13 Onboarding Email Templates for
Busy Marketers
You need to convert more free users to customers, but you’re busier than Barack Obama in
his 2008 election and seriously considering something stronger than coffee.
I hear you…
Before you start Googling dubious supplement names and other time-shifting substances
that will make your family doctor flinch, let me propose a better solution.
I’ve prepared 13 fill-in-the-blank onboarding email templates that you can copy and
paste in your favorite marketing automation tool. All in all, it shouldn’t take you more
than a couple of hours to combine a few of these templates into a full onboarding campaign.
It’s like playing with lego bricks, but it makes you money.
If you're looking for a strategic overview of how to onboard more people, check out our full
guide on onboarding emails or the guide to marketing automation strategy for SaaS. For a
step-by-step tutorial on implementing an event-based email onboarding flow, make sure to
read this post.
Here, I won’t beat around the bush. I’ll just give you what you came for — onboarding email
templates (and nothing more).
The onboarding email templates are organized into groups depending on their goal:
● Welcome onboarding emails aim to introduce a new user to your product, set
expectations for the communication that follows, and explain how your trial works.
● Sales onboarding emails will help you start a conversation with the user and
potentially qualify them.
● App usage onboarding emails are triggered emails that get sent to the user when
they do or don’t do things in your product. Action-triggered emails lead the user to the
value moments ASAP while eliminating any distractions on the way.
● Trial-expiry/downgrade emails create urgency and emphasize why a user should
become a customer and give you money.
● Feedback emails will help you figure out why your onboarding sucks by asking
qualitative questions.
Without further ado… The templates.
Welcome onboarding email templates
Welcome emails introduce a new user to your product, set expectations for the
communication that follows, and explain how your trial works.
The benefit welcome email
Inspired by Calendly. This welcome email stresses the main benefit of the product.
Hi John,
Welcome to [Product]. We’re glad you decided to put an end to [biggest pain point that your
product solves: “your slow loading landing pages”, “the scheduling nightmare”, “the lack of
traffic growth”].
On average [Product] users [quantify biggest benefit: “decrease the loading time of their
websites by 8 seconds”, “save 4 hours a week”, “get 52% more page visits per month”] once
they implement [Product]. Sounds great, right?
You’re ready to start [getting that benefit: “having a faster website”, “saving that type of time”,
“get that increase in traffic”] yourself!
To make getting started easy, we provide you with [offer templates, pre-populated content or
something else that can kickstart the user onboarding process] “speed-optimized templates,
“three ready-to-use scheduling links”, “a traffic-optimization audit of your website”.]
[Explain what they need to do next]
Just choose the one scheduling link that makes sense, copy the link and send it to set up
your next meeting. It’s that easy.
[CTA: Schedule your first meeting].
Use this email template in Encharge.
The PAS welcome email
Inspired by Swipe Pages. This email uses the PAS formula (Pain, Agitate, Solve) and
emphasizes the problem.
Hi John,
Welcome to [Product].
My name is [Your name], and I’m the founder of [Product]. I’m here to answer your questions
and help you [solve biggest problem: “convert visitors to customers”].
[Emphasize the problem]
Did you know that 50% of mobile visitors bounce off a landing page that takes longer than 3s
to load?
[Agitate]
This is a colossal waste of ad budget. It makes my head spin.
[Solve the problem]
But fear not! The truth is this is a great opportunity for you as a marketer.
[Product] helps [explain benefit] marketing agencies like yours create blazing fast landing
pages that convert 33% higher than the average landing page out there.
With [Product], you can deliver higher ROI for your clients. And we all know that higher ROI
= happier clients that stay with you month-after-month and spend more 💰💰💰 on ads and
your services.
Here are three reasons why you should [solve problem with Product. Try to keep these
quantifiable and as specific as possible]:
1. Benefit 1
2. Benefit 2
3. Benefit 3
[Handle any common objections like time to set up, price, etc.]
The good news is that it takes ~5 minutes to get up and running with your first landing page.
Just start with one of our Ads and marketing conversion-driven templates.
[CTA: Click here to choose a template]
Best,
[Your name]
P.s. [Explain what to expect during the trial window] You have 14 days to use the tool for
free. During that time, you will have full access to all of our features, including [Feature 1,
Feature 2, Feature 3], and more.
Use this email template in Encharge.
The social proof welcome email
Inspired by Podia. Use this template if you have a large customer base or success stories
that can highlight your tool's value.
Hey [Name]!
[Start with social proof and help the user identify with the audience]
If you’re anything like the other 25,000+ [Product] customers, you’re a [empathize with the
audience and show you understand them] busy creator with not a lot of spare time on your
hands.
That’s exactly why we built [Product]: [stress benefit] to make selling your digital products
easy.
[Set expectations for the trial]
For the next few days, I’ll be walking you through how you can make the most of [Product],
including some tips on how others are putting [Product] to use in their businesses.
[Offer the shortest path to value for the user]
We can also migrate your content and import your contacts for you, so just let me know if
you’d like us to get started on that.
Talk to you soon.
Use this email template in Encharge.
Sales onboarding email templates
High-touch sales emails help you start a conversation with the user and potentially qualify
them.
Book a demo sales email
Inspired by Viral Loops. The goal of this email is to get a user on a call. Especially important
in high-touch onboarding.
Hey [Name],
This is [Your name], CEO at [Product]. I might not know you personally yet, but I’m pumped
that you’re here!
I noticed that you signed up to [Product]. and I’d like to personally thank you. It means a lot
to us. 🤗
The quickest and easiest way to get started is to get a 1:1 demo of [Product] with me.
[Explain why they should book a call with you.]
We found that people who jump on a call with us will get started 3 days faster than the rest,
and get 40% more leads in their first campaign. I’d also love to show you how some of our
customers already use [Product] to [get the biggest benefit].
Talk soon
[Your name]
Use this email template in Encharge.
Biggest challenge email
Inspired by Groove. This email helps you understand your audience's biggest challenge. It
gets the highest response rate when used with an inline email survey with predefined
answers (the user answers the question by clicking a link in the email).
Hey [Name],
I really appreciate you joining us at [Product], and I know you’ll love it when you see how
easy it is to [mention biggest benefit: “deliver awesome personal experience to every user”,
“send relevant emails at scale that convert customers”, “build fast-loading landing pages”].
We built [Groove] to help [your audience: “small businesses”, “SaaS”, “eCommerce stores”]
grow.
If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love it if you answered one quick question: why did you sign up for
[Product]? Click on the single best answer:
1. [link] Convert free trial users to customers.
2. [link] Retain more customers.
3. [link] Expand current customer accounts
4. Something else — just respond to this email with your answer.
I’m asking because knowing what made you sign up is really helpful for us in making sure
that we’re delivering on what our users want.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Use this email template in Encharge.
The qualifier email
Inspired by Segment. This personal email qualifies if the user is the right fit for what your
software does.
Hi [Name] — You recently requested a demo for [Product] so I thought it would be helpful to
share some examples of how to drive value with our product.
With [Product] you can:
1. Feature 1 + benefit. For example, “Increase the relevance of the data in your
destinations by removing unused or unwanted data.”
2. Feature 2 + benefit.
3. Feature 3 + benefit.
Are you currently hoping to achieve something similar at [Company]? Or you’re looking for
something else?
Use this email template in Encharge.
App usage onboarding templates
App usage onboarding emails are automatically-triggered emails based on user actions in
your app. Their goal is to guide the user toward the desired outcome and eliminate
distractions.
Reward email
Inspired by Zapier. The goal of the reward email is to motivate users to take relevant actions
in your app and help them form a habit to use your product.
Woohoo, [Name]!
[Reward the user for taking actions in the right direction — i.e., actions that are tied to critical
value moments.]
You created your first Zap!
You’re getting pretty good at this!
[You want to encourage the user to make another pass through the reward cycle by sharing
the next relevant step in the onboarding process and sharing pro tips for the user.]
Since you’ve connected Calendly and Zoom, let's explore what you can do with them
together.
● Explore Zap templates for Calendly.
● Explore Zap templates for Zoom.
Use this email template in Encharge.
Push email
Inspired by Honeybook. The push or nudge email aims to get passive users back to the app
and guide them in the right direction.
High five for creating your first project, [Name]!
Don’t stop now! We noticed that you haven’t created an invoice yet.
You’re getting closer to the finish line... let’s power through the setup guide, so you can start
booking clients and cha-ching!
[CTA: Create your first invoice now]
Use this email template in Encharge.
Upgrade email
Inspired by Swipe Pages. Some users will reach the desired aha moments before their trial
expires. Those users are activated, and the upgrade email could provide the necessary
push for them to convert.
Hey [Name],
[Acknowledge their success with your product.]
I noticed that you’re doing pretty great with getting leads from your landing pages!
[Give them reasons to upgrade.]
Since you’re on our free plan, I thought I could share a few tips on how to get even more
leads with a premium plan.
All [Product] premium plans support:
● A/B Testing - Run experiments with different messaging & design to optimize your
conversions.
● Dynamic Text Replacement - Personalize user experience using data from your ads.
● Multi-Step Forms - Break down a long form into smaller steps and reduce friction.
All of that and more is available on our premium plans. Just go to your Subscription page
and click on Choose a plan to upgrade.
Let me know if you have any questions about our plans and I’ll make sure to reply swiftly.
Use this email template in Encharge.
Trial-expiry/downgrade email templates
Trial expiry emails help you create urgency and explain why a user should become a
customer.
Trial expiration email
Inspired by Basecamp. All great things come to an end and, including software trials. People
on the internet are easily distracted by stuff (cats, 9GAG, and whatnot); it’s your job to get
their attention back to the important things.
Hey [Name],
Thanks for giving [Product] a try!
Your free trial has expired, but you can keep using [Product] with a paid subscription.
[Use social proof or USP]
The most popular online project management tool for investment bankers.
Over 2,000 bankers use [Product] every day.
[CTA: Subscribe now to keep using [Product]]
[Handle the most common objections with paid plans.]
● Pick up where you left off — all of your data is still there.
● Anyone you’ve invited during the trial will still have access.
● Subscribing takes just 60 seconds.
[Provide options. Remember that not all people are ready, others might simply not be a good
fit for your tool.]
Prefer to cancel your account instead? We’ll be sorry to see you go. Once your account is
canceled your information will be immediately and permanently deleted.
Have questions or need help? Our customer success team is here to help you any way we
can.
Use this email template in Encharge.
Trial downgrade email
Inspired by Swipe Pages. If you run a freemium product with a free trial you might need to
downgrade expired trial users to a free plan. Use this template.
Hi [Name],
Just letting you know that your free trial has expired, and you have been downgraded to the
Free plan.
[Quantify the value they’ve gotten through the free trial]
So far, with [Product], you have generated 250 leads from 834 unique visitors. All thanks to
the 4 beautiful, fast landing pages you have created!
[State the limitations of the free plan]
Important: Our Free plan is limited to 1,000 visits, 5 landing pages, and doesn’t support [your
main feature] AMP landing pages. If your account receives more than 1,000 visits, all your
pages will be unpublished and will stop receiving traffic. Don’t lose out on customers.
Upgrade today
Starting at $29/month
✅ Upgrading only takes a minute
✅ Any extra pages you created during the trial are still safe and sound.
✅ Any people you invited will have access again after you upgrade.
If you have any questions about our premium plans, please reply to this email, and we’ll get
back to you.
Use this email template in Encharge.
Trial extension email
Inspired by Canny. Not all users get activated during the trial window. Sending upgrade
emails to those people is as pointless as selling sunscreen to an Alaskan. Instead, you want
to get a second chance at demonstrating product value with those people.
Hi [Name],
Your product trial has come to an end.
It doesn’t look like you’ve received much feedback or have been able to spend much time on
[Product].
We’d be happy to extend your trial if you need more time. What held you back?
Cheers,
[Your name]
Use this email template in Encharge.
Feedback emails
Feedback emails will help you figure out why people are not converting.
Post-trial survey email
Inspired by Instapage. This email aims to provide expired trial users with an easy way to let
you know why they haven't upgraded.
Hi [Name],
tried to get in touch with you to understand if [Product] is the right tool for [Company].
Please let me know what the #1 reason that’s stopping you from upgrading [Product] is. Just click
on the right answer.
1. I don’t need a premium plan. The free plan is enough for my needs.
2. I’m using a competitor.
3. [Product] is too hard to use.
4. [Product] is too expensive.
5. I didn’t have time to test the platform.
6. I just signed up to see what was going on.
Thank you!
More resources on onboarding
emails
● Email Sequence Templates to Convert More Leads, Increase MRR &
Reduce Churn
● The Essential Guide to Marketing Automation for SaaS
● Marketing Automation Strategy Workshop
● You’re Using Trial Expiration Emails the Wrong Way. Let’s Fix it
● 45 Effective Welcome Message Examples Analyzed
● [Webinar] User Onboarding Emails — Examples & Best Practices
● What is the perfect SaaS trial length?
● 8 Best Practices Product Onboarding that Converts
