How to set up a welcome email in Mailchimp

If you manage a Mailchimp account, you’ve probably gotten this email. Maybe every week.

“Your list grew by 5 new subscribers in the last 2 weeks. Set up an email automation to greet new subscribers automatically.”

Most people ignore it. I get a stack of them for our clients’ accounts, and I understand the impulse. It reads like an upsell.

But Mailchimp is right about this one. Just not for the reason it gives.

Why Mailchimp keeps asking you about a welcome email

That reminder goes out when an audience is picking up new contacts and nothing is set up to greet them. Someone fills out your form, lands on your list, and then hears nothing until your next newsletter. That might be tomorrow. It might be six weeks from now.

By then, they may not remember signing up.

Mailchimp’s pitch is that a welcome automation helps you make a strong first impression. True enough. But the bigger payoff is what it does for your list over time, and that part rarely gets mentioned.

(If a particular audience doesn’t need a welcome email, there’s a “Not relevant to you?” link at the bottom of the reminder that turns it off. Just make sure that’s a real decision and not a way to make the nagging stop.)

What a welcome email is actually for (it’s not just saying hi)

A good welcome email does three jobs.

• It confirms the person meant to sign up. Forms get filled out by accident, by autofill, or by someone who was really just trying to download one thing.
• It sets expectations. What you’ll send, and how often, so nothing that shows up later feels like a surprise.
• It starts the relationship. This is the one email almost everyone opens, so it’s your best shot at showing who you are.

That first job is the one most businesses skip, and it matters more than it sounds. Someone who unsubscribes on day one costs you nothing. Someone who stays subscribed but never opens anything slowly hurts you. They drag down your open rates, make your reporting less useful, and tell inbox providers that people don’t want your email. Eventually they mark you as spam, which is worse than an unsubscribe in every way.

So a welcome email should do something that feels backwards. It should make leaving easy.

Michela covered the thinking behind this in What that “welcome” email is actually doing. This post is the how-to that goes with it.

Welcome email vs. welcome series (and which Mailchimp plan you need)

A welcome email is one message that goes out right after someone signs up. A welcome series is a set of emails spread out over time, starting close together and then spacing out.

One email is a big improvement over nothing. A series is where the relationship actually gets built.

Your Mailchimp plan decides how far you can take it. As of this writing, the free plan no longer includes automation flows beyond a preview. Essentials allows short flows of up to four steps. Standard and above are where a longer series with branching lives. Mailchimp changes its plans often, so check the compare plans page before you build.

If you’re on Essentials, don’t let that stop you. A welcome email plus one follow-up is still a solid start.

Write the first and last emails before you open Mailchimp

This is the part people skip, and it’s the part that matters most.

Mailchimp will happily write a welcome email for you. When I set one up for this post, it generated one in about ten seconds. More on that below. But the platform doesn’t know what you’ll send, how often, or why anyone should care. You do.

The first and last emails in a series matter more than everything in the middle. Get those two right and the rest gets easier.

The first email: a clean way in and a clean way out

Here’s the tone I recommended back in 2017, when I wrote a closer look at drip campaigns:

Hey! Thanks for signing up for our email newsletter. We look forward to sharing useful content about email marketing with you every Tuesday.

What’s that? You didn’t mean to sign up for this list? That’s okay. You can unsubscribe from this link or from the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email you receive from us.

That’s it. It confirms the signup, says what’s coming and how often, and offers a guilt-free exit. No pressure, no “we’re thrilled,” no guilt trip.

Add one link to something useful, like your most-read blog post or your services page, and you’re done.

The last email: is this still working for you?

The final email in a series does the same job as the first one, from the other end. It asks, plainly, whether your emails are still useful and whether they want to keep getting them.

Something like: “You’ve been on our list for about a year now. If these emails are still helpful, great, you don’t need to do anything. If not, no hard feelings. Here’s the unsubscribe link.”

It feels risky. It isn’t. The people who stay after that email actually want to be there.

How to set up a welcome email in Mailchimp, step by step

Here’s how to set up a welcome email in Mailchimp using the current automation flow builder. I built this in one of our client accounts and blurred out anything identifying.

1. Open Automations and choose a flow template

In the left-hand menu, click Automations, then Choose flow template in the upper right. (You can also click Flow templates directly under Automations.)

2. Pick the “Welcome new contacts” template

It’s usually the first recommended flow. Click it.

3. Don’t click “Turn on” yet

Mailchimp will generate a welcome email for you with AI and offer a big Turn on button. Here’s what it wrote for our client:

“We are thrilled to have you join our community! Your support means the world to us. Stay tuned for inspiring updates and exciting news.”

It’s not wrong, exactly. But it doesn’t say what’s coming or how often, and it doesn’t offer a way out. The button just says “Learn More.” Check the Audience at the top, then click Edit email in builder instead.

4. Check your trigger

In the flow map, the starting point will read Contact signs up to your audience. Click the three dots and choose Edit to see the settings.

Watch the Include imported contacts box. It’s checked by default. If you ever import a list of people who didn’t sign up through your form, like event attendees or an old spreadsheet, they’ll get your welcome email too. Sometimes that’s what you want. Often it isn’t. Decide on purpose.

5. Write email one

Click the welcome email in the flow map, then edit the subject line, preview text and content. Replace the generated copy with your own version of the first email above. Keep it short, and keep one clear link.

6. Add a time delay and your next email

From the Rules panel, drag Time delay onto the plus sign below your welcome email. Set the delay, then click Save. I used three days for the second email.

Then drag Send email from the Actions panel below the delay. Give it a subject line and preview text, choose a builder, and write it.

Repeat for each email in the series. Delay, email, delay, email.

7. Send yourself a test

Click Send Test Emails at the top. Send every email in the flow to yourself, and to one other person if you can. Read them on your phone. Click every link.

If a test never arrives, check your spam folder first, then make sure every email in the flow has a subject line and content. Any step with an orange marker in the flow map isn’t finished yet.

8. Turn it on

Click Continue, review the summary, and turn the flow on. From here on, new subscribers get your welcome email automatically, and that weekly reminder from Mailchimp stops.

Then sign up for your own list with a personal email address. It’s the only way to see what a new subscriber actually sees.

A note on Mailchimp’s “final welcome email” setting

Mailchimp also has a setting called Final welcome email under your audience’s signup forms. It’s off by default, and it’s a simple confirmation message tied to the form, not an automation. Turning it on and building a welcome flow means new subscribers get two welcome emails. Pick one. The flow gives you a lot more control.

What to put in the middle of a welcome series

Once the first and last emails are written, you’re filling in the space between. Back in 2017, I wrote about six emails to include in a drip campaign. They still hold up as a menu:

• Welcome and brand overview. Who you are and what you do.
• A free gift or special offer. Tied to what you actually want subscribers to do next.
• A customer testimonial. With a real name and face, not “J.S., Oklahoma.”
• An ebook or other packaged content. Something useful that already lives on your site.
• A survey or profile request. Ask what they care about so you can send more of it.
• A call to action for social. Subscribing to your email doesn’t mean someone follows you anywhere else.

The key word is menu. Don’t include one of each just because they’re on the list. A nonprofit trying to turn subscribers into monthly donors needs a different middle than a roofing company trying to earn a phone call. Pick the emails that serve the goal, and give each one a different reason to open.

How often a welcome series should send

More often at the start, then less.

The first month or two is when the relationship is new and people are paying attention. Weekly, or even a couple of times a week at the very beginning, is fine. By month six, one email every few weeks. Near the one-year mark, you might go three months between messages before that final “is this still working for you?” email.

The goal is to stay present enough to be remembered without being the reason someone’s inbox feels out of control. And because you told them how often you’d email in that first message, nothing should come as a surprise.

Welcome email mistakes to avoid

• Turning on the AI-generated email as is. Use it as a starting point, if at all.
• Hiding the unsubscribe link. Put it right in the copy of the first email, not just in the footer.
• Adding three buttons to one email. One email, one call to action.
• Forgetting about imported contacts. Check that box on the trigger.
• Setting it and forgetting it. Look at the flow’s opens, clicks and unsubscribes every few months, and update anything that has gone stale.

Get the bookends right and the middle gets easier

That weekly email from Mailchimp is annoying, but it’s pointing at something real. New subscribers are paying more attention in their first few days than they ever will again. A welcome email that sets clear expectations and gives them an easy way out keeps your list full of people who actually want to hear from you.

Start with the first email. Then the last. Then fill in the middle.

Need help building a welcome series that doesn’t sound like a robot wrote it? Let’s talk about your email marketing. That’s something we do.