Your Welcome Email Newsletter Must Have All of These Elements.

Imagine you are visiting a friend or someone who has sold you the idea that you will be welcomed in their home and you get there but there is nobody to welcome you and offer you a seat. This scenario is exactly how you are treating new subscribers when you don’t send them a welcome email. You have spent money on marketing to get potential customers to visit your website, engage with your brand and take a further step by subscribing to your newsletter, signing up or registering for a certain service. 

Now that they have, surely you can understand why leaving them hanging will be the wrong thing to do. Let me just put it plainly; the welcome email newsletter is arguably the most important email newsletter you will send to your subscribers. Not only because it is the first step to making your new subscribers feel at home, but stats show that welcome emails have the highest open rate and an average click-through rate that’s 4x higher than any other type of marketing email. 

Considering this information, you now know how essential welcome email newsletters are. But that’s not all; you also need to know that your welcome email newsletter must have certain elements. Without these elements, you might as well not send a welcome email because you will not get the required result. But we don’t want that; which is why I have written this post. This post will address all these elements that your welcome email newsletter must-have. Let’s look at them. 

 

Timeliness

In sending a welcome email, time is of the essence. Using the scenario I painted earlier; when would you like to be welcomed when you enter a place? I’d bet your answer is ‘immediately’. That’s the same way your new subscribers prefer to receive a welcome email immediately they perform the required action. Even if it doesn’t register that they should have received a welcome email, sending it later will register that it should have come earlier. 

Besides that, sending an email immediately increases the open rate because the subscriber is most likely still engaging with your brand and you are still on their mind. Therefore, it is essential to be prompt. Since achieving timeliness is going to be difficult if you are sending emails manually, you should use automation. Thankfully, many email marketing platforms have a feature for setting up automated emails. All you have to do is set it up and include the trigger to indicate the action required to send the email. Read more on how to automate your welcome email on Mailchimp. 

 

Personalisation

People like to feel like individuals and not a part of the crowd, and if a brand they are considering patronising recognises that, it is even better. So, take advantage of this desire and personalise your email. As you are setting up your automated welcome email, use the personalisation tags to make sure the name entered is how they are addressed as opposed to using “customer” or some other generic term. Depending on the information at your disposal, you can use the first name (recommended) or the email address. 

Also, you can segment your email list according to common categories like gender, region, or interest and customise the email for each category. Doing this is a strategy for an even more effective welcome email. It shows the subscriber that you took the time to care about them as individuals. Again, you can do this on most email marketing platforms.

 

Great Subject Line

The reason there is a saying discouraging people from judging a book by its cover is that people actually judge books by their cover. But beyond that, the first few lines of any piece of writing can determine whether people decide to go on reading or not. For email marketing, it’s the subject line. That’s the first thing they see and if it’s not clear and engaging, they might not open the email. So, make sure your subject line is brief, clear, and engaging.

 

Detailed Information 

I don’t think I need to explain so much why detailed information is one element that a welcome email newsletter must have. This is because apart from the fact that you are welcoming them, you should also be telling them what next to do. It’s just like leading someone entering your house to the living room and a seat as opposed to just letting them wander around, trying to find their way. 

Tell them what to expect as subscribers and let them know the value they will be getting from your brand, including links to other valuable content. You could also ask them to follow your socials and add a CTA to direct them to take a specific action that might interest them. For instance, if you are selling something, you can lead them to the online store or if you are offering a service, provide a CTA on what to do next. 

Note that I’m emphasising value because this is not the time to blatantly sell to them; save that for the subsequent emails. In the welcome email, you should just concentrate on telling them what to do next or leading them to other valuable content. You could also ask for other information to further personalise their experience with your brand. 

 

Include Amazing Visuals

Lastly but not least, include some visuals. Don’t just send bland emails without any visual breaks. Of course, whatever visuals you are adding should be relevant; don’t send visuals for visual’s sake. However, make sure that the images or videos you decide to add do not affect the load performance of the email as this could be a turn-off. 

To conclude, let me remind you again that your welcome email is the first impression you are making to a new customer. And since we all know first impressions last longer, you want to make sure it is a good one. This is why your welcome email newsletter must have all the elements listed above. If you enjoyed reading this article, please share it with others who will find it valuable.