A lot of small lists send every new subscriber the same three welcome emails, then drop them into the main newsletter. Here's a lightweight way to branch the welcome on what people actually do, which most email platforms can handle with basic tags and automations. This is all permission-based (people who signed up themselves).

Email 1, sent straight away: deliver what they signed up for

Subject: Your [freebie] is here

Body: the download link first, one line on how to use it, and one question with two links: "Which sounds more like you? [I'm just starting out] / [I've been doing this a while]". Each link applies a tag.

Branch A, clicked "just starting out"

Email 2 (day 2): the one beginner mistake you see most, and how to avoid it.

Email 3 (day 5): a short checklist or worked example aimed at beginners.

Branch B, clicked "been doing this a while"

Email 2 (day 2): a less obvious tactic, assuming they know the basics.

Email 3 (day 5): a teardown or example from your own work.

Branch C, didn't click either

Email 2 (day 3): a plain-text email with a different subject line asking the same question in one sentence, with reply as an option: "Just reply with 1 or 2." If they still don't engage after the next email, tag them as unengaged rather than mailing them at full frequency forever.

Email 4 for everyone (day 8): what to expect from you, how often, and an easy unsubscribe or "less often" option.

Execution notes:

1. Keep the tags simple: beginner, experienced, unengaged. You can always add more later, but you rarely remove them.
2. Put the self-select question in email 1. It's when people are most likely to open and click.
3. Write branch emails as variations of each other first, then make them properly different once you see which branch is bigger.
4. Measure each branch separately (opens are unreliable now, so look at clicks and replies), then refine.

I'm not going to quote results because every list is different, but structurally it's one of the simplest ways to stop new subscribers getting generic content in their first week.

Disclosure: I sell a guide on segmentation and behaviour-based automation in my Ko-fi shop (Beyond the Inbox, £5), which goes further into tagging, lead scoring and dynamic content. Happy to share if it's of interest, but everything above works without it.