20 welcome emails that build trust for long-term engagement

Welcome emails are the first step in building a long-lasting relationship with your subscribers. So roll out the red carpet and make your new subscribers feel at home on your email list!

In this post, we'll share welcome email best practices that create lasting first impressions.

Along the way, we’ll explain why they WOW new subscribers and show you some welcome email examples and welcome email subject lines that will inspire your own welcome email templates.

Let’s dive in!

A welcome email is the first email you send to new subscribers, customers or users. It's your chance to let them know more about you, your business and what they can expect after subscribing. Welcome emails are usually automated emails, so that as soon as your subscriber signs up, you can begin developing your relationship with them.

Engagement rates for welcome emails are eye-popping. On average, welcome emails get 4x the open rate and 5x the click rate compared to standard marketing emails. When someone subscribes to your newsletter, they expect to receive a welcome newsletter immediately. They’ll even visit their inboxes just to find it.

An authentic “thank you” and “welcome” builds trust between you and your subscriber, which lays the foundation for a long-term relationship and increases customer retention.

1. Build a relationship with personalization

Using personalization in welcome emails can have a significant impact on the success of your email marketing campaigns. By using a recipient's name, location, or other relevant information, you can create a more engaging and memorable experience. This can help build a stronger connection between your brand and the subscriber.

👍  What’s good?

• Beam welcomes new subscribers by name, establishing a human connection and making subscribers feel special, not like they’re just another number

• The welcome email is simple with a clear CTA

👉  Tip: You can gather more information for personalization by adding custom fields to your signup forms or having multiple welcome sequences based on the page subscribers signed up on. You can also use an email preference center to allow subscribers to personalize their subscriptions with you.

2. Set expectations for your email campaigns 

If your email campaigns don’t deliver on your promise (i.e. providing valuable content), your subscriber will feel cheated and most likely unsubscribe immediately.

👍  What’s good?

• 1000 Email Ideas includes a newsletter archive in their welcome email

• New customers understand what they can expect from their future newsletters

👉  Tip: Your welcome email is like a first date. It’s your chance to build trust. When you establish how that relationship will play out the first time you interact, your new subscribers will be more receptive to your future emails. This will result in higher engagement and fewer spam complaints.

3. Keep it short and sweet

No one wants to read a novel-length message when they're just getting to know you. A brief and friendly greeting is much more likely to leave a positive impression. As they say, "Brevity is the soul of wit”—unless you're trying to explain quantum mechanics, in which case, good luck!

👍  What’s good?

• Blinkist keeps their minimalist welcome email to the bare essentials: Hello, here’s what to expect from subscribing, here’s how to manage your subscription

• The CTA drives readers back to the website where they’re more likely to convert

👉  Tip: While the rule of thumb is to keep your welcome email around 100 words, you can probably get away with 200 if you break up the text with images and offers.

4. Introduce your social media channels

👍  What’s good?

• CB2 explains what new members will enjoy from their email newsletters

• The CTA focuses on getting their new customers on social media

• Connecting with them online builds up social proof and, in turn, attracts new customers

👉  Tip: Instead of starting with the hard sell, deepen the relationship by inviting new subscribers to connect on social media. They’ll get to experience another side of your brand and learn more about your values.

Fostering a community of email subscribers and growing your email list is a process that requires more than one channel. The powerful synergy of email marketing and social proof helps build stronger relationships!

5. Use a video when you have a lot to say

👍  What’s good?

• Beardbrand's welcome email is all about introducing new customers to the community

• Rather than create a long welcome email newsletter explaining their values, they added a link to a video that covers all they want to say

6. Sell the experience and not the product

👍  What’s good?

• King Arthur Flour welcomes you into their community as a fellow baker

• There’s not a single bag of flour in sight! Instead, they sell the raw emotion and satisfaction of creating something from scratch

👉  Tip: You don’t always have to feature your product prominently in your welcome email. Sometimes it’s better to focus on the benefits or experience of using your product or service. This way new subscribers may be curious to connect the dots and try it for themselves.

7. Make emails interactive 

👍  What’s good?

• Peloton's first email immediately engages you with photos of their instructors

• Their fitness wear reinforces the high-energy workouts that you signed up for, remember?

• You're prompted to take a quiz to find your perfect coach—and start pedaling!

👉  Tip: In MailerLite, you can use the survey or quiz block to embed an interactive survey or quiz right into your newsletter.

8. Inject a sense of urgency 

👍  What’s good?

• Glassdoor cuts to the chase by highlighting clear actionable steps to help you find a job now

• Their 3-step process leads your eye to a clear CTA button to contribute to their pool of employer and interview reviews

👉  Tip: When someone subscribes to an email list, they expect to receive a welcome email immediately. In fact, real-time welcome emails have significantly higher open, click and transaction rates than bulk welcomes.

The only way to send your new subscribers their welcome email in real-time is to create an automated email sequence. Although it sounds technical, automating emails with MailerLite is super easy. Get a huge head start by choosing a template from our automation template gallery.

9. Add your brand identity 

👍  What’s good?

• Super Mario makes this welcome email newsletter instantly recognizable!

• The bundled perks are enough to warm the heart of any Nintendo fan

• Nintendo’s use of colors, icons and tone of voice communicate their unique brand

👉  Tip: Your new subscribers are receiving dozens of emails every day. When you establish a distinct look in your first email, your subscribers will know exactly what to look for in future emails.

10. Show your uniqueness in your email marketing messages

👍  What’s good?

• PrettyLitteThing immediately feels like your BFF with their sassy headline, pink unicorns and lingo

• They nail the message perfectly by speaking in a way that appeals to their target audience

👉  Tip: Use colors, images and words in your welcome email design that your target audience can instantly identify with.

11. Add an e-commerce storefront in your welcome emails

👍  What’s good?

• Bring out the pina colada! 🍹 A lot is going on in this busy Ripples newsletter but their bright summer colors bring it all together nicely

• The menu at the top of their welcome email seamlessly connects you with their online store landing page

12. Offer a welcome discount

Offering a discount to new email subscribers is a clever way to incentivize them to make their first purchase. By providing a discount code in your welcome email, you're showing your appreciation for their interest in your brand and giving them an extra nudge to hit “Checkout”.

👍  What’s good?

• Their special offers and discount code make you feel privileged to be part of their email list (and give you an extra incentive to press “Buy now” on your next order)

• The CTA immediately after the discount code entices readers to use the discount code right away

13. Give your emails a distinct personality

👍  What’s good?

• Lovely Notes starts with a heartfelt note from the founders

• New users are reminded about what they signed up for by cleverly including the product in the onboarding email

• A whimsical welcome email design gives this effective welcome email a distinct personality

14. Offer preferences in the welcome email 

👍  What’s good?

• Groove uses a simple text email format and the message feels like it was written just for you

• New users are given a chance to pick the type of email content that they're interested in for the email series

15. Use ‘appropriate’ humor in your email marketing strategy

👍  What’s good?

• Videofruit sends a simple text email that could easily be from a good friend

• It doubles up as a confirmation email for something that was opted-in earlier

• Bryan signs off with a funny GIF to showcase his company’s quirky personality

👉  Tip: Humor is an unexpected tactic. When done correctly it’ll put a smile on your readers’ faces!

16. Write inspirational subject lines

👍  What’s good?

• Memberful sits in your inbox with a purposeful and simple subject line

• The email’s helpful tone and voice speaks directly to you

• They’re humble and even willing to suggest another solution for your needs!

👉  Tip: A controlled sprinkling of emojis helps to break the monotony of a welcome email.

17. Always be positive (avoid negative phrasing)

👍  What’s good?

• TradeGecko starts on a positive note from the get-go

• New users are ushered along the onboarding process with dry wit and humor

👉  Tip: Consistent use of a single color in your welcome email reinforces your brand image.

18. Demonstrate how your product works 

👍  What’s good?

• Zapier uses helpful content marketing to guide their new subscribers in their welcome email

• Their welcome series email contains a demonstration of their marketing automation platform, with actionable steps to get started

• They maximize the email’s conversion rate by cleverly inserting a subtle CTA at the end

👉  Tip: Where possible, use your product to send the welcome email and you’ll instantly earn a lot of credibility for it.

19. Encourage readers to take specific actions

Encouraging subscribers to take action with a clear call-to-action (CTA) in your welcome emails is key to driving engagement and conversions. Whether you want subscribers to check out your products or services, follow you on social media, or sign up for your online course, a well-crafted CTA is how you guide your subscribers toward the next step in their journey with your brand.

👍  What’s good?

• Chipotle uses their welcome CTA to encourage subscribers to add their city to their preferences, giving them an opportunity to send even more targeted emails

• On top of the clear main CTA, they also include 3 mini CTAs to view the menu, find a store or order now

👉  Tip: Get creative with your CTA text. Generic phrases like “Shop now” and “Learn more” are overused and predictable. You need to speak directly to your audience if you want them to take action. Learn how to craft a winning CTA in our guide on how to create a call-to-action that works.

20. Run A/B tests to perfect your strategy

A/B testing your welcome emails can be a game-changer for your business. By comparing the performance of two different versions of your email, you can optimize your messaging, layout, and calls to action to improve engagement and conversion rates.

We run A/B tests on all sorts of campaigns, not just our welcome emails. In this example, we wanted to test if we should be including graphics at the beginning of our newsletters, or whether a plain text email was the way forward.

After running this A/B test, we learned that newsletters with images at the beginning generated a much higher click rate than those without.

In MailerLite, it’s easy to include A/B tests throughout your welcome email sequence with our new feature for A/B split testing in automations.

A/B testing is like being a detective. You have to gather evidence, analyze it, and come up with a hypothesis about what works and what doesn't. And if you're lucky, you might even solve the case of what makes up the perfect welcome email series.

👉  Tip: A/B testing is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s important that you only test one element of your welcome email at a time, for example, your subject line or CTA. That way you get a clear insight into what changes directly affect your email metrics.

If welcome emails give the first impression of your brand, then the welcome email subject line is akin to that split second of eye contact before you reach out to shake hands. It can determine whether you’re met with a strong shake and a big smile, or a suspicious stiffness.

You want your personality to shine through, but at the same time, you want to be clear that the email is a welcome message to kick off something special.

So, how do you write an email subject line that WOWs like these examples of welcome emails?

We wondered about the effect of including “welcome” in the subject line of a welcome email newsletter. To satisfy our curiosity, we analyzed our data all the way back to 2017 or about 12,000 emails in all.

Unsurprisingly, email marketing campaigns that featured a “welcome” subject line enjoyed a median open rate 55% higher than those without. And their median CTR was almost 60% higher!

So, here’s a pro tip: put “welcome” in your subject line for a start.

Next, we analyzed several successful subject lines and noticed a common structure.

The "something special" part of the subject line can be anything that invites the reader’s interest. Perhaps, an incentive, a personal message or something that creates curiosity or urgency.

All of these subject lines do a good job of establishing a welcome message while adding something a little extra to describe the content in the email body. For more inspiration, check out our guide on How to write the best subject lines to boost open rates.

A single welcome email is a good start, but you don't have to stop there.

By creating a series of welcome emails, you can take subscribers on a journey, sharing valuable information and gradually moving them closer to a purchase decision.

You can use the welcome series to further educate subscribers about your products or services, offer more exclusive deals or discounts, deliver lead magnets, and showcase your brand personality. By doing so, you're not only making a great first impression, but you're also nurturing your subscribers, building trust with potential customers, and setting the stage for a long-term relationship.

Take a look at this welcome email automation example built from a workflow template in MailerLite.

This template allows you to go beyond a simple welcome email by inviting subscribers to choose their preferences and sending promotional emails to probe their interests out of them. People who use a template like this are going to have way more targeting power than people who send a single welcome email.

Whether you're a small business or a multinational enterprise, starting your subscriber journey with a warm welcome email is the first step to a great customer journey.

After seeing these welcome email examples, I bet you're motivated to start creating your own welcome email! And guess what? It's super easy with MailerLite.

Our drag & drop editors for newsletters and email automation templates make it simple to include these best email marketing practices in your campaigns.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in July 2020, but has been revamped with new tips and fresh examples.