Onboarding email: what to send, and when to stop
An onboarding email asks a new user to do one thing: the setup step that makes your product useful. Send a welcome email the day they sign up, and a follow-up on day 3 if they haven’t done it. Stop when they do.
What an onboarding email is
An onboarding email is the email that gets a new user of a software product to finish setup. It is not the verification email with a link that confirms an address. It is not an email to a new employee.
Pick the one setup step
Pick the one action that makes your product useful, such as adding a first project. Every email asks for that one step.
Your app tags the user when they do it, with one API call. The call is PUT /api/v1/projects/ with the tag activated. It adds the tag and keeps the tags the contact already has.
curl -X PUT "https://sendocado.com/api/v1/projects/$PROJECT_ID/contacts/batch" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SENDOCADO_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"contacts": [{
"email": "sam@example.com",
"first_name": null,
"last_name": null,
"timezone": null,
"tags": ["activated"],
"attributes": {}
}]}'Your app makes one more call when someone signs up: POST /api/v1/projects/ with the tag trial. Both calls use an API key from Settings.
The emails, written out
These two emails are for Acme, a made-up product whose setup step is connecting a project. They come from Maya, who built it. The welcome email goes out on day 0. The follow-up goes out on day 3, only to users who have not done the step.
Welcome, {{ first_name | there }}
From Maya at Acme
Hi {{ first_name | there }},
Thanks for trying Acme. I’m Maya, I built it, and this address reaches me.
The fastest way in is to connect your first project. It takes about two minutes.
If something gets in the way, hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
Maya
Stuck on the first project?
From Maya at Acme
Hi {{ first_name | there }},
If connecting a project isn’t working, tell me what you see. Reply with a screenshot and I’ll sort it out with you.
Maya
The onboarding email examples add a check-in and a win-back.
When each email goes out
| Day | Who gets it | |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | Welcome email | Contacts with the tag trial and without the tag activated |
| Day 3 | Follow-up | The same contacts, if they still don’t have the tag activated and have not replied |
Each delay is a number of whole days after the email before. The welcome email has a delay of 0, and the follow-up has a delay of 3.
When the emails stop
A contact who no longer matches the campaign’s audience leaves the campaign. When your app adds the tag activated, the contact stops matching.
A contact who replies leaves it too. A new campaign in the app stops on reply, and you can turn that off. An automatic reply, such as an out-of-office message, does not count.
For you, this means that a user who is set up stops getting “finish setup” emails.
Who the emails come from
The emails come from your own address, through your own provider account: Resend, Amazon SES, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, SMTP or Gmail.
A reply comes back to you. It lands in your Replies inbox in Sendocado, tied to the email it answers.
Set it up with your agent
In Claude Code, run this command, then type /mcp and choose Sendocado to sign in. Other clients are on the agents page.
claude mcp add --transport http sendocado https://sendocado.com/api/mcpSet up an onboarding campaign in Sendocado for contacts tagged trial who don’t have the tag activated, from me. Two emails: on day 0, a welcome that asks for the one setup step; on day 3, a follow-up that offers help by reply. Stop when they reply. Ask me what the setup step is. Write it as a draft, send me a test, and show me the emails and who gets them. Set it live only after I say yes.
Your agent writes a draft and sends a test to your inbox. It sets the campaign live only after you say yes.
Each step your agent takes is in the activation emails guide. You can also build the same campaign yourself in the app.
What it costs
- Free covers 1,000 contacts, 5,000 emails a month and 1 project, with a “Sent with Sendocado” line.
- Starter is $10 a month for 10,000 contacts, 100,000 emails a month and 3 projects.
- Growth is $30 a month for 50,000 contacts, 500,000 emails a month and 10 projects.
Every plan has every feature, and you can start without a card. The pricing page has the rest.
Questions
How many onboarding emails should I send?
What is the difference between a welcome email and an onboarding email?
A welcome email is the first onboarding email. It goes out the day someone signs up. The follow-ups after it go only to users who have not done the setup step.
When should the first onboarding email go out?
The day someone signs up. With a delay of 0 days, a live campaign sends it within about 2 minutes of your app adding the contact. If the campaign has a send window, the email waits for the window to open.
Should onboarding emails come from a no-reply address?
No. Send them from your own name and your own address, so a user can tell you what got in the way. In Sendocado, a reply lands in your Replies inbox. When the campaign stops on reply, it also takes the contact out of the campaign.