Welcome email and broadcast basics

The first email a new subscriber gets sets the relationship. Send it from a person, not the brand.

Set up a welcome email as a 'Letter' action triggered automatically when someone joins (Action Network calls these 'autoresponders'; under your form, go to Response Settings → Email).

Structure of a strong welcome email: (1) thank you, by their first name; (2) a one-paragraph story of who you are and why this campaign exists; (3) one concrete next step (reply to this email with a one-sentence answer to a question, RSVP for the next event, share with one friend); (4) sign with a real name and an actual phone number people can text.

Subject lines that work for organizing welcomes are usually short, lower-case, and personal: 'thanks for joining — quick question', 'welcome (and a story)', 'hi from MdR'. Avoid all-caps, exclamation points, and anything that reads like a marketing newsletter.

After the welcome, plan to email subscribers no more than twice a month for the first six months, unless there is a real action moment. Over-emailing is the fastest way to teach a base that you only show up when you want something.