When someone subscribes to hear from your brand, it's a key moment in the customer journey. This is your chance to welcome and introduce new contacts to your business and products when they're most likely to be interested and engaged using a thoughtful welcome email automation.

What is a welcome email automation?

A welcome email automation consists of reaching out and welcoming new contacts with one or a series of personalized emails when they are added to a specific contact list.

Here's an example of what to include in your welcome emails and when to send them:

Remember, these are general guidelines, and you should adjust the intervals based on your specific industry, product lifecycle, and audience engagement patterns. Additionally, always ensure that your emails provide value and align with the interests of your contacts.

Step 1: Create your automation

1. Go to Automations.
2. Click Create an automation.
3. Click Use the new editor [Beta].
4. (Optional) Click the name of your automation in the header to update it.

Step 2: Add a trigger - Contact added to list

The automation will be triggered when a new contact is added to a specific list:

1. From the Triggers tab, drag and drop the Contacts - Contact added to list step into the canvas.
2. From the List dropdown, select which list(s) should trigger the automation. Anytime a contact is added to the selected list(s), they will enter the automation.
3. Click Save.

Step 3: Add a rule - Time delay (optional)

You can add a short delay of 2 or 3 minutes before sending your first welcome email:

1. From the Rules tab, drag and drop the Time delay step into the canvas.
2. Enter the delay you want your contacts to wait for before receiving your first welcome email. 
3. Click Save.

Step 4: Add an action - Send an email

You'll now set up the welcome email that you'll send to your new contacts:

1. From the Actions tab, drag and drop the Messaging - Send an email step into the canvas.
2. Set up the information of your welcome email:
   👤 Sender

   Ensure that your welcome email recipients easily recognize your business by using a sender email address and name associated with your business.

   1. From the Email address dropdown, select a sender from your existing ones or create a new one.
   2. By default, the sender name in the Sender's name field is the one linked to the sender email address you selected above. You can override it by entering another name in the Sender's name field.
      

   🔠 Subject

   The subject line and preview text are the first things recipients see in their inboxes. Using compelling subject lines and preview text can help drive more opens, clicks, and conversions.

   1. In the Subject line field, enter the subject line of your email. You can include promotional offers, emojis, or even questions to pique your recipients' curiosity.
      ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article How to write a great email subject line?.
   2. In the Preview text field, enter the preview text of your email.
      

   🎨 Content

   Message

   You will now design the email that will be sent to your new contacts. With the new automation editor, you can now design your email templates seamlessly within the editor itself. 

   1. Click Select template to start designing your welcome email.
   2. Search for the email design you need in the different tabs. You can choose one of Brevo's pre-configured templates or your own template, or you can create your own design from scratch.
      
   3. Click Use to open the email design in the Drag & Drop editor.
   4. Customize your email by dragging and dropping content blocks, such as text, images, or buttons. To learn more on how to use the Drag & Drop Editor, check our dedicated section in the Help Center. 
   5. Once you are done designing your email, click Use this design in automation.

   What event data to display?

   Keep the option selected as The email doesn't have variables.

   ⚙️ Options

   You can configure additional options for your welcome email.

   ⏱️ Automated message settings

   Schedule sending

   Enable this option to choose when to send your automated welcome emails. You can choose to send them based on:

   

   • A custom timeframe (only during certain days and hours of the week), or
   • At the best time calculated by Brevo to maximize the open rate by delivering your emails at the optimal time for each recipient over a 24-hour period.

   💡 Good to know

   If you choose to schedule the sending of your welcome email, the delay you added at Step 2: Add a rule - Time delay might not be observed.

   📫  Send a copy of the email

   Enable this option to send a copy of your welcome email to a designated recipient each time a contact receives it.

   Both CC and BCC options allow you to send a copy of your welcome email. The main difference is that CC recipients are visible to others, while BCC recipients are not.

   📨 Email settings

   Google Analytics tracking

   Enable this option to track your welcome email in Google Analytics.

   You can specify a custom UTM name, such as the name of your automation, or use the name of your welcome email by default. You can also track the ID of your email. ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Integrate Google Analytics with your Brevo account.

   Add an attachment

   Enable this option to add an attachment to your welcome email. You can add one file with a limit of 5MB.

   💡 Good to know

   Your file name should only contain alphanumeric characters.

   Change the reply-to email address

   By default, the reply-to email address is the same as the sender’s. Enable this option to override it by entering another email address in the field.

   Add a tag

   You can use descriptive tags to find your email more easily. For example, you could tag your Welcome email with the "welcome" tag.

   📄 Subscription settings

   Use an update profile form

   Enable this option to select an existing update profile form to add to the footer of your email or create a new one. ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Update your contacts details and preferences (Update Profile form).

3. Click Save.

Step 5: Send a series of welcome emails (optional)

When creating this welcome email automation, you can easily turn it into a series of welcome emails.

To do so, simply follow Step 2: Add a rule - Time delay and Step 3: Add an action - Send an email again for each additional welcome email that you want to send. You can also easily duplicate and update your existing steps to save time.

For example, this is what a series of three welcome emails can look like in the new automation editor:

Step 6: Activate your automation

Once you're done setting up your welcome email automation, activate it to allow new contacts added to the selected list(s) to enter it:

1. At the top-right of the editor, click Inactive.
2. Select Activate automation. You'll see a recap of the audience entry and exit conditions for your automation. 
   
3. Click Activate automation.

That's it! Your welcome email automation is active. Contacts will start entering it as soon as they are added to the list(s) you selected in Step 2: Add a trigger - Contact added to list.

⏭️ What's next?

• About the new automation editor
• Available triggers, actions, and rules

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo expert partner.