Most businesses send nothing. The ones that do send "Thanks for signing up!" and move on. Neither is good enough — because the moment someone first hears from you is the moment they decide whether they're actually going to stick around.
Think about the last time you bought something online or signed up for a service. What happened next? If it was a good experience, you probably got a proper confirmation email that told you what to expect, made you feel good about your decision, and maybe even gave you something useful. If it was bad — or more commonly, nothing — you probably forgot about them within a week.
That gap between signing up and the next time you hear from a business is where most customers quietly slip away. Not dramatically, not because they had a bad experience — just because nothing happened to make them feel like staying was worth it.
"Welcome emails have on average 4x higher open rates than any other email you'll ever send. People are actively looking for them. Most businesses waste that window entirely."
What most businesses actually send
The most common welcome email looks something like this (the business is made up):
Hi there,
Thanks so much for signing up to our mailing list! We're so excited to have you here.
We'll be in touch soon with updates, offers and news from the studio.
Speak soon,
the Juniper team
It's not offensive. It's not wrong. It's just completely, utterly forgettable. The reader learns nothing about the business, feels nothing about it, and has no reason to do anything. Three days later they've forgotten it ever arrived.
What a good welcome email actually does
A welcome email has one job above everything else: make the person feel like signing up was a good decision. Everything else — the offers, the info, the news — can come later. This first email is about trust, warmth, and setting a tone they'll actually want to keep hearing from.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
Hi [First name],
Really glad you found us. I'm Ana — I run the studio out of our little studio in the West End, and I started it because I genuinely believe that good skincare shouldn't feel like a luxury. It should feel normal.
Now you're on the list, here's what you can expect: every couple of weeks I share something actually useful — a treatment explained properly, a product I've been using myself, or an honest answer to something clients ask me all the time. No fluff, no hard sell.
If you've been thinking about coming in for the first time, here's a £10 off code to make that a bit easier: HELLO10. Just mention it when you book.
Book your first appointment →Any questions, just reply to this — it comes straight to me.
Ana x
Completely different experience. You now know who Ana is, why she started the business, what kind of emails she sends, and you've got a reason to book right now. And the whole thing probably took five minutes to read.
The anatomy of a welcome email that works
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01
A subject line that doesn't say "Welcome to our newsletter"Tell them what they're getting, not what you're calling it. "Here's what to expect from us" works. "Welcome!" doesn't.
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02
A real human name in the "from" field"Ana at Juniper Skin" beats "The Juniper team" every time. People reply to people, not brands.
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03
One line about who you are and why you do what you doNot your full backstory. Just enough to feel like a person, not a business entity.
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04
What they can expect from future emailsSet the tone early. Tell them how often you'll email and what it'll be about. Reduces unsubscribes massively.
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05
One clear CTA — ideally a low-barrier first stepA first-time discount, a useful free resource, a prompt to reply. One thing. Not three.
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06
An invitation to reply"Reply to this — it comes straight to me" signals that there's a real person on the other end. It also boosts your email reputation because replies are a strong signal of legitimacy.
What comes after the welcome email
A welcome email on its own is a good start. A welcome sequence — two, three, or four emails spread over the first couple of weeks — is where things get properly powerful.
Email two might share a customer story. Email three might answer the most common question you get. Email four might be a gentle nudge to book, buy, or come back. None of them need to be long. None of them need to be pushy. Together they do the work of keeping someone warm during the window when they're most likely to either become a loyal customer or quietly disappear.
The whole thing runs automatically. You set it up once and it works in the background every time someone new signs up — whether that's while you're with a client, on holiday, or asleep. That's the bit I love most about it.
One thing before you hit send: consent
A welcome email is only "welcome" if the person actually asked to hear from you. Whatever they signed up through — a form, a checkout tick-box, a paper sheet at the counter — make sure it records a clear opt-in, and never add people who didn't agree. In the UK that isn't just good manners, it's the law (PECR and UK GDPR). The flip side is reassuring: because welcome emails go to people who just opted in, they're about the most squeaky-clean, consent-rich email you'll ever send.
Two non-negotiables on every send, welcome emails included: a working unsubscribe link, and your business name and a real postal address in the footer. If your list is a bit of a mystery — addresses you've "always had", no record of who opted in — it's worth reading this guide to email lists and GDPR before you start sending.
The takeaway
If you're only going to do one thing with email this month, make it this: write a proper welcome email. Not "thanks for signing up." A real one — warm, specific, human, with one clear thing for the reader to do next. It'll outperform every other email you send for the rest of the year.
