# How to set up a welcome email automation for new subscribers > New subscribers are most engaged the second they join. Build a welcome automation that emails them the instant they sign up — set it up once, and it greets every new contact for you. - Canonical URL: https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/set-up-a-welcome-email-automation - Author: Sofia Lindqvist, Email Marketing Editor - Category: Automation — Triggers, workflows, welcome series, drip campaigns, behavioral flows - Content type: tutorial · Difficulty: beginner - Tags: Automation, Welcome Series, Drip Campaign, Triggers, Workflows - Published: 2026-05-18 · Last updated: 2026-08-15 - Reading time: 7 min - Publisher: AcelleMail Knowledge Base, https://acellesend.com/kb --- The very first email a new subscriber receives sets the tone for everything that follows — yet most lists send nothing at all until the next campaign happens to go out. A welcome automation fixes that: the moment someone joins your list, they get a warm, on-brand email automatically, with no manual work from you. This guide walks you through building one from scratch in the visual automation editor, one step at a time. It's written for beginners — if you can fill in a form, you can finish this in about ten minutes. By the end you'll have a live automation that greets every new contact the instant they subscribe. ## Before you start A few things should be in place first: - **A mailing list** that new contacts actually join — through a signup form, an import, or your API. Sign-ups on this list are what will trigger the welcome email. (Still filling your list? See [importing contacts from a CSV](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/importing-contacts-csv-best-practices-and-field-mapping).) - **An authenticated sending domain**, so your welcome email is signed and lands in the inbox rather than the spam folder. If you haven't done this yet, work through [setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/how-to-set-up-spf-dkim-and-dmarc-records) first. - **A sender name and address** your subscribers will recognize at a glance. > **Why bother automating it?** Welcome emails are opened far more often than regular campaigns — people just signed up, so they are expecting to hear from you. Sending automatically, within seconds, catches that attention at its peak. A welcome that arrives three weeks later has already missed the moment. ## Step 1 — Choose the "Welcome new subscribers" trigger Open **Automation** in the left sidebar and click **New Automation**. Every automation begins with a *trigger* — the event that makes a subscriber enter the workflow. You'll land on a grid headed **"What should trigger this automation?"** Pick the first card, **Welcome new subscribers**. This trigger fires the moment a contact is added to a list, which is exactly the behavior a welcome email needs. ![The trigger picker with "Welcome new subscribers" selected](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/kb-bot/set-up-a-welcome-email-automation/step-1-trigger.png) *Choose "Welcome new subscribers" — it starts the workflow the instant someone joins your list.* ## Step 2 — Name it and choose the list As soon as you pick the trigger, a short **Configure your trigger** panel appears below. Fill in three things: 1. **Automation name** — type something you'll recognize later, such as `Welcome series`. Only you see this; it is never shown to subscribers. 2. **Mailing list** — pick the list that new contacts join. In the example we've chosen *Free Trial Users*. This is the single most important choice on the page: the automation only reacts to sign-ups on *this* list. 3. **Segment (optional)** — leave it as **All subscribers** for now. If you'd rather greet only part of the list (say, contacts who match certain criteria), you can point it at a [saved segment](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/how-to-build-a-subscriber-segment) instead. ![Naming the automation and choosing the mailing list](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/kb-bot/set-up-a-welcome-email-automation/step-2-configure.png) *Give the automation a name, then pick the list whose new subscribers should be welcomed.* Click **Create automation**. You'll arrive at the visual flow editor with one node already placed — your trigger, sitting at the top of the canvas. ## Step 3 — Add a "Send email" step The editor is a canvas you build on. Your trigger sits at the top, and directly beneath it is a small **+** button. Click it to open the **Add node** menu. Five kinds of step are offered — **Send email**, **Wait**, **Condition**, **Operation**, and **Webhook**. For the welcome message, choose **Send email**. ![The Add node menu with "Send email" chosen](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/kb-bot/set-up-a-welcome-email-automation/step-3-add-email.png) *Click the + under the trigger and choose "Send email" to attach your welcome message.* > **Tip:** The other node types are how you grow a single email into a proper series later — a **Wait** to pause a day or two, then another **Send email**. We'll come back to that at the end. ## Step 4 — Write your welcome email A panel slides in from the right with three tabs across the top: **Setup → Template → Overview**. On the **Setup** tab: - **Subject** — write the line that lands in the inbox. Friendly and specific beats clever, e.g. *Welcome aboard — here's how to get started*. You can drop in list fields like `{{ list.name }}` if you want. - **From name** and **From email** — these pre-fill from your list's defaults. Double-check they're the sender your subscribers expect to see. - **Tracking & delivery** — keep **Track opens**, **Track clicks**, and **Sign with DKIM** switched on. Opens and clicks let you measure how the welcome performs; DKIM signing helps it reach the inbox. ![The email setup panel with the subject line filled in](https://acellesend.com/plugins/acelle/landing/images/kb-bot/set-up-a-welcome-email-automation/step-4-write-email.png) *Set the subject and sender, keep tracking on, then Save & Continue.* Click **Save & Continue** to move to the **Template** tab. Click **Browse templates**, pick a starter design that suits your brand, and refine it in the visual editor if you like. Once the email looks right, the step is complete and the **Overview** tab shows a summary of it. > **The subject is doing the heavy lifting here.** Because welcome emails are opened so often, the subject line earns its keep. If you'd like a shortcut, [these subject-line formulas](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/email-subject-line-formulas-that-work) are a solid starting point. ## Step 5 — Turn it on Back on the canvas, your flow now reads **Trigger → Send email**. Until you switch it on, the automation stays in **PAUSED** — nothing goes out. When you're happy with it, click **Activate** in the top-right corner. From that moment, every new contact added to the chosen list receives your welcome email automatically. You can pause it again anytime from the same button. > **Test before you trust it.** Add yourself (or a test contact) to the list and confirm the welcome email actually arrives and looks right, before real sign-ups start depending on it. ## Make it a welcome *series* (optional) One email is a great start; a short series is even better. Back in the editor, click the **+** below your first email and add: 1. A **Wait** step — pause for, say, two days. 2. A second **Send email** — a follow-up with a useful tip, a popular resource, or a gentle call to action. Repeat to build a three- or four-email onboarding sequence. To send different messages to different people, add a **Condition** node — see [advanced automation triggers and conditions](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/advanced-automation-triggers-and-conditions) for how branching works. ## Troubleshooting - **The email node shows "No email bound."** You added the Send email step but haven't finished the **Template** tab. Open the node and pick a template so the step turns valid — an automation won't activate while an email is unfinished. - **New subscribers aren't getting the email.** Check that the automation is **Activated** (not Paused), and that new contacts are joining the *exact* list you chose in Step 2. The trigger reacts only to that one list. - **The welcome lands in spam.** Make sure your sending domain is authenticated. Working through [SPF, DKIM, and DMARC](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/how-to-set-up-spf-dkim-and-dmarc-records) is the biggest single lever on inbox placement. ## Recap You just built a welcome automation: a trigger that fires when someone joins your list, a welcome email attached to it, and one click to make it live. Every new subscriber now gets a warm first impression automatically — no manual sending, and nobody slipping through the cracks. From here, turn that single email into a short onboarding series, or branch it with conditions so different subscribers get different messages. The welcome is the highest-leverage email you'll ever set up once and then forget about. --- ## Related articles - [Build a Welcome Email Series in AcelleMail (Visual Flow Builder)](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/building-a-welcome-email-series-in-acellemail): AcelleMail's automation builder ships with 12 triggers. "Welcome new subscribers" + 5 email nodes + a WAIT + a YES/NO CONDITION gives you a working welcome series in 30 minutes. Walkthrough with the actual flow canvas. - [Automation Triggers + Conditions: Full Reference](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/advanced-automation-triggers-and-conditions): Complete reference for AcelleMail's 12 built-in triggers, the CONDITION node operators, and the OPERATION actions. Plus the multi-branch patterns power users actually deploy. - [Post-Purchase Follow-Up Automation in AcelleMail — Thank, Review, Cross-Sell](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/post-purchase-follow-up-automation): A confirmation email is just the start. Layer in a delivery-day check-in, a 7-day review request, a 30-day cross-sell, a 60-day "we miss you". This guide builds the full post-purchase flow in AcelleMail's automation builder using tags or custom events fired from your ecommerce backend. - [Lead Scoring with AcelleMail Automation — Score, Tag, and Route](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/lead-scoring-with-email-automation): Add points when a subscriber opens a campaign, clicks a key link, or fills a form. Route high-score subscribers to a sales-handoff tag automatically. This guide walks the AcelleMail automation builder + custom-field scoring, with API-driven scoring patterns for ecommerce + CRM integrations in the collapsible section. - [Birthday & Anniversary Automations in AcelleMail — Date-Triggered Sends](https://acellesend.com/kb/articles/birthday-and-anniversary-email-automations): Send a happy-birthday discount on the day, a year-since-signup gift on the anniversary, a renewal reminder 30 days before expiry. AcelleMail's date-relative automation trigger handles all of these — this guide walks the setup with screenshots.