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5 Subscription Confirmation Email Best Practices and Examples

Beefree team
Beefree team
Jan 12, 2016
5 Subscription Confirmation Email Best Practices and Examples
5 Subscription Confirmation Email Best Practices and Examples

What is a Subscription Confirmation Email?

A subscription confirmation email is an automated email your reader receives immediately after they subscribe to your mailing list. These emails can take a few different forms. For example, a single opt-in confirmation email that tells the person they have subscribed. While a double opt-in confirmation email requires the person to take additional action. Either way, these emails are part of crossing your Ts and dotting your Is for a stronger email program.

Why are Subscription Confirmation Emails Important?

Whether you choose a single opt-in or double opt-in confirmation email, there are several benefits to the practice:

  • Improving deliverability - When a recipient marks your email as spam, this makes your emails more likely to be auto-labeled as spam for other recipients too. A way to avoid this is to ensure that your emails only go to people who want them.
  • Maintaining GDPR compliance - Part of GDPR compliance is receiving confirmation from people that they are consenting to receive your emails, and confirmation emails give you a record of that consent.
  • Making email data more reliable - In your email program, tracking data like open rates, click-through rates, and so on will give you a gauge of how successful each email is and why. Confirmation emails are an additional way to ensure that people actually want to receive your emails. 

Single vs. Double Opt-In

As we’ve briefly touched on, there are two types of subscription confirmation emails: single opt-in or double opt-in. Let’s take a closer look at each of these and when they might be the best choice.

What Is a Single Opt-In?

A single opt-in subscription confirmation email is the simplest route to go. After a person fills out the form, they receive an automated email to notify them that their subscription was added. There are pros and cons to this method:

  • Pro: Fewer blockers to new subscribers. Email subscriptions are like any other type of conversion: the more steps it involves, the fewer people will follow through. A single opt-in process is simple and only requires one step. If someone subscribes by accident, the confirmation email gives them the opportunity to unsubscribe.
  • Con: More fake emails. Because no confirmation is required, you may have emails on your mailing list that are fake or incorrect. This lowers your deliverability.

What Is a Double Opt-In?

Most email service providers require new subscribers to go through a two-step process to sign up for a mailing list. A double-opt-in requires a two-step verification process where a subscriber needs to confirm their subscription. Until they complete the second step, they aren’t subscribed.As with a single opt-in, there are advantages and disadvantages of a double opt-in system too:

  • Pro: Cleaner mailing list - Asking readers to confirm their subscription makes for a cleaner, more engaged subscriber database. Readers who confirm their subscription want to receive your emails; there’s no chance they signed up by accident. It also reduces spam complaints and ensures subscribers' consent and security.
  • Con: Losing intended subscribers due to a lack of follow-through - Not all initial subscribers will confirm their subscription and thus won’t make it onto your list. According to Campaign Monitor, up to 20% of initial subscribers will not complete the final confirmation step. The email might get overlooked or accidentally deleted, or readers may not understand the confirmation process. To reduce that problem, send an automated follow-up to remind them again to confirm their subscription.  

Subscription Confirmation Email Best Practices (with Examples)

It’s important to remember that subscription confirmation emails are your first opportunity to make an impression on readers and confirm their desire to receive emails from you.

Use a Large, Easily Accessible CTA Button

When there’s something you want people to do (in this case, to confirm their email subscription or perhaps take another action), make it as easy for them as possible. In designing your confirmation email, include a prominent call-to-action button that says “confirm your subscription” or “complete your subscription.” While that CTA will be the focal point of the email, you should also have a brief explanation of what this email is doing and why they need to click through to confirm.Note that we said this button should be “prominent.” What does that mean? It means you should use the design to make it visually stand out: make it somewhat large, use bright or eye-catching colors, and have enough white space around it that it draws the reader’s eye.

Email subscription confirmation request message

Write Brief but Effective Copy

A subscription confirmation email doesn’t have to include a lot of copy, and you want to keep it brief so your readers don’t make the classic decision of “that looks like too much reading so I’m going to skip it entirely.” Be concise but still make sure your copy is warm and welcoming, on-brand, and enthusiastic about having them on board.Here’s a great example of custom, on-brand, welcoming text from the agency Edenspiekermann:

eden

Check for Brand Consistency

Your confirmation email is one more opportunity to make your brand more recognizable to subscribers, so take advantage of that opportunity. The design should reflect your branding elements: use brand colors, use brand fonts, include your logo, and so on. Make it look like a true match with your website so the subscriber recognizes the imagery immediately. This makes subscribers feel more comfortable that the email is coming from you and not a scammer, and it also builds trust and familiarity with your brand.

aiga

Use Humor to Make a Statement

Want to grab your readers’ attention and establish a better relationship with them? Relate to them by making them laugh. While subscription confirmation emails don’t seem exciting and they have a very straightforward (albeit a bit dull) purpose, you can make them fun.We got this email from Parabo, the print shop app, and smiled. Instead of the very standard “Please confirm subscription” header text, we were greeted with a funny, whimsical hello that’s totally in their brand voice. “We really want you to want us” is a clever way to break up the usual mundane greeting, and reaffirmed why we thought we wanted to sign up for their emails in the first place. Parabo also includes their logo in the header, and the HTML background color and call-to-action button have been customized to be on-brand pink. The email is simple, it only takes a second to read, but it still makes an impression. Job well done.

parabo subscription confirmation email

Top Subscription Confirmation Email Examples

Need some inspo before you dig in and start designing a subscription confirmation that brings smiles to readers’ faces and gets the job done? Ask and we shall deliver. Check out these subscription confirmation email examples that put best practices to use.

Example #1: Be Design Forward

We’ve written about The Daily GOOD email newsletter before. It’s always well-designed and well thought-out, so it’s no surprise that the subscription confirmation email has a smart design. It’s simple, yes, but GOOD does something we haven’t seen in any other confirmation emails: the header is an animated GIF.

daily good

The rest of the email is simple but in a distinctly on-brand way. It uses brand colors, and the design’s minimalistic look and abundant white space make it very clear that you need to click the button to complete your subscription. What a great way to show readers a preview of the beautiful, design-forward thinking from the newsletters to come.

good subscription confirmation email

Example #2 - Expectation Manage with Your Audience

Cook Smarts' subscription confirmation email serves up a delicious welcome. Their beautiful, high-quality images are engaging and enticing, while the copy tells subscribers exactly what to expect next (a welcome email with freebies) and when to expect it (within the hour).The info is useful for readers, encourages them to confirm their subscription, and tells them something about what to expect from Cook Smarts: great, timely communication. It goes to show how a little bit of thought can go a long way when you’re making an effort to make a strong first impression with potential subscribers.

cook smarts subscription confirmation email

Putting It All Together: Crafting a Successful Subscription Confirmation Email

Your subscription confirmation email is one of the first contacts you may have with your new subscribers. Taking advantage of the best practices for these emails can give you a more engaged, enthusiastic mailing list. In this guide, we’ve laid out some of the key best practices for subscription confirmation emails, including:

  • Designing a prominent and clear call-to-action button
  • Writing copy that is brief but engaging and on-brand
  • Incorporating brand-specific design choices
  • Using humor to stand out

We’ll admit that putting all this together into an expertly crafted subscription confirmation email isn’t easy. The good news is you don’t have to start from scratch. Our catalog of 1,500+ email templates is designed to guide you with these best practices in mind. All templates are easy to customize with your own unique brand elements. Try them out for yourself with your free Beefree account.Editor’s Note: This post was updated on June 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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What do customers think about your brand’s products? The best way to find out is to ask them directly, which you can do via strategic email campaigns.

Email makes gathering authentic product reviews quick and easy. By collecting sincere feedback, you can build trust, increase sales, boost loyalty, and innovate product improvements. 

That said, requesting reviews via email requires precise timing, personalized messaging, and lots of engagement optimizations. But don’t worry—we’ll walk you through some key steps to create email campaigns that deliver the valuable feedback you need.

Why product reviews matter

Product reviews do more than confirm that you're meeting customers’ needs. Sincere feedback drives loyalty and sales, offers valuable customer insights, and helps you develop a strategic product development roadmap.

  • Fosters customer loyalty: Requesting and listening to feedback makes your customers feel valued and heard. It demonstrates that you prioritize customer satisfaction, which helps you build stronger, long-term relationships. Review requests also act as re-engagement emails by starting new conversations with customers.
  • Increases sales: Social proof drives sales. According to a recent survey by Power Reviews, 90% of potential customers use online reviews to make purchasing decisions. In fact, reviews have more influence over purchasing decisions than product prices. Turning product reviews into customer testimonials and encouraging reviews on third-party sites can significantly boost sales.
Image sourced from powerreviews.com
  • Builds Customer 360 insights: Customer feedback delivers insights into customer needs and sentiments, enriching Customer 360. Exactly what is Customer 360? It’s a unified, 360-degree view of customer data. It empowers you to tailor products and customer experiences to meet individual needs and preferences. 
  • Drives product improvements: Sincere customer feedback reveals what target customers like/dislike about your products. It provides key insight into their value, functionality, and usability, unlocking large-scale development opportunities.

How to create an email campaign to collect product reviews

Want to unlock the power of product reviews? Let’s explore how to create email campaigns that encourage customers to share their feedback.

Segment your audience

Like promotional emails, product review requests shouldn’t be sent to every subscriber.

If subscribers haven’t had the chance to try your product, product review requests will feel irrelevant and may trigger unsubscriptions. So, only send review email requests to customers recently trying your product.

You can do this by segmenting your email list based on where customers are in the buying cycle. Target loyal customers, recent purchasers, and first-time buyers with tailored email campaigns. This ensures that you’re sending emails to customers most likely to respond with insightful feedback.

Write a compelling email subject line

According to Superoffice, 33% of people open an email based on the subject line. 

Image sourced from superoffice.com

To get the click-through rates you want, your email subject lines should be personalized, relevant, and engaging. Here are some examples:

  • Did you love [product]? Or hate it? Let us know!
  • We value your opinion — help us improve!
  • We want YOU to help us make our product better!
  • Up for a discount? Share your feedback for 10% off! 

Learn more > Tips for writing open worthy subject lines.

Optimize for customer engagement

A successful email marketing strategy relies on customer engagement. Here are some key email elements you need to encourage interactions.

  • An attractive email design: With the right layout, color scheme, typography, and images, you ensure easy readability and promote interaction. Use these engagement-boosting email design best practices to help you create a design that boosts conversion rates.
  • Gratitude and value: Thank customers for reading the email and explaining why their feedback is so important. Also, consider including a personalized Gmail email signature with your content details to build trust and encourage customers to engage with your review request. 
  • Personalized, relevant content: Personalized email content motivates engagement. Use customer data platform (CDP) data to tailor messages to individual customers. What is a CDP? It’s a centralized platform that collects and unifies customer information, building comprehensive customer profiles. 
  • Incentives: Offering a small discount can motivate customers to leave reviews, especially first-time buyers. That said, incentives can (sometimes) generate insincere reviews, so stress the importance of honesty. 
  • A strong call-to-action (CTA): Your CTA should direct readers straight to the reviews submission page. Use clear CTAs with bold buttons and typography to make it stand out.
  • Mobile responsiveness: If your emails are slow to load or don’t display correctly on mobile devices, your bounce rate will spike. Leverage solutions that offer advanced mobile optimization features — such as Beefree— to create responsive emails every single time.

Ask specific, concise questions

Complex, drawn-out questions that are too open-ended can disengage customers. So, get straight to the point with concise, direct questions. Here are some examples:

  • What did you think of [specific product feature]?
  • How often do you use our product?
  • What are your favorite/least favorite features?
  • How likely are you to recommend this product?
  • What could we do to improve our product?

Use a mixture of closed and open-ended questions to increase your chances of receiving meaningful responses.

Make it easy to respond

The easier it is for customers to leave a review, the more responses you’ll receive. So, make the process as seamless and convenient as possible. One way to do this is with survey emails.

Email surveys have high response rates. They can be completed within the email with minimal effort, which is a big plus for busy customers. And, they can generate a wealth of quantitative data and metrics that are quick to analyze, leading to faster improvements. BeeFree has an extensive collection of email survey templates to suit every need.

For longer review requests, include a CTA that directly links to the review submission page. Review forms should use simple, clear language, be optimized for mobile, and have a progress bar. 

You could even provide your telephone contact details to allow customers to leave a review via telephone. It’s the preferred communication method for 55% of Baby Boomers according to Hubspot, so it’s worth considering. 

Leverage small business telephone services from Vonage to access call center capabilities like virtual receptionists and CRM integrations, streamlining processes.

Also consider directing customers to leave reviews on popular review sites, such as Google and Amazon.

Optimize email timings

If you send product review requests too early, there’s a chance your customers won’t have tried your product yet. But if you send them too late, your customer might have forgotten their experience. 

So, when’s the best time to request reviews? 

Aim to send review requests within 7-14 days post-purchase. This gives customers a chance to try the product a few times, leading to more sincere, meaningful reviews. Plan for seasonal surges such as Black Friday and incorporate them into your schedules.

Key takeaways

Do email campaigns work for gathering valuable product reviews that drive improvements, boost trust, and increase sales and loyalty? 

Absolutely — but they need to be strategic.

To generate sincere reviews and valuable data, ensure your marketing emails are personalized, engaging, and optimized for convenience. And, use email list segmentation and marketing automation to ensure they’re sent to the right customers at the right time.

How Beefree is Helping Email Makers Scale Their Production

2024 was a banner year for email markers everywhere. From sleek newsletters to interactive promos, you flexed your creative muscle to new heights and did it with a level of speed and efficiency that made crafting award-worthy emails look easy. Let’s dive into the numbers, trends, and stories that made this year unforgettable for email makers like you.
Beefree team
Beefree team
6 Jan
2025

2024 was a banner year for email markers everywhere. From sleek newsletters to interactive promos, you flexed your creative muscle to new heights and did it with a level of speed and efficiency that made crafting award-worthy emails look easy. 

At Beefree, we’ve had a front-row seat to all the incredible ways you scaled your email production. With templates that sped up creation and workflows that brought your team closer, you’ve redefined what it means to create emails that inspire and deliver.

Let’s dive into the numbers, trends, and stories that made this year unforgettable for email makers like you. 

Total number of emails created: 1,648,180

That’s right—over 1.6 million emails were crafted using Beefree this year, each one a testament to your creativity and efficiency. Everyone from small startups to large enterprises, and teams across the globe harnessed the power of Beefree.

The templates that powered your success

Out of the 1.6 million emails created this year, 178,199 started with a little help from our template catalog.

Our most loved categories included:

  • Templates for Gmail & Mailchimp: Whether you were crafting a campaign or a one-off blast, these platform agnostic templates made it easy to integrate design and delivery effortlessly.
  • Password-reset emails: You proved that even the most utilitarian messages deserve to be noticed.
  • Notification email templates: From order confirmations to system alerts, these templates kept your communications clear, concise, and on-brand.

These favorites highlight a vital truth: even the simplest communications can leave a lasting impression. Templates have become your secret weapon, allowing you to hit the ground running, save time, and focus on the creative flair that makes your emails stand out.

(source)

Total time saved per week: 2 hours

Time is money, and in 2024, Beefree users saved big. On average, 59% of users shaved off at least 2 hours per week on email creation, giving them more time to focus on strategy, creativity, and all the other things that make their emails shine. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

An impressive 81% of users reported being able to design emails at least 3x faster since implementing Beefree. What used to take hours now takes mere minutes with pre-designed templates and built-in collaboration tools. 

(source)

More time saved = more time to design

By cutting down on the nitty-gritty of email production, like formatting, coding, and repetitive edits, Beefree gave you the freedom to focus on what truly matters: design. 

With more time on your hands, you experimented with bold new layouts, fine-tuned your visual storytelling, and perfected those interactive elements that kept your audience engaged.

(source)

84% of Beefree users saw an increase in design quality after implementing our tool and 84% have increased on-brand email creation by 50% or more. 

Think about it: The less time on production meant more time to think creatively and innovate.

New height reached 

With more time on your hands and even more accessible design solutions, 2024 became the year you pushed boundaries and achieved more than ever before. And as your email production scaled, so did your ambitions. 

This surge in productivity and creativity signaled that you were ready for the next step—a plan that could grow alongside you and offer even more tailored support for your evolving needs. Recognizing this, we launched our Business Plan in May, designed specifically to meet you where you’re at. 

This plan was crafted to offer the advanced features and scalability that busy teams need, like enhanced collaboration tools and more customization options. 

Is the Beefree HTML Email Builder Right for You? >

After upgrading to a paid plan, 41% of Beefree users saw an ROI in just under a month! 58% report that Beefree has been a KEY part of scaling their email programs. 

(source)

Beautiful design matters 

A well-crafted email design does more than look good; it communicates your brand’s personality, values, and message in a way that’s instantly recognizable and engaging. It draws the reader in, guides their eyes through the content seamlessly, and encourages action, whether it’s clicking through to a website, signing up for an event, or making a purchase.

In 2024, you embraced the power of beautiful design like never before, and you were rewarded for it. Beefree users increased their CTR by an average of 25%.

The marketing ROI on the one email alone was immeasurable. Open rates increased by over 20%, engagement rates by 31%, and best of all, the subscribers fell under a healthy .1%. All are driven by the creative firepower of Beefree. 

Aimee Meester
, Founder and CEO, Madison Taylor Marketing 
Read the case study

In a digital landscape where first impressions are everything, beautiful design isn’t just nice to have—it’s a necessity. And with Beefree, creating visually appealing emails has never been easier, empowering you to continue delivering designs that captivate and convert.

We can’t wait to see what you create next.

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