Setting up your welcome email

An effective welcome email should set the stage for what your newsletter is all about and what a new subscriber should expect from your communications.

As the first email a new subscriber will receive from you, it’s an important part of your publication. The welcome email serves to greet, thank, and introduce the subscriber to your newsletter's content, fostering a positive initial connection and providing essential onboarding information. 

Quick tips to get you started

• Your welcome email is an excellent opportunity to encourage new subscribers to safelist your email and mark it as important, ensuring they receive future emails.
  
  
• You can use merge tags in your welcome emails to personalize your readers’ experience. For example, if you collect your subscribers’ first name in a subscribe survey, you can then add that to your welcome email using custom fields and merge tags.
  
  
• If you’re planning to create a welcome email series, it’s important to balance delivering valuable information with keeping the messages concise. We recommend setting up a series of 3 to 5 emails using automations.
  
  
• Check out the beehiiv Blog for welcome email inspiration: 
  • How To Make The Best First Impression With A Welcome Email
  • How To Write a Welcome Email Template That Gets Results
  • 10 Welcome Emails To Build Trust for the Long-Term

---

How to set up your welcome email 

1. From the left panel Dashboard, scroll down and select Settings.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Your publication settings will open. If you have multiple publications, select one from the dropdown options. Select Emails from the left panel.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Scroll down to the Preset Emails section. Under Welcome Email, click Configure Welcome Email.
   
   
   
   
   
   Important Note: The option to enable your welcome email can only be toggled on after the welcome email has been fully set up.
   
   If your welcome email is already set up, the Configure Welcome Email button will change to View Welcome Email. To edit an existing welcome email, click Edit Email.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. On the Welcome Email Edit page, add a Subject Line and Preview Text.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. In the Content box, create your email content. Type / to access the editor and make a selection to start creating your content.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Once you are satisfied with your welcome email, click Preview to see how the finalized email will appear.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. You’ll be taken to a preview of your email. On the left, click Desktop or Mobile to see how your email will look on different device types.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. To preview how your personalization with merge tags will appear, select a subscriber from the dropdown menu. This will simulate the personalization using the custom field information associated with the chosen subscriber.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. To exit the preview, click the X icon in the top right corner of the preview modal.
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. When you have finished setting up your welcome email and have ensured that the preview is to your liking, go to the bottom and click Save.
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. In your publication settings, navigate back to Emails, and then scroll back down to the Present Email > Welcome Email section.
    
    Once your email is configured, toggle on Enable a welcome email that is sent to new subscribers to activate it.
    
    
    Reminder: Your welcome email won’t be sent to new subscribers until this option is enabled.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Once your welcome email is set up, the Configure Welcome Email button will be replaced with View Welcome Email. Click View Welcome Email to access and review it.
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. You will see a preview of your welcome email along with tabs to track its performance (outlined below). To make changes, click Edit Email.
    
    
    

---

Monitoring the performance of your welcome email

Once your welcome email is live, you can track its performance through various tabs that provide detailed insights and data. Here's a breakdown of what each tab offers: 

Overview tab

The Overview tab displays key details about your welcome email, including the subject line, preview text, and email content.

Analytics tab

The Analytics tab provides detailed metrics on your welcome email's performance, offering valuable insights including: 

• Recipients: The total number of emails delivered and the delivery rate as a percentage.
• Open Rate: Includes both unique opens and total opens.
• Click Rate: Includes unique clicks and total clicks.
• Unsubscribe Rate: Includes the number of unsubscribes and spam reports.

Additionally, you’ll find data on which links in your welcome email were clicked, including:

• The URL
• Total clicks
• Unique clicks
• Click-through rate (CTR), calculated as unique email clicks divided by the unique open rate.
  
  
  

Polls tab

If your welcome email contains any polls, the Polls tab will display the results and engagement data.

Paid Subscriptions data tab

The Paid Subscriptions Data tab offers insights into paid subscriber activity, including:

• Upgrades
• Downgrades

Paid Subscriber Growth: Visualized as a graph showing trends over time. Use the dropdown menu to adjust the time frame for analysis.