Welcome to this post! Pfft, before I get carried away and overdo the act of welcoming—my own way of paying ode to the theme of this post—let me lay the context in place. In many instances, I get the chance to be a customer myself and the one thing I enjoy the most when I subscribe to new content or sign up for a product is the way the brand welcomes me, precisely their welcome emails and the welcome email template they use. I mean, who doesn’t like to be welcomed?
Being a product marketer, I must say that a welcome email is typically the most exciting milestone in the customer-brand relationship journey. This is the one thing that both sides of the world enjoy. It forms a bridge, sort of an open gateway, between the customer and the brand. It’s like an exciting high-five, (or a handshake, if that’s your personality) and a shout out saying “you’re one of us now”. Cutting chase, welcome emails are awesome and we all love them.
If I need to talk data, welcome emails have on an average four times the open rate and five times the click-through rate of a standard email marketing campaign—making them more effective than any other transactional email. Best part? Subscribers who receive a good welcome email show 33% more engagement with the brand. It’s also worth noting that three out of four email subscribers expect to see a welcome email right after subscribing.
My objective for this post is to give you the most foolproof welcome email template, talking a little bit about what must go in and what you should avoid. We’ll also take a look at some of my favorite welcome email templates that you can get inspired by.
What is a welcome email?
A welcome email template is the first automated email that goes out to your visitor once they subscribe to your content or sign up with your company’s website. It serves as an onboarding communication starter. It’s the first official handshake that the company does with their potential customer. It sets the tone and voice of your brand.
Good welcome email templates warrant an open rate of 56.7%, click rate of 9.7%, and are known to generate a revenue of 61 cents per email compared to 10 cents on promo emails. The revenue generated per email can go up to $3.36 when you optimize and personalize your welcome emails.
Why should you send a welcome email?
We learnt that welcome emails generate more transactional revenue per email compared to other types of promo emails, yet it’s known that only 57.7% of the brands greet their customers with a compelling welcome email or onboarding email. It’s extremely important for brands to set an onboarding strategy for sending out welcome emails—stop with one or send out a series of onboarding emails depending on your customer journey.
Why is it important? Simple; as the saying goes—you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Make sure to never miss out on an opportunity to create a good first impression and make sure to use the opportunity well. Visitors who land in your website have a basic understanding of the solution you offer, which triggers their interest. They are interested in using your product or service but need to be guided, engaged, and welcomed. A good welcome email template sets the right platform for the series of onboarding emails that you can send over a period of time to nurture your customers and encourage them to convert into paying customers.
Creating the best welcome email template
A good welcome email template is meant to be indispensable and relevant. With the right amount of customization and personalization, you can be assured of giving the best onboarding experience to your users. Here are certain best practices while drafting a welcome email template that helps in yielding maximum engagement and sets the right track for a happy onboarding experience for your customers.
When you send matters
It’s important to send out your welcome email as soon as your visitor subscribes or registers to your product. It’s observed that real-time welcome emails drive up to 10X better results than emails that are sent a few hours later. Welcoming your subscribers immediately helps them recollect the value and recall your brand instantly. Your visitors have maximum context when they receive the email immediately. As per Inbox Army, here is the percentage of customers who engage with the welcome email based on the time of receiving the email.
Straightforward subject lines = better open rates
Subject lines make or break your welcome email open rate. You need to ensure that you give a straightforward subject line for your welcome email template that conveys the outcome of the email and thereby sets the right expectation. For example, if the email is just about welcoming then you stick to a subject line that conveys a welcome message. If you have a discount offer then don’t forget to mention that in the subject line of your welcome email template to attract your reader’s attention.
Make it complete
A welcome email is, after all, about welcoming your users, so start your welcome email template with that. New subscribers should receive a welcome message immediately upon signing up for your program. The message should thank them for signing up and reiterate important benefits as well as set expectations for future message content and frequency.
After the welcome message, follow up with a few additional messages aimed at introducing the subscriber to your brand and everything your company and website has to offer—whether that’s free shipping on all orders, 24-hour customer service, or interesting blog content. While these messages can contain special offers or incentives, the main focus should be on educating the subscriber and making their experience with the email program as positive and meaningful as possible. Provide subscribers with the value proposition you promised during the signup process (e.g. a 15% discount).
Make it engaging
One of the best ways to spark subscriber interest is through interactive content. Build the engagement right away; why wait? Whether you feature how-to-videos, website tutorials, or polls and quizzes, adding an element of interactivity is a great way to encourage engagement from new subscribers while getting them excited about your brand and letting your voice and personality shine through. Prompt subscribers to take the next steps in their journey, whether that’s creating an account, completing a download, starting a purchase, or whatever your strategic goals are.
I absolutely love this welcome email from jetBlue which has a fun way of welcoming the visitor to the jetBlue family.
Ask Questions
Ask questions, ask for preferences. Use the onboarding series as an opportunity to collect additional subscriber information. From demographic and geographic information to preferred message categories and frequency, this will help personalize future messages, making content more relevant and enticing for subscribers. Check out Freshchat’s welcome email which gives an opportunity for the readers to share the problem they are trying to solve with the tool.
Call to action
Include a crisp call-to-action button or link with all your welcome email templates. Think about your value add and enable your readers to interact with you. This will be your gateway to engaging with your customers.
Check out this welcome email from Google Analytics. Their call to action is to make the reader take up a course to know more about the product.
Anatomy of a great welcome email template
All of us want our welcome emails to be great. The first step is to achieve that is to understand the anatomy or components of a good welcome email and try to conform with that. This makes the email complete and actionable.
Here are the components of a great welcome email!
10 captivating welcome email templates that you can learn from
Writing a great welcome email template is not rocket science, but it definitely needs some amount of strategy and planning. Check out these captivating examples of some of the best welcome email templates we’ve come across to get you rubbing your palms and start typing away your onboarding emails.
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Let’s wind up with some do’s and don’ts with respect to welcome emails to appreciate the whole ball game.
Do’s
Things that you should do to ensure that your welcome email template meets the right expectations and triggers good engagement.
- Ask for preferences and questions
- Provide information and value add
- Let them know the next steps
- Segment your users by asking them questions like where they are from—attach a survey
- Personalize your welcome message based on the type of audience
- Use the right tone to convey your brand’s persona and voice
- Test your welcome email templates. Testing is the most effective way to determine if a format works the best for your target audience. From subject lines and content to message timing and cadence, running A/B tests can help you optimize the onboarding series for improved results and long-term success.
Don’ts
What shouldn’t go in a welcome email template is as important as what should go. Here are some red flags with respect to writing your welcome email template.
- Do not talk about the product and features—talk about the benefits.
- Do not leave the email incomplete, without a call to action.
- Do not make the email too long and rambling.
- Do not make it text-heavy.
- Try not to have a generic email template for all your customers.
- Avoid using jargons in your email. Let the language be simple and objective.
- Do not send a welcome email without a goal to be measured.
- Do not delay your welcome message.
- Do not spam and overwhelm your subscribers. Bombarding new subscribers with too many messages right after sign up is a common reason they disengage—or worse, mark your messages as spam.
