According to Litmus’s 2021 State of Email Report, the top two emails used by marketers today are:
- Newsletter
- Welcome Email
These two are sort of a one-two punch. The welcome email establishes what they can expect from your email marketing and the newsletter comes in and nurtures that relationship.
Newsletters are pretty standard, but we have some tips in 7 Mistakes to Avoid with Email Newsletters. And you can learn more in these blog posts.
I want to focus on the second most popular email to send – the welcome email.
I am just going to assume that you send some type of email confirmation when someone subscribes to your newsletter or requests information.
But we really suggest you send a welcome series with at least 3 emails in it though.
Data shows people that read at least one welcome email read more than 40% of subsequent emails for the next 180 days.
BlueHornet — A Digital Guide to Sending Wow-Factor Welcome Emails
And email marketing platform, Klaviyo found, “Welcome series emails receive 63% higher open rates, 86% higher click-through rates, and 83% higher revenue per recipient (RPR) than your average email campaign.”
But we learned in our 2021 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report that few nonprofits are sending welcome series despite many many studies showing how beneficial they are.
Here are a few tips to creating a great welcome series:
- Send from an email address they can respond to.
- Make the email personal with a friendly, conversational tone.
- Limit calls to action – don’t ask them to volunteer and upgrade to monthly giving in the first email.
- Include links to your social networks so they can follow you elsewhere.
The Creating an Email Welcome Series Online Course
While we have a full online course devoted to helping you manage a healthy, engaged email list as part of our All-Access Pass program, we have shared one section of that course for our free members.
This mini-course includes a 6-minute video, questions to ask yourself before you get started, and best practices for creating an email welcome series that engages your new subscribers from the start.
You will need to be a Free Member to access this course though.
