome emails are triggered by the subscribers, it’s critical to understand subscriber preferences, and the source of sign-up (website, in-store, event registration). You can use progressive profiling to know the varied aspects of subscriber behavior.
- Create audience segments: Based on the subscriber data, create defined audience segments. For example, subscribers who purchased in the last 30 days or subscribers who joined through a specific promotional campaign.
- Use dynamic content: Dynamic content uses personalization elements according to the user behavior. For instance, you can add variables to the email campaign or group users with similar characteristics. This helps you provide tailored welcome emails to each of your subscribers.
- Automate your welcome series: Set up an automated welcome email campaign that triggers specific user actions. Ensure the campaign contains an appropriate email series according to user characteristics.
- Test and refine: Analyze email campaign metrics to understand what resonates with your audience. A/B test subject lines, find the best time to send emails to know which email has the highest open rates.
- Be transparent: Share your brand story and stay transparent with your subscribers. This will enable them to trust your business and pass your brand story to others.
Finally, use a reputable email service provider to handle your welcome email campaigns. Don’t know where to start? we can help!
Use Campaign Refinery’s Unique Features to Build Your Welcome Email Series
If you’re looking to generate more leads during this process, here’s the Lead Magnet Multiplier Course that highlights strategies to increase your lead magnet opens by 8x.
Interested to know how we can help you maximize your subscriber reach and revenue?
A welcome email campaign is a one-off opportunity to create an impression with your subscribers. And you certainly don’t want deliverability issues and limited automation capabilities to ruin your chances of bonding with them.
By working with Campaign Refinery, you can achieve a high email deliverability rate; of up to 600%. Once your deliverability shoots, your sender reputation and email metrics follow. We know because our clients have reported exciting results.
The process is simple — choose a campaign type from our extensive campaign library and employ audience tags. Tags help you organize your subscribers by key characteristics. This means you can modify the tags to best suit your needs.
Our other features include automatic email list cleaning, smart goal triggers, and audience segment filters that help you automate a welcome email series no matter your campaign goal.
The latest audience groups segmentation feature allows clients to combine two or more customer segments for the same email campaign.
