The Art of the Welcome Email
The Welcome Email. The first touch point you will have with your new users outside of your app. A true opportunity.
For Engagement Marketing practitioners, this seemingly simple email is a very important touch point — mostly because it’s the first one you’ll have with a new user.
It’s the first time you will interact with your user outside of your app.
It’s the beginning of an important relationship — and in many, many cases — it’s an essential email for helping to turn a new signup into an actual user.
And this is why you should not take this particular email lightly.
Some Tips for Great Welcome Emails
Of course, the form and content of your Welcome Email will be vary depending on the unique characteristics of your product, but here are some general guidelines and best practices that should help get your creative juices flowing.
1. Let your Personality Shine
This may sound like a minor point, but it may be the most important element of a good Welcome Email. Your Welcome Email is the first time you will be touching your users outside of your app. It your first impression (and you know what they say about first impressions). It’s an opportunity to set a tone and, if done right, make your users actually look forward to receiving emails from you (yes…we think it’s possible to send emails that your users actually WANT to receive).
So, brand and style your Welcome Emails well. Make sure the style and copy is consistent with your brand’s personality. Take advantage of this moment and make a great first impression.
totally consistent with their brand.
2. Showcase the Value of your Product
Unless your users get a completely clear picture of the value your product will deliver from your marketing page or app store profile, you should definitely provide some value description in your Welcome Email. Try to proactively answer the question your user may be asking him/herself after signing up for your product:
Why did I just sign up for this product?
Don’t be afraid to reinstate your value proposition in your Welcome Email.
their value in their Welcome Email
3. Establish Activation Flow
This is a great strategy for any product that has a multi-step activation process. In your Welcome Email, lay out those steps in clear, simple way.
4. Keep it Concise
One mistake that is often made with the Welcome Email is that companies try to shove too much information into this single email — leaving the entire email overwhelming and…most likely…unread.
Remember, if you have put together a smart email activation flow, this Welcome Email will be the first in a series of smart emails. The Welcome Email is very important email — but it’s not the last one you’ll send your users. So don’t feel like you have to have everything you want to say in this single email. Some of the best Welcome Emails are short and sweet.
5. Make it Inspiring
Above all else, make sure that your Welcome Email is inspiring. This email is an opportunity to promote the dream that you’ve presented to your potential users. Now that he/she has signed up — he/she has willingly become a member of your tribe. They want to believe that you can solve their pain or enrich their lives in some way. They have, to a certain extent, bought into the dream (or at least started to).
Don’t let all the hard work, passion and vision you have poured into your product go to waste by making a poor impression with your first user email. Don’t blow this opportunity with something plain and pedestrian that doesn’t excite and inspire. Show your new users that you care about them and that you are excited about what you have built.
Build a great Welcome Email. Just do it.
Thanks to Really Good Emails for most of these great email examples.
