Just like developing that face-to-face relationship with a friendly “hello”, marketers need to do the same by sending a welcome message. Not only is it a best practice, but it is one of the highest rated messages. Those who read a welcome message tend to read other messages at a higher rate and are more interactive with the brand.

When testing deliverability many marketers use their welcome message as a meter to test engagement and quality of contacts. The reason for this is because the welcome email reminds subscribers that they’ve provided their email addresses and also gives them a chance to manage their email preferences, which in turn helps you maintain a clean database.

There is a lot of back-and-forth over whether to include a discount in your welcome message. Some companies do and some companies don’t, but what should you do? Test, test test! Take the contacts who didn’t open the email and send them an offer, let’s say 25% off. Now analyze your open rates, have they increased? If not, try the reverse.

Still not sure where to start? Here are DR’s top 3 best practices on welcome messages:

1. Have your welcome message send to the subscriber right away and make sure you thank them for signing up.
2. Provide a solid CTA, whether it be to shop, download a report, or watch a video.
3. Have a clean design that properly displays your content to peak their interests in all that your company has to offer.

Remember, you don’t have to cram everything into one email either. The best approach is to spread things out over a few emails and slowly introduce them to your brand.

To find out more about creating the perfect welcome email click here.