Welcome emails are the first emails your subscribers receive after opting into your offer. They can leave a lasting impression and prime your subscribers for future communication when done right.
They say you only get one chance at a first impression.
If that saying’s anything to go by, you’ll want to make sure your welcome emails work hard to woo your subscribers.
What’s that, you say? You’re not sending welcome emails?
Well, we’re just going to have to fix that. And here’s why.
Welcome emails work
Welcome emails have some of the highest open rates across industries.
According to GetResponse, welcome emails have an open rate of 86.03% and a click-through rate of 24.69%.
Those numbers far outperform average email open rates of 16.97% and average click-through rates of less than 10.29%.
But why are welcome emails so effective?
A welcome email is usually sent after a subscriber opts into your list to:
- Receive your email newsletter
- Activate a free trial
- Download a lead magnet
- Register for an event
- Receive a discount code
- Learn more about your product or service
This means the subscriber is likely to expect a confirmation email and will check their inbox for it.
Anticipation will be high, so you should definitely capitalize on this.
How many emails should be in a welcome sequence?
“How many?” is actually the wrong question.
The numbers 3, 5, and 6 get thrown around a lot.
But a good rule of thumb is to get to know your audience, test different options, and see what works for your welcome sequence goal.
When it comes to welcome emails, you should include as many emails as it takes to achieve your goal. And that goal?
“[Y]our goal… is to get subscribers to pay attention, and open their emails from you, and engage with you.
And then when it comes time, to ask them to share your content or to refer you to other people or to buy from you.”
Joanna Wiebe, Copyhackers
Just remember, like most other marketing strategies, welcome emails are a test-and-see game.
What to include in your welcome emails
Thank subscribers for signing up and give them what they came for
Acknowledge your subscribers’ decision to sign up for your offer and thank them. It’s a small thing, but it matters.
Inboxes are sacred, and we should be grateful when our subscribers give us access.
It’s also important to deliver what you promised in that pop-up or on that landing page.
This Rigby Home welcome email includes the coupon code the company promised in the header of the email. That way, subscribers don’t have to scour the email to find it.
Your welcome email should tell subscribers who you are and how you plan to help them
Many subscribers will end up on your list without knowing who you are.
They may have discovered your offer from an ad or a social post and signed up without much context.
Your welcome email is a great way to introduce yourself and share how you can help them with the problem they want to solve.
Jason and Kim of the DeliverIt newsletter do a good job of this in their welcome email. They make it clear their goal is to help subscribers grow their email list with proven strategies.
Your welcome emails should tell subscribers what to expect
Your welcome emails should set clear expectations by explaining how frequently you’ll be in their inbox and what you’ll be helping them with.
The BBC shares clear bullet points outlining what the reader can expect from them:
Monday emails, occasional genre-specific emails, and the ability to control frequency.
Ask subscribers to tell you about themselves
Around these parts, we call this self-segmenting.
Asking subscribers about themselves will help you send more relevant segmented emails — a proven way to drive email engagement.
You can learn more about self-segmenting and writing epic emails in this Tutorial Tuesdays video.
Welcome emails are the key to your subscribers’ hearts.
When you write relevant, engaging copy that pulls them in and addresses their needs, you’re more likely to see improved open rates and click-through rates.
And a by-product of that is more sales for your product or service.
If you want to level up your email game, the 10X Emails course covers email copywriting and strategy. You can join here.
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