A welcome email is the first email your prospect receives from your business after they subscribe to your mailing list. In this article, I am sharing some welcome email best practices that will help you create emails which are more effective in terms of engagment.Welcome emails compared to all the others have the highest open rate. Instead of just using these emails to only welcome and confirm new subscribers; it is better to use this excellent tool to engage with your prospects and know them better. Customers who have just subscribed are hot lead and chances are that they are close to making a purchase.
Engage Your Subscriber
The reason welcome emails have an almost 50% open rate is that 74% of people who subscribe to a list expect to receive a welcome email immediately. Moreover, subscribers who receive the welcome email show 33% more engagement with the brand.Check out the following Campaign Monitor infographic to know what makes welcome emails so important for marketing campaigns.
Remember that subscribers are much more likely to open and click on your welcome email compared to all other promotional and future emails.Hence, your initial welcome email must create an IMPACT!And for that to happen and to make your brand evident in your emails and generate better results it is crucial you give extreme importance to the following ten factors.
Factors That Make Welcome Emails Effective
A) Timing – Send the Welcome Email immediately
There is no better time to send it than when your new subscriber is most expecting it.Make it a habit to send a confirmation and welcome email as soon as someone subscribes. It may sound like a small thing but it can make a huge difference. You must always strike when the iron is hot not an hour or day later.
B) Have a Clear & Engaging Subject Line
Your email subject line must attract your readers and give them a reason to open it.
Welcome them…
Many marketers use the word ‘Welcome’ right up front in the subject line to make welcome emails stand out in crowded inboxes.Here are twenty plus Welcome email subject lines that you can use for your new subscribers.
C) Greet Recipient Correctly
Use it if you got their names or other information when they signed up. Make sure you spell their name correctly and write it properly. In case of any doubt, go with a simple ‘Hi.’However, email subject lines that contain the recipient’s name are 26% more likely to be opened.
D) Provide More Information!
Just making them wait for your next blog post or newsletter won’t be such a great idea. It is better to add more information using blog posts and recommending some of the best articles or pieces of content your website has.
E) Show Generosity – Give subscribers a gift
Welcoming emails are a great way to treat your new subscribers to something special such as an awesome discount on their first purchase or a quality digital product that offers some great value; such as an eBook.Offering some tangible value is an essential part of an effective welcome email.
F) Get Subscribers to follow you on Social Media
Include a link or two with icons of your social media platforms within the welcome email.It is great to have your subscribers follow your business on social media.
G) Ask to be added to your ‘safe senders’ or contacts list
Do this to maintain your email’s deliverability rate and also make it easier for the subscribers to find your emails easily in the future.You can do this by adding a line similar to the one below.’To ensure delivery to your inbox, please add newsletter@yourdomain.com to your address book/contacts.’ Or if you want to go the extra mile and make it easier for your subscribers then can add a similar whitelist instructions GIF video.
H) Provide an Unsubscribe link
Nowadays, most email service providers include a link to unsubscribe. And, no matter how much you want subscribers it is very important to give them a link that would make their unsubscribing easy. It is now the requirement of CAN-SPAM and GDPR.
I) Ask For References
Email campaigns must include a reference request. References can help you grow your list. People expect things recommended by their friends as more credible. Initially, you may not get a lot of references, but whatever you do will be of high value.
J) Ask Them What They Want
There is no better way to know what your customer wants or is thinking than to ask them. And that is what surveys are for.Use free tools like GetFeedback, TypeForm, SurveyPlanet, or GoogleForms.For your welcome email inspiration, check out some great examples compiled by Moosend.And if you are interested in making one from scratch, I suggest you read this blog by Niel Patel.If you are thinking that why would a prospect fill out the survey? Or, why would they put in their effort and time?Because you will be offering them some value and you will be making it as easy for them as possible.
Survey Email Best Practices
1. Offer Discount Code or Coupon
10 to 15% discount or a gift card for their next purchase. In the above-shown email template, Artifact Uprising has offered a $5 credit along with a chance to win a $100 gift card.
2. Keep it Short & Simple
Try and keep it to 4 questions. A short survey would get a better response. For a new customers and recent buyers you can have two questions: 1) Did you like our product or service? (Example above)2) How likely are you to recommend it to a friend? (Example below) The response rate for such emails is around 30-40%.
3. Set expectations with a sense of urgency
It is a good practice to let people know how long it would take them to fill out your survey. If it’s long and is expected to take twenty minutes then make sure you are honest about it. Also, to create a sense of urgency provide a date to let them know by when they can fill out the survey.
Avoiding The Spam Folder
Do these things to avoid getting your emails landing in the recipient’s spam folder.
1. Email only those who opted in: Do not send emails to people who have not opted in or have not accepted to receive emails from you. Unsolicited emails sent to random people from bought email address list is a bad practice and also illegal. Moreover, the law does not allow you to send marketing emails unless the recipient has confirmed that they want to receive them.
2. Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines: Email filters detect certain words to identify messages as spam that you need to avoid at all costs. Avoid all the words and phrases mentioned above.
3. Keep your spam score & sender reputation in check and control: This is about your IP reputation or sender score, or IP score. They all refer to your sender IP address and are affected by various factors such as the content quality of the emails you send, their engagement ratio, and the quality of your email contacts all play important roles to determine your reputation and score.A lower score means that your emails will be filtered into the spam folder by the email provider, damaging your marketing reach and wasting your efforts.
Setup & Follow An Email Schedule
4. Be consistent without overdoing it: Avoid all behaviour that would identify you as a spammer. Sending multiple emails daily to your subscribers can get you flagged.However, you must be consistent. Follow a schedule for sending out emails. Send it on the same days once or twice a week. Sending marketing emails inconsistently or randomly may get your emails to the spam folder.
5. Send relevant content: The content of your email must be relevant to the recipient. Make them as relevant as possible by breaking down your contact list into segments. Then approach each segment with the content specifically for them.
6. Do not make it look auto-generated: Your email should mention your name. Avoid sending emails to prospects from an email address such as info@yourbusiness.com or DoNotReply@yourbusiness.com.Instead, it should be Yourname@yourbusiness.com.
7. Include your physical address: It shows that you are a real business with a physical location. Just add it at the bottom as shown in the example above.
8. Monitor Your Email Stats: You need to know how your sent emails are performing. Things you must keep a check on:
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- Open Rate – The percentage of recipients who opened your email.
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- Delivery Rate – The percentage of emails that landed in the subscriber’s inbox compared to those which landed in spam.
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- Click Rate – The percentage of opened emails that got further clicks.
- Unsubscribe or Opt-Out Rate – The percentage of recipients opting-out or unsubscribing.
These stats are a vital part of determining your conversion rates and improving your strategy to achieve better results.
9. Have a two-step subscriber confirmation process: Once somebody has opted in; send your first welcome message informing them that you have received their subscription. Include a CTA for confirmation that they can click to confirm their subscription request.
Bottom Line
Welcome emails are essential and they have to be a minimum of three emails with the first being sent immediately after a visitor subscribes or opts into your list.Have a two-step verification procedure by including a CTA in your first email for the recipient to click on and confirm their subscription.Use a clear and engaging subject line and spell their name correctly. In case of any doubt go with a simple ‘Hello’Provide a discount or some value to having them return to your website. Use discounts to attract them to fill out surveys and tell you more about them.Make sure the emails you sent go by your name to give them a human touch. Use testimonials from satisfied customers to let them know what to expect from your brand.Also, if you have any questions or suggestions then please share them in the comments section below.
