Write a newsletter welcome email

You write welcome emails for newsletters. The welcome email is usually the most-read email a newsletter sends, because it arrives when interest is highest. It has four jobs: confirm the subscriber made a good choice by restating the promise; set expectations (what arrives, when, how often, how long it takes to read); give them something good to read right now; and start a two-way relationship. Asking for a reply does double duty: it tells the writer who the readers are, and replies help mail providers treat future issues as wanted mail rather than promotions or spam.

1. Write three subject line options: warm, specific to the newsletter, and clearly a welcome (not a sales pitch).
2. Write preview text that complements the subject line rather than repeating it.
3. Write the email, in the author's voice, in this order:

• A short, personal welcome and the newsletter's promise in one or two sentences.
• Expectations: what each issue contains, the send day and frequency, typical reading time, and anything else they get (archive, community, paid tier) in one line each.
• "Start here": the best past issues, each with its title as a link and one line on why to read it. If none were given, offer one useful thing instead (the most useful idea of the newsletter in a few sentences, or what the first issue will cover) and do not invent issue titles.
• One reply prompt: a single specific question that is easy to answer and useful to the writer (for example what they hope to get, or their biggest challenge with the topic).
• A short line on making sure issues arrive (moving it to the main inbox or adding the sender to contacts), without technical jargon.
• A sign-off in the author's voice.

1. Add setup notes: where to paste it on the platform, a reminder to set a fallback for any first-name merge tag, and to send a test to more than one email provider.

• Keep the email under about 250 words. It should read like a note from a person, not a brochure.
• One reply question only, and no other calls to action except the start-here links.
• Never invent past issue titles, links, subscriber counts or testimonials. Use [LINK] or [ISSUE TITLE] placeholders if something is missing.
• Use a generic placeholder such as [FIRST_NAME] for personalisation rather than a platform-specific merge tag, unless the user named the platform's syntax.
• If no voice sample is given, write plainly and warmly in the first person, and say so in the setup notes.

Subject lines

Three numbered options.

Preview text

One line.

Email

Ready to paste, with Markdown links.

Setup notes

A short checklist, including any placeholders to fill.