Email marketing remains one of the most powerful tools for establishing a lasting connection with your customers, and welcome emails sequence is the cornerstone of this strategy. These initial interactions are far more than a formality: they represent a crucial opportunity to capture attention, engage, and retain your new subscribers from the very beginning of their journey with your brand. It’s essential to understand that the impact of a good welcome emails sequence goes far beyond just a greeting. It lays the foundation for customer relationships, influences your brand perception, and can be decisive in turning a simple subscriber into a loyal customer. The experts at Dartagnan’s Email Builder share their best tips for creating effective and engaging welcome email sequences.
6 Good reasons to perfect your Welcome Emails Sequence
1. Because they are the most effective triggers 🚀
In your triggered email strategy, welcome emails are among the most effective triggers. They generate an average open rate of 50%, more than double the standard campaign rate of around 20%. This success is due to the fact that these emails are anticipated and naturally garner increased interest. To maximize these performances, ensure that your first email arrives immediately after sign-up when the user’s interest is at its peak.
2. Because first impressions always count 😍
In the world of digital marketing, first impressions are often your only chance to captivate a new subscriber. A well-crafted welcome emails sequence can make all the difference. According to a Litmus study, 74% of consumers expect a welcome email after subscribing. Therefore, it’s crucial to leave a lasting impression on your clients with a particularly polished, clear, and personalized first email that makes them eager to learn more about you.
3. Because They Help Build Customer Loyalty 🤝
Your welcome emails sequence is the first step in your customer relationship. A good welcome email doesn’t just thank the user for signing up; it should also establish trust and offer real added value. According to the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), customers who receive welcome emails are 33% more likely to stay loyal to the brand in the long term. To strengthen this effect, be warm and welcoming without being too pushy. Establish a close relationship and invite them to embark on a new adventure with your brand. Start introducing your loyalty programs and their benefits. Don’t forget to promote your newsletter as well.
4. Because They Allow You to Introduce Clients to Your Brand Universe 💥
From design to copywriting, the welcome email sequence is strategic for familiarizing your new customers with your brand’s universe. It’s the time to showcase what makes you unique. Around 64% of consumers cite shared values as a primary reason for connecting with a brand, highlighting the importance of your relationship marketing strategy. Use your welcome email sequence to tell your story, explain your values, and highlight distinctive elements of your visual identity.
5. Because They Boost Your Sales 🔝
Beyond the relational aspect, welcome emails sequence are also powerful levers for boosting your sales. Welcome promotions, omnichannel experiences, store introductions, and catalog highlights help familiarize your clients with your ecosystem and provide them with all the tools to take advantage of your products and services.
6. Because They Lay the Foundation for a Good Shopping Experience ☀️
A well-designed welcome email sequence lays the foundation for a smooth and satisfying shopping experience. By guiding your new subscribers through the first steps of their buying journey, you reduce friction and improve their overall satisfaction. A Salesforce study reveals that 84% of customers say the experience a company offers is just as important as its products.
How to create an effective Welcome Emails Sequence ?
Email n°1: Say Hello and Welcome
Greet your new subscribers and show them they matter to you. This message should be simple, warm, and aligned with your brand’s tone. Add a personal touch by using the subscriber’s first name and thanking them for their interest. It’s also an opportunity to briefly explain what they can expect from your future emails.
✅ Practical Tip: Send this email immediately after registration to capitalize on the subscriber’s initial interest.
Email n°2: Make a promotional offer
After welcoming them, it’s the perfect time to offer a little something extra. A promotional offer in the second email can greatly encourage the first purchase. Whether it’s a discount, free shipping, or a gift, this incentive should be attractive and easy to use.
✅ Practical Tip: Ensure the offer is time-limited to create a sense of urgency, increasing the chances of conversion.
Email n°3: Introduce your brand universe
The first moments of a relationship are when you introduce yourself, tell your story, and reveal who you are. It’s the same in your Welcome email sequence. History, values, commitments, products: this is the time to seduce and show what makes you unique. Strong visuals and a good copywriting can also make a huge difference.
✅ Practical Tip: Include customer testimonials or examples of how your products are used to concretely illustrate your point.
Email n°4. Guide them to all your sales points and loyalty programs
In this fourth email, guide your subscribers to your different sales points, whether they’re physical stores, your e-commerce site, or even your social media channels. It’s also a great opportunity to invite them to join your loyalty program. Clearly outline the benefits they will gain by joining, such as bonus points or exclusive offers. The step-by-step approach works particularly well during these onboarding phases for your customers. Educational and accessible, they encourage the use of your various communication channels.
✅ Practical Tip: Add a clear CTA for each point of sale or program to facilitate access and encourage sign-ups.
Email n°5: Don’t Leave Without a Proper Goodbye
The last email in your sequence should mark a smooth transition to your regular communications. Thank your subscribers again, recap the benefits of staying in touch with you, and outline what they can expect in future emails. You can also opt for a more original approach by gathering their feedback.
✅ Practical Tip: Offer an option to customize the frequency or type of content they wish to receive, increasing the relevance of your future emails.
Key points to consider when designing your Welcome Email Sequences
👉 Perfect your Timing: Be responsive, but not too pushy
Timing is an inexact and highly subjective science. It’s hard to find the right balance. For the first email, aim for immediacy: your customers have just created an account, and their minds are focused on your brand. Ensure the email lands in their inbox as soon as the account is created.
The rest will depend on your Product, your database, and your AB testing. However, many welcome email sequences are spread over the first week, or even the first 10 days after the account is created. Beyond that, unfortunately, there’s a good chance your new customers may have been approached by your competitors or simply moved on.
✅ Practical Tip: Space out your emails by 1 or 2 days to maintain interest without seeming too aggressive.
👉 More than ever, be mindful of responsiveness
This is not the time to slip up. With over 60% of emails being opened on mobile, it is essential that your emails are perfectly adapted to all screen formats and that your Email Design is mobile-friendly. If there’s a time to be particularly attentive to the mobile version of your campaigns, it’s during your welcome email sequences!
✅ Practical Tip: To ensure responsive emails, we highly recommend using the Dartagnan Email Builder!
👉 Be careful not to overwhelm them with informations
To be effective, your welcome email sequence should remain readable, informative, but not overwhelming. Too much information at once can confuse or discourage your subscribers. Focus on the essentials and distribute the content across multiple emails.
✅ Practical Tip: Limit each email to one or two key messages and use consistent CTAs that always lead to the same landing page.
👉 Personalize your email subject lines
Step outside the overly automated framework of a welcome sequence. Make your customers feel like they are entering into a personal relationship, for example, by including their name in the subject line. Emojis also work well to break the mold and engage your reader.
✅ Practical Tip: AB tests are extremely useful and easy to conduct when it comes to subject lines.
👉 Hold back on promotional offers
Although offers can be effective, it’s important not to overuse them right away. Too many sales incentives can give the impression that you’re only interested in selling. Introduce your offers gradually and subtly so as not to distract from the value you bring.
✅ Practical Tip: Once your relationship is established, there’s nothing stopping you from delaying your welcome promotional offer in another email. For example, include it as modules within the campaign body, paired to the discover of your most sold products
👉 Don’t hesitate to transition your audience out of the Welcome cycle
A welcome sequence is important, but don’t let your subscribers remain in it for too long. Once they have gone through this series of marketing emails, integrate them into your regular campaigns to maintain their interest and continue engaging with them.
✅ Practical Tip: Adapt your email cycles to your audience’s responses. This is particularly relevant when your audience makes their first purchase quickly. At the very least, you can ease up on the timing pressure for Product and Promotional Offer emails.