The first email that you send to your new subscribers can work wonders for your relationship with them (first impressions are the most lasting, remember?). The fact that you have them on board doesn’t mean they’re ready to open and click on future emails, let alone trust you with their needs.

In fact, they can use that first email to see if your business is reliable and trustworthy. So, capitalizing on this opportunity is crucial to set a foundation for a strong, long-term relationship with them.

To help you roll the right digital welcome mat and increase the effectiveness of your email marketing, I’ve prepared a guide with the best welcome email subject lines that get clicks.

Welcome Email Statistics

To help you get a better understanding of why it’s so important to get your welcome email right, let’s quickly explore the experiences of other businesses through statistics:

So, as you can see, welcome emails are pretty special. And, as a marketer or a business owner, you know that a higher open rate and click-through rate equals more customers and traffic on your website.

According to Asperian report on email marketing, 93 percent of email marketers use welcome emails at least monthly. Moreover, the report claims that welcome emails outperform regular promotional emails in terms of transaction rate and revenue per email as well.

Subject lines in welcome emails are a big part of their success. It’s the first thing that the customer sees when the message arrives in their inbox, so it determines the outcome of the email even before the content is viewed.

Besides, a lot of your customers expect you to send them a welcoming email! In fact, one report suggested that up to 74 percent of new subscribers expect to receive them as soon as they sign up.

So, one thing is clear: you need welcome emails to improve your email marketing effort. Since subject lines are critical for the success, let’s see how you can master them to maximize the open rate of your emails.

Best Welcome Email Subject Lines to Greet Your New Subscribers

Welcome Email Subject Lines and Why They’re Good

1. Offer a Friendship

The following email example comes from Holland & Barrett, a UK-based health retailer.

The subject line in their welcome emails reads: “Welcome to Holland & Barett… Let’s get to know each other…” As you can see, they also used a bit of humor in the email to reinforce the message that the brand is looking to establish a friendly relationship.

Holland & Barrett email

2. Offer an Incentive Right Away

The next example comes from Highway Robbery, a company that sells colorful robes.

As you can see, the subject line they choose to go with was “Welcome to the Robbery (discount inside).” This choice clearly seeks to incentivize the viewer to open the email and see what kind of discount they can get (by the way, it’s 10 percent off the first order, which is pretty good for just signing up).

Highway Robbery email

So the takeaway here is that you can try to offer an incentive to your new subscribers to persuade them to open the welcome email. This also works for making the brand look generous.

Another reason why this email is good because it stimulates to make a purchase in a non-promotional, sweet way. That’s good, because subject lines that sound too pushy and promotional will be deleted right away.

3. Represent Your Brand Clearly

The style of communication with your customers matters, so you need to make sure that your own style matches the image of your brand.

If you’ve established a certain style of communication, stick to it in your email marketing to avoid confusing your customers and making it easy to memorize your brand.

A great example of representing a brand through communication style comes from KFC. The subject line of their welcome email reads: “Howdy, folks!”

KFC email

This phrase is a typical one used by the brand to refer to its customers. In fact, here’s KFC using the same greeting on its official account on Twitter. This works for well-known brands best, but can also be used for businesses trying to promote some slogans to help customer memorize them.

KFC Twitter

4. Show Immediate Value for Customers

The following example of a great welcome email comes from HelloFresh, a UK-based company specializing in delivering fresh dishes to customers.

Their site has an exciting tool called Flavor Generator which does exactly what its name says: generates recipes from different cuisines, including Indian, Italian, British, and others.

Those who played the flavor generator for the first time are greeted with a welcome email like the one below. The recipient specified that they liked British food, so the email is all about that. It contains lots of free recipes of British food, which could be used by the recipient right away. This is a great example of a business showing an immediate value to the customer, in a really cool way.

Hello Fresh email

The subject line is good because it:

  • Thanks the recipient for taking the time to play the flavor generator
  • Provides an immediate value by providing recipes of the cuisine that the recipient is interested in

5. Praise the New Subscribers for Their Decision

Many brands praise their customers and endorse their choice for subscribing to their newsletters. For example, a well-known fashion brand Rue La La sends out welcome emails with a subject line that reads: “This was a good decision.”

The email immediately explains why the decision was good. For example, it says that the website has offers from best-selling brands at “jaw-dropping prices,” international shipping from USD 9.95, and multiple checkout options.

And, of course, the email calls the recipient a “stylish friend,” which is also a way to connect with them on a personal level.

Ruelala

6. Tell Them Who You Are and Engage from Day One

Check out the welcome email below. It was delivered with a subject line “You’re In. Welcome to Adidas.”

It combines two powerful welcome email techniques: telling the subscribers about the essence of the brand and encouraging them to take action right away.

The subject line emphasizes that Adidas is an authoritative brand and the phrase “You’re in” certainly seeks to make the recipient feel special and a part of a big family of sports lovers.

adidas email

As you can see, the content in the email supports the idea of the subject line. Adidas wants the recipient to think of the experience with the brand as a journey. The company is also encouraging the recipient to make the first purchase by providing a unique promo code to claim a 15 percent off.

Some of the options for the first purchase are also provided to encourage the recipient some more.

7. Thank Your Subscribers

A simple “thank you” is a powerful way to add a human quality to your email and begin building brand loyalty. Using this phrase in a welcome emails means that you want to show your new subscribers that you appreciate them.

In the future, when a subscriber is ready to make a purchase, they will remember that you made them feel good from the very beginning of the relationship.

Here’s an example of a welcome email along with the subject line that a Polish fashion brand Reserved uses to greet its new subscribers. Notice the address of the recipient: it says “Friend!”

Reserved email

Reserved also provides a discount as another “thank you” for signing up. That’s also recommended to begin building brand loyalty and a positive relationship.

8. Use Emojis with Care!

Emojis are fun, but you should use them carefully to increase the open rate and greet your new subscribers in the right way. Recipients can misunderstand the subject lines written without emojis because of the lack of non-verbal elements.

It’s recommended to use emojis only when you’re including emotional words to make the subject line sound like a subject of an email from a friend.

Let’s Recap the Best Practices

  • Make it easy to understand. As you can see, all the words in subject lines in emails above are simple, one or two syllable words. In other words, they use simple, natural language and avoid complex words because it’s difficult to memorize them.
  • Always focus on the needs of the recipients. The recipient is the center of the universe for you in this case, so you have to consider their needs if your target audience in the design of your welcome email subject line. For example, if English is not the native language of your recipients, find a translation agencies list to make sure that your message is understood.
  • Keep it short. The average length of the subject lines in all examples of welcome emails in this article is 6.5 words. It ensures that a recipient can read the line quickly.
  • Avoid ambiguity. Be specific and clear in your subject line because you don’t have all time in the world to attract the attention of the recipient.

The Next Step

As you can see, there are many different techniques to greet your new subscribers.

If you’re not sure whether one option is hitting the right chord, feel free to test another one. In fact, create three different versions of welcome email subject lines and see what one performs best. And don’t forget to tell us about it in the comments below!