The 5 Gotta-Haves For A Successful “Welcome” Email

The Welcome email can be the beginning of a beautiful business relationship, yet many integrated marketers don't actively court their audience at this crucial step. Here's what to include in a welcome email to build trust, engagement, and better sales.

Many integrated marketers think of the initial welcome email as a nuts-and-bolts transactional message confirming subscriber opt-in. And there's nothing wrong with this approach-if you like leaving money on the table.

The welcome email really is that important.

Take accessories e-tailer, ban.do. They completely revamped their approach to the welcome letter, making it a series of 3, rather than just 1. The first email was your typical, "Hello, glad to meet you, here's 10% off." The second email invited subscribers to engage with the brand on social media, and the third email targeted subscribers who hadn't made a purchase. The tone was warm, approachable, and friendly (just like the brand) and the series resulted in a tremendous 51% revenue boost, compared to just sending a single email.

If you want to get in on some of this sweet subscriber conversion action, you don't have to write three messages, but the one you do send needs to check off the following:

Write in your brand voice

Your new subscriber just let you into their inbox, so don't make them regret it. This is where it pays to sweat the tone, as well as any of the visuals and graphics you use, to make sure you're sending something that looks and sounds like your brand. It may sound weirdly paradoxical, but the more personal you make it, the more likely the recipient will see value in it, and share the email with others.

Set expectations

Let new subscribers know what's coming. The welcome letter should include information on email frequency -and even what kind of emails they'll be receiving, so they're not taken by surprise and unsubscribe or report you as spam.

Honor your offer

Don't wreck the romance at this early stage. If you promised a coupon, a special offer, or a download, make sure you deliver, or you'll get a lot of unsubscribes before you send your second email.

Create more opportunities for engagement

The first one's a biggie: ask subscribers to put you in their email address book. Include social icons. Provide contact information, so new subscribers can reach out to you if they want to.

Don't skimp on the essentials

Start with an awesome subject line. The welcome email is an important-enough piece of communication that you should do some A/B testing, and be fearless about tinkering if you're not getting the results you expect. A conversational tone is good; grammatically flawed prose is not.

Last modified: July 17, 2018