Over the past year, the UK hobby industry has been growing rapidly. And is expected to continue to grow annually by 1.02% (CAGR 2021-2025).

For the hobby industry, that means an influx of new customers that our eager to join the community. And what better way to do that than with a welcome email marketing campaign?

Welcome email marketing campaigns are often the first piece of communication that a prospective customer receives from a brand, and it’s at a time when they are highly engaged.

As a result, welcome emails typically see 4x greater open rates than general bulk campaigns, 5x greater click-through rates, and 8 x more revenue per email.

So to offer a little inspiration. Here are 7 examples of welcome campaigns from hobby brands that we love. And that make you feel you’re part of the club!

Hobbycraft

Hobbycraft excel at welcome email marketing campaigns.

Let’s start with their design. Every email is colourful, eye-catching, and completely on-brand. The imagery they use reflects their product range, and also incorporates their brand colours.

Their initial welcome email ticks all of the boxes. It is welcoming and utilises engaging copy. It offers a discount code to encourage first time purchasers. And promotes further benefits of signing up to Hobbycraft, such as a £5 voucher on Birthdays.

Hobbycraft follows this email up with a series of promotions that gradually guide the recipient through their product range. Increasing their awareness of the Hobbycraft offering, without being pushy.

 

Games Workshop/Warhammer

One of the things we loved most about the Games Workshop/Warhammer welcome series is the focus on community.

The brand doesn’t launch into product promotion until later in the series. Instead, they aim to get recipients involved in the Warhammer community, both online and offline, with the use of community links and content. This is a great tactic for welcoming new members and warming them to your brand.

When they do promote their products, it’s with an exclusive offer to pre-order. Quickly showcasing to their recipients the VIP treatment they can expect to receive.

And of course, the imagery used in the emails is striking and eye-catching for any Warhammer fan. Drawing them in immediately.

365 Toys

365 Toys may not have produced the most beautiful welcome email marketing campaign, but the clear information included in their email is fantastic.

365 Toys ensures that new members are completely up to date with what the brand can offer them, and reinforce why creating an account was such a great decision.

They begin by focusing on the benefits, such as discount codes. They promote their newsletter to help ensure that members are regularly kept in the loop. They introduce their ‘player points’ offering, which provides further benefits to recipients. And last but not least, they promote their excellent Trustpilot score, giving the recipient a little reassurance if they were considering a purchase.

And of course we have to mention the simple use of first-name personalisation in the email copy. This is such a simple but effective tactic for welcome campaigns. Yet a lot of brands still miss it out.

GAME

The first thing that stands out about GAME’s welcome campaign is their striking design.

Perfectly on-brand. The use of black, white, and pink not only looks great but is instantly recognisable.

GAME keep their design simple so as not to distract from their message. The usual best practice elements for a welcome email are all included. Personalisation, benefits, and contact details.

However, what we love about this welcome campaign is that before going onto promote their products, GAME makes an effort to get to know their recipients better.

They have an email solely dedicated to data capture. And they make it super simple by categorising recipients into relatable, ready-made segments.

Not only is ‘getting to know’ their recipients beneficial for building a relationship. It also provides GAME with data so that they can further personalise their communications and product recommendations.

 

Scale Model Shop

Welcome emails don’t always have to be about bright colours and advanced marketing tactics.

Sometimes simple is better.

Scale Model Shop provides a straightforward but highly useful email for their welcome campaign.

Their sole focus is on the customer, and getting them set up with their account correctly.

In their campaign they include step-by-step instructions to get their recipient signed up to their account. Alongside a description of other account tabs that the recipient might find useful.

Not only is this incredibly helpful for the recipient. It also saves the brand time on dealing with customer support queries regarding set up.

Discogs

We love Discogs’ clean and simple approach to their welcome email.

It takes the recipient through the steps of using the key features of Discogs, such as valuations, want lists, and using the app. Meaning that recipients don’t have to waste any time exploring their account. They can get stuck in immediately.

Discogs also include useful ‘housekeeping’ information, such as adding them as a safe sender. And encouraging the recipient to customise their email notifications for additional personalisation.

And of course, they include those all-important social channels. Encouraging recipients to “join them on social media” so that they can continue to stay up to date outside of their inbox.

Smyths Toys

Smyths Toys get the tone and design of their welcome campaign spot on. Coming across as friendly, fun, and welcoming.

This is helped by the use of their mascot, Oscar, who adds an extra element of familiarity to the welcome email, as opposed to coming across as a faceless company.

In their initial welcome email, Smyths Toys focus on offering up their key information, such as delivery times, store locations, and social channels.

Smyths Toys then go on to showcase their range of products in the following emails. One tactic we really liked is how they tweak their design slightly to reflect the items they are promoting, and the audience they are targeting. All whilst still keeping on-brand.

Nice touch.

Are you a hobby brand looking to upgrade your email marketing strategy?

Then we have lots of  campaign ideas, tactics, and inspiration to share with you.

Alongside our all-in-one AI marketing platform and a Customer Success Team whose sole mission is to get you better results.

Simply get in touch with our friendly experts to learn more.