Essential elements to create a stunning welcome email

Now that we’ve discussed the goodness of welcome emails, let’s dive into the essential elements that you must consider while making one!

Trigger email at the perfect timing 

Timing is everything when it comes to effective email marketing. It’s crucial to send a welcome email immediately after customers have subscribed because 74.4% of customers expect a welcome email with their continued interest in your brand. You need to perfectly time a welcome email. It’s the perfect opportunity to increase your engagement or tempt recipients with a little offer. If they’re keen, they might just make their first purchase using the offer you provided. Keeping the interest sustained is important, so if there’s a delay in sending the welcome email, it’ll be a classic case of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ You can opt for an email marketing software that triggers your welcome emails as soon as you have a new subscriber with high email deliverability. 

Look at this welcome email from Spotify Design - an interdisciplinary product design community. As soon as you sign up to receive design updates to your inbox, Spotify Design triggers this fantastic email.  It sets expectations for the recipients and emphasizes on how convenient it is to unsubscribe, making subscribers feel comfortable. (Source)

Craft a clear welcome email subject line

Welcome email subject lines can be fun introductions and can be a deal-breaker. Without a good subject line, it’s highly unlikely that a recipient will open the email. Your subject line must be clear and precise, so your subscribers open it without second thoughts. To make sure it’s straight to the point, marketers prefer to use the word “welcome” in the subject line to avoid all confusion.

Here’s an example of the email subject line for a LinkedIn premium welcome email. It’s clear and to the point. The subject line also says, ‘Let’s get started,’ which indicates that the mail contains the features available to premium users and what they can achieve using them.

Thank your new subscriber

When your new subscribers have trusted you with their email ID and decided to let you into their inbox, it’s nice to say thanks. A simple thanks in welcome emails is a way of appreciating your subscribers for trusting you and adds a human touch to your automated emails. Gratitude fuels positive feelings, so by saying thanks, you have a positive impact on the mind-set of your subscribers and helps build brand loyalty. This is an email from Slides that’s clear in its appreciation for its subscriber and gives them details on what they can achieve using their platform. (Source)

Tell them who you are

Your welcome email serves as an introduction to your world. Use this to talk about your brand, what makes your products better than the rest, and show them your brand’s personality. You could probably tell how you started the business or share your vision with them. Make it personal, so it strikes a connection with your subscriber. 

Let’s look at this example by Open Spaces, where they talk about what they believe in, how it led to their business idea, and what they hope to achieve for you (the subscriber). It’s simple, straightforward, and written with a personal touch that feels like someone is personally introducing themselves. (Source)

Set the right expectations

When you’re creating a welcome email,  let your new subscribers know what to expect from you. Here are a few things you can define in your welcome email.

• What kind of emails can they expect from you in the future?
  Let them know if you’re sending them a collection of blogs, or maybe new information about your brand or product. Tell your subscribers exactly what you plan to communicate with them through your emails. 

• How often will they hear from you?
  Assuming you won’t be spammy, let’s talk about the frequency of your emails. Will you send them an email every day, once a week, or a few times a month? Let your customers know how often you plan to communicate with them in the welcome email itself. 

• When will they hear you?
  In situations where you know which day of the week or the month works for you, you could also let your recipients know when to expect the email.

• Will you offer exclusive discounts to subscribers?
  Do your subscribers have exclusive access to offers or products you’re launching? Let them know that they’re special and of their privileges now that they’re subscribed to you.

Check out this welcome email from BBC. They clearly define their subscriber can expect from the upcoming emails. (Source)

Deliver the incentive you promised

If you offered something as an incentive to get your website visitor to subscribe with you, ensure you deliver what you promised. These incentives are called lead magnets and are a great way to increase your subscriber rate. Deliver what you promised to make sure you don’t lose credibility.

Here’s what a lead magnet looks like. You could offer a discount, ebook, checklist, or even a guide to keep subscribers interested. (Source)

Add a Call to action (CTA)

Every email has an objective. Although welcome emails are just a friendly introduction, it is also used to give offers or create a reputation with the subscribers. Any activity from an email requires a clear CTA. Here’s an email from Tinder that not only welcomes its new users but also guides them through different sections of the application to make the most of their experience. Adding CTA buttons to the welcome email makes it more prominent on the screen and clickable. (Source)

Ask subscribers to add your email to their contact lists

Getting your subscribers to add your email ID to their contacts is the best way to ensure you don’t get marked as spam. This process is called allowing IPs and has an impact on the deliverability of your emails. Don’t merely ask subscribers to add you to their list. You need to create enough value for them never to want to miss your emails.  

Sonos, a brand for home sound systems, adds the following to the footer of every email. So that their subscribers never miss out on any updates, they request the subscribers to add them to their address book. (Source)

Add contact info and links to your social media handles

Strengthen your communication with your subscribers and ask them to join you on your social media platforms. If they like your brand and content enough, they might follow your social media updates too! With every email, give customers a way to contact you, so it doesn’t feel like they’re communicating with a computer. Providing contact information and social media links is an excellent way to improve your relationship. 

Here’s how the social media and contact information looks like in McDonald’s emails. (Source)

Include unsubscribe link

It’s essential to ensure you always give your subscribers the option to end their communication with you. Not only does it help you keep your email list clean, but it is also GDPR compliant. Not putting something like your company address or unsubscribe link can put you at risk of a fine. Brands usually add the unsubscribe CTA at the footer of every email, welcome email, or not. Here’s the unsubscribe link from Google’s email footer.  (Source)

Welcome email best practices

1. Clearly state the ‘what’ and ‘why’: 

Tricking your audience to subscribe will result in a high unsubscribe rate. So, in your landing page, or along with your signup form, tell them they get out by subscribing to your emails. 

Here is an example from Freshsales blog, where they inform the readers about what they get from signing up for their newsletter.

 

2. Test and optimize: 

Just like any other marketing email, you need to know if your subscribers are able to resonate with the welcome email. Track crucial email engagement rates such as average open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, etc regularly. 

So, if you notice that your subscribers are not opening the welcome email, make the subject line more enticing (Pro tip: Consider using emojis to make the email stand out in the inbox). If you feel that the click and response rate is not up to your expectations, tweak the email content to be more conversational. 

3. Use the right tools: 

Implement sophisticated marketing automation software that is also easy to use. This will help you create professional and visually engaging emails with ease. Most email automation software comes with predefined templates that make designing welcome emails a breeze. It also enables you to easily set up workflows for your welcome email campaigns.

Conclusion

Welcome emails are one of the most important emails you’ll send to subscribers. It helps to have a clear goal and strategy while creating your welcome email to ensure you optimize it fully. Figure out what content will work for your subscribers and deliver it to them. Keep in mind the essential elements and inspiration we discussed to increase your email engagement and build a long-lasting relationship with your customers.