Users who clicked an onboarding email activated 1.4x as often
We followed 3,750 new users through their onboarding emails and into the product. The more they engaged with the emails, the more often they activated.
- Published 22 October 2026
- 3,750 new users
- Selected sample
- Bot-filtered
At a glance
The numbers worth quoting
Key findings
What the data says
- 11.4x the activation rate
58.8% of users who clicked an onboarding email activated, against 42.3% of users who never opened one.
- 2Opening helps too
Users who opened without clicking sat in between at 50.2%, 7.9 points above non-openers.
- 3True for every product
Clickers activated more than non-openers for every product in the sample, by 10.7 to 28.2 percentage points.
- 4Most users never open
2,334 of the 3,750 new users, 62%, never opened an onboarding email. Getting the first email read is the biggest lever.
Full table
Every group in one place
| Onboarding email engagement | New users | Activated |
|---|---|---|
| Clicked an onboarding email | 359 | 58.8% |
| Opened, never clicked | 1,057 | 50.2% |
| Never opened one | 2,334 | 42.3% |
What to do with this
How to turn onboarding emails into activation
One click per email
Every onboarding email should lead to one action in the product. Clickers are the users who go on to activate.
Get the first email read
Most new users never open an onboarding email. Send the first one within the first day, when human opens are highest.
Watch clicks as an early signal
A user who has not clicked after the first few emails is at risk. Trigger a different email for them instead of more of the same.
Methodology
How we measured it
Sample. We selected 3,750 new users for this analysis. Selection criteria: they received at least one onboarding email, and their product reports an activation signal to Meisa. We refresh the figures every quarter.
Activation. Each product's own signal: finishing setup, signing in after signup, or first use of the core feature. Users are grouped by their onboarding emails: clicked at least one, opened at least one without clicking, or never opened one.
Averaging. Products differ in size and in how they define activation, so each figure is the average of each product's own rate, not one pooled rate. The user counts are pooled.
Opens and clicks. The same bot filtering as the True Open Rate Report, so a scanner click or an Apple proxy open does not count as engagement.
Privacy. Aggregates only, with no product names, user details or per-product figures beyond the gap range. See the full research methodology.
FAQ
Common questions
Do onboarding emails improve activation?
Users who engage with them activate more. 58.8% of users who clicked an onboarding email activated, against 42.3% of users who never opened one. The gap held for every product in the sample, from 10.7 to 28.2 percentage points.
Is an open enough, or does the click matter?
Both count, the click more. Users who opened but never clicked activated 50.2% of the time, between the 42.3% of non-openers and the 58.8% of clickers.
Does this prove the email caused the activation?
Not on its own. Users who are already keen open and click more. What it does show is that onboarding email engagement is a strong early signal: a user who clicks is far more likely to activate, so it is worth designing every email around one click into the product.
What counts as activation here?
Each product's own activation signal, as it reports it to Meisa: finishing setup, signing in after signup, or using the core feature for the first time.
Onboarding email engagement and activation
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Meisa (2026). Onboarding emails and activation. Meisa Research. https://meisa.io/research/onboarding-email-activation
<a href="https://meisa.io/research/onboarding-email-activation">Onboarding emails and activation</a> (Meisa Research, 2026)
New SaaS users who clicked an onboarding email activated 58.8% of the time, against 50.2% for users who only opened one and 42.3% for users who never opened one: 1.4x the activation rate (Meisa Research, 2026, 3,750 new users).
Free to quote, chart and republish with a link back to this page (CC BY 4.0).
Build onboarding that gets the click
Meisa sends onboarding emails on signup and product events, and shows the real human clicks behind each one.