"Did you know?" emails: introducing one feature at a time

You spent months building ten features. Your user uses one. Not because they do not want the others, but because they never knew they existed, or never understood how they fit their day. And people who use a single feature churn more easily, because any other product that does that one thing can replace you.

The "did you know?" email fixes that by introducing one feature at a time, as a short tip. This article covers the structure, the order, templates and the real example of Renderster, a Wunka video product that sends through Couryo.

Renderster's format#

Renderster makes videos inside the chat: dubbing, clips, slideshows, transcripts and more. Each feature got its own email, always with the same subject pattern: the person's first name, "did you know?" and the feature's result in one sentence. Real subject lines (the name comes from a variable):

What the format gets right:

1. The name first stands out in the inbox.
2. "Did you know?" promises a tip, not a pitch. People open to learn.
3. The result, not the feature: "your photos become a video" instead of "meet our slideshow tool".
4. "Just ask" answers "is it hard?" in the subject itself.

The structure of each email#

Each "did you know?" has four parts and fits on a phone screen:

1. One situation line: "Got a folder of trip photos you never shared?"
2. The result: "Ask the chat and Renderster turns them into a video with music."
3. One concrete example: a screenshot, a short GIF or the exact words to ask.
4. One button: "Try it now", straight to where the feature starts.

No list of five features. One email, one feature. When people must choose among five things, they choose none.

In which order#

And skip what they already use. Nothing feels less attentive than "did you know you can dub?" to someone who dubbed yesterday.

When to send#

The "did you know?" sequence starts after activation, never before. Before activating, people need one path, not options.

One email every few days is enough. The sequence skips a feature the person already used and stops after several emails in a row without clicks (a sign of fatigue).

Template to adapt#

• Subject: "{{name}}, did you know? {{one-sentence result}}"
• Preheader: "Takes 30 seconds: {{how it starts}}"
• Body:
  • "Hi {{name|there}},"
  • One situation line.
  • One result line.
  • The example (screenshot or exact words).
  • Button: "Try it now".
• Signed by a person, from an address that receives replies.

Use a default in the name variable ({{name|there}}) for contacts without a name. Without it, the email reads "Hi ,".

Personalization that helps (and the kind that hurts)#

The name in the subject works because it is simple and true. Other personalization helps when it comes from the person's real usage:

• What they already did: "You dubbed 2 videos. Did you know you can cut the same video into short clips?" ties the new feature to something they know.
• Their language: Renderster sends the same emails in Portuguese and English, depending on the account language. A "did you know?" in the wrong language becomes an unsubscribe.
• When they use it: if someone uses the product on Mondays, a tip lands better on Sunday night or early Monday than on Friday afternoon.

What hurts is personalization that feels like surveillance ("We saw you spent 12 minutes on the pricing page") or gets the data wrong ("Hi Test"). When in doubt, less is more: name, language and what they already did are enough.

Common mistakes#

• A newsletter in disguise: five updates in one email. Nobody clicks anything.
• A feature they cannot use: introducing a paid feature to a free user without saying it is paid only frustrates. If it is paid, say so, and make it an honest upgrade email.
• No end: the sequence must finish. Once the key features are covered, the person moves to your regular newsletter, if they chose to get it.

Which metric to watch#

• Use of the feature introduced in the 7 days after the email. The only metric that truly matters.
• Clicks per email: which features spark interest and deserve more visibility in the product.
• Unsubscribes per email: if one email drives many people away, the feature does not interest that audience, or the tone is off.

Opens prove nothing: Apple Mail opens emails on its own for privacy.

How to build it with Couryo#

1. Your app sends an event when the person activates (for example first_result) and an event when they use each feature (feature.used with a feature property) through POST /v1/events (Contacts and events).
2. Create a sequence triggered by first_result: send, wait 2 days, send, wait 3 days, send (Sequences).
3. Before each email, a condition checks whether that feature's event already happened since entry. If so, it jumps to the next step (goto).
4. To split by language, use a language attribute and a condition at the start, or two sequences.
5. The sequence runs in the marketing stream, with one-click unsubscribe added automatically if the content lacks a link. With topics, people can leave just the tips and keep the rest.

Couryo enforces at most one sequence email every 12 hours per person, across all sequences, plus quiet hours. Sequences are part of the Automations add-on on Pro, with no per-contact fee, and included in Scale.

FAQ#

How many features per email?#

One. An email with one feature, one example and one button drives more usage than a list of five updates, because the person does not have to choose.

When should the "did you know?" sequence start?#

After activation. Before that, people need a single path to the first result. Too many options too early hurt activation.

Can I introduce paid plan features?#

Yes, as long as you clearly say it is a paid feature. Then the email is an honest invitation to upgrade, not a frustration when they click.

How do I avoid tips about features they already use?#

Send an event when each feature is used and, before each email, check whether that event already happened. If it did, skip that email.