Welcome Email Design Tips to Make Your Brand Stand Out

Welcome emails have a soft spot in our hearts. Readers open them more than almost any other email, with average open rates reported at 50% or higher, and they're a brand's very first introduction to readers. Today, we've picked some of our favorite welcome emails to show you. Each one is well-designed, reinforcing the respective brand's value proposition and giving readers a warm welcome (and reason to click).

Streamlined elegance

One shoe brand's welcome email stands out for its streamlined elegance. The hero image flows seamlessly into a short letter portion of the message, which continues to flow seamlessly into a carefully curated photo collage. The text is large with ample spacing, and illustrated artwork at the edges gives the email a playful, fresh vibe. Notably, there aren't layers of text: no header and subheader, no navigation menu. Design to love: beautiful custom photography with text overlay; simplicity with only one CTA and no wasted space; playful infusion of artwork around body text.

Show, don't tell

Some welcome emails show you exactly what to expect from a brand in one send. We immediately know: the brand voice and tone, what to expect from the newsletter, and how grateful the company is for the sign-up. Design to love: creative, on-brand calls to action; customized link colors; playful illustrated callouts in section headers; a personal signoff.

No frills, still great

Some welcome emails don't have any frills but still look great. A full-bleed CTA button that's easy to tap on mobile, paired with a boxed effect using an HTML background color around the white body of the message, works well for an all-text message. Keeping text to a minimum makes the email short and effective. Design to love: a limited-width "boxed" effect draws eyes toward text; a CTA button that passes the squint test and is designed for mobile; no wasted space.

Lead with the value proposition

When you sign up for some brands' mailing lists, the value proposition is the first thing you'll read in the welcome email, reminding readers about the brand and the problem it's solving for them. Using a personalized first-name greeting is a smart way to reinforce that connection if you collect name data during signup. Design to love: the value proposition is the first thing readers see; a personalized greeting cuts through the noise; a sign-off from "the team" reinforces the personal feel.

Bold color, streamlined design

A vibrant color scheme can make a welcome email hard to miss. Using a bold color as the background means text and illustration benefit from being streamlined, so all-white text and icons pop with contrast. Design to love: a bold HTML background color with contrasting live text; ample spacing between lines of text, images, and modules; hi-res images coupled with a pared-down color scheme.

Let photography lead

Some welcome emails run wider than most, letting stunning landscape or lifestyle images take center stage. Leading with photography makes sense for brands where readers need to see, not just be told, what they're signing up for. Design to love: wide, gorgeous photos with text overlay; large, easy-to-read live text; confirmation of what the reader signed up for, and the brand's gratitude.

Keep it simple and representative

Not every welcome email needs to be fancy. Some are sweet and short, and representative of what readers can expect in future newsletters. Design to love: a single CTA makes the email simple to click; a whimsical, chic, or humorous hero illustration that's on-brand; plain text that's welcome-friendly for spam filters.

Cut to the chase

Some brands are so ubiquitous that they do little to explain themselves or their mission, focusing readers on the first and most important step by cutting right to the chase. This shows an email can be basic while still retaining a sense of fun. Design to love: bands of HTML color along the top and bottom brighten and brand the email; large, easy-to-read, direct live text; a CTA button you can't miss.

The personal touch

Some welcome emails feel different from the rest, confirming the brand's value proposition right away in list format, with HTML color doing the work instead of photography or imagery. The whole email can feel like it came from an actual person instead of a robot or faceless brand, especially for a smaller, community-oriented brand. Design to love: a fixed-width approach that works great with bold color; an easy option to unsubscribe that presents the brand as honest and transparent; an email that's personal, playful, and sweet.

Don't underestimate a good GIF

You don't always need to invest in custom art to create a highly effective welcome email — sometimes a cute, crowdsourced GIF paired with straightforward, easy-to-read messaging does all the work of showing readers what a brand is all about: simplicity and quality, with a dose of humor.

Feeling inspired with welcome emails?

We hope so! Happy designing!