7 Types OF User Onboarding Emails (With Examples)
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Ask any entrepreneur and odds are they will agree that every edge we can get in business, we’ll take. One area where many businesses fall short however, is in their user onboarding emails.
Here’s the harsh truth – getting your onboarding emails wrong can cost you customers. Full stop.
That’s why in this post, we’re exploring the seven types of user onboarding emails you need to get really good at writing. We’ll discuss what they are, and we’ll discuss the companies we’re watching that are getting their onboarding emails.
Brief Explanation of What User Onboarding Emails Are
User onboarding emails are a series of automated emails sent to new users after they sign up for a product or service.
The primary purpose? To help users get started with whatever they bought or signed up for. It’s the kickoff to guiding them through the onboarding process.
Importance of user onboarding emails
User onboarding emails are important because they:
- Improve user engagement with your product
- Reduce churn
- Increase the chances of product adoption
- Build brand loyalty
- Save money on support – user onboarding emails typically result in less support requests which can save a lot of time and resources
7 Types of User Onboarding Emails
The seven types of user onboarding emails we’ll be covering in this post include:
Pro Tip: Start signing up for software in your niche and see what their onboarding emails look like!
Watching what others are doing in your space can give you ideas for what to include in your own onboarding process.
Now let’s look at the seven types of user onboarding emails more in depth to inspire your own email sequences.
Welcome Emails
Welcome emails are what you use to introduce new users to your product or service. It’s critical that your welcome email makes a positive first impression. You want to do three things with your welcome email:
Tips for crafting effective welcome emails
- Personalize it – use the user’s name (and if they submitted a survey, include a relevant point from it when possible)
- Keep it very brief – you don’t want to be too wordy. In fact, your email should be under 250 words
- The subject line should be compelling
- Remind your reader of the value proposition
- Include a call to action – i.e. best next step
- Make it friendly and conversational so it feels like it came from a human
- Use A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t.
Companies that are nailing their welcome emails
Educational Emails
Just like it sounds, the goal of educational emails is to educate your user. In this case, you’re educating them on the product or service they have just purchased or signed up for.
Types of educational emails to send
You can create a number of different educational user onboarding emails including:
- Tutorials
- Repurposed knowledge base articles
- Tips and tricks for getting the most out of your offering
- Course or lesson emails
- Newsletters with the latest information about your product.
Companies that are nailing their educational emails
These are just a few examples of successful educational emails. The key to success is to provide value to the reader by sharing information that is relevant and useful to them. By doing so, businesses, organizations, and educators can build stronger relationships with their audiences and support learning and growth.
Activation Emails
Activation emails are intended to “activate” an account. It unlocks features and functionalities by verifying a real person (read: not a bot!) signed up for the account and intends to use it.
Tips for crafting effective activation emails
Just like with your welcome emails you should:
- Keep it brief
- Be friendly
- Use a compelling subject line
- Include a very clear call to action (i.e. “Verify your email address,” or “Set up your profile.”)
- Provide a link to instructions and/or support options
Companies that are sending awesome activation emails
These successful activation emails all share common elements, including clear and compelling calls-to-action, personalized content, and a friendly and welcoming tone.
Engagement Emails
The intent behind an engagement email is to build brand awareness, drive conversions, nurture leads, gather feedback, and encourage people to share your offerings.
There are several different types of engagement emails you can send in your user onboarding. These include:
- Welcome emails
- Promotions
- Feedback requests
- Educational emails
- Requests for referrals
- Thank you messages
- Birthday or anniversary messages
- Milestone messages – Canva really shines with this one because they send out a congratulatory message when you have created a certain number of designs.
Other companies sending successful engagement emails
These are just a few examples of successful engagement emails. The key to success is to provide value to the recipient by sharing information that is relevant and useful to them, and to encourage them to take action that supports the goals of the business or organization.
Feedback Emails
You guessed it, a feedback email’s intent is to gather feedback on your offerings. The goals of feedback emails include, but aren’t limited to:
Some tips for sending feedback emails are to be brief and to the point, use a personalized tone, and ask specific questions. You also want to provide incentives when you can so the user actually responds. For example, every survey responder is entered to win a gift card, or everyone that responds gets a percentage off their next bill.
Most importantly, make it easy to provide the feedback, and follow up on any feedback you receive.
Companies that are nailing feedback emails
These successful feedback emails all share common elements, including personalized content, clear calls-to-action, and incentives or rewards for providing feedback.
Upsell/Cross-sell Emails
These user onboarding emails can help improve your company’s bottom line. Their intent is to increase your company’s revenue and profitability by making offers to users who have already signed up or made a purchase.
As with every type of email we’ve mentioned so far, it’s best for these to be personalized and brief. You also want to highlight the benefits of the additional offer you’re making. Keep it simple, and focused too. Too many offers and upsells will likely yield no additional revenue!
Companies that are winning the upsell/cross-sell game
These examples demonstrate how upsell/cross-sell emails can be used to promote additional products or services to customers, and how personalization, clear CTAs, and relevant recommendations can increase the effectiveness of these emails.
Abandoned Cart/Incomplete Profile Emails
Finally, we have the abandoned cart/incomplete profile emails. The goal of sending these types of emails is to re-engage users in hopes that they will become paid users, or at least complete their sign up process to try your product.
The most important tip for these emails is to be timely. As soon as the person abandons their cart or profile, send an email with a clear subject such as:
- Your cart is waiting” or
- “Complete your profile now”
Use a very clear call to action as well. And, if you can provide an incentive that encourages them to take the action.
Examples of successful abandoned cart/incomplete profile emails
These successful abandoned cart/incomplete profile emails all share common elements, including personalized content, clear calls-to-action, and incentives or rewards for completing the purchase or profile.
Ready to up your user onboarding emails game, but don’t know where to start? The experts at Inturact can help! Click here to speak with one of our experts.
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