diff --git a/lib/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueue.php b/lib/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueue.php
index 00366b1226..d160234b39 100644
--- a/lib/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueue.php
+++ b/lib/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueue.php
@@ -43,10 +43,19 @@ class SendingQueue {
         self::BATCH_SIZE
       );
       foreach($subscriber_batches as $subscribers_to_process_ids) {
-        $found_subscribers = SubscriberModel::findSubscribersInSegments(
-          $subscribers_to_process_ids, $newsletter_segments_ids
-        )->findMany();
-        $found_subscribers_ids = SubscriberModel::extractSubscribersIds($found_subscribers);
+        if (!empty($newsletter_segments_ids[0])) {
+          // Check that subscribers are in segments
+          $found_subscribers = SubscriberModel::findSubscribersInSegments(
+            $subscribers_to_process_ids, $newsletter_segments_ids
+          )->findMany();
+          $found_subscribers_ids = SubscriberModel::extractSubscribersIds($found_subscribers);
+        } else {
+          // No segments = Welcome emails
+          $found_subscribers = SubscriberModel::whereIn('id', $subscribers_to_process_ids)
+            ->whereNull('deleted_at')
+            ->findMany();
+          $found_subscribers_ids = SubscriberModel::extractSubscribersIds($found_subscribers);
+        }
         // if some subscribers weren't found, remove them from the processing list
         if(count($found_subscribers_ids) !== count($subscribers_to_process_ids)) {
           $subscibers_to_remove = array_diff(
diff --git a/tests/unit/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueueTest.php b/tests/unit/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueueTest.php
index 54e6cc28b8..069fa796c3 100644
--- a/tests/unit/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueueTest.php
+++ b/tests/unit/Cron/Workers/SendingQueue/SendingQueueTest.php
@@ -282,6 +282,54 @@ class SendingQueueTest extends MailPoetTest {
     expect($statistics)->notEquals(false);
   }
 
+  function testItCanProcessWelcomeNewsletters() {
+    $this->newsletter->type = Newsletter::TYPE_WELCOME;
+    $this->newsletter_segment->delete();
+
+    $sending_queue_worker = new SendingQueueWorker(
+      $timer = false,
+      Stub::make(
+        new MailerTask(),
+        array(
+          'send' => Stub::exactly(1, function($newsletter, $subscriber) {
+            // newsletter body should not be empty
+            expect(!empty($newsletter['body']['html']))->true();
+            expect(!empty($newsletter['body']['text']))->true();
+            return true;
+          })
+        )
+      )
+    );
+    $sending_queue_worker->process();
+
+    // newsletter status is set to sent
+    $updated_newsletter = Newsletter::findOne($this->newsletter->id);
+    expect($updated_newsletter->status)->equals(Newsletter::STATUS_SENT);
+
+    // queue status is set to completed
+    $updated_queue = SendingQueue::findOne($this->queue->id);
+    expect($updated_queue->status)->equals(SendingQueue::STATUS_COMPLETED);
+
+    // queue subscriber processed/to process count is updated
+    $updated_queue->subscribers = $updated_queue->getSubscribers();
+    expect($updated_queue->subscribers)->equals(
+      array(
+        'to_process' => array(),
+        'processed' => array($this->subscriber->id)
+      )
+    );
+    expect($updated_queue->count_total)->equals(1);
+    expect($updated_queue->count_processed)->equals(1);
+    expect($updated_queue->count_to_process)->equals(0);
+
+    // statistics entry should be created
+    $statistics = StatisticsNewsletters::where('newsletter_id', $this->newsletter->id)
+      ->where('subscriber_id', $this->subscriber->id)
+      ->where('queue_id', $this->queue->id)
+      ->findOne();
+    expect($statistics)->notEquals(false);
+  }
+
   function testItRemovesNonexistentSubscribersFromProcessingList() {
     $queue = $this->queue;
     $queue->subscribers = serialize(