A welcome email is the first email that you send to a new subscriber or customer. It’s a great opportunity to make a good first impression, set expectations for future communications, and outline any actions you’d like them to take.
So let’s explore some content ideas for crafting effective welcome emails and showcase some of the best examples we can find.
What is a welcome email
A welcome email is an automated email that’s sent to a new email subscriber when they are added to your email list. This serves as an introduction to your business and also lets them know what type of content they can expect from you. A welcome email can also act as a marketing/sales email, which we’ll discuss below.
Importance of welcome email:
- First impression: Welcome emails are one of the first interactions a customer has with your brand after subscribing or making a purchase. A well-crafted welcome email can leave a lasting impression and set the tone for future communications.
- Engagement: Welcome emails provide an opportunity to engage with new subscribers and customers, guiding them on how to get started, explore products or services, and stay connected with your brand.
- Personalisation: By personalising welcome emails with the subscriber’s name or relevant content based on their interests, you can create a more personalised and meaningful experience for the recipient.
- Building trust: Welcome emails can also help build trust and credibility with new subscribers if the email is well-written and has trust-building elements like testimonials or a story behind the product’s innovation.
Content ideas for welcome email
Welcome emails generally have just a few varieties. You might want to stick to a single proven approach, or mix and match elements from different approaches to best tailor your welcome email for your subscribers.
General introduction
If you have a personal newsletter or would like to keep things casual, then sticking to a basic welcome email with a general introduction is a good idea. Though this might not sound super interesting, you can tailor copy, messaging and graphics to make it fun and engaging.
Exclusive discounts & offers
Another content approach that works really well for welcome email is sharing exclusive discounts and offers. This is generally a good idea when you’re an e-commerce or a D2C brand and want to make your first sale instantly.
This is also a great way of getting people to start using your product or services right away, and also convert them into repeat users.
Getting started
Last but not the least, if you’re offering a product or service which requires more detailed onboarding to help users learn more and make the most of your product, then you may wish to create a welcome sequence. But regardless of your business type, a welcome sequence can be a great way to share lots more information and offers over a period of time rather than overloading your subscribers with a single long welcome email.
Best welcome email examples
There are thousands of great welcome emails that you can get inspiration from, but here are a few hand-picked ones to help you get started quickly.
MarketingExamples – simple & elegant
MarketingExamples by Harry Dry is a marketing newsletter which is read by 50,000+ marketers and founders.
He sends a simple welcome email with a clean copy, which primarily focuses on letting his subscriber know when to expect his next email. Apart from that, he’s also added micro interactions such as asking for a quick reply and requesting LinkedIn connection which does help in building personal connection.
Popsmith – getting users onboarded with discounts
Popsmith is a D2C brand which sells quirky stove-top popcorn maker and ready to cook popcorn kits. Their email is a classic example of a welcome email which tries to sell the product by giving exclusive discounts.
The discount code “POPPERIOTTRSZXF4” is also made to look like it’s custom, which makes the reader feel it’s a personalised offer. Also, the code comes with a limited validity, which helps build urgency.
WildWonder – building 1-on-1 connection
WildWonder is also a D2C brand like Popsmith, and its welcome email also comes with a discount code, but the twist here is the focus on building a relationship along with achieving a sale.
The email starts with the product image along with a note from the founder, which helps WildWonder to build a direct relationship with the subscriber. Apart from that, this welcome email does an impressive job in promoting their product as well as their social channels.
Brilliant – explaining how to get started
Brilliant is an interactive learning platform for maths, data analysis, computer science, and programming. As it’s a digital platform, they’ve used their welcome email as an onboarding email to help people get started quickly.
The email also contains a link to their mobile apps in case the subscriber is unaware of it, this helps with product adoption.
Sundays – welcoming with fun and quick benefit summary
Sundays is another D2C brand on this list, like Popsmith and WildWonder, but its welcome email doesn’t come with any discount codes or coupons. Instead, they use creative illustrations and clean messaging to talk about their brand and why it’s better than the closest alternative.
How to schedule welcome emails using EmailOctopus
Now that you know how a welcome email should look, it’s time for you to setup your own welcome email for free using EmailOctopus.
For this, just navigate to the automations page in your EmailOctopus dashboard and click “create”. Once done, simply select the list you’d like to use for the welcome email automation.
Then you’ll be asked to select an automation trigger, which in the case of a welcome email would be “contact added to list” after which you can click the plus icon and create your welcome email.
That’s all – simply click start and your welcome email automation will go live.
Conclusion
Welcome emails are probably the best way of using email to start building a relationship with your new subscribers and customers. Not only does this drive engagement, it also helps in building brand recognition in the long run. All you need is to keep things simple and let your welcome email do its job.
Also, if you’re looking for an affordable and easy to use email marketing tool, then why not get started with EmailOctopus – it’s entirely free for up to 2,500 subscribers.
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