Goal: turn alpha users into active users, and active users into referrers.
Segments to confirm exist in Mailchimp (tag-based)
| Segment | Trigger condition | Purpose |
|---|
new-alpha-user | Account created / alpha access granted | Onboarding flow |
active-user | 3+ sessions in trailing 7 days (sync from Supabase) | Nurture + referral ask |
low-activity-user | 0 sessions in trailing 7-10 days after signup | Re-engagement |
referred-someone | Has generated ≥1 successful referral | Thank-you / reward confirmation, exclude from referral asks |
If Supabase isn't currently pushing session-frequency data into Mailchimp as a custom field/tag, that's the one integration gap worth closing first — every flow below depends on being able to segment by activity, not just signup date.
FLOW 1 — New Alpha User Onboarding
Trigger: tag new-alpha-user applied · Cadence: Day 0, Day 3, Day 7 — fully automated, no manual sending
Email 1 — Day 0: Welcome
"You're in. Here's where to start."
Hey [First Name],
You're officially in the RONIN alpha. Thanks for being early — this matters more than you probably realize.
Here's the one thing to do right now: [open the app and log your first session / complete your profile — pick the single first action that matters most].
No fluff, no 10-step onboarding checklist. Just that.
We built RONIN because [self-directed athletes / the people this is for] deserve tools that don't get in their way. You'll notice that fast.
Questions, bugs, anything feels off — just reply to this email. I read every one.
Train like you mean it.
— Andy
Founder, RONIN
Email 2 — Day 3: Get more value
"The feature most alpha users miss in week 1"
Hey [First Name],
Quick one. Most people in the alpha don't discover [key feature] until week 2 — and once they do, it's the thing they use most.
[1-2 sentences: what it does, why it matters, one line on how to find it in the app]
Try it this week. Takes under 2 minutes.
— Andy
Email 3 — Day 7: The referral ask
"Why you have free lifetime access (and how to use it)"
Hey [First Name],
One week in — you're one of fifty people who have this before almost anyone else. Here's the deal behind that free lifetime access:
We're not trying to get a million people overnight. We're trying to get the right fifty, then the right hundred — people who actually use this, tell us what's broken, and bring in people like them.
That's the whole model. No ad spend, no growth hacks. Just people who found value telling other people.
If RONIN's been useful so far, here's your personal invite link: [referral link]
Anyone who joins through it gets alpha access too. You get [specific benefit — e.g., priority feature requests, credit toward Pro, etc. — confirm what this actually is before send].
No pressure. Just wanted you to know the link exists and why it matters.
— Andy
Before this goes live: confirm the actual referral incentive for the referrer (not just the referee's free lifetime access) — the copy above leaves a placeholder because the outreach playbook only specifies the affiliate commission structure for influencers, not a peer-to-peer referral reward for regular alpha users. Worth deciding this before Email 3 sends.
FLOW 2 — Active User Nurture
Trigger: tag active-user (3+ sessions/week) · Cadence: monthly, automated send on a fixed date (e.g. 1st of month) to everyone currently holding the tag
Monthly Email — "What's new + we need your take"
"New in RONIN this month (and a question for you)"
Hey [First Name],
You're one of our most active alpha users — which means your opinion carries more weight than most. Here's what shipped this month:
• [Feature/fix 1]
• [Feature/fix 2]
Question for you: [one specific, easy-to-answer feedback question — not "any feedback?" but something like "does the [specific feature] feel fast enough?"]
Just hit reply. Two sentences is plenty.
If you know someone who'd use RONIN the way you do, your referral link is always here: [referral link]
— Andy
Why monthly, not weekly: this group already uses the product multiple times a week — the product itself is the primary touchpoint. Email here is for feedback capture and an occasional referral nudge, not engagement-driving. Weekly would be noise.
FLOW 3 — Re-engagement
Trigger: tag low-activity-user (no session in 7-10 days post-signup) · Cadence: single, one-time send (don't loop this — repeated re-engagement emails to the same non-responder just trains people to ignore you)
Email — "The one thing worth trying"
"Haven't seen you in a bit — here's the fastest way in"
Hey [First Name],
Noticed you haven't been back to RONIN in a little while — no judgment, alpha software is easy to forget about.
If you've got 90 seconds, here's the single easiest way to see what this is about: [the lowest-friction, highest-value action — e.g., "log one workout" or "run the calculator once"].
If it's not clicking or something's confusing, tell me. That feedback is worth more to us right now than another signup.
— Andy
Optional second touch (only if you want it): a one-time "we'd love your feedback on why RONIN isn't a fit yet" survey email 2 weeks after the above, to a sub-segment that still hasn't returned. Not required for the first version of this flow — add later if churn-reason data becomes a priority.
What NOT to Automate Yet
- No win-back flow for people who never activated at all (signed up, zero sessions ever) — with only ~50 users, a personal check-in from Andy beats an automated email for this tiny group.
- No weekly newsletter. At this stage, a weekly cadence with <2 hrs/week of content time will either get skipped or feel thin. Monthly is honest and sustainable.
Setup Checklist
- Confirm Supabase → Mailchimp sync includes session-frequency data (needed for active-user / low-activity-user tags)
- Decide the actual referrer-side incentive (flagged above in Flow 1, Email 3)
- Build the three flows in Mailchimp's Customer Journeys / Automations
- Set the monthly active-user send as a recurring campaign, not a journey (since it targets whoever currently holds the tag, not people entering a journey at a fixed point)
- Test all three flows with a dummy account before turning on for real users
