Welcome Email Series – All You Need To Know

Much like meeting someone new, first impressions can make a big difference in email marketing. In this day and age of ever changing technology and social media, capturing the people’s attention, and more importantly keeping it, can be quite challenging.

You’ve managed to win them over as a subscriber, but there is still a long way to go before you can earn their trust and loyalty as a customer. As with any relationship, this takes time and effort.

You’ll need to “roll out the red carpet” for your new subscribers, so to speak. Make them feel special, give them more information about your business and what they can expect from subscribing to your mailing list.

This can be achieved with a series of welcome email series, targeted specifically to your new recipients.

Let’s start with a basic breakdown of the concept.

What are welcome emails?

Welcome emails are a group of emails that are sent to your subscribers when they just opt into your list.

They are the first friendly exchange between you and your new subscribers. As the name suggests, their goal is to introduce your brand to the customer.

Not only that, but they can also set the tone for future communications and encourage new members to engage with your business. This is why it’s very important to send out such emails.

What is your welcome email strategy?

Before you start creating welcome emails, you need to devise a strategy.

This includes deciding what kind of emails you’re going to send, how many and when you’re going to send them.

If you don’t have a ready strategy in mind, you can always have a quick look at what the companies around you are doing. Then simply mold their successful practices to suit your own needs.

Here are a few steps to consider when creating your strategy:

1. Determine the key actions you want the new subscribers to take.

There are likely more than one and they can vary from a simple “Thank you for subscribing” message to an important “Shop Now” call to action, “What to except from our emails”, “Follow our social accounts”, “Update your subscription preference”, “Latest piece of content” and many more.

Think about what you’re trying to achieve by sending such emails and if this will benefit your business and relationship with the customer.

2. Decide on your campaign structure – single first email vs whole welcome email series

Most people usually send out 3 to 5 emails, but this all depends on the amount of information you’re trying to showcase.

If you’d like to keep things short and sweet, a single, informative welcome email would be the way to go.

But if you have a lot more things to show and explain, it’s a good idea to spread it out over the series of emails, rather than cramming everything into one long message.

According to email marketing data, it is proven that people who read at least one welcome message, are bound to read more than 40% of their messages from the sending brand during the following 180 days.

Once you have them hooked with the first welcome email, they’re more likely to read the rest of the series.

3. Determine the timing and frequency

A welcome email should be sent immediately after the subscriber joins your mailing list. Studies show that 74.4% of consumers expect a welcome email when they subscribe.

Don’t wait a couple of hours or a whole day, because just as quickly that you’ve gained their attention, you can easily lose it. If they receive an email a day later, they may not even be interested anymore, mark it as spam or unsubscribe.

If you’ve chosen to send out a welcome email series, then you’ll need to arrange them in a way that prioritizes the more important, primary emails (shop now and other calls to action) over secondary emails (latest blog post). They need to make sense to the recipients.

4. Set up “smart” email workflows

A good way to make your welcome emails stand out more is to tailor them to the recipient’s behavior.

Every customer is different and your emails should be relevant to their individual needs. Here you can put all the gathered data to good use.

An example of this would be turning off a welcome email series, which revolves around the recipient using a promo code. If they’ve already made a purchase with this code, then they shouldn’t receive anymore emails reminding them to use it.

Or you could create a workflow, which reacts to whether a new subscriber opens or clicks through from the first welcome email and what specific content in the email they engage with.

The possibilities are endless and they all depend on your customer’s behavior.

Creating the welcome email series

Once you’ve figured out your welcome email strategy, it’s time to start creating the welcome email series.

Crafting the perfect welcome email(s) can take some time and effort, but we’re got you covered with our handy Beginners’ Guide on the subject.

A little testing goes a long way

A/B testing what works and what doesn’t in your welcome emails can make a big difference in the long run and in the way they’re perceived by your subscribers.

Even if you already have an established design, don’t be afraid to change up calls to action, titles, text, images, etc. The design practices are always changing and what was relevant today, may not be tomorrow.

Experiment and see what works best for your campaigns. This information will help you optimize the welcome email experience as a whole for your customers.

In conclusion,

It’s important to start your newfound partnership off on right foot and welcome email series are the best way to do so. They will help you convert new subscribers into customers and hopefully longtime readers.

Need inspiration for designing your welcome email series? Check out our 19 Eye Candy Examples.