When a new contact signs up for your newsletter, use your welcome email to set the precedent for future communications with your buyers. Explain to them what they can expect from you and your brand, and sweeten the deal by offering an introductory discount on their first purchase. This simple email automation example shows your audience you care and lays the foundation for a lasting relationship.

In this article, we will explain how to automatically send a welcome email to your new contacts.

Before you start, take a look at our detailed video on how to create a welcome message workflow 🚀. 

Before you start

• We advise you to create your email template before starting this procedure as you will be asked to choose or create a template in Step 4: Send an email below.

How welcome emails work

Welcome emails are automated messages sent to a customer when they buy something from you, make an account, or sign up for your email list. They create an instant connection with buyers and welcome them to your brand, and they have great stats: on average, their open rates are 4x higher than general emails and their click through rates are 5x higher (source).

You can use welcome emails to:

• Re-state (or elaborate on) your value proposition. What makes you special?
• Set expectations for your subscribers. What can they expect to gain from your content and how often will they receive it?
• Welcome new subscribers to your community and give them a taste of your charming personality!
• Surprise subscribers with a bonus. This could be a coupon if you have a store or a bonus piece of content that they can download immediately.

To learn how to create the best welcome email, read this Brevo blog article or watch our best practices video 🚀. 

Set up automated welcome emails with Brevo

Step 1: Select the Welcome Message workflow

To select the Welcome Message workflow:

1. Go to Automation > Workflows.
2. Click Create a workflow.
   
3. Select the Welcome Message workflow type.
4. Click Create.
   
   

From now on, you will automatically be guided through 3 steps to create your Welcome Message workflow.

Step 2: Create your Welcome Message workflow entry point

The entry point for the Welcome Message workflow is A contact is added to a list. As soon as a contact is added to the selected list, they enter the workflow.

To add a contact to a list:

1. Select the desired list in the drop-down.
2. Click NEXT.
   

Step 3: Add a delay before the sending of your welcome email

In the Welcome Message workflow, you will be prompted to add a delay between the time the contact is added to a list and the sending of your welcome email.

To add a delay:

1. In the first field, enter the delay you want your contact to wait for.
2. In the drop-down, select the time units you want to use.
3. Click NEXT.
   
   

Step 4: Select the email you want to send to your new contacts

Once the delay is up, the next step in the Welcome Message workflow is to send an email. You will have to choose the email template you want to send as your welcome email.

To select the email template you want to send to your new contacts:

1. Select an email template between:
   
   • An email template you have already created,
   • A default email template (Default template - Welcome Mail_#),
   • Or directly create a new email template from scratch.

   Note: If you select a default email template, you must update it before activating the workflow.
   
   

2. If necessary, select the following options:
   • I want to send a hidden copy of this email: select this option if you want to receive a copy of the welcome email every time a contact receives it. You can send a hidden copy of the email to specific recipients separated by commas or to contacts that contain a certain contact attribute.
     
   • I want to choose when to send this email:
     • Send at the best time: we maximize the open rate by delivering your emails at the optimal time for each recipient over a 24-hour period.
       
       💡 Good to know

       This feature is available for Business and BrevoPlus plans.
     • Choose a specific time frame: you can choose when you want to send the email, for example any day of the week at 8 am.
       
   • Use my event data to customize the email: select this option if you want to customize your email with a set of values generated from a previous step or from the entry point of your workflow.
     For example, if you inserted a placeholder for the contact's name in your email template, it will be automatically replaced by the actual contact's name at the time your email is sent.
     
3. Once you are done, click FINISH.

Activate your workflow

Once you are done setting up your Welcome Message workflow, you can activate it to test it and allow contacts to receive your welcome email.

To activate your workflow, click Active the workflow.

Test your workflow (optional)

To make sure your workflow works well, you can test it yourself before activating it.

To test your workflow:

1. Click Test the workflow.
   
   
2. Enter the email address you want to test the workflow with.
3. Select Skip 'Wait For' steps if you want to skip the delay you added.
   
   
4. Click DONE.

You will receive the welcome email in the next few minutes.

🤔 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.