Emails every SaaS should send: the short list

The short list

If you send only a receipt and a password reset, these are the emails to add. Check each one against what goes out today.

1. Welcome. When someone signs up. Says the one step to take first. There is a welcome email template to start from.
2. Nudge. A day or two later, only for people who have not taken that step. See activation emails.
3. Thank-you. When someone pays for the first time. Says thanks, what happens next, and how to reach you.
4. Failed payment. When a card fails. Says what happened and how to fix it, with no blame. There is a failed payment email template, and how to send it on Stripe.
5. Trial ending. A few days before a trial ends. Says what happens on the last day. There is a trial ending email template, and how to send it on Stripe.
6. Founder check-in. A few weeks in. One question, from you, answered by replying to the email.
7. Cancellation. When someone cancels. Asks why. What to send after is in win-back emails.
8. Product updates. When something worth telling ships. See product update emails.

Receipts and password resets are two more every SaaS needs. They usually come from your payment tool and your sign-in tool, so check that they go out and that they sound like you.

Which to set up first

Start with the welcome and the failed payment. The welcome sets up everything after it, and the failed payment note is the one that touches your revenue. Then add the nudge for people who signed up and stalled, and the cancellation note, which teaches you why people leave.

You do not need all eight in a week. Each one you add should be one you can keep true as the product changes.

What a good one has in common

• One job. One thing to read, one thing to do.
• A person's voice. Short, plain, from a name, in plain text.
• A way to answer. Replies land with you, not in a dead inbox.
• An end. It stops when it is no longer needed.

Example of the founder check-in, which is the easiest to write:

Subject: A quick question

Hi Sam, you have been using Acme for a few weeks. What is the one thing you wish it did? A line is plenty.

How Kicklace does it

Kicklace writes and sends most of this list for you: the welcome, the nudge for people who signed up and stalled, the thank-you, the failed payment note and the founder check-in. Connect Stripe and a failed payment, a trial ending and a cancellation can each start a side road on your Lifecycle map. Product updates can fill themselves with what shipped from your deploys.

Paste your website's address and Kicklace reads it, proposes your stages, and writes the first emails in your voice. You read them, change what you like, and switch them on. Nothing sends before then, and Kicklace first shows who would have got each one over the last 30 days.

You can start sending today without touching DNS: see sending email without DNS setup. Look at the whole thing in the demo, or see pricing.

FAQ

Which emails should a new SaaS send first?

The welcome, then the failed payment note. After those, the nudge for people who signed up and did nothing.

Do I need all of these before I launch?

No. A welcome and a way to reach you is enough on day one. Add the rest as people reach each point: the first payment, the first failed card, the first cancellation.