Welcome email series provides an opportunity to create the best first impression with customers. It will be your first engagement, and you have to make it memorable.
74% of customers expect a welcome email after signing up or purchasing. Meet their expectations by sending an automated welcome email series. In addition, you can add a coupon code and surprise your new customers with discounts.
Offering discounts in your first engagement will increase their trust and encourage customers to return to your store to drive repeated sales.
To send an automated welcome email series, you need an email marketing automation tool like Retainful. You can create an automated welcome email series within minutes using Retainful and welcome customers on auto-pilot, and no manual assistance is needed.
Welcome emails generate 320% more revenue per email than other marketing emails. So, now is the right time to begin if you don’t have a welcome email automation strategy.
Learn how to create an automated welcome email series in this article using Retainful and impress customers in your first interaction.
Greet your customers with Great welcome emails
What is a Welcome email series?
Welcome email series is an email sequence sent to customers to welcome them after signing up or making their first purchase. In general, a welcome email should express how delighted you are to have a customer like them.
Welcome email example 1:
Welcome emails have 4x times higher open rates and 5x more click-through rates than other promotional emails. So the chances of your welcome email failing are slim to none.
Since this will be your first engagement, you can use it to educate customers about your store or showcase social proof or offer a discount to encourage them to drive repeated sales in your store.
Why should you automate your welcome email series?
Automation minimizes your workload – that’s one compelling reason to create an automated welcome email series.
Hundreds of users visit your store daily, and most either sign up or complete their first purchase.
Now, tracking these new customers in real time and sending a welcome email manually can be tedious. Also, you cannot manually send a welcome email at a time appropriate for a customer.
An email marketing automation tool can eliminate this workload. Email automation tools track customer’s activity, and when they sign up or complete a purchase – a welcome email will be triggered automatically to welcome them.
Welcome email automation helps you reach the right customers at the right time, even when you aren’t there. Initial engagement is key to keeping customers returning for more – you must create an automated welcome email series to make those engagements possible.
Why does your store need an automated welcome email series?
Welcome emails can be used to break the ice. It is the first engagement a store will have with their customer, and an impression made here will last for a lifetime.
For example – Let’s say you’re walking into a retail store. Wouldn’t you be delighted if an executive welcomed you with a smile or a gift? We all love an engagement like that, don’t we?
The same principle will suit eCommerce stores too. Customers expect you to welcome them – it warms their hearts and gives you a chance to cultivate loyalty from the get-go.
Here are a few purposes that welcome emails:
- Allows you to introduce yourself to new customers.
- Helps you to educate customers about your brand and products.
- Provides value to new customers.
- Gives you an opportunity to collect feedback after the first purchase.
- Increases customer engagement and sales
Meeting customer expectations is the best way to increase customer loyalty, and a welcome email allows you to do so in your first interaction.
What to include in a welcome email?
A welcome email will be the first engagement with your customers, so you must make it memorable. An ideal welcome email must contain content that interests first-time customers.
Make them feel welcome.
Thank your customers for signing up or purchasing, making them feel welcome in your first engagement.
Show them how thrilled you are to have them as your customers, it might seem basic, but this is necessary engagement. These initial interactions will go a long way and result in a positive customer experience.
86% of customers say they’ll pay more for a better customer experience. So, everything starts with the welcome email, make an impression here, and it’ll last throughout their journey.
Introduce yourself
Are you wondering what to write in your welcome emails? Many store owners often ask what will be the apt welcome email content that will engage with new customers.
Most eCommerce stores follow the recommended practice as they introduce themselves in the welcome email. Customers love a good origin story and share an inspiring story of your brand, who you are, and how it all started.
This will create an emotional engagement with the customer. Creating an emotional connection with your customers has encouraged them to stay loyal to your brand.
Educate customers about your brand
This is your first engagement with your customers, and the easiest way to increase credibility and make them trust your brand is by educating them about your brand and products.
Customers will get to know about your brand, which will increase brand equity. You can also tell customers what they can expect by being your customer to increase curiosity.
Reward customers
The key is to make the first engagement memorable, and what better way to do so than by offering a discount in the welcome email?
If a customer has just signed up, send a coupon discount via welcome email and urge them to make the first purchase.
If the customer has already completed a purchase, send a welcome email with a discount, encourage customers to return again, and drive repeated sales.
Offering discounts is the best way to create a lasting impression and increase customer loyalty in your store.
How many welcome emails should I send?
Most customers expect one welcome email – not a series.
However, experts advise sending multiple welcome emails to increase engagement, and they say it also acts as a solid foundation for developing a stronger customer relationship.
Then arises the following question – Should I send it after a customer signs up or after he completes the first purchase?
Well, the choice is yours. Both types of welcome emails have had better conversions for eCommerce stores. So, choose the one that suits your business better.
After signing up
If you intend to send a welcome email to the customer after they sign up, your ultimate goal should be to persuade them to make their first purchase.
Email 1
This is your first engagement, so keep your email simple and informative. Welcome customers and show them your gratitude for choosing your service.
Wondering how to break the ice? Here’s a quick tip, Introduce yourself – people love a good origin story. Tell them how you started and attained success because of your customers. It’ll let them know how much you value your customers.
Welcome email example 2:
A simple welcome email like this is a good conversation starter. You can take the extra step where you convince them to purchase in the next email.
Email 2
The visitor has signed up, and you want them to purchase, so tell them about your new arrivals and special deals and display social proof to boost their confidence.
Welcome email example 3:
MVMT is a watch brand; their welcome email is just an example of how you must write your 2nd welcome email.
Your customers are now in a position where they might be reconsidering purchasing from your store after signing up. All they need is a little trust and confidence.
MVMT displayed user-generated content with high-quality images to boost their customer’s confidence. Likewise, you can display customer reviews and UGC to increase customer’s trust and convince them to make their first purchase.
After purchasing
Welcome emails are not limited to post-signup – you can also send welcome emails after a customer completes his first purchase.
In this case, the customer has already been converted. Your goal is to increase loyalty and encourage them to return for more.
Email 1
User has just completed his first purchase. So, thank them for choosing you and offer a next order discount to encourage customers to return for more and drive repeated sales.
Welcome email example 4:
Offering a discount after the first purchase will show your brand’s customer-centric approach. And how much you value your customers.
Email 2
You must keep your customers thinking about your product/store, or they might move on to the next one.
Send an email and educate customers about their recent purchase or ask them to write a review of their recent purchase.
Welcome email example 5:
You can include these types of emails in your automated welcome email series.
Do you want to know what to include in a welcome email? Click here.
How do I create an automated welcome email series?
You need an email marketing automation tool to create an automated welcome series. Retainful is a popular marketing automation tool that can send welcome emails automatically.
Retainful lets you send a welcome email after a customer completes his purchase. You can add a dynamic coupon code to your welcome email and encourage the new customer to return for more.
Let’s look at the simple steps of creating a welcome email automation series using Retainful.
Welcome your customers with Automated Welcome Emails.
Installation
Retainful is available on both WooCommerce and Shopify platforms.
The installation process is simple and straightforward. Refer the documentation to install Retainful on WooCommerce and Shopify.
Note – Only the installation process differs based on the platform. The process of creating a welcome series is the same regardless of the platform.
Creating an automated welcome email series
Once you’ve installed Retainful, follow this simple step-by-step process.
Step 1 – Click ‘Automations’ on the Retainful dashboard.
Step 2 – Select the ‘First purchase welcome email’ workflow template on the Create workflow page.
Name your workflow in the next step and click ‘Continue’ to open the visual journey builder.
Step 3 – You need to set the trigger, which is the first step in the journey builder. The trigger will choose when the welcome email campaign should start.
We’ve to set the trigger so that the welcome email automation starts only when a new customer places an order.
By default, the welcome email trigger, ‘Placed order Overall for the first time, will already be set.
Click the trigger block to view the settings.
You can see the Trigger rule is already set. No further changes are needed.
Step 4 – Wait block lets you decide the time delay before sending the welcome email.
By default, it is set for 10 minutes. But you can change it to your preference.
Step 5 – Wait action is set. Click the email block to configure the welcome email.
Write a subject line, preview the text, and click ‘Save.’
Select ‘Edit email content’ to open the email editor and customize your welcome email.
Step 6 – Retainful has a simple drag and drop email editor to customize emails.
In the email editor, you can add column blocks, store elements, social media icons, logos, images, gifs, etc.
Click here to learn more about the email editor and its options.
Once all the changes are done, click ‘Save as a template to save your custom-built template for future purposes.
Click ‘Send test email’ to see how your customized welcome email will look in your customer’s inboxes.
Once you’re done with the customization, close the editor.
Step 7 – After configuring the workflow, click ‘Start workflow’ to set the campaign live.
Your campaign is set Live, and a welcome email will be sent to customers after they complete their first purchase.
Creating a welcome email series
You might’ve wondered why the campaign has only one email instead of a series of emails.
By default, Retainful’s pre-built welcome email workflow only has one email in its workflow.
You can easily add more to your workflow if you want to send more than one. Here’s how you do it,
Step 1 – Click the green ‘+’ icon below the email block.
After sending the first email, you need to set a time delay before sending the next email.
So, select ‘Wait.’ This will add a wait action to the existing workflow.
Wait action is added to the workflow.
Step 2 – Repeat the same process. Click the ‘+’ symbol and select ‘Send Email’ to add a new email block to the workflow.
A new email is added to the workflow. The configuration process is the same as discussed in the previous section.
Configure the emails and click ‘Start Workflow’ to initiate your Welcome email series.
Two welcome emails will be sent automatically at the specified time intervals.
So, you want to send a two-email welcome series, don’t you?
This is how you do it.
Adding dynamic coupon codes to welcome emails
You can add a discount coupon to your welcome emails and encourage customers to return to your store for more.
Remember the example(4th) we discussed in the above section? You can send an email just like that with a discount using Retainful.
The process is similar to the one we discussed in the previous section.
Step 1 – Click the ‘+’ symbol and select ‘Coupon’ to add a coupon block to your workflow.
This will add a coupon block to your workflow.
Step 2 – Click the coupon block to configure the dynamic coupon code.
Enable ‘Generate a coupon code based on rules and enter the required values to configure the coupon.
You can offer a percentage discount, flat discount, or free shipping discount via dynamic coupon codes. Set expiry dates and minimum purchase limits to encourage customers to purchase more.
After configuring the coupon, click ‘Save.’
Step 3 – The dynamic coupon code is configured. To add it to your emails, click here.
Once you’ve added the coupon code to your email and customized it, click ‘Start workflow’ to initiate the sequence.
The customer will receive a dynamic coupon code through the 2nd welcome email.
To send a coupon code with the 1st email, you must add the ‘Coupon block’ before the 1st email.
So, this is how simple it is to add a dynamic coupon code to your welcome email series.
Impress your customers in your first engagement. Offer first-order discounts via welcome emails and increase customer loyalty.
Looking forward to creating automated welcome emails.
Conclusion
Welcome emails have the highest open rates compared to other marketing emails because 70% of customers expect a welcome email after signing up or purchasing.
Welcome email gives you the first opportunity to engage with customers. So, you’ve to make it memorable if you want them to return to your store repeatedly.
Manually triggering these emails is a tedious task. That’s why we showed you how to create an automated welcome email series using Retainful and send them after a customer’s first purchase.
By default, Retainful has one welcome email in its pre-built workflow. But you can add unlimited emails to your welcome series and send them automatically.
You can also add dynamic coupon codes to your emails to impress first-time customers and encourage them to drive repeated sales in your store.
Are you wondering how to create the best welcome emails to impress customers? Here are some of the best welcome email examples to boost your conversions.
The welcome email is the first engagement with customers. Sometimes, explaining all the necessary details in a single email can be challenging, and that’s why most eCommerce stores send a welcome email series.
Yes, Retainful has a built-in email editor to customize your welcome emails. You can add images, gifs, and other visual elements from the email editor and use the shortcodes for personalization.
You can welcome customers by sending a welcome email or two as soon as the customer signs up or after completing the first purchase. You need email marketing automation tools like Retainful to send automated welcome email series.
70% of customers expect a welcome email after signing up or purchasing. Meet their expectations and surprise them by offering a first-order discount. Welcome emails can help you provide the best first impression and increase customer loyalty.
A welcome email is your first engagement with customers, so you must include elements that will make the email memorable. You can add discounts, free gifts, attractive images, special deals, and offers to impress customers and encourage them to return to your store.
