Onboarding Email Sequence (5 Emails)
A ready-to-edit 5-email onboarding sequence (Day 0 welcome, Day 1 setup, Day 3 first win, Day 7 deeper feature, Day 14 check-in) in Markdown, with subjects, timing, and CTAs.
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# Onboarding Email Sequence — Acme Analytics > A 5-email welcome sequence for **new free-trial signups**. Edit the bracketed > tokens and copy each email into your email tool. Keep the unsubscribe link and > postal address (CAN-SPAM). --- ## Email 1 — Day 0: Welcome **Subject:** Welcome to Acme Analytics **Send:** Immediately after signup Hi [First name], Welcome to Acme Analytics — we're glad you're here. You signed up to try Acme Analytics, and the goal of the next two weeks is simple: get you to real value fast. The best first step takes about a minute: **[Open Acme Analytics »](https://app.example.com)** If you ever get stuck, just reply to this email — a real person (me) reads every one. — Jordan from Acme, Customer Success Acme, Inc. *You're receiving this because you signed up for Acme Analytics (new free-trial signups). [Unsubscribe](#) · Acme, Inc., 123 Market St, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103* --- ## Email 2 — Day 1: Get set up **Subject:** Your 3-step setup (takes ~5 minutes) **Send:** ~24 hours after signup Hi [First name], Yesterday you joined Acme Analytics. Today, let's get you set up in 3 quick steps: 1. Complete your profile and invite a teammate. 2. Connect your first integration. 3. Pick the one metric you most want to track. Most people finish in under five minutes: **[Finish setup »](https://app.example.com)** Reply if anything is unclear and I'll point you in the right direction. — Jordan from Acme, Customer Success Acme, Inc. *You're receiving this because you signed up for Acme Analytics (new free-trial signups). [Unsubscribe](#) · Acme, Inc., 123 Market St, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103* --- ## Email 3 — Day 3: Your first win **Subject:** Get your first win today **Send:** 3 days after signup Hi [First name], Setup is the boring part — here's the payoff. Today, try this: **connect a data source and build your first dashboard in under 5 minutes.** That single action is what turns Acme Analytics from "another tool I signed up for" into part of your workflow. **[Try it now »](https://app.example.com)** Stuck? Reply here or email success@example.com and we'll help. — Jordan from Acme, Customer Success Acme, Inc. *You're receiving this because you signed up for Acme Analytics (new free-trial signups). [Unsubscribe](#) · Acme, Inc., 123 Market St, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103* --- ## Email 4 — Day 7: Go deeper **Subject:** The feature most teams wish they’d found sooner **Send:** 1 week after signup Hi [First name], You've got the basics down. Here's the feature most teams wish they'd found sooner: **scheduled reports — get your key metrics emailed to your team every Monday morning.** It's the difference between using Acme Analytics and getting compounding value from it. **[Set it up »](https://app.example.com)** — Jordan from Acme, Customer Success Acme, Inc. *You're receiving this because you signed up for Acme Analytics (new free-trial signups). [Unsubscribe](#) · Acme, Inc., 123 Market St, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103* --- ## Email 5 — Day 14: Check-in **Subject:** How’s it going with Acme so far? **Send:** 2 weeks after signup Hi [First name], You're two weeks into Acme Analytics, so I wanted to check in. How's it going? Hit reply and tell me one thing: - What's working well, or - What's still confusing or missing. I read every reply and use it to make Acme Analytics better. And if now's a good time to upgrade or add your team, here's where to do it: **[See your options »](https://app.example.com)** — Jordan from Acme, Customer Success Acme, Inc. *You're receiving this because you signed up for Acme Analytics (new free-trial signups). [Unsubscribe](#) · Acme, Inc., 123 Market St, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103* --- *Drafts only — review copy, links, and CAN-SPAM footer (working unsubscribe + postal address) before sending.*
About this template
An onboarding email sequence is the highest-ROI lifecycle email you will write, because it reaches people at the one moment they have explicitly raised their hand: just after signup, when intent is highest and memory of why they signed up is freshest. The structure that converts is not "feature, feature, feature" — it is a guided path to a **first win**. The five-email cadence in this template maps to that path: Day 0 welcome (confirm they made a good decision and give one obvious next step), Day 1 setup (reduce setup to three concrete steps), Day 3 first win (the single action that delivers real value — this is the most important email in the sequence), Day 7 deeper feature (expand usage once the habit is forming), and Day 14 check-in (a plain-text, reply-inviting message that surfaces objections and starts conversations). Three principles make it work. First, **one call-to-action per email** — multiple CTAs split attention and lower clicks. Second, **write like a person, not a brand** — the Day 14 check-in deliberately reads like a 1:1 note and reliably earns the most replies, which are gold for understanding churn. Third, **timing follows behavior where possible** — these day offsets are sensible defaults, but the strongest sequences branch on what the user has actually done (skip "finish setup" if they already did). On compliance: every commercial email in the US must follow CAN-SPAM — accurate headers, a valid physical postal address, and a working unsubscribe honored within ten business days; the template keeps an unsubscribe link and address in the footer so you do not forget. Treat the copy as a starting draft: swap in your product's real first-win action, keep each email short, and test subject lines.
When to use it
- Launching or revamping a SaaS / app free-trial or new-user welcome flow.
- Writing lifecycle email before you have a dedicated marketer.
- Standardizing onboarding copy across products or segments.
- Briefing a writer or ESP setup with a structured starting draft.
What to include
- Product, company, sender, and audience details.
- Five emails mapped to Day 0 / 1 / 3 / 7 / 14 with subjects and send timing.
- A single clear call-to-action per email.
- The concrete "first win" action and a deeper feature to highlight.
- A CAN-SPAM-compliant footer: working unsubscribe link + postal address.