The Early-Stage Email Essentials

Early-stage SaaS needs exactly four email sequences: onboarding, trial conversion (if applicable), dunning, and a monthly product update. That is it. Everything else can wait until you have more users, more data, and more resources.

Build these four sequences well and let them run. Resist the urge to add complexity. A simple 4-email onboarding sequence that guides users to value beats a 15-email drip campaign every time. Complexity comes from learning, not from guessing.

Choose a Tool You Can Grow Into

The single biggest email marketing mistake early-stage SaaS founders make is choosing a tool they will outgrow within a year. Migrating email tools is painful: you lose subscriber history, need to rebuild sequences, re-warm your sending domain, and spend a week on infrastructure instead of product.

If possible, start with a tool that handles your current needs and your needs at 10x your current size. Pay a little more now to avoid the migration tax later.

Revenue-Focused Email from Day One

At early stage, every email should be connected to revenue. Onboarding drives activation, which drives conversion. Trial emails drive upgrades. Dunning recovers failed payments. Even product updates should highlight features that drive retention. If an email does not connect to revenue in some way, question whether it should be sent.