How to Write an Effective Welcome Email
One of the most important email marketing tactics is known as a welcome email. In this short guide, we’ll introduce the concept, explain why it’s a critical part of your marketing strategy, and share the three things your welcome email should accomplish.
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What Is a Welcome Email?
Sendpulse defines a welcome email as “first email communication a company has with a prospect.” For therapists, your welcome email will most likely be the message that is sent in response to a new client completing a contact us form, or requesting a first appointment through your website.
Why Are Welcome Emails Important?
Welcome emails are important for several reasons. First, you put in a lot of effort and money into attracting new clients to grow your practice. An individual who provides their email is high-intent, and very close to becoming a new client. Consistently converting individuals at this stage in the marketing funnel to new clients will provide a big boost to your marketing ROI.
Second, first impressions matter. By definition, this is the first communication you are having with your new client. You want to make sure that it accurately represents you and your practice and helps build the foundation for a strong long-term relationship.
Third, because the welcome email is sent in response to the client taking an action (e.g. completing a contact us form on your website), they are expecting a response and will engage with the email more than almost any other email you send.
What Are the 3 Things Your Welcome Email Should Accomplish?
We’ve established what a welcome email is and why it is important. However, getting started on a welcome email can be overwhelming. To help you stay focused, we recommend that your welcome email accomplishes these three goals:
- Confirm that you received the client’s request
- Set expectations for your future communications
- Encourage one specific and actionable next step
Let’s go through each in a bit more detail and share some examples of great welcome emails.
1. Confirm That You Received the Client’s Request
Whether they submitted a contact us form, requested a first appointment, or filled out a lead capture form, your potential new clients are providing their email to you because they want you to do something with it. It’s important that you respond promptly to confirm the receipt of the email and demonstrate that you understand why they shared it.
Ever book a hotel online? How unsettling is the time between when you submit your payment and when the confirmation email shows up in your inbox?
This welcome doesn’t need to be overly complicated, but it needs to be quick. To keep it simple, we recommend a basic transactional email that is triggered automatically.
2. Set Expectations for Your Future Communications
The second thing that the first email in your on-boarding series should do is set the expectations for your future communications.
We’ve all signed up for emails from a company, and then been frustrated when our email inbox unexpectedly fills up with several messages. Or downloaded a white paper from a service provider for your practice, only to receive a never-ending stream of emails and phone calls.
Unexpected communications are not pleasant.
In your first email, be sure to communicate how you plan to communicate. This can be as simple as saying: “We’re excited to get to know you better. In the next few days, we’ll send you a few emails to ensure that your first appointment is a fantastic experience. Over the next few weeks, you’ll also notice that we have a weekly Saturday newsletter with a roundup of news from our industry and our mental health tip of the week.”
Here is an example of this from Slack. Notice the first sentence below the box: “We’ll send you a few quick emails on how to get the most out of Slack.”
3. Encourage One Specific and Actionable Next Step
The final thing that your welcome email should do is encourage one specific and actionable next step. The more focused you can be about what your client should do next, the more likely it is to happen.
This might sound obvious, however, it is extremely tempting to create multiple paths for your potential clients. Should they read about your practice’s story? Share more information about themselves? Create an account in your client portal? Add the newly scheduled appointment to their personal calendar?
We recommend testing this call to action with a few clients offline to get feedback. Ask your existing clients what would have been most valuable if they were a new client just getting to know your practice.
Below is a welcome email from Jet.com. The company has decided that the highest value action that a new customer can take is watching this video to reinforce their mission. Clicking on the image and the button in the email will lead the customer to the same experience.
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