When someone signs up for your email list, it’s crucial to pull out all the stops for them and show them that subscribing was a good move.
As subscribers are expecting your first email, welcome emails typically have the highest open and click rates of any email you send. With this being said, your welcome email is one of the most important and opportunistic emails you will send out to your list, so we have created this article to help you get started, with 7 tips that will make your welcome email a resounding success!
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Make it quick!
First place to begin is the obvious – as soon as somebody signs up! Sending your subscribers a prompt welcome email can make all the difference. The whole reason welcome emails work so well is they arrive when a subscriber’s interest in your content is at its peak. Your business and service is fresh in their mind.
Your best bet is to invest in a platform that will send your email automatically. This will maximise open rates and ensure that you don’t miss any subscribers who may opt in late at night or when you’re asleep.
If you wait too long to send out your welcome email, subscribers enthusiasm may deflate, resulting in lower engagement rates.
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Clear subject line
With all emails, your subject line should be clear and easy to read in order to avoid any confusion.
In this day and age, the average person receives a shed-load of emails every day – many being just random junk. If your subject line is confusing or just plain boring, the subscriber will just ignore it and remove it from their inbox without even looking inside.
Sounds harsh but it’s just how things go; people are too busy and too clever to open every email thinking it’s personally for them, or will have valuable content inside.
To ensure your welcome email gets opened, keep things clear. I also recommend using the subscriber’s name in the subject line to add personality to the email.
Emails, in my inbox, with my name in the subject line grab my attention much more than the random generic ones.
Also, on your welcome email, don’t try to be too quirky or clever. Keep it simple and it will bring clarity to the subscriber, thus making them more likely to click open.
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Tell them what to do next
A step where businesses sometimes fail is not adding a next step in their welcome email. It’s great welcoming new subscribers to your list and your business, but they need to know what to do next.
Give your emails a number of gateways that subscribers can choose, whether it be your best blog content, opt in for a promo etc. Don’t just send a welcome email and then have the subscriber sit waiting for your next newsletter. Not only will their interest drop, but they may also miss your future newsletters.
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Don’t overdo content
Content is key in your emails but that doesn’t mean giving the reader’s content overload. Yes, as mentioned in the last tip, your welcome email should have a number of gateways for readers to take, but try not to overwhelm them with too much going on!
When we learn that welcome emails achieve a far higher open rate than standard marketing messages, it’s natural for us to try and pack tonnes of content in them – but avoid this temptation.
It’s likely that if you include too much content then readers will simply ignore it.
The best performing welcome emails have a simple design, with a concise message welcoming me to the mailing list and giving a brief description of what I could expect to receive going forward.
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Ask subscribers to follow you on social media.
Including a few links to your social media networks in your welcome email is a good start, but it can be even better if you come out and ask new subscribers to follow your business.
Here’s how Food52 does it after someone signs up; the confirmation page encourages new subscribers to follow the brand on Twitter and Facebook.
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Include an unsubscribe link.
Sounds quite strange – I totally understand, but even as you onboard and welcome subscribers, you always have to make it easy for them to unsubscribe at any time.
The main reason for this is that it’s a requirement from CAN-SPAM.
CAN-SPAM is basically a compliance guide for businesses and keeps everything running smoothly via email marketing, and something they require on all marketing emails is an unsubscribe link.
This also helps cut out having to manually unsubscribe people yourself, too, saving you time and avoiding people emailing you saying ‘stop sending me emails’.
The best place and most common place to put your ‘unsubscribe link’ is in your email footer.
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Go mobile
If you are an avid reader of our articles, then you’re probably tired of me banging on about mobile optimisation – but it’s so important!
Smartphones were made originally with one service in mind, being able to check your emails on the go, and this has fitted into our lives perfectly. The majority of smartphone users (which is pretty much all of us!) check our emails on our phone.
So, with this being said, optimising your emails for mobile is essential to maximising your open and click rates.
The majority of email platforms, like Mailchimp etc. all offer a mobile optimising tool, however, if you are creating custom email templates with HTML then you will most likely have to optimise it yourself.
Either way, it’s a must!
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Final thought
Giving your new sign ups a warm welcome is a great way of pushing them closer to becoming a client. If they’re subscribing to your lists, you already have one step in the door, and even better, they are obviously interested in your services.
Don’t just send out any old jargon – plan and prepare your welcome email for the best results!
