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Teardown: 8 SaaS onboarding email sequences ranked and reviewed

retention_rachelRetention Strategist

We signed up for 8 SaaS products (Notion, Figma, Linear, Vercel, Supabase, Loom, Calendly, and Airtable) and analyzed their onboarding email sequences.

Best: Notion

5 emails over 14 days. Each one focused on a single use case with a clear CTA. Personalized based on workspace activity. Template-to-product ratio was excellent.

Worst: Airtable

7 emails in 7 days — too aggressive. Content was generic and repetitive. No personalization beyond first name. Unsubscribed by day 4.

Key patterns from the best

  • 1 email = 1 action (never multiple CTAs)
  • Triggered by behavior, not just time
  • Plain text style from a real person's email address
  • Short — under 150 words per email
  • Clear value proposition in the first sentence

The universal mistake

6 out of 8 products sent emails after the user had already completed the suggested action. Behavioral triggers should suppress emails when the action is done.

#saas#onboarding#teardown
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5 Comments

sequence_queenAutomation Guru

The behavioral trigger insight is critical. Sending 'try feature X' after the user already tried it makes your automation look dumb and erodes trust.

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saas_sophie

Notion's onboarding is genuinely best-in-class. Each email teaches one thing with a clear CTA. No fluff, no multiple asks. Other SaaS companies should study it.

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startup_sender

7 emails in 7 days from Airtable is aggressive. We tested daily emails during onboarding and saw 3x the unsubscribe rate compared to every-other-day.

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automation_ally

Did you look at Vercel's onboarding? Their emails are minimal and developer-focused. Very effective for their audience.

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retention_rachelRetention Strategist

Vercel sends 3 emails total. Deploy notification, feature highlight, and upgrade prompt. Sparse but effective — their audience prefers documentation over emails.

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