What have we found to expand your email knowledge today?

Here are a few of our favourite links from across the email and business world, carefully curated just for you:

Find of the week ⭐

We talk about list hygiene a lot around here (and we'll keep doing it, because it matters).

But we also know that "clean your list" can feel like a big, intimidating task, especially if you've never done it before.

So here's an easy way to dip your toes in and give it a try. Bouncer has a free email checker that lets you verify individual email addresses right on their site (no sign-up, no credit card, nothing).

Just pop in an address and see what comes back.

It'll tell you if that address is deliverable, risky, or flat-out invalid, and even flags things like disposable emails and role-based addresses (hello, info@). If you've ever wondered whether those old addresses on your list are still alive, this is a zero-commitment way to find out.

(P.S. Sign up while you’re at it and you'll get 100 free verification credits to play with, too, but you didn’t hear that from us).

Give email verification a try here.

We’re also constantly on the lookout for new resources, news, tools and links, so hit us up if you’ve got something valuable to feature!

But it’s an important one, especially if you run a newsletter or email strategy.

And it starts by stating something you may disagree with, or may not want to hear, but here it is:

Your welcome sequence matters more than your newsletter.

This is not one of those formulaic “hot-takes” either. It’s likely a fact in most email worlds because the email you probably spend the least time on is the one doing the most heavy lifting.

It’s not your weekly Volume (though ongoing value is important).
It’s not your best-performing campaign (even though that’s a money-maker). It’s certainly not that subject line you spent 20 minutes agonising over (which is often what’s taken you longer than you spent on your welcome email anyway).

That automated email (or emails) that greet someone within minutes of subscribing? That’s one of those things that separates elite email senders from the majority.

And, it’s unfortunate, but most senders either have a forgettable one, a bloated one, or none at all. (And, we’re pretty qualified to say this, having signed up to over 400+ newsletters in the last year for…research 😅).

The numbers also don’t lie: statistically, human relationships are built on impressions and trust.

And in email, our best readers are made in the first 48 hours.

You were interested and likely paying attention. You were, for but a brief, beautiful moment, actually looking for that email to land.

That window of attention is incredibly rare in email, and it doesn't last.

Research from the Beehiiv State of Newsletters report found that the median time for a new newsletter to earn its first dollar dropped to just 66 days in 2025.

That's not because of one great weekly send, guys. This is built on the premise that the best operators are converting interest into trust quickly.

And the welcome sequence is where that begins.

If you're not showing up in those first 48 hours with something intentional, you're wasting the warmest your audience will ever be.

Let that worry you a little.

It's also about deliverability (and here's where it gets technical, but stick with us, because this is important).

Inbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo pay close attention to how new subscribers interact with your emails. Those early engagement signals (your replies, clicks, even opens) carry disproportionate weight in shaping how your future emails are treated.

A subscriber who opens and clicks your welcome email is sending a signal to their inbox provider to say, "I want this." That signal sets you up to land in the primary inboxes (and yes, the promotions tab is one, a hill we’ll die on), not spam.

You don’t want to fight a losing battle because your welcome email (or sequence) sucks. Remember, this is as much a foundation for deliverability as it is a welcome.

That "set it and forget it" single confirmation email doesn't cut it anymore. You CAN do more.

The question is, should you?

Let's be clear, though: this isn't about building a 12-email onboarding monster (unless you plan a seriously strategic predefined series as a lead magnet, which is a topic for another day).

Those long-ass sequences don’t, uhm, usually land well…

What you want is to be intentional with what you're trying to achieve in those first few interactions. And for most email senders, it comes down to three things:

1. Earn the right to keep showing up.

Your first email should confirm what someone signed up for, set expectations (what you send, how often), and deliver one quick win (a resource, an insight, a reason to feel good about subscribing). That's the handshake, and it’s also why reciprocity is such a winner in email.

Don't lead with "follow us on every platform." Don't immediately push a product, a paid tier, or a referral programme. You haven't earned that right yet.

Give BEFORE you ask.

2. Start learning about them (early).

Something we don't talk about enough? Your welcome sequence is your first segmentation opportunity.

Email two (a day or two later) is the perfect moment to ask a simple question.

What brought you here?
What are you most interested in?
What would make you feel like you’re getting value from these emails?

This isn't just engagement for engagement's sake. This is zero-party data (the diamond of the data world, which entails information your reader is willingly giving you), and it's insanely valuable for shaping what you send them next.

A one-question reply trigger or a simple poll gives you more strategic insight than six months of guessing.

We covered the power of segmentation back in Volume 55, and this is where that thinking starts. Not three months in. Day two.

3. Prove your value before they forget you exist.

Part of your welcome sequence needs evidence! Send your single best piece of content, or curate something genuinely useful based on what they told you (or clicked on) in previous emails, or while they’ve signed up.

The goal here is simple: make readers glad they subscribed.

Because if someone doesn't engage with your first three emails, the odds of them becoming a long-term reader drop dramatically. And, if you’re smart, you’ll be building future engagement segments around this behaviour.

Every send after that begins competing with a growing pile of unread emails and a window of attention akin to someone with ADHD in a gaming arcade.

There’s also a common mistake many senders make with welcome emails, and that’s treating those like a brand brochure.

You know the type: "Welcome! Here's our story. Here are all our social links. Here's our blog. Here's our podcast. Here's our shop. Here's our cat."

It's a lot. (and it violates that Rule of One👉🏼 one email, one goal, one action.)

Your welcome email doesn't need to do everything. It needs to do one thing well.

And that, folks, is making your reader feel like they made a good decision. The rest can unfold over the next two to three emails, at a pace that respects their attention.

Most newsletters (including this one, at various points) have treated the welcome sequence as a checkbox. But it’s probably the one email/ series you should be constantly iterating and learning from.

If your list is growing (and ours has grown by over 60% in the last six months), or if you WANT it to grow, this means a significant chunk of your audience's entire experience of you was shaped by whatever you automated months ago.

So, answer this honestly:

When last did you read your own welcome email?

If you can't remember, that's your sign. Go back. Read it as a new subscriber would.

And then remove those rose-tinted glasses and ask yourself: Does this earn the next open?

Because that's what it's really about, folks. We’re not out here to impress people. We shouldn’t just be dumping information.

We’re here to earn the next open (and every one after that).

If you’re stuck, need ideas on where to improve, or simply want to chat about how to improve this, our inbox is open to our community!

Hit this link, fire over where you’re stuck, and we’ll gladly share some insights or help.

Time to welcome your readers home with a front door that actually opens.

Yes, you hottiexoxo96@gmail[.]com 😉

Haha, no judgment here from Mr. emokidrawr@hotmail[.]com. I may have upgraded my email address, but it wasn’t just a phase.

At least Gmail now let’s us change our email address…

C’mon! Let us know what your childhood email was (we promise we won’t tell) 🤫