We need to improve onboarding

When a person registers on a website, it rarely means they are familiar with all its features and journey. Let's take Backlink.nl as an example, a marketplace for Backlinks.

At the time of writing, Backlink's onboarding flow consists of two emails. If a request is made, a number of transactional emails are added alongside this flow.

Onboarding Flow

The First Email

The first email, sent from the general info@backlink.nl, contains several clear features:

Personal element by showing founders
Sharing of 'USPs'
Adding a 'low threshold' to make contact
Discount code

What stands out is that this email tries to do a lot at once. Combining USPs, a personal element, and sharing a discount code is too much for one email. It's no surprise that only a few percent of the recipients have used the discount.

The first advice is to divide the main parts of this email into new emails:

Thank for registration and personal element
Manifesto
Lowering the threshold for contact/questions
Sharing USPs
Sharing discount code (behavior-based)

Given the extreme competition in this market, it's important to devote several emails to discussing the USPs. Ideally, GIFs could be used if they enhance the communication in the emails.

A good example for Backlink.nl is:

the speed with which an order can be placed
an overview of the statuses of different orders
Display of the price check

The Second Email

Hey ,
I can imagine that with all the options on our platform, you can't see the forest for the trees. Therefore, I will explain in this email how to best select backlinks for your website.
Link building may sound a bit scary at the beginning. There's no need to worry as long as you stick to 2 rules:
Do not use homepages or Private Blog Networks (PBN)
Look for relevant links with real traffic (from Google)
These are the 2 most important rules within link building. As long as you follow these, you are completely safe.
But how do I start? Glad you asked. To begin with, you need an idea of which keywords you want your website to rank better for in Google.
There are 2 ways to map this out.
You can do a keyword research or make a simple mindmap for yourself of relevant keywords in your niche.
Once you have a number of keywords for which you want to rank better, you can get started with link building.
Once you're ready to start, you can use your keywords to search the platform for relevant backlinks.
You'll probably still find many websites if you search Backlink for one of your keywords. So how do you select the right website to place a backlink on?
Each website lists a number of statistics. We recommend looking at the number of visitors. These are the visitors that a website organically receives each month from Google.
Based on the number of visitors and your budget, you can now select a backlink that fits your keyword.
How do I know if the publisher will accept my request?
Do you have a specific topic and are unsure if the website will accept it? Then we advise you to place the request anyway. If the request is not accepted, you will simply get your money back.
In summary:
Do not use homepages or PBNs
Map out your main keywords via keyword research or a mindmap
Find a website that also writes about these keywords
Filter for websites with real visitors
Provide an article or have it written by Backlink
Hope this helps!
Kind regards, Sjors van Dongen Co-founder Backlink
P.S. Do you need help selecting the right backlink or do you have another question? Just add me on LinkedIn and we'll chat further.

This email is sent assuming some registered individuals are unsure about choosing the right backlinks. Backlink expects this to prevent placing an order, leading them to fall back on an SEO specialist to take over the process. However, it's important to realize that recipients of this email have already come to Backlink.nl themselves.

They are already looking for a solution to buy themselves. Doubts about which backlink to purchase may exist, but this email might not be the right solution, especially after the previous email. Educational emails like this only work if they are sent to people who are interested in this information at that time.

A solution could be to send this email when users indicate they have difficulty choosing backlinks. It could also be part of an educational flow only visible to those who express interest. This allows enough room for the emails replacing the first email to have maximum impact. The intro and personal emails could refer to this.

Transactional Emails for First Purchase

Besides the onboarding flow, several different transactional emails can be received at Backlink. The most important is the email you receive when placing an order at Backlink.nl.

Important points to note:

Email contains three URLs, which is bad for the spam score
Email contains the old brand name (lowercase), while the site uses Backlink.nl
Email contains much overlapping content; much information can be presented more concisely
Email is not personal, while emails from the onboarding flow are
Use the user's name in the emails
It's not clear what happens next
Not clear where the placement is
Design is colorless and not in line with the UX system

An alternative could be:

Thank you for your order!

Makeover.nl has just received your order. To make your order go as smoothly and quickly as possible, we would like to ask you the following:

Have you filled in the desired anchors and URLs?
[BEHAVIOR-BASED] Have you already uploaded the article you want to be placed?

What happens now?

If you have provided everything, $PUBLISHER will let you know as soon as possible if the request is approved. (We should actually just remove this, assuming every request reduces ambiguity)
If you have provided everything, your article will be placed as soon as possible
You will automatically receive one invoice for all your orders within five working days.

You can view the status of your requests in your backlink dashboard at any time.

Let us know if you have any questions! We are available by phone, email, and live chat. (contact details omitted due to spam)

Martijn & Sjors