How to Set Up Automated Emails for Your SaaS

Types of Emails Your SaaS Needs

Transactional Emails

These are emails triggered by a specific user action or system event. They are expected by the recipient and have high open rates because they contain information the user is waiting for:

• Welcome email after registration
• Password reset link
• Payment receipt or invoice
• Order confirmation or status update
• Account activity notifications (new comment, status change, assignment)
• Trial expiration warnings

Marketing and Lifecycle Emails

These are emails sent proactively to engage users, encourage upgrades, or re-activate dormant accounts:

• Onboarding drip sequence for new users
• Feature announcements and product updates
• Usage reports and weekly digests
• Upgrade prompts when users hit plan limits
• Re-engagement emails for inactive users

How Email Sending Works on the Platform

The platform's Email Broadcast system handles email delivery through configurable SMTP providers. You can connect providers like Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, or any other SMTP service. The system handles:

• SMTP connection management and delivery
• Open and click tracking via embedded pixels and link rewriting
• Bounce and complaint handling through webhook reporting
• Suppression list management to prevent sending to unsubscribed or bounced addresses
• ISP volume shaping for bulk sends that distributes volume across Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo

Sending Transactional Emails

For event-triggered emails in your custom app, your code calls the email sending function with the recipient address, subject, and HTML body. This can happen inside any API endpoint or background job function.

Common patterns for SaaS transactional emails:

• Welcome email: Trigger during the registration flow. Include a getting-started guide and links to key features.
• Notifications: Trigger from your API endpoints when relevant events occur. For example, when a support ticket gets a new reply, email the ticket owner.
• Digests: Use a scheduled background job to compile activity summaries and send them daily or weekly.

Setting Up Drip Campaigns

For onboarding sequences and lifecycle emails, use the drip campaign system. A drip campaign sends a series of pre-written emails at timed intervals after a trigger event (like registration or purchase).

A typical SaaS onboarding drip might look like:

• Day 0: Welcome email with account setup instructions
• Day 1: Feature highlight showing the most valuable capability
• Day 3: Tips and best practices for getting the most out of the product
• Day 7: Success story or case study from another customer
• Day 14: Check-in asking if the user needs help, with a link to support

Email Authentication and Deliverability

For your SaaS emails to reach the inbox instead of spam, you need proper email authentication. This means configuring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your sending domain. These DNS records prove to receiving mail servers that your emails are legitimate.

The platform's email system supports domain verification and authentication setup. For a complete walkthrough, see How to Set Up Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Together.