As a SaaS product owner or a marketer, you’re entrusted with a variety of writing tasks. Landing pages, product presentations, blog articles, case studies, white papers and so on.
Email writing is one of them. Since you do not have the time to learn onboarding email copywriting in depth, I’ve spent a good deal of time and put together this easy to follow guide.
Simply click over to the type of email you need to write, follow the checklist, see a few examples for inspiration and get yours done in a couple of minutes.
That’s the promise of this article series.
Part 1 is here.
Writing SaaS Account Verification Emails
When to Send It
Immediately after the user signs up for an account; the objective is to get the user verify their email address.
Checklist
- Headline can be something like VERIFY YOUR EMAIL TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION FOR [PRODUCT NAME]
- Include a plaintext link
- Mention your email address and offer help
- Tell them why this step is important
- Tell them about the benefits of verification process, what features will they get to use after verifying their account.
- Give them a plain / exposed version of the URL
Ideas to make it better
- Include your social icons
- Include a 2-minute timer in the registration success page; nudges the user to complete the verification process right away.
- To prevent fake registrations, verification URLs are set to expire after a specific time period.
- In the sign up screen or in the screen that triggers the verification email, place a timer of 2 min or so to nudge the user to verify right away.
Examples
Writing SaaS Welcome Emails
When to send it
As soon as someone verifies their account in your SaaS product.Checklist
- Keep this email short
- Send from the founder’s email address.
- Introduce yourself and thank them for signing up.
- Reassure them that they have made a great decision in signing up for your product. Reiterate a few benefits. Mention if it’s a trial along with the trial duration.
- Mention the login URL and username
- Help them get a great start with your product. It could be with a few tips or a call to action that takes them to your first value action.
- Include your customer support email and phone number
Ideas to make it better
- Show your team pic.
- Ask them to follow your Twitter handle for tips and advice
- Offer to get on call and give a demo of your product
- Prompt them to download your apps
Examples
Writing SaaS Password Reset Emails
When to send it
When the user requests to reset their password
Best practices
- Start with a friendly note that it’s okay to forget the password.
- Include details of when and where the request originated. You can mention the Platform, Browser and Date and Time of the request.
- Include a big button that links to the reset URL
- Ask if they’d like to report a false request
- In the case they didn’t request for a password reset, reassure that their password won’t be changed and their account is safe.
Ideas
- If they want to log in from a new device temporarily, they might not want to reset their password since they store their passwords in their main machine. Consider emailing them a login link that’s valid only for a short time.
- Recommend a password manager like Lastpass, Keepass!
Examples
Writing SaaS App Download Emails
When to send it
If the app is essential to successful onboarding, send this email right after the user confirms their email.
Checklist
- List the top benefits of downloading the app.
- Include app download links
- Show screenshots of the app
Ideas to make it better
- Include a testimonial
- If you have a large user base, mention the size prominently
Examples
Writing SaaS Free Trial Emails
When to send it
When you want to make your email subscribers to start a relationship with your SaaS product
Checklist
- Feature a customer case study OR headline the most important benefit
- Explain the top three features
- List all features in the trial
- Include a prominent section of your free trial call to action along with duration of the trial
- If you don’t ask for credit card info to start the trial, mention that
- If you offer a free product demo, mention that
Ideas to make it better
- Include a short FAQ section
- When someone signs up in the free tier, automatically upgrade them to the premium tier for the duration of your trial.
Examples
Writing SaaS Invoice Emails
When to send it
As soon as a transaction is successful
Checklist
- Thank them for the business
- Details of the transaction (transaction number, date, plan details, price, charged payment method)
- Link to the payment/invoice section of your app/website
- Attach a PDF of the invoice
- Customer support email and phone number
Ideas to make it better
- Ask for a referral
- Mention the date of the upcoming charge
Examples
Summary
These guidelines give a fine starting point to write your own SaaS emails. Consider your own brand tone and voice –
- Funny vs. serious,
- Formal vs. casual,
- Respectful vs. irreverent, or
- Enthusiastic vs. matter-of-fact…
as you write your emails. When you do combine the given checklists and your own branding, you’re emails will do plenty of good to the growth of your SaaS product’s market share.