This is How to Write a Gripping Welcome Email

I’m sure you’ll agree with me on this:

Writing the welcome email you’ll send to every new subscriber is so intimidating.

You want to reassure them they’ve made the right choice by signing up, kick start your new relationship, and get them to wait for your future emails too.

But you have no idea where to begin and what information to include, right?

Luckily for you, that’s exactly what I’m going to show you in this post.

I’ll show you exactly how to write a welcome email that will glue new subscribers to your newsletter.

Sounds interesting? Then let’s go.

Why Do You Need a Welcome Email in the First Place

When someone signs up to your email list, they indicate a desire to start building a new relationship with you.

(True, they may have signed up only to get your content upgrade or another lead magnet. But let’s face it, they probably wouldn’t grab it unless they didn’t feel some connection with you, and a desire to explore how they could benefit from your expertise further.)

And how you respond to their sign up can make or break the new relationship.

Do nothing, and you miss an opportunity to kick start the new connection.

But reply with any sales pitch (and that also includes sending invitations to events or requesting a person to take any other action), and you’ll come across as pushy.

The solution – use a welcome email to kick start the relationship.

A welcome email gives you the opportunity to make a good first impression about you and your business, help you to get to know each other better, set the expectations, and deliver value right away.

And as it turns out, customers expect (and value) those type of messages.

Consider this:

According to a study by Return Path, email subscribers read welcome emails 42% more often than any other messages from a brand.

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And Smart Insights reported that triggered emails (a wider category that includes welcome emails and cart abandonment emails) perform much better than any other email type, achieving over 55% open rate and 10% click through rate.

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But that’s not all:

74.4% of consumers expect a welcome email when they subscribe (source)

Crazy, huh?

So let’s take a look at how you could write a welcome email that will glue new subscribers to your list.

#1. First Things First: Keep the Darn Email Short

No, really, do.

In fact, if you take a look at the most successful Welcome Emails, the first thing you notice is how short they are.

Most rarely contain more than two or three paragraphs of copy.

Here, see for yourself:

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When writing your email, remember that your subscribers are most likely already overwhelmed by all the emails they get.

And so, sending them a message they can quickly skim over, and still get value from will most certainly help you make the right first impression.

#2. Tell New Subscribers What to Expect

Imagine:

You’ve signed up for a new list promising to help you overcome a particular challenge.

But once the initial excitement wears off, the anxiety kicks in. And you begin to wonder:

• “Will they not clog my inbox with messages?”
• “How often will they try to sell me something?”
• “I bet I’ll quickly regret signing up…”

Sounds familiar?

That’s exactly how many of your new subscribers much feel too. And the only way to reassure them of the value they’re going to get is by telling them specifically what to expect from your newsletter.

For example, list the types of emails you’re going to send. Or set any other rules that you’ll follow when communicating with subscribers.

For instance, if you sign for my company’s list, you’ll receive this email:

If you look at Zapier’s welcome email I referenced above; you’ll notice that they also list content types and frequency they’ll communicate with the list.

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AWeber sets the expectations in a very friendly tone in the opening of the message delivering a lead magnet:

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And here’s one more example from CoSchedule:

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#3. If Possible, Point New Subscribers to Any Resources They Might Find Helpful

You know:

The chances are that someone who signed up to your list from a content upgrade doesn’t know anything else about you.

They just read your content and decided to sign up to get the bonus material.

But your site probably has plenty more to offer. And you could use the welcome email to point new subscribers to additional content they might find useful.

For one, those resources will help you immediately deliver value.

And also, they’ll help you build a better first impression, and showcase all the insight you’ve shared with others already.

Here’s how guys from the Visual Website Optimizer do it:

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Mari Smith’s welcome email includes a link to her newsletter archives, allowing a person to quickly see for themselves what type of messages and advice they’ll be getting:

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And finally, Problogger includes links to various sections of their site a new subscriber might find relevant or interesting:

#4. Include A Question to Profile Your New Subscribers

You know:

Just like your new subscribers might not know much about you, you’re most likely in the dark about who they are too.

And, as we’ve already discussed, a welcome email gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself, and make a good first impression.

But did you know that you could also use it to learn more about your subscribers and profile them?

How? By including a question that would help you reveal more about them.

For example, take a look at this email from Drift:

And this email from Alex Lee:

Note the question they both ask – it’s designed to help them learn more about their subscribers, their motivations for signing up, and what information they lack.

TIP: When using this strategy, make sure that you provide a short explanation why you’re asking for insight. Remember, the chances are that the person receiving the email doesn’t know much about you. And so, a short explanation will make the request more trustworthy.

And that’s it.

Now you know all the information you need to include to write a great welcome email that will help you onboard new subscribers, and make a lasting first impression on them.

Using lead magnets to generate leads? Learn how Beacon could help you create and launch them in minutes.