You only get one chance to make a first impression. That’s why welcome emails are so important for retailers. Welcome messages are an opportunity to begin building brand loyalty, and they shouldn’t be overlooked. Your welcome campaign can start shaping customer behavior and perceptions of your brand right away.

Welcome emails give you control of how new subscribers get acquainted to your brand. New subscribers who haven’t yet shopped with you can get a valuable impression of your company’s story, values, and products or services from the welcome messages you send.

There are a few different approaches you can take for your welcome emails. In this blog, we’ll highlight a few examples that I received recently.

Your first message to new email subscribers should give them a strong sense of your brand identity. L.L.Bean does a great job of this in their simple, yet powerful welcome message. For each customer, subscribing to the newsletter is taking the first step on their journey with the company. The message’s theme of life as an adventure coincides with the brand’s core values. This email equates the brand to a companion for any future adventures the customer will go on, and includes images of their products in use to give customers ideas of what these adventures could be.

You can also use your welcome email to orient new subscribers to future email content, inform them which types of products are offered, and highlight your latest promotions. In this example, Bealls accomplishes all three of these tasks. The email lets customers know what kind of information they will receive in subsequent newsletters. It also highlights some of the top brands that they offer, and informs customer that they have a wider variety of products available online. Additionally, the message includes current promotions that the company is running.

The end goal of a welcome series is to turn an email subscriber into a customer. One of the best ways to do that is through offering an incentive. This message from Carter’s uses this tactic by providing a substantial discount on the subscriber’s first purchase. The coupon can be used either online or in-store, giving the customer the option of choosing their preferred shopping experience. The offer is also time-sensitive, as a way to motivate a purchase quickly.

To learn more about welcome campaigns, including additional examples and step-by-step instructions for creating these emails, download our Welcome Series How-To Guide.