Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Email marketing is continually evolving as subscriber preferences shift toward more personalized experiences. On average, 99% of people check their email every day, and the average email open rate is 17.61%.
However, that doesn’t guarantee your email will make the cut. Several factors impact email deliverability, opens, clicks, and conversions. So, what’s the first step to keeping your email KPIs strong? A clean email list. Clean email lists (with a great email marketing strategy behind them) will keep your email engagement high and your unsubscribe and spam rates low.

1. Limit unsubscribes.
The more people on your email list, the higher the likelihood that some have lost interest in your email. It happens. It could be a good idea to review engagement and remove any subscribers who no longer seem interested before they hit the unsubscribe button.
2. Decrease spam complaints.
Spam complaints are bad for your reputation with ESPs. If your emails are constantly marked as spam, your ESP might flag your account for sending unwanted solicitations. If this happens too often, your deliverability rate can suffer.
3. Improve deliverability.
The cleaner your list is, the greater the number of subscribers who want to open it. On the other hand, a list full of people who don’t engage, have changed their email address, or worse, never opted in will result in spam filters and bounces — both of which can hurt your deliverability.
4. Improve a reduced open rate.
Quality over quantity is the goal here. If you start to see your open rate decline, take a look at your list and check for inactive subscribers. Of course, you’ll want to attempt a reengagement campaign before removing them. If that doesn’t work, you should consider retaining only your active subscribers.
5. Keep costs down.
Many ESPs tier their pricing by the number of emails you send. In order to keep your costs down, you’ll want to remove the subscribers who are receiving your emails and never opening them.
All of these add up to one big red flag — your email subscribers aren’t engaged (or aren’t getting your emails). When people unsubscribe from your email list they are actively opting out of receiving your emails. If several of your emails get marked as spam, your deliverability rates will suffer.
Open and click through rates tell you how many of your subscribers are opening the email you sent, clicking on a link, and ultimately, if they’re interested in the content you’re sharing.
Making sure your email lists are clean and targeting the right audience increases your ROI and decreases the chances of your marketing emails being flagged as spam. Cleaning up your email lists gives you a better chance to reach and engage your audience.

You also want to consider the number of subscribers coming in every quarter — if it’s high, you might want to check your lists more often. If you’re seeing a high number of bounces, then that’s an indicator that it’s time to clean your email list.
Every company is different so clean up can happen monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually but it should be done at least once a year.

1. Identify disengaged subscribers.
Before you scrub your list, you’ll want to identify whether a subscriber is truly inactive or simply disengaged. The former could mean you’ll need to remove them, while the latter might mean you still have a chance to win them over. A disengaged subscriber might just need some more targeted marketing to refresh their interest in your emails. After all, they did subscribe to your list at some point.
To do this, you’ll need to set some criteria for what “disengaged” means. Have they not opened an email in three months? One year? Have they not engaged with any campaigns? Have they not clicked on any links in six months?
Once you’ve identified your disengaged subscribers, you’ll want to place them in a separate list, filter for common themes, and identify a strategy to pique their interest. That could mean a discount code, a personalized subject line, or some other engagement strategy. The point is: before you write off these subscribers, give reengagement your best shot.
If reengagement doesn’t work, then you can truly mark the subscriber as disengaged and inactive.
2. Identify reasons for bounces.
Bounce rates are terrible for email deliverability, but not all bounces are created equal. There’s a difference between a hard bounce and a soft bounce. The former is a permanent issue, like an inactive email, and the latter is a temporary problem, like a full inbox.
You’ll need to remove emails that have a hard bounce, but keep an eye on soft bounces, as the problem could resolve over time.
3. Check for spam filters.
You’ll want to remove any subscribers that mark your email as spam immediately. Spam filters hurt your deliverability and your reputation. If a subscriber no longer finds your emails helpful, or worse, sees them as spam, then it’s best to part ways by removing them from your list.
4. Clear out inactive subscribers.
The final step in cleaning out your email list is to create separate lists for all the categories above and remove the emails from your list that are no longer active. It might be hard to part ways with these emails, but, in the end, you’re doing your deliverability and engagement rates a huge favor.

1. Make sure your list has good hygiene.
The key to a squeaky clean list is to have a great routine and stick with it. Create a schedule for cleaning up your lists by looking at your data quantity and quality. This will determine how often you will have to clean your list. No matter how big your list, if most of your subscribers are not interacting with your emails, it is time to assess why.
When looking through your email lists, check for duplicates, typos, and email addresses that have the word “spam” in them so that your emails are getting sent to the right person and are not bouncing. ”
2. Consider using double opt-ins.
A double opt-in is a way to ensure that your subscribers truly want your email. Here’s how it works: once a user submits their information to a form on your site, an email is sent to confirm their subscription. This does a few things: it gets them used to opening your emails, it signals to their email provider that your emails should not be automatically marked as spam, and it gives you an opportunity to ask them to save your contact info so emails don’t get lost. All around, a win.
3. Manage bounce rate.
Bounced emails happen when there is a typo in the email address, if the email no longer exists, or for a number of other reasons. Checking for bounced emails can increase your deliverability and email ROI. Email bounces are broken down into two categories: soft and hard bounces.
A soft bounce is a temporary deliverability problem, such as a full inbox or a server that is down. Resending emails to these addresses can be beneficial because they can go through eventually.
A hard bounce happens due to permanent deliverability problems, such as an invalid email address. When you have hard bounces it is imperative to remove these addresses from your lists to keep your Email Service Providers (ESPs) happy. ESPs track the number of bounces you generate with each send and use it when determining your email credibility. Getting too many hard bounces is equivalent to people automatically putting your emails in the Spam folder.
4. Use automation.
Marketing automation is for emails, too. You can have your CRM automatically send subscribers to certain lists (or tag them) based on their actions. Remember when we discussed moving inactive subscribers to a separate list? Well, instead of doing this manually, you can set up an automation that does this for you and triggers a reengagement campaign. Another way you can use automation is to remove subscribers from email workflows or campaigns that are no longer applicable to them.
5. Provide an “opt down” option.
Have an “opt down” option in addition to an “opt out” option. An “opt down” option lets your subscribers choose how often and which emails they want to receive from you. Unfortunately, subscribers can forget that they subscribed to your email lists, increasing the chance that they will delete, unsubscribe, or put you straight in the Spam folder — all undesirable outcomes. Providing an “Opt Down” option provides an opportunity for the subscriber to stay on your list without the overwhelm of receiving correspondence they don’t want.
6. Understand your email audience.
Before cleaning out your email list, take stock of how much your current audience aligns with your ideal audience. Look for ways to re-engage inactive subscribers by separating them into lists based on their interests and demographics. For example, you could create engaging welcome emails for new subscribers or whip up a discount campaign for older subscribers. Having multiple lists helps you to create campaigns that’ll drive conversion rates up.
All in all, the success of email marketing campaigns should not be measured by the number of subscribers but by the quality of the subscribers and the actions they take as a result of your email. Therefore, it’s better to deploy campaigns to 20,000 active and engaged people than it is to blast the email to 30,000 people if half of them don’t care, will delete it, or worse, report it as spam.
7. Remove inactive subscribers.
Inactive subscribers are those who do not open, click, or engage in your emails in any form. Having engaged subscribers will always be beneficial to your conversion rates, so by removing inactive subscribers you will drive up your open and click through rates for your campaigns.
Before you remove inactive subscribers permanently you can try sending them one last email campaign that could be a feedback campaign to see what will re-engage them. If all fails you’ll need to permanently delete them as subscribers to not hurt your email deliverability and conversion rates.
Start Cleaning Out That Email List
Email marketing is essential to any industry and doing a routine clean up can be beneficial to your company’s data reports and conversion rates. As long as you’re performing routine clean ups, maintaining your open and click through rates, managing bounce and spam rates, and engaging your lists with targeted emails of their interest, you will always have a squeaky clean email list.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Welcome emails are a simple, easy, and effective way to give each new subscriber to your email list a warm, personal welcome. Here are some amazing welcome email examples to inspire your own.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
That’s true of just about anything, but it’s particularly true in the world of email marketing. In a time when people are being bombarded with more marketing messages than ever, it’s important that your brand stands out. Otherwise, you risk becoming completely forgettable.
Welcome emails are a great opportunity for a first impression. However, just the act of sending one isn’t going to guarantee anything. Most marketers are using marketing automation like welcome email campaigns nowadays, so if you want to stand out, the key is to be memorable. 
We’ve hashed out the what and how of welcome emails before, but in this post, we’ll go over why welcome emails can be so effective, tips for how to make a memorable one, and then look at 11 incredible welcome email examples.
Why welcome emails are such an effective email marketing tool
As a marketer, the moment when someone gives you their email address is pivotal. Whether they signed up for a free trial, a special offer, or created an account for your service, they’re clearly interested in your product or brand at that moment. And it’s up to you to make the most of it.
By sending an automated welcome email, it gives you the chance to interact with this person in a friendly, personal way. It also gives you the chance to guide their experience with your brand. Rather than hoping they find the right page on your website, or your best-selling product, you have the chance to deliver it directly to their inbox.
It’s the timing of it all that makes the welcome email so pivotal, and it’s important for marketers to capitalize on it.
Welcome email best practices
We’ve gone pretty in-depth on this topic before, so we won’t rehash everything we know (for more you can check out this post). But here are some quick, easy tips to keep in mind before looking at the welcome email examples below.
#1: Be timely
Like we mentioned, time is of the essence here. With that in mind, you want to make sure that your welcome email arrives shortly after they sign up for your list. A welcome automation will be useful here, and we’d recommend you send the email within a few minutes of the person signing up.
Note: we just launched a new pre-built welcome journey recipe inside of Campaign Monitor, making it incredibly easy to get your automation up and running. Log in or sign up to get started.
#2: Have a goal in mind
The worst thing you could do with your welcome email is send a confusing message. Think about what action you want this person to take after opening your email, and start building around that.
 If you’re working for a software company, your goal might be to get the person using your product. If you’re an eCommerce brand, you might want to guide a customer toward their first purchase. Whatever the goal is, make it easy for your subscriber to take that next step.
#3: Use a friendly greeting
If you asked for your subscriber’s name or other information when they signed up, now is the time to use it. Greeting your subscriber by name sets a more personal tone.
And whether you use their name or not, it’s always nice to simply welcome new subscribers. Spend some time thinking of some friendly, clever copy to start the email and make sure that you send a welcome message right from the start.
#4: Make sure to craft a great subject line
Email subject lines are an important part of the success of your campaign. A well-crafted subject line will leave a good impression on the reader, and likely increase your email’s open rate. For welcome emails, average open rates are usually around 50%.
You’ll want to make your subject lines clever, topical, and relatively short (about 7 words or 41 characters is ideal!). And don’t be afraid to add emojis, as they can help boost open rates.
For more on subject lines, be sure to check out this post for best practices, and this one for welcome email subject line examples.
11 of the Best Welcome Email Examples
Now that you have the why and the how, let’s take a look at these amazing welcome email examples.
#1: British Tennis

Image source: Really Good Emails
This email from British Tennis stands out for its cleverness. If you’ve ever watched a tennis match on tv before, you’ll recognize that the image at the top of this welcome email is meant to replicate the replay process when a shot is being reviewed in tennis.
This is effective in that it’s instantly recognizable by tennis fans, and it further boosts their perception as an insider — someone who gets tennis.
They also have a clear CTA button at the bottom, so you know exactly what to click next.
#2: Loom

Image source: Really Good Emails
If you’re not familiar with Loom, it’s a software tool that lets you easily record quick videos of your computer screen and/or yourself. It’s particularly useful in a remote/hybrid work setting, when you need to communicate with coworkers via video, but might not have time to jump in a meeting together.
Their first email does a handful of things really well, but the thing that stands out is their use of the product in the email. By including a video recorded with Loom in the email, they’re showing you the product in action, making it easy to imagine how you’d use it for yourself.
They also give quick, actionable steps for getting started, which we’d highly advise for any welcome email geared toward product adoption.
#3: Mollusk Surf Shop

Image source: Really Good Emails
Mollusk is a surf-inspired clothing brand based out of San Francisco, CA. Sustainability and comfort-minded, their brand is centered around creating high-quality, laid-back clothing that’s in it for the long haul. They also have a big focus on working with local vendors, which brings us to what they do well here.
Mollusk does a great job of telling their brand story in this email. They quickly get to the point of letting you know they’re not a fast-fashion company. They work with their “friends and neighbors” and create with “comfort and durability in mind.”
While it’s easy for brands to get carried away with their brand stories and have a tendency to talk too much about themselves, Mollusk strikes the balance well here. Tell your story, but in a way that’s engaging and communicates value to your audience.
Their coupon for 15% off is also likely to help boost conversion rates.
#4: Bombas

Image source: Really Good Emails
Sticking with the retail space, let’s take a look at this beautiful welcome email from Bombas, a clothing company designed around building simple, comfortable essential clothing products.
This email starts with some striking imagery of the products organized neatly, then offers new customers 20% off their first order, which is a great way to get people in the door and try your product.
Mollusk did that in their email above, but what Bombas does to make theirs even more effective is add a number of clickable elements that make shopping easy. Right under the discount code, there are links to their products. Making it easy to redeem the code is likely to increase click-through rates and conversion rates.
Want to build your own stunning welcome email, but don’t have a designer’s help? Try one of our pre-made welcome email templates!
#5: Asana

Image source: Really Good Emails
Shifting gears to the B2B world, let’s look at this wonderful welcome email from Asana, a project management tool.
Typically, if you’re composing a B2B welcome email, you have two main goals:

Greet your new user in a warm, friendly way
Make sure they have first steps to take in using your product

The first time this new user is interacting with your product is hugely important. At this point, they’re still deciding to commit to using your product or choosing another solution. So, guiding them toward how to get started is key.
Asana does both of these wonderfully with some warm, welcoming copy, and three easy action items to get the user started using their product. 
And bonus points for the lovely gif of an item being checked off the list. Who doesn’t love that feeling?
#6: The New Yorker

Image source: Really Good Emails
This welcome email from the New Yorker to subscribers who sign up for their daily email newsletter, The Daily, is a great one for publishers and media companies to look to for inspiration.
The two things this one does really well are:

Sets expectations. You’ll notice up at the top of the email, they tell you how often you’ll receive their newsletter, and what kinds of content to expect. This helps get users excited for what they just opted into, and anticipating your next newsletter.

Cross-promotes other New Yorker content. Odds are, if they signed up for the Daily, they’ll be interested in other New Yorker content as well. This is a great place to cross-promote content and include a CTA for a subscription in a way that sounds helpful, not disingenuous.

Pair all of that with the New Yorker’s signature visual style, and you have all of the ingredients for a great welcome email.
#7: Help Scout

Image source: Really Good Emails
Help Scout is a customer support software tool for small to mid-sized businesses, and they are obsessed with providing excellent customer experiences.
Their welcome is an excellent case study on showing, not telling. How many times have you read We value customer service or The customer is always right on a company’s values page? And how many times have you actually believed it?
Rather than telling about their award-winning support, Help Scout implies it in a handful of ways. With the “We’re here to help!” line, the email directly at the bottom, and the smiling faces, you get the sense that Help Scout would love to answer any of your questions. 
While this email could benefit from some action steps (like Asana’s), it does enforce Help Scout’s core brand message very well. And who knows, maybe future emails in their email sequence include onboarding steps!
#8: Zapier

Image source: Really Good Emails
Zapier has a very interesting challenge on their hands in the sense that, unless you’ve used Zapier before, you might have no clue what they do. 
Zapier is an automation tool that moves information across different apps automatically, taking the busy work out of a lot of day-to-day tasks. They’re one of the first products like that in their space, and when you have a category-defining product like that, one of your biggest marketing challenges is going to be educating potential customers on what, exactly, your product even is.
This email tackles that challenge head-on, and it does so rather effectively. With the lead header of What’s a Zap? they start to answer exactly what a potential customer needs to know. Then, they go on to give them visual examples of what, exactly, you can do with Zapier. They also include a video introducing the product. 
This is a masterclass in product education, and there’s no doubt his email campaign has served the Zapier team well.
#9: Redfin

Image source: Really Good Emails
A rule of thumb I have for any marketing email I’ve ever sent is to make sure I have a reason to be in their inbox. Emails that are sent for the sake of sending emails are just annoying. But emails that are helpful and provide value are the ones that stand out, and this one from Redfin does exactly that.
One of the first questions anyone thinks about when buying a home is “What can I afford?”, and Redfin helps email subscribers answer that question immediately. 
The home buying process can be confusing. Redfin knows that, and by positioning themselves as a helpful recourse, they build trust with their subscribers right from the get-go. 
Plus, by sending five different helpful resources, they’re likely to increase the engagement rates of this email.
#10: Harry’s

Image source: Really Good Emails
Harry’s is the DTC men’s razor company out to make shaving cool. Clever, cool, and minimal are essential to Harry’s brand, and they check every single one of those boxes in this short, simple email.
They’re not pushing for a purchase right away (which would be uncool), they give you an interesting (clever), clever fact, and it’s all packaged in a clean, minimalistic welcome email design.
It comes off as cool but not approachable-y cool, and piques your curiosity about the brand just enough to want to know more. That’s a hard line to walk, but Harry’s does it really well here.
#11: The Sill

Source: The Sill
The Sill is an online plant shop that makes buying plants (and learning how to keep them alive) really easy and approachable. By educating you on how easy or hard a plant is to keep alive — and even letting you sort that way while shopping — the Sill is a great solution for someone who just wants to not kill their plants (it’s me, I’m that person ).
I don’t always advocate for having more than one CTA in an email because things can start to feel crowded and unclear. But the Sill includes three equally important CTA’s in this one without losing clarity.
Their goals are clear — to get someone to shop online, to get someone to a store, or to get someone to read their plant-related content. Though they have multiple CTA’s, the email content is clear and they make it easy to do any/all of those things.
And hey, if they can teach me how not to kill plants, it makes sense that they can craft a stylish, informative welcome email, too.
Wrap up
Welcome emails are an important part of email marketing. Rarely will your subscribers ever be more engaged or interested than they are when they give you their email address, and it’s up to you to make the most of it.
And hopefully, after looking at these stunning, informative, and effective welcome email examples, you feel equipped to do just that.
The post 11 Incredible Welcome Email Examples (and Why They Work) appeared first on Campaign Monitor.