Email Teardown: Dynalist Onboarding Email Sequence
For my second email teardown I will be evaluating the Dynalist onboarding email sequence.
I will list the pros and cons of each of the emails that I received over a 30 day time period from my initial signup. (I also rewrote email 5, so feel free to swipe that!)
I signed up for a 14-day free trial.
The emails I received looks like this in my inbox:
Email 1
The first email I received was the typical “Confirm your email”.
Pros:
- I like how they used my first name – it adds a touch of personalization
- The subject line is crystal clear and matches the CTA
- The preview text matches the content of the email and lets me know what the email will ask of me
Email 2
The second email I received from Dynalist is a product tip email about how to use their software.
It’s great.
As one of the main reasons I signed up for Dynalist was to create checklists and then “check off” my items on that list.
But…
Where is my welcome email?
Where is my introduction to the company, better yet, the founder?
Welcome emails are a great way to do exactly that, introduce yourself to the trial user. And not sending a welcome email is a lost opportunity to further drive conversions.
Pros:
- As far as product tip emails go, this email hits a home run. Dynalist explains how to use their feature, and even show me an image of what the feature in use looks like.
Cons:
- I would prefer a welcome email before an educational email
- It would be better if the email was from a team member. This establishes a connection to the company and makes it much more personable
Below is an example of a great welcome email from Drift.
A team member, Matt, welcomes new users to Drift and lets them know he is happy they joined.
Matt is also letting them know that their opinion matters by asking the question “why did you sign up?”. This will make users feel special. And fyi, it is completely fine to ask this question in the welcome email.
And to end the email, Matt points the user towards a video that will show them the best practices when using Drift. And it includes a link, so they don’t have to go searching for it.
Great.
Email 3
This third email I receive in Dynalist’s onboarding email sequence is another product tip.
Pros:
- The CTA “Tag your stuff now” matches the subject line and content of the email
Cons:
- An image, GIF or video would have gone along great with this email. It makes it easier for your trial user to better understand the product tip you are explaining.
It’s good.
But since this is essentially the last educational email in the sequence, and I already received a product tip is the last email, I would have preferred a social proof email, such as a case study.
A case study showing me how past users have used the product and it has either improved their lives or grew their business.
Email 4
The fourth email I received is about how to contact support.
Pros:
- It mentions four different ways that I can contact support
- It links out to where I need to go to in order to contact support. This saves me time from having to search online
- Dynalist lets me know that this is “the last tip from us”. It’s always good to let trial users know what to expect
Cons:
Why stop here?
There is so much opportunity to teach me more about the product. To help convert me from a trial user to a paid customer. Dynalist could have:
- Highlighted the progress I made within the app (yes, I had already made a list)
- Sent me a personalized email about the next steps I should take to make my lists more valuable to me
Email 5
This was the last email sent to me and it lets me know that my trial has expired.
Pros:
- Acknowledged and let me know that my trial has expired
- Provides a link for me to upgrade my account
Cons:
- Not very detailed and there is room to persuade me to upgrade to a paid account
An email like this would have been ideal:
“ Hi Michelle,
I hope you are enjoying your journey so far with Dynalist.
In the last email you received we discussed how you can create checklists in Dynalist. This is one of our most popular features of Dynalist and I hope you are finding it as valuable as some of our current customers.
Check out what they have been saying:
“Fantastic note-taking app. I have always been a fan of Evernote, Todoist, and WorkFlowy, using them every single day to organize my personal life and work, but Dynalist seems to be a brilliant replacement for all. This is one of the most exciting and promising projects online. Keep the hard work!”
- Miguel Alejandro Morales
“An excellent product that helps me organise my professional and personal life! Well done guys”
– Jon Simmons
But we have even more amazing features that you can only get if you upgrade to our pro plan. Some of them are:
– Daily Dropbox & Google Drive backup: back up your lists daily so you never have to worry about losing all of your hard work and the time you have put into creating your lists
– Image and file attachments: attach the files and images you need to your lists so that they not only look better but help you be more productive
– Item finder: save precious time by instantly jumping to any item by only pressing a shortcut on your keyword
– Priority support: don’t wait around to have your support requests answered as with our pro plan you will always be moved to the top of the list with other pro members
If you need any more information about upgrading, just reply to this email and I will get back to you.
Erica Xu
Co-Founder, Dynalist “
Conclusion
Dynalist’s onboarding email sequence has many strengths and some weaknesses.
The great news is that there is room for improvement, and this means there is plentiful opportunity to convert more trial users into paid users.
I would start by creating more emails in the sequence and mapping out the framework for them, and taking my tips and implementing them.
If you need help improving the conversions of your onboarding email sequence, contact me here or email me at michelle@michelledeery.com