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
- Personalized greeting
- Body copy
- Founder note / avatar
- Primary CTA
- Editorial body (getting started grid)
- Section header
- 3-card grid
- Pre-footer feature
- Feature image
- Feature copy
- Sender info / unsubscribe
Import
How to import this template into ActiveCampaign, step by step.
The download is a single HTML file. Here is where it goes in ActiveCampaign, what the platform expects, and which tags are already wired up.
- Open Campaigns, then Campaign Templates.
- Choose Create a Template, then Start From Scratch.
- Pick Custom HTML and paste the downloaded file.
- Replace every placeholder before you send — image sources, link targets, body copy, the sender name and the footer address. ActiveCampaign does not host images in Custom HTML, so each img src has to point at a URL you control.
- Save, then select the template when you build a campaign.
Editing Custom HTML is one of ActiveCampaign’s three template paths and it is mutually exclusive with the two drag-and-drop designers — a Custom HTML template cannot be reopened in Email Designer. You can toggle to the visual editor for WYSIWYG changes when the HTML parses cleanly.
Watch for ActiveCampaign appends its own default footer unless the email carries both an unsubscribe tag and a sender-info tag. This template ships with both, so the footer you see is the footer that sends — remove either one and ActiveCampaign will bolt its own on underneath.
Swapping the placeholder images
ActiveCampaign does not host the images in a Custom HTML template. Every src has to resolve to a URL you control, or to a file you have uploaded into ActiveCampaign, before the first send — otherwise the image is simply missing in the inbox.
<img src="https://app.emailtemple.com/api/assets/26b5d…38-94bc-ac633647d185"
alt="Your brand name"
width="140">How to use it
When to send this welcome email, and what to change first.
When to send it
This is the first email of an automation, triggered on list join and sending with no delay. It orients rather than sells. The reader signed up seconds ago and wants to know what they just agreed to. Set the trigger on subscription in ActiveCampaign and let the rest of the sequence carry the offer.
What to change first
The founder byline says “Alex, Founder, Your brand name”. Put a real name and title there — this email is the handshake. The body promises one actionable framework every week. That sets an expectation you then have to keep, so match it to your real cadence. Two numbers ship as blanks: “[N] peers” in the community card and “[N] readers” in the Cornerstone Resource block. Fill both with your own or cut them. Six image slots: the logo, the founder avatar, three card icons and the blueprint feature image. ActiveCampaign does not host images in a Custom HTML template, so each needs a real URL.
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
ActiveCampaign template questions, answered.
Can I reopen this in ActiveCampaign’s drag-and-drop designer?
No. Custom HTML is mutually exclusive with Email Designer and Classic Designer — a template created in one cannot be opened in the other. You can toggle to the visual editor for WYSIWYG edits when the HTML parses cleanly.
Does ActiveCampaign host the images in this template?
Not automatically. Every image in a Custom HTML template must point at an externally hosted URL or at a file you have uploaded into ActiveCampaign. Swap the placeholder sources before your first send.
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 Newsletter welcome — ActiveCampaign hold up in dark mode and Outlook?
Every zone sets its background twice — once as a bgcolor attribute and once as an inline background-color — which is the pattern that survives dark-mode inversion in clients that repaint backgrounds.
The “Read the latest issue” 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.