Task at hand: Let’s say we need to draft the first email a new teacher receives from Seesaw. And we have the following insights to take into account:

• Seesaw is a customer-centric company that takes pride in building relationships with the teachers who use Seesaw

• Seesaw knows that the first 7 days after someone signs up play a critical role in helping that teacher truly implement the product in their classroom

Where do we begin?

Well… a Welcome Email is a great opportunity to greet, engage, and delight teachers with Seesaw in a human and helpful way.  

Welcome Emails are unique because they are usually sent immediately upon a user's sign up, fall within the scope of a greater onboarding flow, and have the privilege of higher-than-average open rates.  

The challenge is in providing valuable content and a single, actionable CTA while taking into consideration the different teacher motivations and needs that led to that teacher’s initial sign up. Ultimately, as part of an onboarding strategy, I believe a Welcome Email’s job is to help teachers achieve the successful Seesaw experience they envision and feel supported by the Seesaw team in attaining it.  

In the interactive image below, I have split up the onboarding email planning process into key areas of focus and brainstormed helpful questions for each step in the process — from strategy to execution.  Further below is an outline of the process I went through to craft one version of a Welcome Email.

Context/Assumptions

The very first step toward crafting a Welcome Email is to evaluate the current situation.  This includes considering the given assumptions, analyzing the existing Welcome Email, and gathering insights from other departments.

Given assumptions

• There is an existing onboarding email series

• Seesaw takes pride in building relationships with teachers

• The first seven days after sign up play a critical role in helping a teacher truly bring Seesaw into their classroom

• Necessary tactical account confirmations have been taken care of

• The target audience is new teachers signing up for the first time (Note: I have taken "new teachers" to mean new to Seesaw and not new to the teaching field)

Determine strengths and areas for improvement of existing Welcome Email

Gather insights from other departments

(I have included additional hypothetical insights)

From Product we learn:

• The first seven days after someone signs up for Seesaw play a critical role in helping that teacher truly bring Seesaw into their classroom

• Word-of-mouth referrals and time spent in app are the two best predictors of classroom adoption

From Client Care we learn:

• Administrators want to improve relationships with parents and build a sense of community at their schools

• A lot of districts are planning initiatives to train teachers on effective project-based teaching/learning

From Customer Support we learn:

• The most selected topic in the Seesaw Assistant 🤖chatbot is about Getting Started

• The most commonly asked questions after a teacher first signs up are (a) how does a Blog work? and (b) how can I adjust my privacy settings?

Goal

Upon evaluation of the current situation, we can either choose to optimize the existing email or redesign.  For this Welcome Email, let's say we've decided to redesign based on performance and because the email hasn't been updated for some time.

Our goal can be split into a few components:

1. to craft messaging that resonates with teachers and builds Seesaw-teacher relationships by addressing their needs and instilling trust,

2. to present the most compelling action teachers can take to achieve the "moment of success" they were looking for when they signed up, and

3. to measure the effectiveness of the email by its content

A  S.M.A.R.T.-er goal may look something like this: 

Increase click-to-open rate (CTOR) of Welcome Email sent to new teachers signing up for Seesaw for the first time by 15% by the end of Q4 2018 through running split A/B/n experiments testing subject line and email content. 

Segmentation

A one size Welcome Email does not fit all.  We want to send the right Welcome Email to the right person at the right time.  This is why segmentation may be the single most important step — and it requires some serious data digging and teacher empathizing. 

How might we differentiate our Welcome Email so that all types of teachers can feel welcome and confident that Seesaw will help them achieve their goals?

Let’s start by reviewing the user events and attributes we’re tracking.

Voluntarily shared teacher info during sign up:

• Name

• Grade level teaching

• Class name

• Student names

Of these, we are confident that including teacher name will create a more personalized experience.  We also know that teacher expectations of Seesaw vary based on grade level so we may also use that piece of data to customize our Welcome Emails.  However, including student names may be too personal, and from historical data we know that class names are often just filler text during onboarding.

Teacher behavioral data in app:

• Time spent

• Actions taken

Since our Welcome Email has been set to fire off immediately upon sign up, we may not be able to use this data until later onboarding emails.  Alternatively, if we choose to send the Welcome Email with a delay, we can customize the email using information regarding specific actions taken (or not taken). 

Web/CRM data:

• Device type

• Location (State, Country)

• Referral source

• Subscription type/customer (e.g. via email domain authentication)

• School name/type

• Previous interactions with Seesaw website

Any actions taken on the Seesaw website prior to signing up (such as the number of times a pricing page was visited, specific link clicked, or case study downloaded) can be used as the foundation for sending onboarding emails.  As can the referral source if we know teachers came to the Seesaw site (or app) from an EdWeek ad focusing on privacy, for example.  Using email domain authentication, we can also learn which teachers have Seesaw for Schools subscriptions through their school and personalize their Welcome Email based on that information. 

Persona info:

• Age

• Gender

• Location

• Income

• Educational level

• Subject taught

• Attitude toward tech/tech savviness

• Goals and motivations

• Challenges and fears

• Values

• Level of experience with similar products

If we have teacher personas created, we may already have a good sense of some segment types our teachers may fall into.  Personas and empathy maps are useful because they allow us to visualize the daily feelings and world views of teachers, not just their roles and immediate tasks. 

Learning style:

Preferences for learning how to use software vary. We can use this fact to offer multiple points of access to Seesaw and present information to teachers in the way they understand it best.

JTBD:

For which “jobs” do teachers "hire" Seesaw ? 

• Functional goals

• Social goals

• Emotional goals

We see that success might look very differently depending on the teacher, so pushing all teachers through the same onboarding flow doesn't make sense if we want to maximize CTOR or conversions.

The main job statement "Create a class website to document class happenings" can be further explored to reveal its functional, social, and emotional motivations.   

Based on our internal data and interviews with teachers who recently adopted Seesaw in their classrooms, Liz's job statement represents a good segment of the teacher population.  Great!  Having an idea of her definition of success is one of the most helpful pieces of information to use when welcoming her to the Seesaw community. 

Note: If we're unsure what success might look like for teachers before we send the Welcome Email, we may want to consider adding a simple question in the product onboarding like, "Where could your classroom use the most help?" so that we can utilize this segmentation strategy for the Welcome Email and subsequent onboarding emails.

Features/Tasks

Now that we're equipped with segmentation data, let's do a feature audit to figure out which feature is most valuable to present during the crucial seven days post sign up.  Rather than merely listing features, we'll think about how to turn them into tasks and position them in terms of the value they can provide Liz.

Here are some options:

• Feature: Activity Library → Task: Browse, Create

• Feature: Blog → Task: Set up, Post

• Feature: PD in Your PJs → Watch webinar

• Task: Add students to class

Positioning/Messaging

Once we know who we are focusing on and what we're presenting to them, it is time to put Seesaw's best foot forward, stand out from the crowd, and speak Liz's language.

The Welcome Email is one of the first emails a teacher receives from Seesaw — we want to make a great first impression on Liz!

Additionally, Seesaw's existing messaging strategy provides the central tenets that should underlie all marketing activity.

It is important to ensure our messaging differentiates us from competition and has a unique brand voice.  An established Seesaw personality will have a set vocabulary, values, and other characteristics that are communicated to the external world in the form of a recognizable brand voice via all touch points.

Product Alignment

Product alignment is all about ensuring that the Marketing and Product teams are on the same page.  Teachers want a frictionless experience as they interact with every aspect of Seesaw.  The Welcome Email should complement the product experience in every way, from messaging to design and visual elements.

If the product requires any additions or adjustments for the email marketing program, tech requirements are provided (such as adding an onboarding question to the flow).  Product and Marketing also work together to ensure that the product experience addresses all elements within a given persona's user story or use case.

Creative Brainstorm

Main KPIs

While our main KPI is CTOR (which measures the relevancy and content of an email), there are other important KPIs to consider (including overall email channel metrics and ROI).

Individual Email Metrics

Positive engagement metrics:

• Send and Deliver Rate

• Open Rate

• Click Rate

• CTOR

• Conversations Started (e.g. email replies, tickets created)

• Conversions (e.g. created a class blog, uploaded an image)

Negative engagement metrics:

• Bounces

• Unsubscribes

• Spam reports

By continuously monitoring email performance, we are able to measure, analyze, and adjust the email with experiments to help us make improvements and achieve our goal.

Sample testable elements for open rate:

• Subject Line

• Preview Text

• Sender Name

Execution

Once we set the right goal and KPIs, we can create a high-performing email that is optimized to drive conversions toward that goal.  Working with a designer to ensure all email elements are optimized and unified, including brand and style, is critical.

Welcome Email Lo-Fi Mock Up

• Sender Name: The Seesaw Team

• Subject Line: Welcome to Seesaw, Liz!

• Preview text: Find out how to take us back to school with you on the first day.