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📧 Welcome Emails

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📧 Welcome Emails

Good, Great & Amazing examples

Ali Abouelatta
Nov 22, 2022
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📧 Welcome Emails

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Hello Frens 👋,

I hope you are having a great week.

Today, I wanted to take a look at welcome emails. Done right; welcome emails can accelerate the journey to the first 1000 customers.

In this research piece, I looked at ~60 welcome emails and segmented them into four flavors, each serving a slightly different purpose depending on the target market and customer:

Let’s jump right in.


1. Incentivizing Users

Getting users to take action by offering a discount. This works for low-intent customers in a competitive market.

Good Example: Priceline

  1. ✅ Highlighting Incentive

  2. ✅ Clear above-the-fold CTA

  3. ❌ Generic Irrelevant Header

  4. ❌ Distracting Secondary Prompt: VIP Benefits

  5. ❌ Distracting Tertiary Prompt: Download App

  6. ❌Distracting Quaternary Prompt: Other Deals (Hotel, Car, Flight)

Great Example: Crocs

  1. ✅ Visually communicating value proposition: Crocs make you unique

  2. ✅ Header Information Hierarchy (CTA > Instructions > Code)

  3. ✅ Membership Information Hierarchy (Title > Description)

  4. ✅ No CTA button for the secondary prompt (Membership Benefit)

  5. ❌ Distracting Tertiary Prompt: Women, Men, Kids..etc

  6. ✅ Reinforcing Value Prop: UNIQUE STARTS WITH YOU

Amazing Example: Postcron

  1. ✅ Re-enforcing value prop: Postcron helps you save money

  2. ✅ Time-bounding action: 48 hours to claim trial

  3. ✅ Clear CTA

  4. ✅ Addressing potential concerns

  5. ❌ Distracting Links: Blog, Features

  6. ✅ Fallback CTA: Relevant lower commitment next step (Help Center)

  7. ✅ Personalized Point of Contact


2. “Stand out” in a crowded space

Re-affirming your value prop & position your company against more established brands. This works for high-intent customers in a competitive market.

Good Example: Cuts Clothing

  1. ✅ User-focused Header image

  2. ✅ Re-iterating Value Proposition

  3. ✅ Easy To Digest Copy

Great Example: Headway

  1. ✅ Combing the Welcome Email with the Email Confirmation email

^ I thought this was a neat trick to capitalize on high open rates in confirmation emails

Amazing Example: n/a

I am yet to find a welcome email in this category that blows my mind.


3. Educate Customers

Educating users on a new market, you are pioneering. This works for lower-intent customers in a low-competition market.

Great Example: Citizen

  1. ✅ Great copy for Key Features (simple & easy to scan)

  2. ✅ Re-iterating value prop: Help people during emergency

  3. ❌ Information Hierachy

  4. ✅ Personalized Point of Contact

Amazing Example: Hypefury

  1. ❌ ”Hi” without my first name

  2. ✅ Re-iterating value prop: Grow on Twitter

  3. ✅ Priming users for onboarding series

  4. ✅ Personalized Tutorial

  5. ✅ Personalized Point of Contact

  6. ✅ Re-priming users for onboarding series


4. Next Step

Guide users to the next step in the funnel to reach their “aha” moment. This works for high-intent customers in a low-competitive market.

Good Example: Bird

  1. ❌ Generic Irrelevant Header Picture

  2. ✅ Short & to the point

Great Example

  1. ❌ Distracting Resource Hub links

  2. ❌ ”Hi” without my first name

  3. ✅ Relevant lower commitment next step “Meet & Greet”

  4. ✅ Search Tips: training customers to extract value

  5. ✅ Good fallback CTA: Contact Support

  6. ✅ Well-placed Footer CTA

Amazing Example: Change.org

  1. ✅ Personalize Welcome Header

  2. ✅ Personalized Content based on my prior interactions

  3. ✅ Re-iterating Value Proposition

  4. ✅ Clear Next Step: share petition

  5. ✅ Clear Benefit of taking the next step

  6. ✅ Personalized Image based on my prior interactions

  7. ✅ Clear CTA: Facebook Share

  8. ✅ Clear Fallback CTAs: Whatsapp Share, Twitter Share


Putting it all together:

An effective welcome email:

  • Has a primary CTA that is aligned with the market competitiveness & customer intentions

  • Is focused on 1 action & avoids distractors (multiple CTAs, generic images..etc)

  • Has a secondary CTA that links to a lower commitment step along the activation journey.

  • Overcommunicates the one thing you are trying to say (it is in the header, footer, body, and images)

  • Is personalized to different end-users

This is it for today, see you soon 😉

Ali Abouelatta (@abouelatta_ali)


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