🗞 What's New: 5 email sequences every founder needs

From onboarding to feedback, these email sequences are essential for founders:

• Remember to first always provide value upfront in your email sequences. Keep the purpose for each sequence at the forefront to see results.
• Taking action can be tough, but it can bring clarity to both your long-term goals and your daily activities. Prioritize just-in-time knowledge.
• $40K in total revenue. Rod didn't plan to monetize his job board directory until Pieter Levels DM'ed him with this advice: "Start charging."

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by Arunima

I spent 40+ hours analyzing successful SaaS email sequences. Here are the ones every founder needs!

1. Onboarding sequence

Purpose: Onboard a user, take them through your trial, and aim to convert them.

• Email one: Welcome. Share key features, give them a task, and share some brand information.

• Email two: How to use the product, and guided tour.

• Email three: Results-based case study.

• Emails four and five: Educational. This could be a pro tip or product information.

• Email six: Trial expiring notification and case study.

• Email seven: Trial expiring and CTA.

2. Engagement sequence

Purpose: Engage an existing user.

• Product updates or monthly updates.

• Educational content.

• Customer success story.

• Feedback requests.

• Seasonal campaigns.

3. Abandoned cart sequence

Purpose: Converting a user, or getting information as to why they didn’t buy. Send five emails at most. If they don’t convert in five days, they likely won’t.

• Reminder: Just remind them they left something in the cart.

• Offer (within 24 hours).

• Social proof (within 48 hours).

• Limited time offer (within 72 hours).

• Final reminder (within five days).

4. Sales sequence

Purpose: Convert a lead into a trial user.

• Get them to open the email with a lead magnet. Introduce yourself and tell them what’s coming next.
• Education, walkthrough, and social proof.
• Offer.
• Objection handling, offer, and social proof.
• Final offer and social proof.

5. Customer feedback and testimonial

Purpose: Gather stories from existing customers.

• Ask for feedback from customers.

• Success story: Thank them for using your product, and ask share their story. Most people don’t want do it because it requires time, so make it as easy as possible for them.

Remember to always provide value upfront in your email sequences before making an ask or pitching!

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from the Growth Trends newsletter

⏰ TikTok is testing 60 minute video uploads.

🔐 New ways to unlock revenue with first-party data.

💲 Link to your product here. Our most affordable ad.

🧵 Meta's Oversight Board takes its first Threads case.

📝 Creating the ultimate one-pager for your business.

💰 40 LinkedIn hacks to get more sales.

Check out Growth Trends for more curated news items focused on user acquisition and new product ideas.

by Martin Baun

Taking action can bring a lot of clarity. These four principles show you how.

1. Learning by doing

Learning by doing stops us from overthinking things. We are only human. We will never be sure of every decision we make. We have an innate tendency to overthink and analyze situations before taking action.

Overthinking blurs our perspective, creates confusion, and stagnates our progress. We should use our time efficiently, and learn in the process. Do not overthink things.

2. Just-in-time knowledge > Just-in-case knowledge

Just-in-time knowledge refers to acquiring skills and information when you need it immediately for a specific task, problem, or situation. Just-in-case knowledge refers to learning skills and information in preparation for future needs. Both approaches have their advantages.

We are more likely to change a lightbulb than apply survival tactics when faced with a lion. There’s nothing wrong with knowing how to survive a lion attack, but it’s very unlikely that you’ll use that knowledge. People who prioritize this type of knowledge focus solely on what could happen. This keeps them in an endless cycle of worry and anxiety that prevents them from accomplishing the goals they’ve set for themselves.

3. Do and reflect

It is important to see your goals through. Don't second guess yourself by wondering if you should do something else instead. Guard your mind against self-doubt, and stay focused on the task at hand.

Take action over your patterns, routines, and nuances. Don’t allow complacency to creep in!

4. Embrace the unknown

Action involves stepping into the unknown. Embracing uncertainty allows us to confront fears and doubts that hinder progress.

It might not be pleasurable in the beginning, but you will learn how to deal with it. You’ll master how to navigate uncharted waters, and come out the other side stronger than before.

For more posts like this, visit my blog!

Discuss this story.

by Rob Hope

Strengthen your landing page with these design, development, and conversion tips!

Align your marketing and landing page narratives.

Spend some time reviewing your marketing copy. Analyze what your user's expectations are, and make sure they are line up with what you want them to be.

Subscribe to Rob's One Page Love newsletter for his favorite UI, design, and development finds.

by Rod

My boring, simple, clunky directory of job boards, JobBoardSearch, passed $40K in revenue!

The DM

I learned that StackOverflow Jobs had shut down, and people were asking for alternatives. So, I built my directory using HTML, CSS, vanilla JavaScript (some jQuery), and PHP, and took it live after five hours of work.

I didn't have the intention to monetize. But, after I spent two months building in public, Pieter Levels sent me a DM:

So, I did!

The revenue

My job board costs me less than $100 per month to run. Last month, it actually passed $7K! I still can't believe it.

How does it make money?

• Sponsored job boards.
• Listing upgrades.
• Ad slots.
• CPC.

Some stats:

• 1.06M pageviews, with 573K being unique.
• 360K jobs.
• 7.4K Telegram members.
• 7.7K newsletter subscribers.
• 7.6K subreddit members.
• 3.3K backlinks.

The lessons

Here's what I've learned from other founders, and from this experience:

• Be pragmatic, ship fast and improve later, and build in public.

• Ship more!

• Be active on X, or your chosen platform.

• Be kind and encourage others.

• Don't underestimate the importance of great storytelling.

Discuss this story.

by Tweetmaster Flex

I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:

Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.

Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Gabriella Federico for the illustrations, and to Arunima, Darko, Martin Baun, Rob Hope, and Rod for contributing posts. —Channing