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💬 An email sequence is an important component of any onboarding experience within SaaS, and if you don't execute/optimise well (or you're experiencing results right now which aren't optimal), then good chance you're losing new signups/users.
💬 Sharing below numerous experiments and tests you can run - lots of clever ideas (with example references) that you can bring into your own context/objectives.
Whilst you can have multiple emails as part of a welcome sequence, you want to optimise your first welcome email as best you can.
And there’s no “best practice” per se when it comes to that first email, you want to hone in on some key elements to help new users get up to speed on what’s possible and seeing the value.
Some key elements I would consider including are:
In conjunction with the above, test out video embeds / a video CTA for “how it works”, where new users can watch.
The likes of ‘checklists’ and progress onboarding states can work well for guiding users to achieve certain tasks to help with activation - all in the effort of improving ‘time to value’.
Plus, depending on product complexity and users, checklists/progress bars can help reduce friction/confusion, and just provides a better UX for new users.
As part of your onboarding sequence, test doing an email focused on outlining ‘best practices’ and top use cases with your product offering.
Use a mix of text-focused like this example, with supporting images, gifs and/or the likes of a video embed which readers can click on to watch more.
If you have templates available as part of your product, it can be one of your best activation tactics which is part of helping users understand the value of what your product can do (i.e. ‘time to value’).
This is certainly an email as part of an onboarding automation flow I would be including - and many of the top SaaS startups have an email like this to help with their activation rates.
As part of helping increase activation for new users, consider setting up a ‘celebratory’ automated trigger to highlight to users that they have used a core feature correctly.
This sort of email can then help motivate users to then keep going to create/use more of the feature.
And the more they use the feature, the greater chance that they're deriving and seeing value (which leads to users sticking around, and hopefully upgrading).
For many B2B audience segments that are exploring solutions, integration capabilities normally plays a role in their decision-making process.
So if you have integrations with other popular platforms (with a good chance that your ICP targets are already using), make sure to illuminate to this during your welcome automation flow(s).
Whether a dedicated email or part of another with other info/objectives, you want to ensure it’s obvious that helpful resources and tutorials are available for new users to access to get a better understanding of how the product works.
It’s a good tactic to have, especially to cater for both beginner to advanced levels of new users (and having helpful resources for both types).
I quite like this tactic which is certainly worth testing - use a Q&A video and also then prompt a “ask a question” CTA, which you can have triggered to new users that have signed up and have not hit ‘activation’ milestones you have set in place - or those who have signed up and have not logged back in since they first signed up.
This can be a good angle to see if new users reply with any questions, whether that be any bottlenecks they may be facing, any product feedback, or anything else related.
I really like emails like this, where they feel a bit more ‘natural’ and feel that you’re receiving a message directly from the founder (even if automated).
It’s simple and gets straight to the point - and it stands out compared to other event-based emails you normally receive from SaaS brands.
It’s worth experimenting with both designed and plain-text emails to measure CTRs, replies, and other desired objectives.
You want to optimise tailored welcome series emails for those who have signed up to the product from either a referral, or through being invited by other teammates/colleagues.
If a user has been invited by another team member, you want to share resources around how “teams” or multiple member workspaces work, to help them get up to speed about how to best work with other users in the same “team”.
For SaaS businesses that have a freemium model, then incorporating an offer-based email to encourage new user signups to upgrade to a “pro trial” can be a good way to convert more users.
You can of course segment offers and timings based on behavioural events, such as engagement of certain features and activity/usage.
As a social proof angle, reinforce and remind users that many others experience similar problems, and then back it up with data, such as a survey (like in this example by mmhmm).
It’s a good way to highlight that users aren’t isolated in what they’re trying to solve in terms of the solution they’re looking for, and turn that into illuminating about how your product offering can help.
