Four emails, then stop
Four sends is enough for most self-serve products. Do not welcome. Do not list features. If they activate, cancel the rest.
Hey Maya,
You signed up Tuesday and stopped at inviting teammates. Last event I see is opened invite modal on Tuesday evening.
Pick up here: https://app.acme.com/continue
Alex
Hey Maya,
Two steps left in your setup. The next one is inviting teammates.
https://app.acme.com/continue
Alex
Hey Maya,
Inviting teammates is already done. I finished the step you stopped on so the workspace is ready.
If it's useful, continue from here: https://app.acme.com/continue
Alex
Hey Maya,
We'll stop after this. You signed up Tuesday and never invited a teammate, so this is the last note unless you want help.
Reply if you want a hand. Otherwise I won't keep writing.
Alex
Trigger on signup, stop on activation
A calendar drip punishes people who move fast and ignores people who stall on one step. Fire from signup. Send the next note only while they still have not activated. Cancel everything the moment they do. Quiet users who already activated belong on the lifecycle email hub. Cancelled accounts belong on win-back.
- Name the incomplete step from events. Do not say “getting started.”
- Make the next step smaller than the last email.
- You need a signup event and an activation event in the product.
More subjects and bodies: onboarding email examples.
Exit, skip, and do not stack
- Cancel remaining sends the moment they activate.
- Skip steps they already finished.
- Do not run this on top of another automation for the same moment.
- One frequency count across sequences and campaigns.
- Start narrow. Expand what beats holdout.
- If they reply “stop,” suppress.
What to measure
Activation or paid conversion against a holdout. Opens do not count.