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How to Engage Your Email Subscribers From the Moment They Sign Up (Infographic) First impressions are a one-shot deal. For email marketers, they only come once in an inbox. Here's how not to blow that all-important initial email contact with fresh subs.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You know what they say about first impressions. They're a one-shot deal. Your initial outreach to people who subscribe to your email marketing campaign is no exception. The opportunity knocks once in an inbox. If you don't hit your first email to new subscribers out of the park, it's likely the "unsubscribe" graveyard for you.

While there's no one-size-fits-all way to guarantee that your email list subscribers will stick around long after opting in, there are a few smart steps you can take -- in your very first email to them -- to boost the chances that they do. And we're not talking the lazy, generic "Thanks for subscribing. Here, have this coupon." approach. You have dig deeper.

Related: 5 Tips for a Killer Email Campaign

Crafting and sending an effective welcome email involves several carefully executed steps. From tweaking the wording of your subject line to avoiding spam trigger words, from writing persuasive body copy to hitting "send" at just the right moment, there's a lot you can do to develop an engaging, high-impact first email. Doing so helps to start your relationship with fresh subscribers off on the right foot, and, ideally, for the long haul.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of best practices for that all-important welcome email, check out the insightful infographic care of Easy SMTP below.

Click to Enlarge

How to Engage Your Email Subscribers From the Moment They Sign Up (Infographic)

Related: Letterman's Late Show Legacy for Email Marketers: The Subject Line

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

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