Onboarding email sequence
Automated email sequence that guides new signups from account creation to first value moment, using behavioral triggers to send the right email at the right time based on what each user has (or hasn't) done.
npx gtm-skills add product/onboard/onboarding-email-sequenceOutcome
Open rate >= 40% and click-to-activation rate >= 5% across the 5-email sequence in 1 week
Leading Indicators
- Email open rate per step
- Email click rate per step
- Time from signup to activation
- Activation rate for emailed cohort vs control
Instructions
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Run the onboarding-sequence-design drill to define your activation metric, map 3-5 onboarding milestones, and write 5 emails with subject lines, body content, CTAs, and timing.
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Set up PostHog tracking for onboarding_email_sent, onboarding_email_opened, onboarding_email_clicked, and your activation_reached event.
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Split 40-100 recent signups into treatment (20-50) and control (20-50) groups. Log assignment as a PostHog person property.
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Create the 5 emails as Loops transactional templates. Send manually at correct timing: Email 1 on day 0, Email 2 on day 1 (only to users who haven't completed Milestone 2), Email 3 on day 2, Email 4 on day 5, Email 5 on day 7 (from a real person, not the product).
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After each send, check Loops for open/click rates and PostHog for milestone completions and activations.
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Run the threshold-engine drill: open rate >= 40%, click-to-activation rate >= 5%, treatment group activates at higher rate than control.
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If PASS, proceed to Baseline. If FAIL on opens, rewrite subject lines. If FAIL on clicks, simplify CTAs. If FAIL on activation lift, revisit your activation metric.
Recommendations
Time
4 hours over 1 week
Play-specific cost
Free (Loops free tier: 1,000 contacts, 4,000 emails/mo; PostHog free tier: 1M events/mo)