Welcome Emails: Best Examples and Templates For Your Campaign

Loyal and engaged customers are a big deal for your company or project — they boost conversion and help with brand recognition, to name just a few reasons. However, every customer needs to learn about you first. And here is when the welcome email kicks in to build the first impression. Which definitely counts.

So let’s learn more about why such emails matter and how to create them in your and your customers’ best interest.

What is a welcome email

A welcome email is a message to new subscribers telling them what to expect next. It is aimed at boosting their engagement and conversion. It is much more than just a thank-you-for-coming message. It is the first real interaction a company has with a new customer, a blog subscriber, or a newsletter subscriber.

Welcome emails are the honeymoon phase of your relationship with new subscribers, so you definitely don’t want to spoil it. Quite the contrary, quality personalized messages build trust and loyalty to your brand for years to come.

Welcome emails can contain videos, special offers, or just a friendly hello to establish a relationship with a new contact.

However, a single welcome message is usually not enough to offer you the desired customer retention and conversion. It is usually expanded to a welcome series — a triggered series of emails, each with a unique story and purpose, all gradually leading your subscriber to purchase. Consistency does pay off!

Welcome series is crucial automation, and you can target your audience based on their gender, location, email preferences, etc. You can collect this information, e.g. by tracking open rates, replies, and link clicks.

Statistics: welcome email is probably your most important email

• The latest statistics by GetResponse shows that the welcome email open rate is 50% or higher, which makes them 86% more effective than standard newsletters.
• The same study found out it’s opened four times as often as any other email marketing campaign! Why? Because your subscribers are just waiting to get them – to get an incentive for their signup or to enjoy some personalized content. So, don’t let them down and meet their expectations to develop strong relationships with your brand.

This nice infographic by Invesp supports the results by GetResponse on the efficiency of welcome emails.

• Invesp carried out a research and found out that 74% of new subscribers expect to get a welcome email right after they have signed up. That’s only natural to want to get what you came for right away. Be the guy who comes to the date on time!
• They also learned that welcome emails convert subscribers 9 times higher than typical emails do!

Why your brand needs a welcome email

Strategic thinking – that’s the clue to sending successful welcome emails.

According to the First Impressions Email Marketing Study by Ciceron, 83% of brands didn’t make a good first impression or any impression at all. And you have only seven seconds to succeed in that! The same study says, 41% of brands don’t send a welcome email within the first 48 hours, and 27% send zero emails in the first three weeks. And since subscribers are the most engaged within the first 48 hours, try to use the opportunity to build trust with them as soon as they sign up!

Here is why you need a welcome email in the first place:

1. Since it confirms user subscription to your newsletters through a double opt-in, it makes you a reliable sender saving you from the spam box of this particular subscriber.
2. It shows the subscriber that you are really happy to see them and are on the same vibe.
3. While showing the benefits your subscriber will get, it can be used to introduce the subscriber to your goods and services, your website or app.
4. It tracks all the necessary data to later personalize your offer, and nurtures the subscriber for later commitment.

The particular gains you’ll get when sending welcome emails are nicely illustrated by the following stats (with all that comes with it):

Main benefits of welcome emails in e-commerce

No matter if you sell goods or services, or just plan to upscale your business offers, welcome emails are among the best email marketing practices. If you use them wisely, they are a good way to nurture your subscribers, engage them and call to action. And here is why.

It’s a great tool for storytelling

A story is a great way to give insight into your brand and values. It makes your brand easy to remember, gives it a personal touch and connection, and encourages the subscribers to start the journey with you.

It’s a brilliant opportunity to showcase your products

Welcome emails are used to encourage a new audience to get to know your service or product and keep them engaged until they’re ready to convert. It is your chance to show off your best items so they can’t help but start browsing.

It’s a chance to show appreciation to your customer

In your personalized welcome email, show how grateful you are to the subscribers who actually took the time to sign up and start communication with you and help them make their first steps with your brand. It’s a big deal!

According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, gratitude is really important for relationship building, it contributes to connection and satisfaction. Why? Positive Psychology says, neuroscientists admit that a “thank-you message” automatically makes our brain produce serotonin and dopamine that boost the mood and alleviate anxiety. Isn’t that what you want for your subscriber when interacting with you?

It increases the credibility of your brand

To quickly build even more trust and credibility, welcome emails can use social proof. Aren’t we all browsing for other people’s experience with this or that brand before making our first commitment? Such welcome emails sound reliable.

To put it simply, take care of your welcome email, and the welcome email will take care of you!

How to write a welcome email

Templates and Examples

When we face a task we haven’t taken up before, it might seem quite challenging. This applies to writing a welcome email for the first time. Welcome emails can be amazingly different to meet their goals. They can contain pictures or have a minimalistic design or just some plain text, be wordy or concise, call new subscribers to action right away or heat them up for later commitments. How to choose what is better for you?

Before talking about particular tips and tricks on what to include in a welcome email, let me inspire you with three branded welcome email examples and two general textual templates to get the ball rolling. These examples show that there’s no single magic formula for a great welcome message. They can be very different, and still nail it. Just choose the style that fits your brand most.

Example 1: minimalistic, transparent, straight to the point.

Example 2: emotionally charged, good storytelling.

Example 3: fun, interactive, engaging.

Most email service providers offer welcome email templates. Even if you’re a total beginner and have no coding/design skills, you can use such a template to make your welcome message look professional. With some providers, you can choose from a wide range of fully free templates, with others – from partially free ones (depending on the plan). For example, with Selzy, you can enjoy free templates even if you’re on the Free Plan.

Now, here are two textual templates, which you can easily combine and toss like Lego blocks to create your special welcome email.

Template 1 (personalized, customizing the experience):

[Recipient name], Welcome to [company name]!

You are now part of the [company name] family!

To make things extra special for you, we would like to ask you to set your preferences to get the most out of [your account/product].

Not sure where to start/how to order…? Make sure to visit our [knowledge base/academy/help center/FAQ section etc.]!

If you prefer something more personal, you can always contact us via [your email, social media].

Don’t hesitate to follow us at [social media]. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Best,

The [company name] team

Template 2 (with storytelling, establishing strong bonds):

Hi [recipient name]!

Welcome to the [company name] family! I’m [founder name], founder of [company name].

As a thank-you, here’s an amazing [X]% off on your first/second purchase! Just use [code name] at checkout!

Before we get started, I’d like to share [company name] story with you.

[Tell your audience your company story. What inspired you to start your brand, and what pain points you wanted to solve.]

We hope that by using [product/service], you will [achieve a goal/solve a problem].

I am so excited to have you on board!

Best,

[founder name]

7 surefire tips for getting the most of your welcome email

Now, let’s get straight to the point and sum up the most efficient welcome email practices.

1. Use compelling subject lines, real names, and meaningful preheaders. They do matter, just like a strong handshake and a smile when you meet in person. An enticing subject line is a reason for a recipient to open your message.

Give your brand/personal name in the From field ([email protected] won’t do), and be sure to welcome or thank your subscribers in the subject line, like in these examples:

• Did you say “beard”? – Welcome to Beardbrand!
• Welcome, friend! Your £10 off code is inside…
• Hey, we’re BarkBox! Is your dog home?
• Welcome to Food52! – We brought snacks.
• Thanks {{NAME}}. Welcome to Reitmans!

2. Set subscriber expectations. A subscriber will only appreciate it if you tell them how often they will hear from you, what content they will receive, and what value they will get from your messages (in fact, tell them anything about how it’s going to be organized).

A survey by Campaign Monitor about why subscribers marked a business’ emails as spam or unsubscribed shows that it’s due to excessively frequent emails (45.8%), not informative content (31.6%), and impersonalized offers (10.4%).

Set expectations for your subscribers and allow them to decide what is comfortable for them: to subscribe to additional lists for more content, or remove themselves from a particular list, or unsubscribe completely. Once you ask for their preferences, the power of marketing automation is there to help, sparing you time and effort for later sends.

3. Add user registration data like login and password, as well as your contact details – make the experience user-friendly and personalized. Such emails are useful and rarely deleted, just in case.

4. Show your best from a customer’s perspective. It means, clearly tell them who you are and give them a strong reason for sticking with you. It has to be something that matters to them and solves their pain points. According to the New York Times, consumers see around 5,000 ads a day, so be careful not to overwhelm them, too.
   An enticing email will encourage the user to click-through which you can later track to segment the audience to provide more relevant and personalized content.

5. Add social media buttons. They are a great tool to gather information about your audience, as well as a trustworthy communication channel. Get your customers to respond to the activities you offer.

6. Include an incentive/a special offer when possible. It’s all about the benefits of becoming a subscriber, and everyone likes to get presents! If you offer a discount, a freebie, or another incentive in exchange for an email address, include it in your welcome email rather than on a thank-you page (not to tempt a subscriber to give an inactive email address, sorry for being sceptical). Besides, an incentive encourages instant click-through (and even conversion) – at least out of curiosity. It’s only natural to want to open and use a present right after it was given!

7. Do not try to sell immediately. Instead, make a freebie the first small step a subscriber takes towards a purchase. You wouldn’t propose on the first date, would you? Well, it works the same way in emails: don’t ask to opt for a big thing in the first place. For example, offer a trial version which can be later upgraded to a paid plan. Or share expertise in several emails of the welcome series before selling your service. Take small steps to make subscribers trust you before they buy big.

7. Include an unsubscribe link and make it very visible. It’s not only about following the law, but also about respecting your contacts, being honest with them and caring about them.

Create a message that addresses your customer pain points, pack it with value, and you will ensure a meaningful connection and engagement. Make your new audience feel recognized and valued.

The most important rules for welcome email design

First impressions count. Sticking with the romantic metaphor, a brand should try to look its best on the first date to create an amazing customer experience for a particular person.

According to an Adobe study, if a person is given 15 minutes to consume content, two-thirds of people would rather read something beautifully designed than something plain. So, a beautifully branded design is a trigger for a positive impression, and a positive impression is a hook that starts engagement. So, a carefully designed welcome email with all the brand imagery and values reminds the customers why they signed up in the first place.

Some dressing up never spoiled a party!

Here’s a couple of tips to make your welcome email design work for you, not against you.

• Stick to the visual hierarchy. Not every subscriber will make it till the end, so place the most important information on the first screen. Format your text to make it easier for people to navigate it: put clear headers, buttons, make your links visible.

• Have consistent branding assets. Create a separate template containing the same header and footer for all your messages. Thus, a subscriber will always understand who’s writing to them.
• Your email shouldn’t be composed of a single image. Most providers consider such messages as spam.
• Take care of the size of your welcome GIF, if any. Large ones tend to increase download time, and recipients don’t like waiting too much.
• The images of your email should depend on your text and not the other way around. Most email clients tend to disable images by default, so persuade them to enable them, for example, by creating an enticing Alt text.

How many emails to use in a welcome series

It’s a tricky question. Most marketing companies advise creating between 3 to 7 emails in a welcome series that span between 2 weeks to 2 months. It all depends on your business, your target audience, and your product. If it’s a big purchase that requires some consideration, the series may need to be longer than that of an impulsive e-commerce commitment.

In this case, it might be a good idea to carry out A/B testing to understand what works best for your contacts at each stage. Why doing she-loves-me-she-loves-me-not?

So, let me share an example of the steps a welcome series may include:

1st email. Email confirmation (if it’s a double opt-in). Thus, you will have only a loyal audience on your list, those who were willing to sign up. Such an audience is unlikely to mark you as spam.

2nd email. Thank-you message, user registration data, and a welcome bonus. Besides, it heats up interest in the subscriber by telling them what’s coming next.

3rd email. Access to your freebies.

4th email. Your products/services guide.

5th email. Offer to purchase, e.g. a special offer available only to subscribers.

You can tailor your welcome email series based on what stage in the sales funnel your customer is and create relevant content. This way, you can personalize their experience with your brand making it more about the customer – thus, more caring and efficient. 

Key takeaways about welcome emails

It’s been a long way but you’ve made it! Good for you! Now, it’s time to summarise.

1. Currently, not all businesses send welcome emails, so use the opportunity to stand out and build trust!
2. Introduce yourself in the most interesting and personal way – tell a story your subscriber will remember and showcase what you have to offer to them.
3. When making an email, always keep in mind the benefits you can give to your subscriber. Actually, it should be your priority number 1.
4. Properly thank your subscribers using words, or gifts, or both, which is much better.
5. Mind the design and stick to a clear structure to help your subscribers navigate your email.

Now you know everything you need to start creating your own story and sharing your values to convert new subscribers into loyal customers. Let’s get this party started!