Welcome Email Series: Examples, Timing and Setup for Online Stores

A welcome email series is the set of automatic emails a new subscriber gets in the days after they join your list, and three to five emails over one to two weeks works for most stores. It's often called a welcome flow. It's the first thing most people hear from your store, it arrives when their interest is highest, and it runs on its own for every signup. If you only set up one automation, set up this one. For the rest, see email and SMS flows for Shopify.

This guide covers what to put in a welcome series, how many emails to send and when, five example emails you can adapt, how to add texts, and what to measure.

• Delivers what you promised: If your signup form offered a discount, a guide or early access, the first email delivers it right away.
• Introduces your store: Who you are, what you make and why it's different.
• Turns a subscriber into a buyer: Best-sellers, reviews and answers to the questions that stop people from ordering.
• Sets expectations: What you'll send and how often, so later emails are welcome rather than surprising.
• Teaches inboxes to trust you: Early opens, clicks and replies help future emails land in the inbox.

Three to five emails over one to two weeks works for most stores. Send the first one immediately; that's when people are most likely to open it. Space the rest a day or two apart, and stop the series for anyone who places an order, moving them into your after-purchase messages instead.

Subject: Welcome to [Store] — here's your 10% off
Body: Thanks for joining. Here's your code: WELCOME10. It works on anything in the store for the next 7 days. [Shop best-sellers]. You'll hear from us about new drops and the occasional sale, about once a week. Questions? Just reply to this email.

Keep it short. The code should be the most visible thing in the email, and one button is enough.

Subject: Why we started [Store]
Body: A few honest paragraphs about the problem you set out to solve, how your products are made, and what you won't compromise on. A photo of the people or the workshop beats a stock image. End with a link to the products that best show that story.

Subject: The three things everyone orders first
Body: Your top products, each with one line on why people love it and a real customer quote. If your welcome offer is still valid, mention it once.

Subject: Shipping, returns and other good questions
Body: The questions your support team hears most, answered plainly: how long shipping takes, what returns cost, how to pick a size or flavor. This email often sells more than the louder ones because it removes the last reason not to buy.

Subject: Your 10% off ends tomorrow
Body: A short, friendly reminder with the code and the end date. No new information is needed. Anyone who still hasn't bought moves into your regular campaigns.

If you collect phone numbers, send a welcome text too, separately from the emails. Ask for texting consent with its own clear wording, confirm it (double opt-in), then send one short text with your store name, the offer and how to opt out. Don't send the same message by email and text minutes apart; let the text carry the offer and the emails tell the story. See welcome text message examples and SMS opt-in examples.

• By signup source: Someone who joined from a sale page wants the deal; someone from a blog post wants more of that topic.
• Buyers vs browsers: If someone signs up at checkout, skip the discount and send a thank-you and how-to series instead.
• Subscribers and members: If you sell subscriptions or run a loyalty program, welcome those customers with how their plan or points work. See subscriber onboarding.
• By language: Send the series in the language the subscriber uses.

• Waiting hours or days to send the first email. Send it immediately.
• Burying the discount code below the fold.
• Sending the same discount email three times with different subject lines.
• Keeping people in the series after they buy.
• Running regular campaigns at the same time, so new subscribers get five emails in two days. Hold new subscribers out of campaigns until the series ends, or use a frequency limit.
• A no-reply From address. Let people reply.

Test one change at a time, such as the subject line of email 1 or the size of the offer, and keep the version that brings more first orders, not just more opens. See conversion rate and revenue attribution.

SmartyTap's welcome flow sends your series automatically to everyone who signs up through your popup and embedded forms. Texting signups confirm through SMS double opt-in, quiet hours hold texts until morning in each subscriber's time zone, and Smart Sending keeps new subscribers from getting a campaign email within 16 hours of another one. Reports show the revenue your messages bring in. Abandoned checkout, browse abandonment, back-in-stock, birthday, after-purchase and win-back flows follow the same pattern. See the flow library and anatomy of a flow in the docs.

SmartyTap Starter is $20 a month for 2,500 contacts, 25,000 emails and 250 SMS credits/segments. Pro is $199 a month (or $1,990 a year) for 25,000 contacts, 250,000 emails and 2,500 SMS credits/segments. One credit covers one segment and costs 2¢. New workspaces need a paid plan to send, and there's no free trial. See SmartyTap pricing.

Glossary: welcome flow. Read next: email marketing for Shopify, email deliverability guide, welcome text message examples and abandoned cart email and SMS examples.

A welcome flow is a series of automatic emails, and sometimes texts, sent to new subscribers in the days after they join your list. It delivers any signup offer, introduces your store and encourages a first order.

Three to five emails over one to two weeks suits most stores. Send the first immediately, space the rest a day or two apart, and stop the series when someone buys.

Only if your signup form promised one. A discount helps first orders, but a good story, best-sellers and clear answers about shipping and returns can work just as well for stores that don't want to train customers to wait for codes.