How Grammarly sends onboarding email
Weekly digests and lots and lots of ways to upgrade
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Grammarly is a popular app and browser extension that helps with grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It’s basically like having a proofreader in your pocket. It has also grown fast in the past couple years, adding users at an impressive rate.
What do those new users experience when they join the product? To find out, I started a free Grammarly account to see what the onboarding emails are like (no surprise, they’re impeccably spelled and punctuated). Here is what I received this fall after I signed up.
How often Grammarly sends email to new users
The first 35 days
Total: 10 emails sent, counting the email confirmation.
My best guess at Grammarly’s onboarding strategy
There seemed to be an interesting mix of strategies in Grammarly’s first few emails. Or maybe I just signed up during a particularly communicative season of life.
First, there was the primary drip campaign with a pair of onboarding emails. The first email, sent on Day One, was about logging in to my Grammarly editor and getting started. The second, sent on Day Two, was about installing the native Mac app and browser extension.
However, also on Day One, I received an email to … install the browser extension. I later realized after looking at the UTMs in the email that it was triggered by me: I hadn’t completed the process of downloading the extension. So essentially it was an abandoned cart email (the UTM campaign was “”AbandonedExtension”).
Then after these initial emails, I appeared to be pulled into a three-email upgrade campaign: 1) Upgrade to Premium, 2) 40% off an upgrade to Premium for the next 2 days, and 3) The 2 days are almost up!
After this, though, things got a bit clearer. It appears that Grammarly places you onto a weekly digest email after your initial two weeks, then every Friday or Saturday you receive a digest of your Grammarly stats from the past week. It’s an awesome retention idea and one that I think just about every app should try some way, somehow.
Learnings
- Nearly every Grammarly email has an upgrade prompt
- Three of the 10 were explicitly about upgrading, and I received another email after my first 35 days that was about upgrading, too (then I unsubscribed, so I don’t know how many more were headed my way)
- It seems really important for Grammarly that users download the app or extension
- “Abandonment” emails seem like a great way to personalize the onboarding flow for a customer (assuming they remember doing the activity you’re reminding them about — I didn’t) 😊
- I have so much love for the weekly digest idea. Mine was blank because I never used the product, yet still I felt the dopamine rush fromGrammarly emailing me something that was fully mine. Imagine how good I would have felt if I had numbers in there instead of zeroes!
- Grammarly changes up the From Name, depending on the content of the email. Generic stuff is from “Grammarly,” upgrades are from Grammarly Premium, and digests are from Grammarly Insights
3 onboarding email tips and takeaways from Grammarly
- Send triggered emails based on actions your users take during their in-app onboarding
- It’s okay to ask people to upgrade
- If at all possible, find a way to send a weekly digest of a user’s activity in your app
Here are all the onboarding emails (and beyond) that Grammarly sends
Here’s more on each email that I received from Grammarly during my first 35 days.
First email
Sent minutes after I signed up.
Subject: You + Grammarly = The Dynamic Duo
From: Grammarly, info@send.grammarly.com
Second email
Sent the same day after I signed up.
Subject: You’re Missing the Best Part of Grammarly
From: Grammarly, info@send.grammarly.com
Third email
Sent the day after after I signed up.
Subject: Get the Most Out of Your Free Account
From: Grammarly, info@send.grammarly.com
Fourth email
Sent five days after after I signed up.
Subject: Upgrade to Grammarly Premium, Become a Stronger Writer
From: Grammarly, info@send.grammarly.com
Fifth email
Sent seven days after I signed up.
Subject: Write Like a Pro. Here’s 40% Off Grammarly Premium!
From: Grammarly Premium, info@send.grammarly.com
Sixth email
Sent nine days after I signed up.
Subject: Last Chance: 40% Off a Grammarly Premium Upgrade
From: Grammarly Premium, info@send.grammarly.com
Seventh, eight, and ninth emails
Sent 11, 19, and 25 days after I signed up.
Subject: Your Weekly Progress Report
From: Grammarly Insights, info@send.grammarly.com
Worth noting
Maybe I just happened to sign up during an especially high time for upgrade prompts, but it seems like Grammarly sends them all the time. A couple weeks after my first 35 days with the product, I got one with the subject line: CELEBRATE! We’re giving away Annual Plans at 45% OFF 🎉
I’m curious how well the strategy pays off. Pretty well, I’d imagine, given their growth. (There’s an interesting article by Hiten Shah on Grammarly’s growth here.)
Your thoughts
If you have some thoughts or questions about Grammarly’s onboarding flow, I’d love to hear them.
- What do you think of the weekly digest concept?
- How frequently do you feel comfortable pitching an upgrade? How often do you like seeing it as a user/customer?
Add a response here on Medium.
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Thank you!
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…….
