Polle de Maagt 
Polle de Maagt
Lately, I have been signing up almost daily for new startups, beta invites or other services that send me a confirmation email after registration. The confirmation email is one of the last places where a user can still decide not to sign up. It is also probably the first time the service enters the user’s inbox. A perfect place to show once again how great your service is, and what it sounds like. Or is it?
A selection from a month of confirmation emails:
The corporates.
The standard emails. A little more creativity, please!
imeem
Dear Polle de Maagt, Welcome to the imeem network! To complete the sign-up process, please click on the link below to verify your email address: If the above link does not work, you can manually enter your verification code at the following link: Verification code is: Thanks, The imeem teamVimeo
Hello Polle de Maagt, You signed up for Vimeo using this email address. Complete your registration by following this link: If you didn't register for Vimeo feel free to disregard this message. Love, VimeoYahoo!
Welcome to Yahoo! Click the link below to verify your email address and activate your account. Email verification helps protect your identity and allows you to participate safely on all of Yahoo!'s properties. Important! Click here to activate your new account. Your Yahoo! ID: Your new Yahoo! Mail address: Your alternate email: If you can't click on the sentence labeled “Important!” above, you can also verify your email address by cutting and pasting (or typing) the following address into your browser: For your records, your verification code is: Click here to review your Marketing Preferences. You can select and customize the categories of communications you receive about Yahoo! products and services, or choose to opt-out of each. Policies: Please remember that your use of Yahoo! products and services is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Yahoo! Privacy Policy. Maintaining Your Account: Please update your email address whenever it changes so we can help with any account access issues. (You will be asked to sign in first.) Or, sign in to Yahoo!, go to Account Information, click the Edit button next to Member Information, and you will be able to change your alternate email address(es). Not Your Account?: You have received this email because an account was recently created at Yahoo! using this email address. If you did not recently create an account on Yahoo! click here.The let’s-just-pretend-it’s-a-personal-email crowd.
Just pretend you know me, and that you type every email by hand. I’m sure I’ll believe that.
Emurse
Hey there, Thank you for creating an account on Emurse.com. We're just getting started and would love to hear any feedback you may have (both positive and negative). Our mission is to improve your job hunt. If you have any thoughts on how we could better suit your needs, drop me a line and let us know! Best, Alex Rudloff CEO, Emurse.comThe wannabes.
Well… corporate, or cheeky and funny, but not too funny. Compromise, consensus culture… neither one thing nor the other.
Photoshop Express
Because we care about you, we want to make sure that you're really you. Click below to verify your Photoshop Express account. Please click below or copy and paste the following URL into your browser: Snap happy, Your friends at Photoshop ExpressThe Web 2.0 evangelists.
Web 2.0, and they’re going to make sure you know it!
wundrbar
Welcome to wundrbar! Congratulations: you're now a 100% genuine wundrbar member. And that makes us happy.Conclusions and tips.
So many emails that are not creative enough, or too creative. Too unclear, or so legally watertight that they become unreadable. Almost none match the style, tone and design of the service. That is strange, especially because the confirmation email is one of the last steps in turning potential users into actual users. A clear email that matches the service’s style, tone and design is the least we should be able to expect.
For me, the best email from a month of confirmation emails was RescueTime’s. It came closest to how I had experienced the service:
RescueTime
Howdy and welcome to RescueTime- We'll make this short and sweet. To verify your account, click here: (verifying your account will unlock some of the cooler post-beta features we have in store for you. It will also allow you to reset/recover your password) Here's your login info (store it in a cool dry place): Username: Password: As IF we would send you your password in cleartext! The first thing you should do (if you haven't already) is install the RescueTime data collector: rescuetime.com/download Given that we're in our beta phase, we'd love your feedback on the sign up experience and the product in general. Please feel free to drop us a line (replying to this message will work, or you can head over to rescuetime.com/contact) Cheers, Tony, Joe, & Brian The RescueTime TeamA note from 2026.
These examples belong to 2008. Read them as a record of how these emails sounded then, not as a review of the products now. The question is still worth asking: does the routine email sound like the service, and does it help the person take the next step?
Automagic develops the same theme through later examples of automatic emails: clarity, character and small acts of care, beyond the confirmation email alone.
Original: Het ambacht van de bevestigingsmail, 15 April 2008. The originally English email excerpts remain in English; quotation marks, spacing and line breaks have been normalised. Account details and verification links absent from the source have not been reconstructed. Letter scale made with Midjourney.
