Why Your Business Needs a Welcome Email (and How to Write One That Converts)
When someone new joins your email list or makes their first purchase, how you greet them sets the tone for your future relationship. Think of it like walking into a store: if no one acknowledges you, you feel invisible, the same principle applies online.
A welcome email is your chance to deliver a warm digital handshake to new subscribers or customers. Yet surprisingly, many businesses treat welcome emails as an afterthought, or skip them entirely.
First impressions count (especially online)
You only get one shot to make a great first impression. A welcome email is often the very first message a new subscriber receives from your brand. A well-crafted welcome message makes people feel appreciated and reassures them they made the right choice signing up. It’s your chance to say hello, thank them, introduce your brand’s personality, and set expectations for what’s to come.
By greeting new subscribers promptly and warmly, you set a positive tone and increase the likelihood that they’ll stay engaged with your future emails. Ignore them at this crucial stage, and you risk losing their interest before the relationship has even begun.
And it’s not just about engagement. A strong welcome series also helps improve deliverability. Because welcome emails are usually opened and clicked at high rates, inbox providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo view this as a positive signal. That strengthens your sender reputation and makes it more likely that your future messages will land in the inbox, not the spam folder.
Proven performance & engagement
One of the biggest reasons every business needs a welcome email is quite simply people actually open and read them. Welcome emails consistently outperform standard marketing campaigns by a huge margin.
- Open rates: Welcome emails often outperform standard campaigns by wide margins. Campaign Monitor reports they can deliver 4× the open rate and 5× the click-through rate of regular campaigns. In some cases, sample data shows welcome emails with open rates as high as 91%.
- Clicks & revenue: Mapp have found that welcome emails achieve a transaction rate nine times higher than other promotional emails, and their per-email revenue is eight times higher.
- A strong welcome series can also improve deliverability. By sending highly engaging welcome emails, you boost sender reputation, which helps inbox placement and reduces the risk of future emails landing in spam.
Your subscribers are at peak curiosity immediately after signing up. A welcome email capitalises on this moment of interest making it the single most effective campaign you’re likely to send.
Building trust and loyalty from day one
Beyond the metrics, a welcome email is about starting a relationship. It acknowledges and values the person who just took the step of signing up. Ignoring them after they hand over their details is the digital equivalent of giving them the silent treatment.
Rather than sending just one email, consider creating a welcome series of at least three messages (and in some industries, as many as seven). This gives you space to:
- Confirm the subscription
- Set the tone and expectations for your emails
- Build familiarity with your design and style
- Establish your sending frequency
- Highlight your USPs
- Provide social proof
This approach helps new subscribers feel connected from the start and builds trust and loyalty while reducing future unsubscribes or spam complaints.
Driving early conversions and sales
A welcome email isn’t just polite, it can be profitable. Research shows that nearly 45% of first-time purchases from new subscribers happen within 24 hours of joining a list. Welcome emails also generate up to 320% more revenue per email than standard promotions.
Why? Because you can tailor the message to what a new customer needs most. Many businesses include a welcome offer, such as a discount code, free shipping, or exclusive access, as a thank-you. Campaign Monitor has found that including an offer in a welcome email can boost revenue per email by around 30% compared to welcome emails without offers.
That said, the right incentive will vary by business. It’s important to test what works for your audience and find a balance that drives conversions while protecting margins, since discounts and promotions impact profitability.
Even if you’re not running an online store, you can still use a welcome email to encourage valuable actions: downloading a resource, booking a consultation, or checking out your most useful content. The key is to provide immediate value and a clear next step.
Meeting customer expectations
Another reason you can’t afford to skip a welcome email: people expect it. Roughly 74% of consumers say they anticipate a welcome message immediately after subscribing. It’s become a professional standard.
And timing matters, new leads are most engaged within the first 48 hours. An automated welcome email ensures you reach them during this window, delivering a relevant and timely touchpoint. Failing to do so is essentially a missed handshake.
What to do next
In today’s crowded inbox, a welcome email is not a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. They deliver outstanding engagement, build trust, and directly boost conversions. Just as you wouldn’t ignore a customer who walks into your shop, you shouldn’t ignore someone who signs up to hear from you.
A well-executed welcome email makes subscribers feel valued, shows them what to expect, and sets the stage for a long-lasting relationship. Every business, big or small, can benefit from welcome emails. If you’ve been missing this piece of your strategy, now is the time to fix it. Fortunately, setting one up is simple with today’s tools, and you don’t have to do it alone.
Need help crafting high-performing welcome emails or optimising your email strategy?
Jarrang’s email marketing experts are here to help turn first impressions into lasting engagement.
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