70% of Casinos Fail at Welcome Emails: Here’s How to Fix Yours

The Problem

We recently created new player accounts at 100+ online casinos to test their onboarding sequences. The results were alarming: 7 out of 10 gambling operators are failing to utilize the real power of the Welcome email for Online Casino .

Common mistakes we recorded:

• Email has aggressive marketing language and\or offering

• Doesn’t have a  “Confirm” link

• Online-casinos don't send it at all.

• Online-casinos send marketing email right away (together with Welcome email)

• Email has no footer

• Welcome email is sent by same sending domains as marketing emails

As a result emails land in Spam even though this is the easiest way to get to the Primary folder. Sometimes instead of the primary folder it goes to Promotions losing up to 40% of opens and clicks.

This results mirrors with results of audits we performed for our customers suffering low engagement of entire Welcome sequences. Where Welcome email’s KPI are well below industry benchmark Open rate above 50% and clicks rate above 40%

Missing Opportunity

From our experience working with 60+ gambling brands, fixing the Welcome email drives results:

• +20% Increase in Reg-to-FTD conversion rate

• +40% Increase in engagement (Opens/Clicks) for the subsequent marketing emails in the sequence.

Why This Email is Critical

A Welcome email is a transactional message sent to a new registration. Its sole purpose is to get the user to click "Please confirm your email.

Why does this specific click matter?

Welcome email has critical engagement for gambling operators where high engagement is hard to achieve and emails are scrutinised by spam filters. 

• Inbox Deliverability: It is the easiest way to get the first click. Once a player clicks that confirmation link, the probability of your next marketing email hitting the Primary Inbox grows by 70%. This is especially critical for Gmail deliverability.

• Gambling Specifics: Many players use "dump" emails or alternative addresses to sign up. These pass validation but have no real activity. This is very important to distinguish who’s who and adjust email marketing strategy. Basically, this is a DOI (double opt-in) mechanic but there is a hint, more on this in another article.

• Human Behavior: Users expect to confirm their email. It is a standard e-commerce practice, meaning compliance is naturally high.

What makes an impact? 

According to statistics only 50-70% of registrations make FTD the same day. For the rest your email marketing could make a huge impact.

Once a player clicks the confirmation link the probability grows up to 63% to deliver the next marketing email to the player's inbox compared to a case with no click on Welcome email. This is especially relevant with ISPs other than Gmail.

And so your Reg-to-FTD conversion rate grows with more clicks on your marketing emails reaching inbox after Welcome email click.

The best part: this is one the easiest and fastest fix you can do even if all your email communication does Platform provider.

How to Fix Welcome Email

Treat it as Transactional, Not Marketing

Email Marketing platforms and SMTP providers distinguish between transactional mail (password resets, confirmations) and marketing mail and can make separate routes per email type. Many Platform providers also know the difference and have the ability to configure your Welcome email as transactional email.

Use a Dedicated sender

Use a dedicated subdomain and IP for transactional emails (e.g., tr.casinobrand.com). This isolates your reputation; if your marketing domain hits the Spam folder, your new players will still receive their login details and important administrative notifications.

Implement real-time email validation

Gambling databases are plagued by garbage data. Validate emails before you send to protect your sender reputation. 

Learn how lack of email validation destroys your email marketing in this post.

Subject line

Keep it boring and functional. It must reflect a required action. 

Good: "Confirm your registration" or "Action Required: Confirm email"

Bad: "Welcome to [Brand]! Here is your Bonus!"

The Copy: Administrative Tone Only

Never use aggressive marketing language or bonus offers in this specific email. Use a simple, administrative tone.

Simple example:

Hello {{name}}You have made a registration in {{brand name}}

Please confirm your email

If you have any question, please contact support@

Anna,Customer success team

The Button (Critical Design Fix)

Make the link highly visible

• Do not use an image-only button. If the email lands in Spam images are disabled, the button disappears.

• Do not put white text on a colored background image. If the image fails to load, you are left with white text on a white background - invisible to the user.

It’s recommended to use a post-back link from your ESP.

The Footer

• Provide explanation why players received this email

• Add company information

• Add physical address

The Golden Rule: Welcome Emails First

Send Welcome emails first. Period. 

Then, if you have to send marketing emails without click on Welcome email, do it with a few hours delay.

Some difficulties

We understand that it is not really that simple for gambling operators to make changes. You are tied to your Platform provider and you have to ask him to implement changes. Many Platform providers are not very attentive or cooperative.

But it’s possible to:

• Make a template you want to use

• Make sure this emails send out as transactional email

Be sure what you ask is no rocket science and as recently a must have Email Marketing Best Practice implemented by many Platform providers.