A SaaS onboarding sequence your new users actually read
Most "welcome drips" are 5 identical emails on a timer. This one branches on real activation events - so users who already found value skip the nudges, and users who didn't get a targeted push. Runs on your own email provider.
Why event-driven onboarding beats a timer
A user who already connected their database on day 1 doesn't need an email on day 3 telling them how to connect a database. Branch on behavior.
- Activation events (not timers) drive which emails a user receives
- Happy-path users get fewer emails - you respect their time
- Stuck users get a targeted nudge, not generic encouragement
- Feeds on activation signals from your own backend - POST contact attribute updates when a user hits each milestone
- Every email is a trackable moment - see drop-off per step
- Works with any email provider you already use
The 6-step SaaS onboarding workflow
Each step is a node on the FlowingMail canvas. Copy the template, edit the email copy, ship.
Step 1 · Welcome (immediate)
Triggered on Contact Created. Short, no images, from a real human. One CTA: the primary activation action.
Step 2 · Getting started guide (+10 min)
Links to setup docs + a 90-second video. Wait 10 minutes after signup so you don't flood the inbox.
Step 3 · Activation check (+24 h)
Branch: has user hit the activation event (webhook from your app)? Yes → skip to Step 5. No → continue.
Step 4 · Stuck-user nudge (+48 h)
Sent only to users who didn't activate. Offers help, links to common setup gotchas, and a Calendly link.
Step 5 · Feature deep-dive (+7 d)
A specific feature walkthrough based on the plan attribute: starter users get basics, pro users get advanced.
Step 6 · Expansion or handoff (+14 d)
Paid users: upsell adjacent features. Free users on the paid path: invite to a demo. Else: graceful exit.
Wire it up in three phases
Forward your activation event
Hit POST /v1/events/ingest whenever a user completes the activation action in your app. FlowingMail writes it to the contact.
Clone the onboarding template
FlowingMail ships a SaaS-onboarding template. Fork it, edit copy, point send actions at your sender.
Activate
New signups enter the flow on Contact Created. Watch completion rate and per-step drop-off in analytics.
Kick off the onboarding flow on signup
One REST call from your signup handler drops the new user into the canvas. Each subsequent activation attribute update reshapes their branch.
# $FLOW_ID is the flw_xxx ID from the dashboard.
curl -X POST "https://api.flowingmail.com/v1/flows/$FLOW_ID/trigger" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FLOWINGMAIL_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"contactId": "cnt_abc123",
"variables": { "plan": "pro" }
}'SaaS onboarding emails - FAQ
Pick the first action that correlates with retention - e.g. 'project created', 'first message sent', 'first integration connected'. It should be meaningful enough that users who do it are 3x+ more likely to stick around than users who don't.
For SaaS, 5–7 emails across the first 30 days is the ballpark. The branching structure here means power users often get only 2–3 (welcome + feature deep-dive + expansion) while stuck users get the full 6.
From a person - typically the founder or a product lead. Plain-text, no fancy header image, and a real reply address. Response rates are meaningfully higher.
No. The branching logic uses your product's activation events, not email engagement. That's deliberate: opens are noisy (iOS prefetch) and clicks are sparse.
The flow exits gracefully after Step 4 (the stuck-user nudge). You can optionally enter them into a re-engagement flow 30 days later, or a sunset sequence.
Yes. Amazon SES sandbox (2,000 emails/day free-tier), Resend (3,000/mo free), and Mailgun Flex all work out of the box with FlowingMail's Free plan for small-volume onboarding.
Explore more
A simpler 5-step welcome flow - no activation events required.
Password resets, receipts, and notifications from your app.
The canvas mechanics behind this sequence.
A great pairing for SaaS onboarding.
Run onboarding on AWS infrastructure.
Deep dive into the canvas UI.