I’ll be talking about welcome email best practices – and how their use can strengthen list retention and sales.
First, let’s make sure we define what a welcome email is.
A welcome email is typically an email that is sent to welcome and thank someone who just signed up to your email subscriber list.
However the subscriber found you and signed up – they should always receive a welcome email.

Which is the first best practice for Welcome Emails – make sure you have one!

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Once you’ve set one up to go out every time someone signs up to your list, you want to make sure it’s going to be effective. An effective welcome email is one that helps build an active email following by engaging and retaining new sign ups, and one that also drives additional sales.
There are a few best practices to follow to ensure that your welcome email is performing as desired. Let’s go three of the most important here.

• Welcome and thank the subscriber for signing up – when doing so, make sure to incorporate branding
• Reiterate the benefits of the email relationship – you can provide a full list of benefits, but make sure if you offered a specific incentive in the place of sign up, that this specific incentive is included in these benefits
• Include a call to action tied to an exclusive promotion – so, you want to engage the user right from the get-go. In order to do so, consider offering a “welcome discount” with a strong call to action, something like “to show our appreciation for your following, take 10% off your next purchase” and add a “shop now” button or something similar.

So, how do these best practices translate within an email template? Well, there’s many ways to incorporate them – but here’s a great example.

This email template offers a bold welcome at the very top, and branding is definitely included.
They also make sure to thank the subscriber for signing up right up front.
Below this thank you is the reiteration of why receiving these email is going to be beneficial to them in the future.
Which then immediately transitions into a promotion with a strong call to action. Notice the language that is being used “Here’s your first online only offer”. They’re not only emphasizing the point that this is the first of many offers to come – they’re also emphasizing the fact that it’s an online only offer, reiterating the value of receiving these emails. Personally, I would have used “email only offer” – but that’s just me nitpicking.
Overall, this is a very solid welcome email example to follow.

That’s it for Email Thursday - I hope you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching, and have a great day!