Why should you write an onboarding email?

A thoughtful onboarding email is a crucial first step in welcoming new users and setting them up for success with your product or service. It's an opportunity to make a positive first impression, establish your brand's tone and personality, and provide essential information to help users get started.

Onboarding emails serve several key purposes:

1. Welcome and orient new users. A warm welcome message helps users feel valued and excited to begin their journey with your product. It's a chance to reiterate the benefits they'll gain and the problems you'll help them solve.
2. Provide essential setup information. Onboarding emails often include important account details, login credentials, and links to key resources. This ensures users have everything they need to dive in and start using your product right away.
3. Encourage key activation events. You can use the onboarding email to guide users toward important first steps, like completing their profile, integrating with other tools, inviting team members, or taking a product tour. This helps them experience value quickly.
4. Offer helpful resources. Include links to FAQs, knowledge base articles, video tutorials, or guides that help users learn and troubleshoot on their own. This empowers them to self-serve and reduces support inquiries.
5. Open lines of communication. Make sure users know how to get in touch if they have questions or feedback. A friendly invitation to reach out reminds them that you're here to help and want to ensure their success.

Using a tool like Type can streamline the process of crafting onboarding emails. By providing prompts, suggestions, and best practices, Type can guide users through the email creation process, ensuring that key information is included and that the tone aligns with the brand's voice.

How to write an onboarding email

When writing a product onboarding email, start by providing an overview of your company and the product or service the user has signed up for. Include key details like the product's main features, benefits, and how it can solve the user's problems.

Next, dive into the essential steps the user needs to take to get started. Be specific and use action-oriented language to guide them through the setup process, such as creating an account, completing their profile, or exploring key features. Highlight any resources available to help them, such as tutorials, FAQs, or customer support.

Finally, make sure to include information about any additional benefits or perks of using your product. This could include access to exclusive content, special offers, or a community of users. Providing this information can help users feel more connected and motivated to engage with your product from the start.

You could also use Type, an AI-powered document editor that helps you write smarter. Our library has dozens of expert-curated templates to choose from, like this sample job description.

How to use this template

Here's how to go from our general template to a polished onboarding email in just a few clicks.

1. Open up Type, click "New Document," and select the "Onboarding email" template from the gallery.
2. Under "knowledge sources," you can include a link to your product handbook, FAQs, or company "About" page to give the writing AI more details to work with.
3. Hit "Generate," and watch as Type's writing AI creates a custom onboarding email for you in seconds.
4. Refine the description with our Rewrite brushes. You can adjust the tone, shorten the text, enhance readability, and more.
5. Add your own personal touches and company-specific details. If you need some ideas, brainstorm with Type Chat, a chatbot that lives right next to your document.
6. When you're done, ask Type to review your work for any grammar or spelling mistakes.  A polished product onboarding email can effectively guide users through the initial steps of their journey, instilling confidence, reducing confusion, and ultimately fostering a positive user experience that sets the stage for long-term engagement and loyalty.
7. Export your completed onboarding email from Type in either a PDF or DOC file, or copy and paste directly into a Google Doc.

Key elements of an effective onboarding email

To craft an onboarding email that educates, motivates, and delights new users, be sure to include these key components:

A clear, engaging subject line

Your subject line is the gateway to your onboarding email. It should be clear, concise, and compelling enough to encourage opens. Try something straightforward like "Welcome to [Product Name]! Here's how to get started" or "Your [Product Name] account is ready - dive in!"

A warm, friendly greeting

Start your email with a genuine welcome message that thanks users for signing up and reiterates your excitement to have them on board. Use a conversational, relatable tone that aligns with your brand voice.

Essential account information

Provide any login credentials, account details, or setup instructions needed for users to begin using your product. Make this information easy to find and reference, whether that's in the body of the email itself or via links to your site.

Clear next steps or calls-to-action

Guide users toward key activation events with clear CTAs. These might include completing their profile, setting up integrations, inviting colleagues, or taking a product tour. Focus on one or two key actions to start - you can always follow up with additional guidance later.

Helpful resources and support info

Make it easy for users to find additional information and get their questions answered by linking to your most helpful resources - things like knowledge base articles, video tutorials, community forums, etc. Reiterate how to contact your support team if needed.

A personal sign-off

Close your onboarding email with a friendly sign-off from a real person on your team. This could be a customer success manager, a support rep, or even the company founder for smaller startups. It adds a personal touch and reminds users that there are real people behind your product who are invested in their experience.

Best practices for onboarding emails

To ensure your onboarding emails make a positive impact and set users up for success, keep these tips in mind:

1. Send it immediately. Trigger your onboarding email to send as soon as a new user signs up, while their interest and motivation are high. You want to capitalize on that momentum.
2. Keep it concise. Resist the urge to cram too much into your initial onboarding email. Focus on the essential information users need to get started, with clear CTAs for next steps. You can drip out additional details over time.
3. Make it scannable. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and visual hierarchy to make your email content easy to scan and digest. Call attention to key points with bold text, images, and buttons.
4. Personalize when possible. Use merge tags to dynamically include each user's name, company, or other personal details you've collected. Even small touches can make the email feel more individualized.
5. Test and iterate. As with any important email communication, make sure to thoroughly test your onboarding email before sending. Check links, proofread copy, and preview across devices. Once it's sent, monitor performance and gather feedback so you can continue optimizing over time.

How to access this onboarding email template

Getting started with this job description template is easy. Just log into your Type account and open a new document.

Once you're in the document editor, select the "Generate" button to open the "Generate Draft" menu. Tap "Use template →" to open the template menu, where you can choose "Onboarding email" from the options.

Your turn

Your onboarding email is a critical touchpoint in the new user journey. It's a chance to welcome users, share essential information, and motivate them to engage with your product.

Try Type out and see how easy it is to create an effective, engaging product onboarding email in minutes.

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