Orient, do not sell
The structural rule is to tell a new subscriber where they have landed and what happens next. A pitch in the first email spends trust you have not earned yet.
Preview
What's inside
What's inside this welcome email template, module by module.
Read off the file itself, not a spec sheet. This is the module order the download actually ships with, in the order a reader meets them.
- Greeting hero
- Founder note
- Getting started grid
- 3 numbered steps
- Primary CTA
Import
How to import this template into Mailchimp, step by step.
The download is a single HTML file. Here is where it goes in Mailchimp, what the platform expects, and which tags are already wired up.
- Open Email templates and choose Create template.
- Pick Code your own, then Paste in code.
- Paste the downloaded HTML and save the template.
- Replace every placeholder before you send — image sources, link targets, product and price copy, the sender name and the footer address. Anything marked mc:edit is editable in the campaign builder, so most of this needs no HTML.
- Start a campaign from the saved template.
Plan Custom-coded templates are a paid-plan feature. Mailchimp’s free tier does not offer the code-your-own path.
Editing This is a Classic template. Every region marked mc:edit opens in the campaign builder as an editable region with a WYSIWYG toolbar, so a non-technical teammate can change copy and images without touching HTML. Classic and the Drag-and-Drop builder are not interchangeable — an imported HTML template always lands in Classic.
Watch for Do not paste this into the Drag-and-Drop builder. There is no path from custom HTML into a Drag-and-Drop template — importing as code-your-own always yields a Classic template, which is what the mc: regions are built for.
Swapping the placeholder images
A custom-HTML template opens in Mailchimp’s legacy builder. Click the image, open the source view on that editable region, and replace the src with an image from your Mailchimp file manager — those URLs start with mcusercontent.com. The rest of the block can stay as it is.
Shortcut You can skip this entirely. Connect Mailchimp under Connectors in the studio and EmailTemple transfers the files over the API when it pushes the template, so there is no source code to edit. Connectors are on the Starter and Pro plans.
How to use it
When to send this welcome email, and what to change first.
When to send it
The first email of a buyer-lead automation, triggered when the enquiry lands on the list. It sends immediately, while the person still remembers filling in the form. Resist the urge to attach a listing. This email orients — who you are, how you work, what happens next — and the properties come later in the sequence. The trigger and any delay are set in your Mailchimp automation, not in the template.
What to change first
The byline under the headshot reads “Your Agent / Real Estate Partner”. It is the fastest tell that a lead is reading a template, so put your name and title there and replace the headshot. It is the only photo in the layout, which makes it load-bearing. Then the “How I work with buyers” paragraph. It is written in someone else’s voice, and a borrowed voice reads worse than a plain one. The three numbered steps promise a discovery call, a lender introduction and a saved search. Keep only the ones you deliver, then point “Start your home search” at your own search page.
The craft
What makes a welcome email worth sending.
Exactly one CTA
One primary button, no second. A welcome email with three competing actions has no action. Secondary paths belong in arrow-links, not buttons.
First person, short sentences
Warm and written, not corporate. A founder note and a small rounded avatar do more for trust here than any hero image, which is why the archetype skips large hero art entirely.
Or refine this
Make this email template yours.
Generate your own with this template as a starting point. Change the colors, the voice, the offer — describe what you want different and the studio recomposes it. Apply your brand kit and ship in your tone, not the template's.
The download is yours either way.
Open this template in the studio →
Questions
Mailchimp template questions, answered.
Can I import a custom HTML template on Mailchimp’s free plan?
No. The code-your-own path is a paid-plan feature — Mailchimp’s free tier does not expose custom-coded templates. Everything else about this template is free and unrestricted.
Will my team be able to edit this without touching HTML?
Yes, for the regions marked editable. Each mc:edit region opens in the campaign builder with a WYSIWYG toolbar, so copy and images can change per send while the layout stays fixed.
How many emails should a welcome series have?
Match the depth to how warm the audience is, not to a template. The documented range runs from a single activation email through to six or seven, and the constant across all of them is one action per email with a single clear CTA.
Does New buyer lead welcome — Mailchimp hold up in dark mode and Outlook?
Backgrounds are set with inline styles rather than the belt-and-braces bgcolor pairing, so check the render in a dark-mode client before your first send.
The “Start your home search” button is a bulletproof VML button, so Outlook on Windows draws a real filled button instead of collapsing it to a bare text link.
The layout is a 600px table backbone with a mobile breakpoint, and the CSS is already inlined for the clients that strip style blocks.
In the studio
Compose your own.
Describe what you want to send. Get a high-converting, dark-mode-safe template in seconds. Free tier, three generations a month, no card required.