Welcome Emails Guide: Best Practices and Examples in 2024

Every time someone joins your email list, it’s a valuable opportunity. Welcome emails are your first chance to connect and they’re critical. Often underestimated, these emails are one of the most effective ways to engage and retain new subscribers right from the start. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of using welcome emails, share key best practices, and provide templates for different business scenarios in order to help you get started. 

What Are Welcome Emails?

A welcome email is simply the first message you send to new subscribers after they’ve joined your email list. However, a welcome email is more than just a confirmation of their successful subscription or purchase! It’s your chance to make a strong first impression. This pivotal moment sets the tone for how subscribers will perceive your brand and marks the beginning of their customer journey. 

Why Welcome Emails Are Important for Your Business

Welcome emails are quite effective and offer a variety of benefits. Here are some of the most notable ones.

📬 Customers expect them: On average, 74% of people are expecting to receive a welcome email shortly after they join an email list. So, make sure you use welcome emails in order to meet the expectations of your recipients.

🫶 They help build credibility and set the tone: 

A welcome email is a powerful tool for showcasing your brand’s values and voice, helping you build credibility with customers who are new to your brand and may not yet know much about it.

🔝 They are extremely effective and boost engagement: Research shows welcome emails deliver impressive results, such as four times more opens (an average 50% open rate) and five times more clicks (an average 14.4% click rate) compared to regular email campaigns. Plus, subscribers who receive welcome emails show 33% higher engagement with the brand.

Best Practices for Welcome Emails in 2024

Now that we’ve covered what welcome emails are, why they’re important for your business, and why you should leverage them, let’s dive into the key elements every welcome email should include, and what best practices you need to follow. 

Send welcome emails right after the user joins your list

In email marketing, proper timing is very important. To maximize the impact of your welcome emails, make sure they’re sent immediately after someone joins your subscriber list, or within 24 hours at the latest. This helps keep your brand top of mind and significantly reduces the chances of them losing interest or even forgetting why they signed up for your email in the first place. It also shows that you are attentive and organized, which will help you build a positive impression of your brand. 

Personalize Your Emails

Typically, personalized emails perform much better than generic ones. That’s because people are more likely to perceive such content as more relevant to them, and therefore open it and engage with it. To personalize your welcome emails, use the recipient’s name in the subject line or in the greeting at the beginning of your email.

Also, create tailored content that resonates with your audience’s interests or the way they have subscribed. You can segment your audience into groups you find relevant and create different welcome emails for each of them. For example, if you’re a photographer, and you often have prospects interested in professional corporate photography, send them a welcome email including your top corporate photography pieces.

Use Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is one of the most important elements of your welcome email, as it is the first thing recipients see from you. To make it effective and attention-grabbing, keep it clear, short (especially for better display on mobile), and give a hint of what subscribers can expect from you. Also, whenever appropriate, consider using emojis, as they can make your emails more visually appealing and engaging. 😉   

Brand Identity and Consistency

One of the best practices for welcome emails is to craft them in a way that aligns with your brand’s identity and maintains consistency across all the different media you use. To do so, make sure to keep the same tone of voice as on your website, social media, and other channels. Use your logo, brand colors, style, fonts, and any other elements that your audience associate with your brand.

Set Clear Expectations and Give Next Steps

Now let’s talk about the content of your welcome email. It’s obvious that in your welcome email you would want to extend a warm welcome to your new subscriber. But you’re probably wondering “what else should I include?” 

As a general rule, don’t overwhelm your readers with too much information. Share only the essential details that they’ll need. People like to know what to expect, and whether spending time on your content will be worthwhile. Set clear expectations and guide your subscribers through their journey with your brand. 

You can outline the type of tips, news or offers they will receive in your email campaigns, and how frequently they can expect to hear from you. It’s also a good idea to include next steps, like exploring your website or directing them to a specific page or blog post.

Add Value

If you encourage subscribers to join by using  a lead magnet  – such as an eBook, guide, exclusive podcast episode, design sample, or discount code –  now is the perfect time to deliver on that promise. Adding the lead magnet to your welcome email will build trust and reinforce the value of being on your list. For example, if you are a style consultant, a subject line like: “Welcome aboard! Your free autumn style guide inside!” would work great. 

Integrate Your Social Media Channels

Welcome emails can be part of a broader, integrated marketing strategy. Use them to invite subscribers to connect with you outside email by integrating your social media channels to your emails. Encourage recipients to follow you for more news, updates, or promotions.

Effective and Clear CTA

Be sure your subscribers know what action you want them to take next by adding an obvious and straightforward call-to-action (CTA) button or hyperlinked text. Your CTA caption should be short and clear, like “Sign Up Today,” “Start Free Trial,” or “Get Your Free Sample.” 

It’s also a good practice to place it above the fold, so that readers can see it even if they don’t read your whole email. If your email is long, consider adding your CTA two or more times. 

Provide an Unsubscribe Option

Even though unsubscribing is probably the last thing you want recipients to do, it’s essential to add it to your welcome emails. It shows that you are transparent, and it’s also an effective way to ensure that your subscriber list contains only recipients who are truly interested in your content. Moreover, the unsubscribe option is important to comply with international laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM.   

Use Modern, Mobile-responsive Design

It’s essential that your welcome emails are optimized for mobile devices. Choose an email marketing platform that provides mobile-friendly templates that automatically adjust to smaller screens. As a general rule, keep your email content as short as possible so it looks good on mobile devices, opt for a single-column design if possible, and avoid overloading your email with too many images.

Welcome Email Templates and Examples

Now let’s explore some welcome email templates that could serve as  inspiration for what you can create in different scenarios. If you like one of them, you can use it yourself via the SiteGround Email Marketing platform, and easily adjust it to fit your brand’s style.

Welcome Email for New Clients

A well-crafted welcome email can start off your relationship with new subscribers on the right foot. Make it more personal by incorporating a warm message from the business founder. You can tell more about the inspiration behind the brand and its values.

Continue by offering additional resources, product lines or anything else that you think will be suitable to entice subscribers to explore more. Add a clear call to action (CTA) to drive engagement, and include social proof to build trust.

Newsletter Signup Welcome Email

When a person joins your newsletter but hasn’t yet made a purchase, it’s a good idea to immediately engage and deliver a special offer or a discount code to encourage them to make their first purchase. This combination of a welcome message, personalized exclusive offer, and clear call to action is an effective way to make subscribers take the first step with your brand.

Welcome Email for Onboarding Subscribers

Here’s another welcome email example that greets a new subscriber while also explaining onboarding steps. If your business or project has a mission, be sure to mention it in your welcome email. Along with this, you could add authenticity by including a note from the founder, and encourage action with a visible CTA. When crafting an onboarding email, make sure to encourage subscribers to interact with your brand – guide them to specific products, send them helpful articles, make them add a reminder for upcoming event, etc.

Community or Loyalty Program Welcome Email

If you have a community, loyalty, or rewards program, your welcome email could include simple steps with what the members will get from it, its benefits, how it works, and a clear call to action.

Event Registration Welcome Email

For businesses hosting events, whether online or in-person, a good welcome email practice is to provide a highlighted section with visible information about the date and time of the event and a call to action to save the date to your calendar. After that, you could add any other relevant information – more details about the event, useful links to resources, social media links, etc.

Welcome Email Template for Delivering a Freebie

If you build your email list with a lead magnet like a free guide or course, the welcome email should deliver the promised free downloadable content right away. To make it straightforward, add a button or a visible link in the beginning of your welcome email, thank the subscriber for their interest, and give more details about how the free piece of content will benefit them. It’s a nice touch to also suggest more relevant resources. This might help you drive further engagement.

Content/Blog Subscription Welcome Email

When a person signs up for your blog, it’s a good practice to briefly explain what they can expect from it in the future. You could add information about the themes and topics you plan to write the most, how often they can expect new content from you, and a few popular posts to get them started. This email is also a great opportunity to invite them to follow your social media channels.

Get Started with Welcome Emails Today

We hope the best practices and tips we’ve shared above will help you easily create your welcome emails and set the foundation for a successful and lasting relationship with your subscribers. Ready to take the next step? Go ahead and give the SiteGround Email Marketing platform a try –  it’s free for the first 30 days!