6 PLG email invite examples worth stealing

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Welcome back to another edition of TheProductLed!

In today’s newsletter, I am going to teardown an undervalued yet totally fatal mistake growth teams can make in their PLG viral growth loop: The new user email invite. Or the N+1 email loop as I call it. They’re a powerful way to drive growth, foster collaboration, and deliver value.

In B2B SaaS team expansion is predominantly the number one signal for Enterprise upgrade. Product-led sales (PLS) motions will always take into account team growth as one or more signals for expansion. But driving team expansion involves complexity, product UX that drives network effects, collaboration features, and many more.

However, team expansion starts in one place. The email invite to the first N+1 member.

Most growth teams understand the viral growth loop (or new user invite loop) as the bread and butter for B2B product-led acquisition. However, the email itself is one critical point in the loop that can accelerate or slow down the growth loop.

I’m going to show you how to fix your invitation flows with 6 examples. You’ll learn:

Table of Contents

• Acquisition Loop: invite new teammate

• Email invites have 3 key ingredients for success

  • Trust

  • Validation

  • Action

• 6 PLG examples to learn from

  • 1. Userled - Action-oriented simplicity

  • 2. Beehiiv - Build trust and value

  • 3. Arcade - Shape first impressions with purpose

  • 4. Amplitude - Role-based guidance

  • 5. Figma - Instant collaboration through content-c …

  • 6. Loom - Personalize with dynamic content

• Actionable tips & takeaways

  • Meme of the day

Estimated time: 7 minutes

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Let’s jump in!

Acquisition Loop: invite new teammate

The basic growth loop has 3 ingredients: Input, Action, and Output.

Apply this growth loop to new user invites and you get:

1. User signs up for your product (input)

2. User takes action (action)

3. User invites a new user (action)

4. New user gets invitation email (action)

5. New user joins (output) 

Today, we are focused on number 4.

When done well, invites are relevant, packed with value, and designed to seamlessly pull users in and spark action.

Email invites have 3 key ingredients for success

1. Builds trust

2. Validates the product and what teammates gain by joining

3. Drives towards an action

Trust

Invites need to establish trust early on. Otherwise, no one is even going to open them.

You can build trust by:

• Using the inviter’s full name and email in subject lines, preview text, and within the email. It should be clear this isn’t spam and that the invitation was intentionally delivered.

• Reinforcing with familiar cues like workspace or organization name, team or project details, and even the company’s logo if that’s part of your workspace setup. These small touches create recognition and reliability.

Validation

Why should someone sign up? Email invites are the first touchpoint and experience these users have with your product AND your brand.

For team and collab-based products, success hinges on team-wide usage, buy-in, and great experiences across all roles. Not just product champions.

You can’t assume people know anything about you or why they’ve been invited to join.

Think about how much time and effort we pour into our ads or homepage. Invite emails are a doorway, too.

They need to tell your story but need to do it quickly and efficiently. Because the goal here is to drive action.

Action

To drive that action, you want people to be excited, you want to build FOMO, you want to make signing up the only logical next step.

These invites need to be hyper-focused on that conversion then.

• Keep the design simple and focused - don’t clutter the email with unnecessary imagery or fluff. Especially above the fold.

• Appeal to users on a human level with compelling language that emphasizes connection, collaboration, working together, or ownership.

• Design for the next step and action - yeah, we’re focused on conversion, but the transition to the next step needs to be aligned and seamless. It should be ridiculously easy to get started. You just won someone over, don’t make people guess what they are there to do, take them straight to the next step.

Let’s bring this to life with a few of my favorite examples.

6 PLG examples to learn from

Pay attention to how they build trust, validate, and drive action.

1. Userled - Action-oriented simplicity

Userled’s email invite is a solid starting point. It lays some necessary groundwork we’ll build upon throughout our other examples.

What it does well:

• It’s simple and action-oriented. There’s no doubt what my next step should be.

• No unnecessary header image wasting space above the fold.

• Showcases admin's full name and workspace/organization name to build trust.

• Creates a sense of familiarity - I can see this isn’t spam.

• CTA sits above the fold.

This is functional, and it gets the job done.

2. Beehiiv - Build trust and value

Beehiiv takes things a step further. You can see how even one line of added copy can make a difference.

What it does well:

• Subject line ‘join’ makes me feel special and included.

• Highlights the role I will play as a member. But at this point, I don’t know what a member is or what accepting that invite will allow me to do. 

• Validation - I learn what Beehiiv is and the kind of value people get from it.

• Includes full name of inviter in the subject line, preview text, and body to build trust.

Validation here is important because, remember - this might be someone’s first-ever encounter with your brand. You’ve got the opportunity to tell your story and make them want more.

Even with this quick description, I can validate that this tool is for me. It is relevant and contextual. “Build and scale my newsletter”. I want to be able to do those things. Let me in

3. Arcade - Shape first impressions with purpose

Arcade doubles down on value props while also employing some intentional psychological tactics to shift the invitee’s mindset.

What it does well:

• Shared purpose psychological subject line “collaborate” and “team”- shifts the focus to working together towards a shared goal and mutual benefit. My team needs me! I feel valued - and also curious as to what they’ve been working on.

• Includes full email address of invitee for an extra layer of trust.

• Validation - I get to learn about Arcade if I need to.

“What is Arcade?” Geared towards first-time experience, answering many end users' thoughts upon receiving a platform invite.

I learned what Arcade is and why I’ll love it. And I only need to read it if I want to. It’s strategically placed below the CTA and doesn’t distract me from what I need to do.

4. Amplitude - Role-based guidance

Your product likely has different user types, roles, and responsibilities. Some of those end users play more supporting roles within the platform, especially if there’s any kind of technical setup or integration requirement. 

Amplitude is a product analytics tool designed to give all your teams the insights they need.

To start, let’s check out what it would like to be invited to my team’s workspace:

What it does well:

• It validates twice - not only do I see how it works, but I’m being invited to ‘drive product-led insights and outcomes’. This gives context to the role I will play, giving me ownership and responsibility. 

• Links to resources and support - Amplitude does product education extremely well. Even if I’m not ready to use these now, I’m primed to know that help exists. Really important if your product is complex or requires technical assistance from cross-functional teams - they will be looking for this, so let’s make it easy from the start. 

Amplitude’s product onboarding guides users to complete the most critical step first- connecting a data source. This step can be a roadblock for product champions who need a hand with setup from a developer

To get over this hurdle, they’ve built ‘inviting a dev’ into the setup workflow.

Here’s that email invite: 

What it does well:

• Role-based and action-oriented - devs immediately know why they are being invited and what is required of them. If you’ve ever needed a hand with an integration before, you know that the info provided in this email is exactly what a dev is going to turn around and ask you for. 

• Optional personalized message - gives even further context to the invitee, connecting the product to the actual project or business goal, and adds another level of trust and familiarity. 

When the dev selects their preferred data source, they’re deep linked to the source’s setup flow upon sign-up. It’s seamless, making setup quick and painless. They don’t need to dig to find what they’re there to do.

5. Figma - Instant collaboration through content-centered invites

Figma is another good example of how strong CTAs and frictionless experiences can fast-track sign-up and action.

Figma allows you to create product designs, whiteboards, and presentations that you can share and work on with your team. This invite email is triggered when you’re invited to collaborate on a specific piece of content.

What it does well:

• Subject-line gives invitee a sense of shared purpose, indicates their role with ‘edit’ permissions, and sparks curiosity. I feel special and also dying to know what my teammate has been working on and how I can contribute.

• File preview validates - I can see what the product does within my own context and I’m excited.

• File preview and ‘last edited’ timestamp triggers FOMO. I want to be involved. So much has already happened

• Strong CTA to edit file launches me into meaningful work immediately.

• Invitee profile pic to build trust. Not all products have this but if you do, this is a very easy element to add in for an extra level of personalization and familiarity.

When I click on this CTA I’m taken directly to the file. I’m not trying to find my way back to it. I can quickly start using the product and collaborating.

6. Loom - Personalize with dynamic content

Loom uses dynamic content with my team’s personalized data to do it all - build trust, spark my interest, and get me into my account.

What it does well:

• Social proof builds trust. My team is already in there. And a lot of them.

• Dynamic content: 18788 new videos sent using Loom—shows me just how much value my team is already getting, reinforcing FOMO. I am missing out. I can be that productive too, when I sign up

• Pulls in company logo to build trust.

• Psychological shift - ‘My account’ and ‘your Loom workspace’ give me a sense of ownership. I’m not signing up, I’m claiming what’s mine.

• Contextual instructions about what my next action needs to be.

By incorporating workspace branding, a logo, or showcasing data tied to the results your product delivers, you create a personalized connection that feels immediate and relevant. It’s about showing the value upfront before someone even starts using your product

Wrap up

When done right, invitation emails build trust, spark curiosity, and drive action fueling and sustaining your product-led growth loop.

The winning formula: Trust, validation, action.

• Speak to first-timers—assume they know nothing and make it easy to get started

• Use full names, email addresses, company names, logos, team names, profile pics to build trust and familiarity.

• Show people what they are missing out on and what they will gain by signing up. Make them want in. Showing is better than telling.

• Keep it seamless. Clear and strong CTAs, no fluff, and take them straight to the next action to speed up onboarding.

The growth loop’s last step is the email invite. Make sure you close it!

Small tweaks make a big impact. Good luck!

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