What is Welcome Email: Definition, Examples and Tips
"There will never be another chance to make a good first impression."
Swanson, David
If you've ever written a dissertation, a blog post, or a speech, you're probably familiar with this important rule: be cautious with the introduction. It's exactly the same with emailing!
What exactly is the welcome email? What are its primary purposes? Above all, how do you create enticing welcome emails? It is not always easy to know how to write your welcome email: what subject to address, what elements to highlight, what formulations to use, and what tone to use to engage your prospects without scaring them away?
Let's explore the role of email marketing in your marketing and commercial strategy, as well as the best practices to follow, all with concrete examples.
What is a Welcome Email?
Today, it is impossible to ignore the welcome email. Indeed, this is the first real contact between a brand and an Internet user. It enables you as a company to communicate with your prospects. A welcome e-mail is an email that is sent to new contacts following their subscription to a newsletter distribution list.
Are you getting new visitors to your website? Have you received any new newsletter subscribers? Potential buyers who abandoned their cart before purchasing? Why not engage in conversation with them to keep their full attention while also learning a little bit more about each of them; an opportunity for you to immediately develop a close customer relationship, to retain your future customers due to a better knowledge and understanding of their needs.
Purpose Of Welcome Emails
One of email marketing types is welcome emails. A welcome email, as the name implies, is an email that welcomes a new subscriber. The primary purpose of the welcome email is to welcome your prospects into your brand universe by introducing your company, products, and services. It enables you to make a first connection, a first exchange similar to a conversation between two people: the opportunity to learn more about their expectations, needs, and areas of interest. However, in the case of double opt-in, you can simply send this type of e-mail to the new subscriber to confirm his subscription to your mailing list.
The "Welcome Email" provides you with the opportunity to:
Make your first contact with your new contacts.
Make contact with them.
Learn more about their wants and expectations.
Share your brand values from the start.
Give people priority and offer a small welcome gift.
Provide additional information about your brand or company, including the types of content they will receive, as well as your products and services...
Remember that the welcome email has a 50% open rate and 5 times the clicks of a standard email.
Your new subscriber is most interested during the registration process. So your welcome messages to potential new customers are an excellent opportunity to introduce yourself, demonstrate how you can assist them and even make a sale.
The primary function of the welcome email is to confirm a user's action on a website. The person has interacted with a website for the first time, and thus the email will attest to this contact by summarizing the connection data previously recorded by the internet user. This email is also an opportunity to thank the Internet user for visiting the site for the first time and becoming a customer or subscriber, demonstrating his interest in the monthly email newsletter, ebook, white paper, e-site trade, special offer, and so on.
The welcome email is also a good way to get to know the new customer because it is the first point of contact and exchange. And first impressions are always important. Welcome emails are the first step toward increasing customer loyalty to a brand.
Best Practices Of Welcome Emails
There is no right or wrong way to write a welcome email. For this to be successful, you must consider your objectives, targets, and brand universe. As a result, there are an infinite number of ways to design welcome emails. Nonetheless, we've compiled a list of best practices to help you write an effective welcome email.
The entire purpose of the welcome scenario is to make a good first impression. To accomplish this, play the proximity and authenticity card by revealing yourself while leaving the audience in suspense. Present your brand's universe, philosophy, values, and commitments. Be personal with your readers and emphasize your customer benefits.
Do not be afraid to reassure them as much as possible about the services and products you provide, as well as the benefits you provide.
The subject is equally important; take the time to think about it because it will determine whether or not your email is opened. Personalizing the subject of your welcome email with, for example, the recipient's first name will increase the interest that it will arouse, and an object in the form of a question is often appreciated as well.
Here are some examples of welcome email subject lines to get you started:
We are happy to have you among us, [First Name].
Welcome [First name], please find in this email some articles that may be of interest to you...
[First name], are you looking for good deals as well?
Congrats! You have now been registered. Discover the surprises that await you…
Finally, don't forget to create a landing page that is in perfect sync with your email in terms of both content and form (design and editorial content).
How To Create An Effective Welcome Email?
Here are some best practices to follow when creating an effective welcome email:
Make sure to carefully select and manage the email's subject. This is the first thing your new contacts notice. So keep it short and interesting.
Choose personalized emails, even if you send them automatically. This is done to personalize both the message's title and body.
Include a call to action that takes them to your landing page, online store, or a specific offer.
Examples of Effective Welcome Emails
Here are some welcome letters that you can send to new clients:
Email 1: Hello. Jessica greets the new client. She also sends a handwritten thank you card in response to the email.
Email 2: How we work. Jessica creates a trusting environment by introducing her team and discussing her background.
Email 3: What we can do for you. Accounting can be a stressful subject, so this welcome email explains exactly what Jessica’s clients can expect.
Email 4: What we require of you. A variety of documents and forms are required. This message includes a cheat sheet to help customers find what they're looking for.
Along with these emails, Jessica sends a thank you note and a copy of her book to each of her clients.
The series of welcome emails then continues after the book is sent.
Email 5: Share your thoughts on the work. Jessica’s business benefits from online reviews. As a result, she requests them from customers who join her mailing list.
Email 6: Request for feedback. Jessica can use feedback to improve her business and keep customers who are on the verge of leaving.
In any case, a series of welcome emails is an opportunity to make a first contact. It's a great way to automatically greet each person and make them an offer.
The welcome email is your new customer's or newsletter subscriber's first point of contact with your brand or business. Because the recipient has interacted with a website, they will receive an automatic welcome email. This sending template is automatically programmed in most online solutions and CMSs. Welcome e-mails, for example, will be sent after a user connects for the first time to his new account on a website, after an online registration, and so on. It must be clear, clean, and precise in order to entice the reader to return to the website or to the company. Whether you run a showcase site or an e-commerce site, you must understand the welcome e-mail as an effective conversion lever, or at the very least a subtle loyalty lever that Internet users appreciate.
It can all come down to first impressions with a new client or business partner. This is why you must exercise extreme caution when it comes to welcome emails. Because it is through this channel, particularly this newsletter, that you communicate with customers and partners who visit your website.
Set objectives for creating your welcome email.
The creation of a welcome email serves several purposes. However, it is critical to redefine the fundamental goals of this act in order to avoid missing its overarching purpose. Indeed, the welcome email seeks to establish a first point of contact with its customers.
The first contact with your recipients should be informative and appealing, capable of making the user's interest in your services and products even if he previously had no desire for these types of products and services.
Choose the most advantageous strategy to ensure the success of your emailing campaign.
A successful email marketing campaign provides numerous benefits. KPIs for good welcome emails are usually very high. While opening rates are estimated to be around 91 percent, click through rates exceed five times those of traditional marketing campaigns.
Furthermore, when featuring a specific offer, welcome emails can increase revenue by up to 30%. Given the significant impact that welcome emails can have on your business's bottom line, it's even more important to take welcome email design seriously. When they contact your recipients, they feel more committed to your company than ever before.
How To Send A Welcome Email?
Say thanks for the recipient's interest and explain why you sent your message.
The first thing to include in the welcome e-mail message is obviously a thank you to your interlocutor for his actions.
This indicates that the Internet user is interested in your offer or simply the content of your website: thanking him for his gesture is the first step toward establishing customer loyalty.
Highlight the benefits of your site that will appeal to your new prospect by recalling the frequency of sending messages, the type of content offered on your site, past events in the history of your brand, or even the history of your company by recalling the frequency of sending messages, the type of content offered on your site, past events in the history of your brand, or even the history of your company.
Choose the right template, images, email style.
Your welcome message will enable your contacts to contact you about your service, products, platform, and so on.
This type of email must be recognized and appreciated not only for its message but also for its design: at this level, your brand image is at stake.
Keep in mind that this type of email is unique and should get right to the point with your contact: users will appreciate a clear message, a precise call to action, relevant icons and links, but also a small surprise gift to remember you and return to your website.
Don't forget to include your primary means of communication.
You must emphasize the most direct ways to contact you, especially if you operate in the world of e-commerce.
Keep a small space in the footer of your template for a button dedicated to quick contact: chat bubble, CTA, or simply highlighting your phone number or email address, it's up to you.
Promote your company, e-commerce, blog, and so on.
Why is your website unique?
By emphasizing his company, his e-commerce, his blog, or any other offer related to the welcome email sent, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate that your project, your activity is unparalleled.
Perhaps it goes through a topicality, a specific know-how, etc. In a nutshell, a value proposition that will illuminate your company, your brand, to this new user.
If possible, include links to informative articles, your profiles, or user-generated videos where you can see positive reviews and comments about your brand.
Show your communities on social media.
The welcome email is also an excellent opportunity for your users to become interested in your online communities and, as a result, subscribe to you on social media. Your future customers or subscribers will be able to form a much stronger bond with your brand thanks to your social content.
You will be able to show another side of your business, take Internet users behind the scenes of your products and services, and invite users to join you on your adventures thanks to online platforms.
Make a specific action suggestion to increase your conversion rate.
Your contact is expecting specific content from you if they have subscribed to your website or demonstrated their commitment to your company.
You can encourage the reader to take action by using well-defined call-to-action buttons to direct him to the products or services that appealed to him in his approach.
Visit a blog, read a specific article, discover an offer, sign up for a newsletter, request information, and so on.
Analyze data after transmission and run A/B tests.
Finally, after you've configured your campaign and sent your first emails to your new prospects, it'll be time to analyze your emailing campaign: Was your campaign successful? Do you have a high click-through rate? Is your opening rate adequate?
You will be able to make decisions to modify your campaign based on your figures. To make the best decisions, why not run A/B tests, sending two versions of your email to well-defined prospect segments?
This will help you find the right equation in your mailing strategy and improve your results.
Are you getting new visitors to your website? Have you received any new newsletter subscribers? Potential buyers who abandoned their cart before purchasing? Why not engage in conversation with them to keep their full attention while also learning a little bit more about each of them; an opportunity for you to immediately develop a close customer relationship, to retain your future customers due to a better knowledge and understanding of their needs.