SaaS onboarding email template for day 1, day 3 and day 7

When to send them

Three short emails over the first week, each with one job. The welcome goes the moment they sign up. These come after it: one the next day, one on day 3, one on day 7. Anyone who has already done the thing you are nudging them toward should not get the nudge.

• Day 1: get them to the first useful thing.
• Day 3: help with the step people trip on.
• Day 7: ask how it is going.

The emails

Day 1

Subject: The one thing to do first in [Product]

Hi {{first_name}},

If you have not yet, the best next step in [Product] is to [first action]. It takes about two minutes, and it is the part that shows you what [Product] does.

[Link to the first action]

Sam

Day 3

Subject: Stuck on anything?

The step people trip on most in [Product] is [the usual sticking point]. The fix is [one sentence].

If it is something else, tell me. Reply to this email and I will help you through it.

Sam

Day 7

Subject: How is [Product] going?

It has been a week. I would like to know how [Product] is going for you. Is it doing what you hoped? One line back is plenty. Reply to this email.

Sam

A variation

If your product has a clear second step, make day 3 about that instead of the sticking point:

Subject: Next: [second action]

Once you have [first action], the next thing worth doing is [second action]. It is how you get [the benefit]. Here is where to start: [link]

Sam

What to avoid

• Three emails that say the same thing. Each one needs its own job.
• Sending on a calendar, not on behavior. Someone who has finished the first step does not need to be told to do it. Stop the sequence for them.
• A feature newsletter. One thing per email.
• Daily emails in week one. Three is enough, and a gap of a couple of days between them is kinder.
• Sounding like a drip campaign. Write each one as a note from you.

How Kicklace sends them

On your Lifecycle map, the Signed up stage carries a sequence, and its steps run in order: an email, a wait, an email, a wait. Wait a day, send the first. Wait two days, send the second. Wait four more, send the third. Kicklace stops a sequence for somebody the moment they move on from its stage, so a person who reaches Activated stops getting these.

Kicklace writes each email in your voice from what it read on your site, and you change whatever you like. Nothing sends until you switch the sequence on. Before you do, it shows who would have got what over the last 30 days, and you can send yourself a test. Each person gets each email once, and nobody gets more than one tip or check-in a day. These emails carry Stop these emails, one click.

Kicklace learns someone has signed up from your server with the kicklace package, from Clerk or Kinde, or from your users table. The welcome that comes before day 1 is in the SaaS welcome email template, and the whole shape is in the onboarding email sequence. Try it on your own site in the demo, or see pricing.

FAQ

Should the first email go out the same day as the welcome?

No. The welcome is the same-day email. Give day 1 a real day, so the two do not feel like one email sent twice.

What if someone replies?

You answer, as yourself. Replies go to your own email address until you set up replies on your own domain, and after that they can come back into Kicklace's Mail. Kicklace never answers anything by itself.

How do I know which step people trip on?

Ask them. The day 7 email does that, and so does the reply to the day 3 one. Their answers are your next version of day 3.