{"id":6425,"date":"2015-08-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/6-steps-to-creating-a-successful-welcome-email-experience\/"},"modified":"2020-04-21T21:30:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T21:30:08","slug":"6-steps-to-creating-a-successful-welcome-email-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/6-steps-to-creating-a-successful-welcome-email-experience","title":{"rendered":"6 Steps to Creating a Successful Welcome Email Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve honed your email signup appeal language to entice people to subscribe. You\u2019ve created a signup form that minimizes friction. You\u2019ve placed that form on your website, in your mobile app, on your Facebook page, and in other places where your customers and potential customers will see them. And\u2014success\u2014people are subscribing. Now what?<\/p>\n

Sending a welcome email is that next crucial step. Here are six tips to ensure that your welcome email creates a great subscriber experience:<\/p>\n

1. Send a welcome email immediately!<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t settle for overnight batched welcome email sending. It has to be sent immediately after someone signs up.<\/p>\n

The reason is that the new subscriber is engaged with your brand at that very moment. They\u2019re on your website, in your app, or wherever they signed up from. They were not only engaged, but interested in hearing more. They\u2019ve started a conversation. Don\u2019t let the moment slip away. Send your welcome immediately and continue the conversation.<\/p>\n

Another reason is that it lets the person know that their signup was successful. They asked for you to send them emails and you\u2019ve already started fulfilling that promise. That creates a good brand impression by itself.<\/p>\n

2. Generate value right away.<\/h2>\n

What did you promise people in your email signup appeal? Was it to send them helpful information? Great deals? Perhaps you promised a signup incentive? Whatever it was, your welcome email should at least start to fulfill that promise.<\/p>\n

This is one of the big reasons why signup confirmation emails like this one from MASS MoCA are pointless\u2014and have fallen almost completely out of favor. Why send an email that simply confirms a subscription and then makes subscribers wait to receive an email with something good in it when you can send a welcome email with valuable content instead? A welcome email can easily\u2014and warmly\u2014confirm a subscription and then quickly pivot to delivering value.<\/p>\n

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To get to the value generation quickly, some brands will skip the welcome email all together and just start sending promotional emails. We don\u2019t recommend this approach as it can be jarring\u2014as if you\u2019ve skipped all the niceties of conversation etiquette\u2014and may make new subscribers think that they missed out on a welcome email.<\/p>\n

3. Put subscriber-provided data to use.<\/h2>\n

Hopefully you asked new subscribers for as little information as possible during signup\u2014perhaps only their email address\u2014knowing that you\u2019d be able to collect more information from a happy subscriber or customer later. However, if you did ask for additional key pieces of information, try to put those to use immediately in the welcome email.<\/p>\n

For instance, if you asked for their name, include a personalized greeting. If you asked for their zip code, include some local store information, for example.<\/p>\n

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The Ultimate Guide to Email Signup Forms<\/h2>\n

Grow your subscriber list by optimizing your signup forms and overall conversion path. Download the report to find out how.<\/p>\n

Download Now<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

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4. Use context to tailor your welcome message.<\/h2>\n

A non-customer who signs up for emails on your homepage is a different subscriber than an existing customer who signs up during your checkout process, as is a non-customer who signed up via a sweepstakes.<\/p>\n

The email acquisition source can tell you a lot about a new subscriber\u2014how familiar they\u2019re likely to be with your brand, what their expectations are, etc. If you track new subscriber by acquisition source, you can analyze their subscriber behavior\u2014their tendency to purchase, engage, and complain, for instance\u2014and formulate messaging strategies based on that.<\/p>\n

Use that context to tailor your messaging so that it really resonates with those subscribers. For instance, that customer who opted in during checkout on your website, pitch them on downloading your mobile app, if that\u2019s a high-value action that\u2019s going to increase interactions and revenue for your brand. Whereas the best strategy for that non-customer who signed up on your homepage is probably to incentivize them to make their first purchase, so deliver a generous offer that will turn that prospect into a customer.<\/p>\n

5. Don\u2019t try to do too much in one email.<\/h2>\n

Especially in the age of mobile when screens are small and attention spans are short, there\u2019s only so much that one welcome email can do. So don\u2019t limit yourself to one welcome email. Send a series.<\/p>\n

Keep that first email in the series focused on the most high-value action\u2014the one that\u2019s the most predictive of continued engagement and of generating the most subscriber lifetime value. Then use subsequent welcome emails to further educate subscribers on the value of engaging with your brand and with your emails.<\/p>\n

A few of our personal favorites include:<\/p>\n