13 Best Onboarding & Activation Email Strategies For New Signups (2024)

💬 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.

Low-cost tests and experiments for SaaS onboarding emails (to strive towards increasing activation rates)

💬 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:

• Highlight welcome title with supporting copy
• Clear ‘how it works’/next steps copy and section on using the product for the first time (focus on key features for activation)
• Utilising images/gifs to help illustrate key features
• Section to remind them that support is available
• Social proof elements such as company (customer) logos, amount of users, potentially reviews, etc.

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• Love this layout from Miro, especially with the three steps section using simple copy and accompanying images
• Good inclusion of elements for customer support (reminder for new users for any issues they're facing/unsure of), as well as socila proof with "60mil people and 99% Fortune 100" with logos
• Also big fan of using the various UI components of the platform

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• Another example I'm sharing here that I like is from Wrike
• Great layout as well, focused on two main action steps (which helps with activation)
• Also like the addition of the progress bar for the trial period

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In conjunction with the above, test out video embeds / a video CTA for “how it works”, where new users can watch. 

• I quite like this style from Miro, which uses a mix of both having a video available, whilst also highlighting key features with supporting images.
• They do an amazing job with their automated/event emails

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• Arc have done a great job with this layout too with key features

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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.

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• Love the simplicity here from Bitly using the "Bitly-o-meter" as a 'fun' way to remind users of progress

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• Also like this from Framer, making the % progress clear at the top - great to make this clear for users/subscribers when they open
• Highlights simply the next steps to continue with rest of setup

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• This example from Lifesum is a good one (even if it isn't a SaaS brand) - I quite like their checklist progress email layout, using the icons with steps, bar, and overall design.

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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.

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• I love this from Riverside, creating a "checklist" about 'best practices' that users should do in order to get most value from the product - this helps guide users to see value faster, which leads to better activation rates and increased chances they will stick around (and hopefully upgrade)
• Good also to include video embeds for users to watch product in action

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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.

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• "Plug and play" templates is a great headline, which initiates to users that it's easy to get started with a template to get started
• Love the layout and UI

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• I like what Beefree have done here with highlighting templates based on use cases/seasonal periods - a smart tactic and optimisation to send to new users if they've signed up close to these periods
• Certainly worth testing/experimenting with activation compared to 'always on' template use cases

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• I wanted to include example from Coda - love the copy "have to stop meeting like this" and overall layout of features and supporting copy

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• Another test as part of your flows are keeping emails like this concise, using the likes of a simple image/GIF at top with a single CTA

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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). 

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• Like this from Zapier to celebrate new users completing a key activation step
• Good to share supporting resources and templates

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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).

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• Good layout example from Fireflies, highlighting some of their integrations (strategically done using these platforms as most users would have at least one of them)

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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).

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• Slack has done a good job here of sharing resources for various use cases as part of their onboarding/welcome, with then CTA's for readers to view more

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• Like this from Brilliant as well - fan of the graphics and copy

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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.

• Fan of this tactic from TrustHousesitters and the simplicity of the layout

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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.

• Great example here from Sendspark - good preview image for the video too

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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 doing emails like this, one like this from Figma is good

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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. 

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• Like this from Linktree - has an 'ecommerce' feel to it, which is quite smart as their audience are mainly D2C users (who are used to these style of emails from brands they buy from)

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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. 

• This tactic/experiment is seen here from mmhmm using survey data to highlight the problem that users have faced - good way to give further context to the problem/solution(s)
• Also like the fact they've included other key elements such as community, important announcement and a case study
• Like the use of the "tip" element too