226: Turn Subscribers Into Fans with a High-Converting Welcome Email
Stop Ignoring This One Email That Can Make or Break Your Subscriber Relationship
If you’re treating your welcome email like a throwaway message—or worse, skipping it altogether—you’re missing one of the biggest opportunities to connect with your audience and improve email deliverability.
In this episode of the Creator’s MBA podcast, I’m diving into why your welcome email is hands down the most important email you’ll ever send. This isn’t about your product launch or weekly newsletter—this is about first impressions and setting the tone for everything that follows. I walk you through exactly what to include, what to avoid, and how to turn that first message into a powerful tool for building trust and engagement with your audience.
I also share my go-to, repeatable structure for writing welcome emails that not only feel genuine but get clicks and replies—two key behaviors that signal to inbox providers that your content is worth delivering front and center. If your emails are landing in spam or the promotions tab, or your list goes quiet after the first freebie, this episode is for you.
What You’ll Learn:
Why your welcome email matters more than you think
The two goals every welcome email must achieve
How to boost deliverability with one simple action
The #1 mistake people make in their welcome emails
A copy-and-paste structure you can use right now
What not to do if you want long-term engagement
How to turn a basic reply into a goldmine of insight
Your welcome email is the foundation of your email relationship—get this one right and the rest becomes so much easier. Tune in now and let’s level up your email strategy together!
🎧 Listen to the episode now!
Mentioned in this episode:
Stop Treating Your Welcome Email Like an Afterthought—Here’s How to Make It Work for You
If you’re treating your welcome email like a throwaway message—or worse, skipping it altogether—you’re missing one of the biggest opportunities to connect with your audience and improve email deliverability.
In this post, I want to walk you through exactly why your welcome email is the most important email you’ll ever send, what to include (and what to leave out), and how to structure it in a way that sets the tone for a long, loyal subscriber relationship.
Why Your Welcome Email Matters More Than You Think
You’ve done the hard work—created a lead magnet, built a landing page, and finally got someone to hit “subscribe.” But what happens next? If your answer is “a generic thank you email,” we need to talk.
That first email you send isn’t just a polite gesture. It plays a crucial role in your overall deliverability. Inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook are watching subscriber behavior: Do they open your email? Do they click? Do they reply? This data influences where your future emails land—in the main inbox, the promotions tab, or the dreaded spam folder.
Two Key Goals: Clicks and Replies
The job of your welcome email comes down to two very specific goals:
Get them to click on a link.
Get them to reply.
Clicks signal engagement. If you promised a lead magnet, make the link obvious—use a button or a bold hyperlink. Don’t make them hunt for it. Even if you didn’t promise a freebie, offer something valuable: a favorite tool, a blog post, or even your most downloaded podcast episode.
Replies are a game-changer for your sender reputation. Ask a simple, casual question—what’s your biggest struggle, or what’s your favorite hobby? It creates a two-way connection and helps build trust.
A Simple Structure That Works Every Time
Here’s a quick and repeatable format you can use for your welcome email:
Warm Hello – Sound human and friendly. “Hey there, I’m so glad you’re here.”
Quick Intro – Let them know who you are, what you do, and what they can expect.
Deliver the Goods – Clearly link to the freebie or offer, and make sure the link works!
Click + Reply Ask – Include one strong link and a low-pressure question.
Sign-Off – End with your voice. “Talk soon,” “Cheering you on,” or something that feels like you.
What to Avoid in Your Welcome Email
Don’t write a novel. Keep it skimmable. Don’t overload the email with 20 links—just one clear CTA. And whatever you do, don’t skip asking for that click and reply.
One pro tip: if your email service provider allows automations, you can send a follow-up email a few hours later to anyone who didn’t open or click. A gentle nudge like “Oops, did you miss this?” can really help.
Also, resist the urge to sell right away. The goal here is trust, not transactions. That comes later.
Build Trust from the Start
Your welcome email isn’t just a nice touch—it’s the foundation for everything that follows. If your list is going quiet, if you’re struggling with open rates, or if your emails keep ending up in spam, take a look at your welcome sequence. A small tweak here can make a huge impact.
Want help writing your welcome email or want my plug-and-play templates? Join the Newsletter Profit Club—I’d love to support you there.
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Creator's MBA podcast, your go-to resource for mastering the art and science of digital product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destini Copp and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desk. Constantly live, launching or worrying about the social media algorithms.
I hope you enjoy our episode today.
Hi there, Destini here. Welcome back to the Creator's MBA podcast. I'm super excited that you are here with me today because today's episode just might change the way you think. A little bit about email marketing, and I'm gonna be diving into what I believe is one of the most important emails that you are ever going
[00:01:00] to send to one of your readers.
It's not your launch emails, it's not your promo email for your course or your digital product. It's not even your weekly newsletter. What I am talking about here and what I think is the most important email that you will ever send to them is your welcome email. And this is the first email that you are sending to them after they sign up to get on your list.
And if you have been treating this as an afterthought or maybe even kind of skipping it altogether, I don't want you to worry by the end of this episode, you're gonna know exactly what to occlude. What to avoid in this email and how to make your welcome email really do some of this heavy lifting in your business.
Okay, so let's get right into it. And first, let's talk about why your welcome
[00:02:00] email matters so much. Here's the deal. You have done all the work. You've created the freebie. You've built your landing page. You've finally got somebody to hit that subscribe button, which is so very difficult, but what happens next?
A lot of people are just tossing out a thanks for joining type email, and they're moving on. But really this first email that you send to them is everything, not just because it sets the tone for your relationship, but because inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook are really paying attention to what's going on here.
They are looking at and they're asking, does the subscriber open up your email? Do they click on anything inside it? Do they reply to it? And their inbox placement algorithm is watching that [00:03:00] behavior. So if your welcome email gets opened, gets clicked, and reply to. That is really, really good. So your emails are more likely to land in that primary inbox instead of the promotions tab, or maybe even worse, which is going to spam.
So let's talk about how you can make that happen. There are two goals of every welcome email that you have, and they really only need to do two main things, but they're so very crucial. Number one, you need to get them to click. Number two, you need to try to get them to reply to you. So let me break those down.
The first is getting them to click. So the easiest way to improve your email deliverability is to get your new email subscriber to take an action with your email. So if you promised a free guide, a workshop or a checklist, I want you
[00:04:00] to make that download link Very, very. Obvious and easy to find, and if they just signed up for your newsletter.
Also give them a reason to click here. There's a lot of things you can do. You could share like a super helpful blog post, a favorite tool or resource of yours, a quick start guide so you can kind of like surprise 'em even if you didn't promise it or you could even put your most downloaded like podcast episode there.
But it's really just giving them that one clear. Because that particular link is gonna tell their inbox, Hey, yes, this is legit. I definitely want these emails. The next thing I want you to try to do is to get them to reply. And this one's just a little less talked about, but it is so very powerful. So when somebody replies to the email that you have sent them, it really does create
[00:05:00] that kind of, that two way connection.
So it is telling the inbox filters, this sender is trustworthy. So in your welcome email, ask a simple question like. What is your biggest struggle with X? Or you know, what is your business website? Something super, super simple, that they can easily just respond back to you and say, you know, this is it.
Like for instance, in hobby school, one of the thing that we ask a lot is. What is your most favorite hobby? And people will respond back and say, I love to knit, or I love to crochet, or I love to paint watercolors, or I love to, do whatever. I mean, there's tons of answers that we get back there, but really something super, super simple for them.
So make it casual, but most importantly, make it easy to answer and you will be surprised at how many people actually respond
[00:06:00] back to you. And those. S replies that you're getting. Those are solid gold. Not just for engagement, but really for understanding your audience and what they like. So let me give you a really quick and repeatable structure for writing your welcome email.
And this will work whether you are delivering a freebie or just welcoming, welcoming people to your newsletter. So you start out with a warm hello like. Sound like a human, not a brand. Say, Hey there, I'm so glad you're here. Kind of keep it conversational. You could do a quick intro, so let them know who you are and what to expect.
What kind of emails will you be sending? How often? Like in mine, I tell 'em, you know. Basically who I am, what I do, how I help people. But here's what you can expect. I will generally send you a weekly email newsletter on Sunday that's Sundays are the days that I generally send out my [00:07:00] newsletters, then deliver the things.
So if they signed up for a lead magnet, you're gonna link to that very clearly. You're gonna use a. Button or a bold link. You don't wanna hide this. You want them to know exactly where to go in that email to click and make sure it's working. 'cause I have done some audits here lately for some of my newsletter profit club members, and I couldn't get the links to work, or I couldn't even find it.
I didn't even know where to go in the email to grab that. Particular gift. Okay. Step four is ask them to click and reply. So this is the heart of your email. So one strong link and one low pressure question. And all of that just kind of equals magic, if you would. And then do your sign off. So in with something that sounds like you, like, I like to use talk soon, or excited to connect or cheering you on or whatever.
Just sounds like you, you're gonna end it there. So now let's talk about what to avoid in this welcome email.
[00:08:00] So there are some things that you don't wanna do. You don't wanna write a novel. Make it easy. People skim it. You don't wanna overload them with like 20 links here. One clear call to action to click here and get your download and then respond back.
That's super, super simple. Don't skip that. Ask. So if they don't click. Or reply, your future emails might get buried and there is a trick here. Let's say that you send out a welcome email and they don't like click or do, do basically do anything with it. You can set it up in your email service provider to do an automation, to send them an email
four hours later, say, oops, it looks like you missed this. Make sure you click here. That sort of thing. You really, really, really want them clicking. The other thing is, I would say, is don't sell right away. It's definitely an email that you need to be kind of introducing yourself and building that [00:09:00] trust first.
So you want this email to feel helpful, welcoming, and easy to take action on. So here's kind of my final thoughts here. Your welcome email isn't just a nice gesture. It's really the foundation of your entire email relationship. So if you are seeing like low engagement or deliverability issues. Or if your subscriber's kind of ghosting you after they get that freebie, it might be time to go back and revisit this first email.
So you wanna get them to click and you wanna get them to reply, but most of all, right, just get them excited to hear from you again. And that's how you build trust and that's how you keep your emails out of spam, and it's how you turn those casual kind of subscribers and readers. Into loyal [00:10:00] fans and paying customers.
Alright, that is it for today's episode. If you want help writing your welcome email or you want my templates for this, definitely check out the Newsletter Profit Club. I'm more than happy to help you there. Until next time, keep creating, keep connecting, and I will talk with you soon. Bye for now.
Thanks for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode today. If you love the show, I'd appreciate a review on Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great rest of your day and bye for now.