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How To Roll Out the Red Carpet for New Subscribers
How To Welcome New Subscribers to Your Email List
Aaron Nichols
October 16th, 2024
Table of Contents
The Importance of Welcome Messages
If you’ve done a fair amount of traveling, you know there are two types of spaces: welcoming spaces and spaces that couldn’t care less if you were in them.
Sometimes a hotel owner or Airbnb host will go out of their way to give you a toothbrush, a bathrobe, or some other little treat you weren’t expecting. Other times, there’s barely any art on the walls, and the place looks like a concrete bunker. Where are you more likely to extend your stay?
There’s nothing like stepping into a business and realizing “Oh, they care about the experience I have here.”
It’s the same with digital marketing, whether it’s welcoming someone into an email list or onto a social channel. If you show your subscribers/followers that you care, they’re much more likely to stick around for the long term.
Welcome emails result in four times the open rate and five times more clicks on average. It’s your chance to make a great first impression since that subscriber is the most engaged they’ll be until you win them over with your great content.
First Impressions Matter
There’s a reason that bars have “regulars.” If someone walks into a bar and feels at home right away, they’re likely to come back.
As a digital marketer, it is your job to make someone feel “at home” the second they see your content. A well-crafted, friendly message goes a long way here.
Psychological Impact
Subscribers who receive a welcome email show 33% more engagement over time and maintain a 50% read rate for up to 180 days after subscribing. This is an easy, no-brainer way to build loyalty with your audience.
Brand Perception
People like welcome emails and expect to receive them. On average, 8 out of 10 people open them, making them far more popular than any other type of email. This is the easiest time to get an interested customer to take action.
Engagement and Retention
Most of your subscribers will probably never be more engaged than on the first day. Sorry, but it’s true! A welcome email is the perfect time to get someone hooked—they’ve just discovered your content, and they’re excited about it!
Setting Expectations
A welcome email should tell subscribers exactly what to expect from following you. It should include:
Introduction and Gratitude: Start by thanking the subscriber for joining your list.
Content Overview: Briefly describe the type of content they can expect going forward (e.g., newsletters, promotions, updates, tips).
Frequency: Clearly state how often they will receive emails (e.g., weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).
Value Proposition: Explain the benefits they will gain from staying subscribed to your email list (e.g., exclusive discounts, early access to products, valuable insights).
Call to Action: Encourage them to remove your email from spam if it landed there to ensure continued deliverability.
Next Steps: Inform them of what they should expect immediately after (e.g., a discount code in the following email, a welcome series).
Contact Information: Provide details on how they can reach out for support or queries.
Social Media Links: Encourage them to follow your social media profiles for more engagement and updates.
Encouraging Immediate Action
Your welcome email should encourage your new subscriber to remove your email from spam and follow you on social channels. They’ll never be more likely to take action than in that first email!
Crafting the Perfect "Thank You for Subscribing" Text
It’s critical to get this right. You have a lot to cover in a welcome message and not a lot of space to do it in. Short and sweet is the goal. No pressure! All you need to do is:
Tell people why they made the right choice.
Ask them for what you want.
Key Elements of an Effective Welcome Message
There are three key pieces to an effective welcome message: personalization, a clear value proposition, and a call-to-action.
Personalization
Personalized welcome emails can increase revenue by 320% if done right, but it’s critical to go past the basics. Everyone and their mom put “Hey, ” in their emails. In today’s world, it’s easy to go a lot farther.
Consider adding a form to your subscription process that asks your subscriber a few questions. You’ll be able to create more personalized, targeted content for them down the line!
Clear Value Proposition
Subscribers need to know exactly why they made the right choice by subscribing, and they need to know it right away. Consider adding something like this to your welcome email:
“By staying subscribed, you'll receive exclusive discounts available only to our email subscribers and get early access to our latest products before anyone else.”
The above text creates a fear of missing out. If that subscriber loves your product, they’ll stick around to find out what kind of discounts they can get!
Call-to-Action (CTA)
At the end, tell your new subscriber exactly what you want them to do. Examples include:
“Use this code to get 30% off your order in our store!”
“If this email landed in spam, please make sure to drag it into your normal inbox.”
“Stay tuned for more deals.”
Remember, this is your chance to leverage their highest period of engagement.
Tone and Voice
Nailing the tone of your brand in your welcome emails is critical. If you sell mail-order caviar, then street slang isn’t going to be your best angle. Make sure that your tone is appropriate to what you’re selling.
Formal vs. Casual Approach
Choosing between a formal and casual tone depends on your brand identity and the expectations of your audience.
A formal tone is appropriate if your brand operates in a traditional or highly professional industry, such as finance, law, or corporate services. Using a formal tone conveys respect and shows a serious and trustworthy image. Would you trust a lawyer who peppered an email with the word "swag”?
A casual tone suits creative, lifestyle, or tech brands, where approachability and relatability are crucial to connecting with your audience. A friendly and conversational tone can make new subscribers feel more at ease and engaged.
Optimizing Welcome Messages for Different Platforms
If you're trying to optimize welcome messages for different platforms, consider each platform's unique features and user behaviors.
When using email, focus on clarity and personalization, using the subscriber's name and tailoring content based on their preferences.
For social media like Instagram or Facebook, keep the message brief and visually appealing. Consider using images or videos to capture attention.
On SMS, ensure that the message is concise and actionable. Make sure they can read it and understand what they need to do in a few seconds.
Email Welcome Messages
Remember, your subscriber will never be more engaged than when they receive their welcome email. To make sure they keep coming back for more, here are some best practices:
Make It Friendly and Informative: To make a positive first impression, keep the tone of your welcome email friendly and informative.
Give Them an Overview of Expectations: Provide a clear overview of what subscribers can expect from your communications, such as frequency and types of content.
Highlight Benefits: Emphasize the benefits of staying subscribed, such as exclusive offers, updates, and valuable content.
Personalize: Address the subscriber by name and reference how they signed up to make the email feel more relevant to them.
Encourage Engagement: Include a clear call-to-action (CTA) that encourages subscribers to engage with your brand, whether visiting your website, following you on social media, or taking advantage of an offer.
DO NOT include more than two CTAs. People are busy, and asking for too much makes them click away.
Subject Line Optimization
A subject line should be clear, concise, and engaging, giving subscribers a clear reason to open the email.
Using action-oriented language and creating a sense of urgency or curiosity can entice subscribers to click. Be careful about overusing this tactic, though. It has diminishing returns and can get your emails marked as spam.
Personalizing subject lines can increase open rates by more than 29%. Once again, be careful about overusing this tactic. No one likes to receive eight emails a month from the same brand that start with “Hey, !”
It's best practice to continuously A/B test to determine which subject lines resonate most with your audience.
Email Design and Layout
Use a clean and visually appealing template to ensure that the email can be easily read and navigated. If you're using an email sender like beehiiv, you'll have a lovely library to choose from.
Choose a responsive design, so the email looks great on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Break up text with images, headings, and bullet points to make the content more visually appealing and easier to digest.
SMS Welcome Messages
SMS welcome messages should also be concise and clear, offer a warm greeting, and detail the value the subscriber will receive by not jumping off your text list. However, it's important to note that there are particular regulations to follow when doing SMS marketing.
Compliance and Opt-Out Instructions
Compliance with legal regulations and providing clear opt-out instructions are critical components of SMS marketing. Adhering to guidelines laid out by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the CAN-SPAM Act is essential to avoid legal issues and maintain subscriber trust.
Every SMS must include an easy-to-understand opt-out mechanism, such as replying with "STOP" to unsubscribe.
Communicating the purpose of the messages, obtaining explicit consent and recording it when someone signs up, and offering straightforward opt-out options will help you build a positive brand image and foster long-term subscribers who don’t scream every time your name comes up on their phone.
Social media welcome messages should follow the tone and personality of your brand. If your brand uses humor, you can even be tongue-in-cheek, using playful messages like "Well, you came to the wrong place."
This is a great time to ask someone who’s just discovered you to take the highest ROI action you can think of. Ask them to comment, share, or participate in community activities.
Platform-Specific Approaches
Each platform has its own best practices, and adapting your message to suit each one can enhance engagement.
On Instagram, use visually appealing images or stories to catch attention. On Twitter/X, keep the message brief and engaging, using hashtags and mentions to increase visibility. On LinkedIn, maintain a professional tone and highlight networking opportunities or industry insights.
Leveraging Rich Media
Visual content is more engaging and can quickly capture the attention of new followers. Rich media, such as images, videos, and GIFs, can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your welcome messages on social media.
Use high-quality images and videos to showcase your brand’s personality and values. Consider incorporating GIFs and animations to add a dynamic element to your messages.
Automation and Timing of Welcome Messages
In most email marketing sequences, automated welcome messages are triggered as soon as someone subscribes, maximizing the initial engagement when interest is at its peak.
You won't be responsible for writing emails to new subscribers in real time unless you're the world's most motivated digital marketer.
Setting Up Automated Welcome Sequences
Setting up automated welcome sequences involves creating a series of messages to be sent to new subscribers over a specific period.
You can design these sequences to gradually introduce the subscriber to your brand and provide valuable information over time. Each message in the sequence should build on the previous one to deliver relevant and timely content.
Using marketing automation tools, you can schedule these messages to be sent at whatever intervals you choose. As soon as someone joins your list, a new sequence starts.
Single vs. Multi-Message Sequences
The best case for using a single or multi-message welcome sequence depends on your onboarding goals.
A single-message sequence is straightforward and can effectively deliver concise, critical information. This is perfect if you want your users to take one action.
Multi-message sequences allow for a more comprehensive approach, gradually introducing the subscriber to different aspects of your brand, products, and services.
However, it's essential to understand that your subscribers will be the most engaged in your first email. Open and unsubscribe rates go up over time in automated sequences.
If you choose a multi-message welcome sequence and there are several actions you want new users to take, order them in order of importance to you. Ask them to take the most important action in the first email, the second-most important in the second, and so on.
Be careful with multi-message sequences. If each email isn't packed with value and if they all ask the reader for something, you may see them ignored more often than not.
Segmentation and Personalization
Segmentation and personalization can make welcome messages more relevant to each user. If you've collected some of the new subscriber's data in a brief survey, you might have information on their location, demographics, or preferences that you can use to segment them.
If you have a few welcome messages on deck, you can send a new subscriber one that specifically pertains to them. For example, let's say you represent a business selling commercial and residential HVAC services in several cities.
Suppose someone from Topeka signs up for your email because they need HVAC help in their home, and you immediately send them an email showing them how to book an appointment in Baton Rouge for warehouse services. In that case, they won't be very likely to work with you. Will they?
Optimal Timing for Welcome Messages
Studies show that immediate welcome emails sent right after subscription have significantly higher open rates and engagements (CTAs, shares) than those sent after a delay.
Immediate vs. Delayed Sending
You'll likely never see higher engagement from them than on the day they discover your content. Leverage immediate sending to get sign-ups during promotions or events especially.
Time Zone Considerations
If you’re using a tool like beehiiv, you’ll have access to “wait until” node. This is going to allow you to send emails to people all around the world at optimal times for them.
If, for example, you live in Namibia but see that the highest open rates in Germany are at 8 a.m., simply set the email to send to your German subscribers at 8 a.m. their time.
Measuring the Success of Your Welcome Messages
Any email platform is only as good as the data that it gives you. If you’re using beehiiv, you’ll have access to 3D analytics, which gives you about as much information as any email marketer could hope for.
Key Metrics To Monitor
Monitoring email marketing is simple, as long as you have good data. There are only two questions you need to answer:
Who’s looking at my stuff?
Who’s taking action because of it?
Open Rates and Click-Through Rates
Open rates give you the answer to question 1, “Who’s looking at my stuff?” You can’t assess a lot from them other than who opened your email. They’re not a reliable measure of success on their own, considering that someone might have gone through and hit “mark as read” on their whole inbox on Gmail, but they’re a start.
Click-through rates start to give you more accurate data. They give you some idea of who’s actually interacting with your emails once they’re opened.
Conversion Rates
Conversion rates are where the money is in a welcome email. To get an accurate idea, you’ll have to look at your web tracking. Conversion rates measure the people who interacted with your email and then did exactly what you asked them to.
Final Thoughts
Don’t overthink welcoming new subscribers. Despite all of the statistics, endless articles, and potentially overwhelming content on email marketing, everyone who uses email well is doing one thing: experimenting.
Never stop testing. Try what the experts say and see if it works for your brand. If it doesn’t, move on to the next thing. Try different things until one of them works.
Happy mad email science-ing!
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