Why set up a welcome series?
A welcome series is the best way to introduce yourself to new readers and start building a relationship with them right from the start. Put yourself in the user’s shoes. They somehow found out about your newsletter and are interested enough to subscribe. Then what usually happens? Nothing. But this is exactly the moment that they want to start reading something or at least to find out something more about you.
A side benefit is that a welcome series that starts right after subscribing helps to build a sender reputation, so that your newsletters stay out of the spam folder (and land in the user’s inbox).
Data from a 2022 Piano report showed that a significant percentage of membership revenue is earned in the first 30 days after someone signs up for a newsletter. After all, there is a reason they gave you their email address. If you’re not reaching out to readers and encouraging them to support your work, you may miss your chance to win them over.
According to Mailchimp data, sending multiple welcome emails drives 51% more revenue than just sending a single welcome email. So don’t be afraid to use our template of 3 emails, or even add more if you have more content to share.
What is a welcome series?
A welcome series is a series of emails that welcome your subscribers or members to the mailing list. Typically welcome series contain some or all of the following components:
A thank you and/or welcome note
A brief summary of what they can expect from your newsletter: what will you write about and how often will you write
Your backstory: details about you and why you’re the right person to trust on this topic
Links to your best (or most popular) articles to allow them to engage with your content right away
Optionally, you can also include
Question(s) for subscribers, asking why they subscribed
Asking subscribers to add the sender email address to their contacts so that the email ends up in their inbox
Asking subscribers to follow you on other platforms, such as social media or a podcasting platform
A note about the next email they will receive from you
Our template for the User subscribed to newsletter welcome flow contains 3 emails:
A mix of welcome, introduction and evergreen content email.
📆 When: immediately after subscribing.
More background to who you are as a newsletter author and what users can expect from your newsletter.
📆 When: 1 or 2 days after subscribing.
Introducing the main benefits of becoming a paying member.
📆 When: anywhere from 7 to 30 days after subscribing. (This highly depends on how often you send your newsletter.)
Need inspiration? Here are some great examples
Example # 1: The New Yorker
Example #2: Splendido Magazine (in German)
Even with less visual styling, you can write a great welcome email!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What's a good open rate for my welcome emails?
What's a good open rate for my welcome emails?
An open rate from around 45% to 60% is a good open rate that is typical for newsrooms or independent operators. Some publishers on Steady regularly have open rates of above 70%. Typically, the bigger your audience, the lower your open rate will be.
We plan on providing benchmark open rate data for you in future iterations of this feature.
How many welcome emails should I send?
How many welcome emails should I send?
Our template for the User subscribed to newsletter welcome flow contains 3 emails:
A mix of welcome, introduction and evergreen content email.
📆 When: immediately after subscribing.
More background to who you are as a newsletter author and what users can expect from your newsletter.
📆 When: 1 or 2 days after subscribing.
Introducing the main benefits of becoming a paying member.
📆 When: anywhere from 7 to 30 days after subscribing. (This highly depends on how often you send your newsletter.)
How do I set up a drip campaign?
How do I set up a drip campaign?
We've written a step-by-step guide how to set up a drip campaign here.