8 of the best email welcome series tactics to win over your audience

Email automation is a beautiful thing.

It takes the pressure off of you went it comes to precise timing, but that’s just the beginning of its amazing uses.

One of the handiest ways to utilize email automation is the welcome email. Welcome emails are a fantastic way to immediately engage the newest subscribers to your mailing list and keep them engaged.

But it’s not always quite that easy.

First, you need to construct a great email welcome series.

To help get you started, here are some of the best email welcome series tactics to win over your audience.

Before setting up your welcome emails, it’s a good idea to have a plan for how to go about it.

Thankfully, you’re not the first person on the planet to create a welcome email series, which means the path before you has already been paved by wins and losses.

Here are some of the tactics that have proven to be most effective when creating a welcome email series.

1. Consider timeliness.

The entire point of a welcome email is to capitalize immediately on a customer’s interest in your brand. If they’ve taken the time to subscribe to your email list, then the chance of them interacting with your emails is high, especially at the beginning.

This is why you need to strike when the iron is hot. Sending a welcome email a week after a subscriber signs up is simply too late. When it comes to timing, 75% of email marketers send welcome emails on the first day. Only 5% wait longer than three days.

2. Say hello.

A welcome email wouldn’t be much of a welcome without saying hello. A small greeting at the beginning of a welcome email can go a long way in establishing a relationship with your reader.

This greeting doesn’t need to be extensive. A simple, straightforward paragraph (that goes with your brand style and voice) will do the trick.

If you really want to have a potent welcome greeting, make sure to use personalization in your greeting. At this early point, all you probably have from the subscriber is his or her name, so be sure to use that. “Hello, Mary” is much more personable than a simple “Hello.”

In case you’re still not convinced about personalization, 94% of companies have said that personalization is vital to a great email campaign.

In case you’re still not convinced about personalization, 94% of companies have said that personalization is vital to a great email campaign.

Source: Really Good Emails

3. Create an appealing subject line.

Your first impression is everything, and when it comes to email marketing, that’s your subject line. It’s the first thing your subscribers see when they open their inbox and could very well make the difference between opening your email and ignoring it.

When crafting your subject line for your welcome email, remember to use the word, “welcome,” or something similar. This will instantly let your new subscriber know what the email is about and how it pertains to them.

While you should keep your subject line short and sweet, you also want to add a touch of personality if possible. As always, personality helps to set your work apart from the other emails in your subscriber’s inbox.

As with your greeting, it’s best to add a bit of personalization to your subject line with the subscriber’s name, assuming you have it. The feeling that an email is specifically designed for them, as opposed to being a part of a mass email, could very well tip them over the edge.

4. Add a call to action.

Ironically, a hearty welcome shouldn’t be the only part of your welcome email. Part of the purpose of a welcome email is to seize the opportunity of reaching your subscribers when they’re most likely to engage.

Therefore, you want to use the welcome email to guide them to another part of your organization, whether it’s social media, a page on your website, or a video. You could even set up your welcome email to be something of a variety platter of everything your company offers.

If you have an e-commerce arm of your company, then you can take this opportunity to share some of your products with your new subscriber. As someone who willingly signed up for your mailing list, they’re probably interested in what you have to offer.

5. Emphasize social media.

While there are many aspects of digital marketing, social media profiles have quickly become the face of many companies. At the same time, 11 people join social media for the first time every second.

For these reasons, you want to make sure that you ask your new subscriber to follow you on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Again, putting this request in a welcome email is going to be your best shot for getting results, as your new subscriber is already in a giving mood.

In terms of messaging, you can get creative for how you ask readers to follow you, but it helps to frame it in a way that accentuates the benefits. Let them know what you offer on your social media channels, such as real-time updates and exclusive deals.

6. Open with a present.

When you go to someone’s house, it’s sometimes customary to bring a gift. Therefore, when someone invites you into their inbox, it’s a good idea to bring a gift of your own.

Not only will this reinforce the new subscriber’s decision to sign up, but it will keep them engaged. And digital marketing is all about getting your customers engaged with your brand on a consistent basis.

As for what kind of present you might include? Something as simple as a discount will do the trick, or even some free content, if you’re feeling generous.

A discount is preferable to something like a keychain or pen, because it encourages the reader to keep engaging with your company and you still get a sale out of it.

 

A discount is preferable to something like a keychain or pen, because it encourages the reader to keep engaging with your company and you still get a sale out of it.

Source: Really Good Emails

7. Ask to meet their friends.

A major part of email marketing is building a fruitful mailing list. While a great mailing list isn’t necessarily predicated on size, it’s nice to have as many names as possible, then you can decide who goes and stays.

To build out your mailing list, be sure to use your welcome emails to ask your new subscribers if they’ll refer a friend. If your product is to the taste of your subscriber, it’s highly likely that at least a few of their friends share a similar taste.

It’s also a fact that a recommendation from a friend means a lot more to people than an advertisement straight from the company.

Just as when you ask your subscribers to follow you on social media, it helps to frame your entreaty for a re-referral in a way that’s not too needy or bland. You might consider asking the subscriber to simply “share” your product with a friend.

8. Get allowlisted.

Nothing is worse than spending a large amount of time on the content of your email only to have it get sifted into the recipient’s spam folder.

One of the surefire workarounds to this unfortunate circumstance is asking your subscribers to add you to their contact list. If you’re in the recipient’s contact list, then your email is guaranteed to appear in their inbox.

And there’s no better time to ask your subscribers to add you to their address book than a welcome email.

Not only are the subscribers highly likely to read a welcome email—open rates for welcome emails average 84.22%—but it’s also the first email of many, meaning you won’t risk losing any emails to the spam filter.

Wrap up

Welcome emails are among the most highly read emails you’ll ever send out to your subscribers, so it’s important that you make them respectable.

While there are many variables that go into making an engaging welcome email, these are among the most important and easy to implement:

  • Timeliness

  • A short greeting

  • Appealing subject line

  • A call to action

  • Emphasize social media

  • Offer a present

  • Get a referral from a friend

  • Get allowlisted

By utilizing all of these different methods in unison with one another, you’ll tap every ounce of potential out of your welcome emails.

And welcome emails are full of potential.

Welcome emails are a powerful force in any marketer’s email campaign, but it’s not the only force. Here are some helpful examples for your marketing automation tune-up.

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