7 Best SaaS Customer Appreciation Email Strategies for Retention (2025)

💬 Running campaigns and messaging focused on appreciating customers is a great initiative that, in my opinion, more SaaS and B2B brands should be doing - and if you're looking to also implement and try an initiative like this, I've got a few tactics below to check out, including some examples from amazing brands I like.

Numerous small/quick tests and strategies via email as part of showcasing customer appreciation (to help with engagement and other goals)

💬 Most of the below are low-cost and quite quick to test as part of existing automation flows, or even as single-focused campaigns - lots of ways to test/experiment. :)

I’m personally a big fan of this tactic, and more SaaS startups (regardless of size) should do something similar. 

It’s a great way to quickly build positive rapport with new users, and feels like a personalised and “warm” approach to show gratitude. 

It also helps ‘humanise’ the brand a bit, and breaks-through the ‘noise’ of other email automation sequences that you may be running - plus, all the other similar sign-up emails that users are getting from other products. 

Please note - you still need to run automated signup emails as part of onboarding and/or other sequences to help nurture and increase adoption. However, a personalised founder email can help set the tone and kick-off the relationship in a positive way.

In terms of what you can include in founder emails like this great example from Grammarly, you can: 

• Let them know from your point of view why you started, and what the mission is
• Ask for feedback - where they can directly email you or the team
• Feature requests (related to feedback)
• Highlight social proof (like number of users, publication features, and why/how users get value)
• Express your thanks

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Show appreciation and a ‘thank you’ to new users who’ve become a paid subscriber/customers - and why not include a potential incentive as part of an upsell strategy. 

Typically with these emails, trigger these at least a few days after they upgrade.

Here are a couple of reference examples to get some inspiration from: 

• Like this below with clear offer headline, alongside 3 core USPs and 2 CTAs

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• Also, this is great from Runtastic, where it's a birthday-focused offer - love it!
• Good graphic at the top, clear heading with personalised first name, and then awesome offer.

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Highlighting appreciation can be done with special announcements you want to make as a brand - for instance, it could be a special initiative to help out the community (or some sort of social good project), or even the likes of a commercial focus (like a sales promo).

• As a community initiative example, I like this from Meetup, where they announced donating funds to the Global Giving Coronavirus Relief Fund.

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Celebratory key date milestones and anniversaries is another great opportunity to message users/customers wide. 

They’re great reminders to users and customers about the value that you’ve provided for that period, which shows your commitment to serve your users/customers. 

Plus, it helps acknowledge the fact that the customers/users have contributed to the success of the product and community, which helps them feel valued too (and in turn can lead to greater loyalty/retention). 

In terms of a great example, really love Fitbit’s example: 

• Awesome announcement with the key stats - really helps paint the picture for subscribers/users
• I like the formatting/structure overall - easy to scan and then stop at key sentences (with the bolding, and dot points with numbers)
• The sign-off with the two founder names and faces makes it feel personalised from them

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In conjunction with the above checklist point on milestones/anniversaries, make sure to set these up for freemium/free-tier segments - for both active and inactive audiences. 

Plus, it’s a great nudge to provide some sort of incentive/offer related to the milestone - and you can customise offerings based on attributes/behaviours (e.g. active vs inactive).

• Love this reference from Grammarly - simple to do!

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For inactive cohorts, you can use ‘anniversary’ milestone reminders to nudge them - it’s a good ‘excuse’ to help stay top of mind and encourage them to come back.

• Another simple approach here (like the above) from Duolingo - you don't need to overthink these types of comms - focus is good

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Another customer appreciation opportunity are through product update emails - especially for highlighting new feature releases and user/customer feedback you may have received. 

• It's good to incl. appreciation messages/sections when you do product update digests/releases, like this example reference from Buffer
• They've kept the appreciation messaging simple, yet it stands out for users/customers - just a couple of sentences like this to incl. in your future comms can be effective
• Also like the sign-off from a key team member who looks after product updates like this - personalised and changes things up in terms of people (rather than just the founders/CEO)