Onboarding emails people actually open.
Send five short emails over two weeks, each with exactly one job: welcome them personally, get them to the first win, show one power feature, share proof it works, then ask one question. Plain text, from a person.
What should an onboarding email sequence look like?
- 1Day 0, Welcome. From you, with your name. One sentence on what to do first. One link.
- 2Day 2, The first win. One task that shows the product's value, with a 3-step walkthrough or 60-second video.
- 3Day 5, One power feature. The single feature your best customers use that new ones miss. Just one.
- 4Day 9, Proof. A short customer story with a real number in it. Belief does half of retention's work.
- 5Day 14, The question. "What were you hoping this would do that it hasn't yet?" Send from a real inbox and answer every reply.
How do I make onboarding emails feel human?
Plain text, no header image, no five-column footer. Write like you'd write to one specific customer, because you are.
Sign with your name. When someone replies and gets you, the actual founder, that reply is worth more than the email that prompted it.
What subject lines get opened?
Short, specific, lowercase-honest: "your first booking", "one thing most people miss", "quick question". Anything that smells like a campaign gets archived on sight.
Quick answers.
Should onboarding emails be automated or manual?
Automate the sequence, keep the replies manual. Under ~50 signups a month, consider sending the day-0 welcome by hand.
What open rate should I expect?
40–60% for a good day-0 welcome, tapering to 25–35% by email five. If day-0 is under 30%, fix the subject line and sender name first.
Should I remove people who don't open anything?
After the sequence ends, yes, move them to a monthly digest. Deliverability rewards lists that want you.
Build the thing this guide is about.
Stencil turns your idea into working subscription software — no code required.