Your welcome email is absolutely vital. You’ve scaled the first enormous hurdle of getting someone to sign up, or make a purchase. They are now trusting you to get this right. Your welcome email has the possibility of making a long-lasting, profitable relationship or turning them quickly sour.
Think of some of the email newsletter samples you’ve received for the first time from a company. You can likely think of those you loved, and those you hated, clicking unsubscribe faster than you can say “hey presto”.
Setting the tone for what’s to come
Your welcome email potentially holds more power than any other email you will send. This is the one which sets the tone for what is to come. It likely determines whether the relationship will get off the ground. It is your chance to convince them that they always want to click on your emails.
Furthermore, welcome emails simply do better than any other email. In fact, they get an 86% higher open rate than other types of emails. If you don’t send one or don’t do it well, you’re missing out on an excellent opportunity.
So how do you write a great welcome email?
- Say Thank You
Seriously, your subscriber did you an enormous favour by signing up for this email so take the time to thank them. They didn’t have to, yet they did. Indeed, a simple but heartfelt ‘thanks’ has immense power when it comes to emails. It has been identified as being a helping hand in getting people to read on.
This is also a straightforward way to begin building a loyal relationship between you and your subscriber. People like to feel appreciated.
- Follow through on your promises
If there was an exit-intent pop-up or an arrival pop-up where you used your lead magnet to encourage them to leave their details, now is the time to deliver it. So if you’ve got their details on the understanding that you are going to send them a guide, or an eBook or a freebie, enclose it.
It’s vital that you do this because otherwise, you will lose their trust, very quickly. You’ll also lose the moment when they were genuinely interested in you. The rest of their life will quickly distract them away if you don’t catch them now.
- Be realistic
Don’t promise the earth if you can’t deliver it. Subscribers like to know where they stand. This means be clear about what they can expect from you from now on, the regularity and frequency, as well as giving them a chance to unsubscribe. Remember, you don’t want any old addresses, but really worthwhile ones.
This is a good chance to demonstrate to them how they will be getting added value by subscribing to your emails. This may mean they get exclusive deals, or are the first to hear about new products. Let them know.
- Affirm who you are
There was something about you and your brand that made this individual sign-up. You need to give them more of that. Your branding needs to come across very clearly in your welcome email.
This is your primary chance to use your brand personality to dazzle your audience. Story-telling can therefore work very well here. This is your chance to stand out from the crowd.
Once you’ve covered all of these bases, your welcome email will need to go further. There are some additional elements we recommend you include in a welcome email.
- Whitelisting: Whitelisting is simply asking the subscriber to add your email address to their address book. This ensures it is never relegated to spam, and increases your deliverability success. Make this easy, by letting the reader know how to do it, and why they should (such as never missing a deal).
- Give contact details: It’s surprising the number of welcome emails which assume the subscriber will inherently know how to get in touch. Don’t make this assumption. Instead, make it really simple for them to get in touch with you by providing a relevant email address and other contact details. Also put in buttons to your social media channels. You want to drive engagement, and this is how.
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