Welcome emails are often the first point of contact between you and your new subscribers. They serve not only as pleasantries, but also help you set customer expectations and reinforce your brand identity.
An effective welcome series is the foundation for a successful customer onboarding strategy. You can share your backstory, offer discounts, and highlight some favorite products.
Initiating meaningful interactions lets you improve the overall customer experience. This can nurture leads, drive sales, and foster long-term retention.
In this article, we’ve created a detailed guide showing how to create a compelling welcome series. We’ll also share tips on how to set up an automated welcome series.
Let’s get started.
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A welcome email series is a sequence of automated emails sent to new customers or subscribers after they join your mailing list.
A welcome email series introduces subscribers to your brand. It also nurtures the relationship and guides them through their journey. The emails encourage further interactions, build trust, and deliver value.
Why set up a welcome series sequence?
Introducing new subscribers or customers to your brand using automated welcome messages is a powerful strategic move. Welcome emails allow you to ensure a consistent experience for new subscribers, and you can highlight any important messages, policies, or products to everyone.
Here are some of the main reasons to set up welcome series emails:
Better customer engagement: A welcome series allows you to structure how you introduce your brand and products. You can do this across multiple emails rather than at once. This keeps your audience engaged longer than sending a single welcome mail. Plus, it helps in building trust and loyalty, which increases retention rates and decreases churn rates.
Enhanced personalization: You can personalize each email in your welcome series based on your subscriber’s demographics and interests. This resonates better with new subscribers than a generic welcome email.
Saves time: Automating your welcome email sequence saves you the time it would take to send individual emails manually. You can focus on other tasks while still engaging with your subscribers.
Drives conversions: Not every new subscriber may be ready to make a purchase right away. So, a welcome series allows you to use relevant content to nurture leads. You can introduce your product offerings gradually and guide them towards purchasing over time.
Measurable results: You can track opens, clicks, and conversions within each email in your series. This way, you can tell what resonates more with new subscribers to help refine your welcome series and optimize your content.
Implement some best practices to ensure your email welcome series is effective. Here’s how you can ensure your welcome series is engaging:
Use engaging storytelling: Use email marketing automation to create compelling narratives. Your welcome series can share your brand’s story, mission, and vision. This helps you connect with your subscribers and conveys your unique value proposition.
Offer personalized product recommendations: Use data-driven insights as an email marketing best practice. For example, tailor your welcome series by using the subscriber’s preferences and browsing history. Offer personalized product suggestions to let new customers know you understand their interests and preferences. This fosters loyalty and trust.
Provide exclusive welcome discounts: Incentivize new subscribers with exclusive discounts or promotions. Rewarding them for joining your mailing list compels them to make their first purchase.
Use limited-time welcome offers: Offer time-sensitive welcome offers and deals. You create a sense of urgency and encourage subscribers to take immediate action.
Send multiple emails in the welcome sequence: A welcome series can have more than one email. Creating a series allows you to dedicate a specific theme to each one, such as your story or highlighting particular products.
Welcome email series examples
In this section, we’ll explore examples of welcome email series that you can use for inspiration.
Welcome series email flow example: To’ak Chocolate
Email #1: Telling the brand story
Email #2: Meeting the brand founders
Email #3: Exploring the brand vision and product offerings
“Our automated welcome series allows us to share our brand story with anyone who subscribes, which helps us communicate the uniqueness of our brand. We tell the story from the founder’s perspective, the farmer’s perspective, and from other voices. Today, customers get a personalized introduction to our brand. Email automation makes it possible, for a small team like ours, to show customers that we care about building a connection.”
James Le Compte CEO of To’ak Chocolate
Welcome series email #1: Telling the brand story
What this email does well:
It uses a high-resolution image of the team
Thanks readers for subscribing
Tells them what to expect from the email
Engaging storytelling to introduce the brand
Sets expectations for the content of the next emails in the series
Multiple call-to-action buttons
Subject line: It all started in a rainforest… 🌿
Welcome series email #2: Meeting the minds behind the brand
What this email does well:
Uses multiple high-resolution images
Consistently adopts a conversational tone
Uses engaging storytelling
Lets readers know that more interesting emails are forthcoming
Adds call-to-action buttons at the top and bottom of the page
Welcome series email #3: Brand identity and offerings
What this email does well:
Adds multiple high-quality images of the founder and products
Uses clear call-to-action buttons at the top, middle, and bottom of the email
Provides a brief summary of products
Uses an elegant yet simple design
Subject line: Chocolate will never be the same again 🍫
Learn more about the To’ak Chocolate’s email welcome series strategy:
Welcome series email flow example: Island Olive Oil Company
Email #1: Getting to know the brand
Email #2: Revealing the brand’s recipes
Email #3: Exploring product offerings
Performance of this welcome email sequence:
Welcome emails draw a 998% greater click rate than promotional emails. The result is an average 11% conversion rate, and a revenue-per-email (RPE) lift of 3,274% over promotional campaigns.
“[Welcome series] helps to separate a small business like us from buying it on Amazon. No offense to Amazon, but it helps us to be boutique in the big world of the internet.”
Angèl Foster Co-Owner of Island Olive Oil Company
Welcome series email #1: Getting to know the brand
What this email does well:
Thanks readers for subscribing
Offers a limited-time welcome discount
Includes high-quality images of products
Includes a promotional video that introduces the brand
Offers free shipping
Provides exclusive access to brand updates
Subject line: Welcome to Island Olive Oil Company! 🌿
Welcome series email #2: Revealing the brand’s recipes
What this email does well:
Offers free shipping
Uses high-quality images of the recipes
Provides links to multiple product categories
Gives a brief description of offered recipes
Includes simple call-to-action buttons at the middle and bottom of the email
Welcome series email #3: Exploring product offerings
What this email does well:
Uses high-quality images of specific products with prices
Provides a brief description of the products
Includes specific, subtle call-to-action for each product
Includes an educational video on the recipes
Subject line: Get inspired with our favorite ingredients and healthy recipes!🌿
How to set up an automated welcome series
We’ve explored some examples of engaging email welcome series. Now, let’s walk through how to set up an automated three-email welcome series of your own.
Start with a new welcome workflow
Design the first email in your series
Design your second email
Adjust the sequence timing
Design your third email
Save the workflow
For this tutorial, we’ll use Omnisend. The platform is rated 4.8 stars on Shopify, and the free plan offers 500 monthly emails. Get a free account to get started.
Drive more sales with email marketing campaigns using Omnisend’s features for free!
“Highly recommend Omnisend, it’s easy to use and the help team is fantastic. The templates are great and easy to use. The automations are straightforward too.”
1. Start with a new welcome workflow
The first thing you need to do is go to the Omnisend dashboard. Once you’re there, click on “Automation” at the top of your dashboard.
On the Automation page, click on the “Create Workflow” button at the top-right side of the screen.
Image via Omnisend
Scroll down to see the “Welcome x3” option for creating three welcome emails. Next, click on the “Customize workflow” button.
Image via Omnisend
Note:
The default trigger for welcome automation is set to Signup (meaning all subscribers). To target customers who signed up via specific forms only (e.g., for a 10% discount), set the trigger rule settings to “Form” (the menu on the right in the campaign editor):
Image via Omnisend
2. Design the first email in your series
To design the first email in your welcome series, click the first email on the left side of your screen. Next, use the section on the right side of your screen to customize the subject line and preheader of the email.
Image via Omnisend
Once you’re done with the customization, click the “Edit content” button below the preheader.
The next thing you need to do is customize the email content. Everything in this section is drag-and-drop. This means you can move and position your email’s text and media elements as you see fit.
Image via Omnisend
After you’re done, click “Finish editing” at the top-right corner of the page.
Here’s a tip: You can use the “Send test email” button to preview how your email will look in your recipients’ inboxes.
After designing the first email, go back to the sequence editor to design your second email. Customize the subject line, preheader, and content as you did with your first email.
Then click on the “Update” button to complete it. You can also use the “Send test email” button to preview the email
Image via Omnisend
4. Adjust the sequence timing
After designing your second email, it’s time to schedule the timing for your sequence.
Click on the time delay sections in the campaign sequence editor. Here, you can choose when to send the second and third emails in the sequence.
Image via Omnisend
5. Design your third email
After scheduling the emails in your sequence, you can now design your third email.
To do this, go back to the sequence editor and design the third email like you did for the previous ones.
Image via Omnisend
6. Save the workflow
At this point, your welcome email series is ready to be sent out to subscribers. However, you can still implement additional welcome email automation features. For example, audience filters allow for better personalization and targeting.
That’s it! You now know what a welcome email series is and how to create yours.
We’ve curated welcome series email examples to inspire your next sequence. However, there have to be specific reasons for creating these emails. For instance, you can create them to increase retention and drive conversion. You can also create them to streamline communication and make a great first impression.
Whatever your approach, ensure you use engaging storytelling, relevant welcome offers, and consider personalized product recommendations.
Karolina is a content project manager and team lead at Omnisend, where she blends creative strategy with a keen focus on competitive intelligence. Outside of work, Karolina finds balance through her love of gardening, exploring new hiking trails, biking, and raising a bunch of boys.
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