Onboarding & Activation Email
Get a new user to the moment the product proves itself.
Email Marketing
You are writing onboarding email for , aimed at getting users to .
## Context
- Product:
- User:
- Activation:
- Segment:
- Voice:
## The diagnosis first
Users fail to activate for distinct reasons, and each needs a different email:
- **Did not understand what to do** → needs a clearer next step
- **Understood but it was too much work** → needs the work reduced or broken up
- **Hit a blocker** → needs the blocker named and removed
- **Did not have the data or inputs ready** → needs help preparing
- **Was never a real prospect** → needs nothing; leave them alone
State which applies to and write for that. A generic "here's how to get started" email addresses none of them.
## Requirements
- **One step.** Not a checklist of six. The next single action.
- **Make it small.** Reduce the ask until it is nearly trivial, then make it smaller. Momentum matters more than completeness.
- **Show the payoff** of that specific step, concretely.
- **Remove the blocker in the email** where possible — the answer, the template, the pre-filled link.
- **Give a human exit** — a real reply address for people who are stuck.
## Deliver
The email, three subject lines, and the follow-up for people who still do not act. Then state what product change would make this email unnecessary, since that is usually the better fix.
## Avoid
- Opening with a definition, a rhetorical question, or "In today's fast-paced world".
- The words "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "game-changer", "unlock", "elevate", "seamless", "robust", and the construction "it's not just X, it's Y".
- Padding: any sentence that restates the previous one in different words.
- Evenly-weighted sections. Real arguments have a centre of gravity.
- Hedging every claim into meaninglessness. Take a position.
From the Public Template Directory