How CBS sends onboarding email
Regularly-scheduled CTAs, a double ask for downloads, and very few upsells
Yo, CBS is
the number one watched network.
Thanks, NCIS.
CBS All Access entered my life around the time the NFL season began: I needed a way to watch football and maintain my cord-cutting ethos. Unlike other networks, to get a la carte CBS shows and CBS sports you have to pay CBS; in my area of America, other than paying for DirecTV, it’s not possible to get it any other way.
So I found myself along for the ride with one of the biggest players in American media, and I was really eager to see what the experience was like. I kept note of all the (many) onboarding emails that I received. Here’s what I found.
How often CBS All Access sends email to new users
The first 35 days
Total: Eight emails sent
My best guess at CBS’s onboarding strategy
I jumped right into a paid subscription to CBS All Access without a trial because I had used up my trial status months before (they have a seven-day trial typically). So from Day One, I was a full-time CBS subscriber. Apart from the welcome email, I received an email four days later with some advice on how to stream CBS. I can’t remember … did I not stream anything in my first four days? That doesn’t sound right, so maybe the advice email was a generic one, inviting users to stream from multiple places: computer, TV, tablet, etc.
Once you get fully into the onboarding, CBS seems to have a very well-plotted promotional plan in place. They email two to three times per week, typically on the same days: once on Sunday to let you know about their NFL schedule and once on Tuesday to let you know about popular shows during the week. There’s an occasional one-off email — Halloween for instance — but otherwise, it’s all quite nice and straightforward.
Learnings
- The welcome email has a nice format and calls-to-action for their streaming library and app.
- The second email was solid reinforcement of the first: very similar calls-to-action about downloading CBS apps but presented in a fresh way (images instead of text) and sent four days later, e.g. enough time to forget you’ve been asked to do these things already yet still timely enough that you appreciate the info and nudge
- CBS sends its NFL email on Sunday mornings, which is the day the games are played. My email arrived eight minutes before kickoff of the first game — timely, yes, if you have your email open or notifications turned on (I didn’t and don’t)
- The emails vacillated between having one and only one CTA (“Watch NFL games!”) to multiple CTAs
- CBS uses Recurly for its subscription billing and confirmation emails
3 onboarding email tips and takeaways from CBS
- Have a clear plan for the first actions you want your users to take. Don’t be afraid to ask twice.
- Be consistent. Send on a schedule.
- Be timely. Send relevant emails if your business relies on live & trending content.
Here are all the onboarding emails (and beyond) that CBS sends
Here’s more on each email that I received from CBS during those 35 days. Caveat: I’m sure tons has changed and will change with their onboarding emails, so your mileage may vary when you sign up and see for yourself. 😊
First email
Sent minutes after I signed up.
Subject: Welcome to CBS All Access, kevan
From: CBS All Access, noreply@cbs.com
Second email
Sent four days after I signed up.
Subject: So many ways to watch!
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Third email
Sent six days after I signed up.
Subject: This week — a new original series, a FREE Star Trek eBook & more!
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Fourth email
Sent 14 days after I signed up.
Subject: Press play! ▶️
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Fifth email
Sent 16 days after I signed up.
Subject: Doubleheader — Stream NFL on CBS LIVE!
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Sixth email
Sent 25 days after I signed up.
Subject: Season 2 of Star Trek: Discover + special Mission Crate savings!
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Seventh email
Sent 28 days after I signed up.
Subject: Streaming LIVE today — NFL on CBS!
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Worth noting
This email below was the only one I received that was an upsell. CBS pitched their annual-plan savings after I had been with them for 36 days.
Subject: Save over 15% & stream NEW original series all year!
From: CBS All Access, allaccess@cbsnewsletter.com
Your thoughts
If you have some thoughts or questions about CBS’s onboarding flow, I’d love to hear them.
- What do you think of having a regularly-scheduled email plan?
- Do you think they should upsell earlier? Upsell never?
Add a response here on Medium.
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Want to see more onboarding email breakdowns? Check out the rest of Season One of the series, featuring onboarding campaigns from …
👉 👉 Intercom ……. Trello ……. Extra.ai ……. Brandless ……. Fullstory ……. Wistia ……. MixMax ……. Grammarly ……. Dribbble ……. Hubspot ……. Pocket ……. Treehouse ……. CBS All Access…….
