What a SaaS promotional email is
A SaaS promotional email is one a software company sends to sell its product: a discount on a paid plan, a free offer, a lifetime deal, or a feature it wants you to try.
We collected 511 of them from 288 SaaS brands out of two ordinary inboxes, 2016 to 2026, 146 of them sent in 2023 or later. This page shows 28 from 27 brands, 26 of them from 2023 or later: 18 from that set and 10 SaaS discount emails from the same inboxes. We left out broken and clipped renders, an email that named its sender in full, repeats of one brand's template, emails that are not software promotions, and walls of text or income claims.
Browse 28 SaaS promotional emails
Tap a chip to sort by what the subject line leads with: a percentage off, something free, or no offer at all. Each email sits under one chip. Open any one to see it full length, with its subject line and a prompt that rebuilds it.
Tripo AI
🎉50% OFF! Tripo 1st Anniversary Pre-Launch
MarketerHire
1 full year of Air Starter (featuring Canvas), free
Wispr Flow
50% off Flow Pro ends tomorrow ⏳
Inoreader
Some extra holiday magic: Get 40% off Inoreader Pro! 🎁
Prezi
25% off Prezi
TexAu
TexAu Desktop Unlimited Hours (Lifetime Deal)
Wispr Flow
Try Flow on your phone 📲
Shelpful
[NAME], start your new year with a gift 🎁 (+ 1 for a friend)
Perplexity
Your Comet assistant is waiting
Salesforce
Putting the power of Slack and Salesforce together
Notion
Your meetings just got easier
nitrosend
How to prompt an incredible email, like this one
DistroKid
Get your summer track release-ready (for free)
BandLab
Wanna polish your vocal tracks like a pro? 😉
xTiles
🚀 Unlock the Full Potential of xTiles
Character.AI
Check out these new characters
Coohom
💡How to make a perfect render to wow clients?
Envato
Ready, set... SAVE 30% on all plans 🥳
OneStream Live
👻 Ghostly Reminder: Trick or Treat?
SignalRGB
Guardians of the RGB
UptimeRobot
Better than Black Friday: all plans and seats are 35% OFF!
Zoom
Offer Inside: 50% off your next 2 months
Screencastify
A reward for all your hard work 🏆
Pixlr
Create a buzz with Pixlr's Dispersion effect
Boris FX
Free Color Grades Filter for FCP! 🎨
Boomy
Did someone say, "Get paid?" 😏
Bandzoogle
Ends today! Get 30% off all website plans
XLN Audio
Save 40% on RC-20 Retro Color
How SaaS promotions differ from other promotional email
SaaS promotional email against promotional email from every other industry
511 SaaS and 2,270 other promotional emails, same two inboxes| What we measured | SaaS | Every other industry |
|---|---|---|
| Plain-text design | 40% | 18% |
| Mostly text, few images | 72% | 42% |
| Opens with a hero image | 8% | 27% |
| Written to teach or explain | 56% | 32% |
| Written in an urgent tone | 19% | 20% |
| Subject line leads with a discount | 18% | 23% |
| Puts a percentage in the subject | 7% | 5% |
| Exactly one call to action | 35% | 29% |
| Greets the reader by first name | 32% | 28% |
| Sent to win new users | 43% | 38% |
| Sent to get new users started | 20% | 4% |
| Sent to existing customers | 36% | 54% |
| Written for businesses | 68% | 12% |
| Median calls to action | 2 | 3 |
Software companies sell in plain text far more often than promotional email from other industries as a whole. 40% of SaaS promotions use a plain-text design and 72% are mostly text, against 18% and 42% of promotional email from every other industry, and only 8% open with a hero image against 27%. They explain more and discount less: 56% are written to teach or explain, against 32%, and 18% lead the subject with a discount, against 23%. They also go to newer users. 20% are sent to get a new user started, against 4%, while 36% go to existing customers against 54%. These describe what was sent, not how well it sold.
What is on this page
What the subject line leads with
the 28 emails on this page| Filter | Emails | The subject line names |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage off | 9 emails | a percentage: 25% off up to 50% off |
| Free, gift or deal | 5 emails | something free, a gift or a lifetime deal |
| No offer in subject | 14 emails | a feature, a how-to or a theme; any offer sits inside |
Fourteen of the 28 put no offer in the subject. They lead with a feature, a how-to or a seasonal theme, and the page keeps them because that is how most SaaS promotions read. The percentage offers run from 25% to 50% off. The grid is picked for clear offers and features to copy, not in proportion to the 511: none of the 28 uses the plain-text design style that 40% of the collected set does. One email is ours: Nitrosend's own send, which reached the same inbox and is labeled with its brand like every other card.
Next to this one
The same library, cut a different way: every promotional email, discount emails, SaaS product launches, SaaS webinar invites, and everything SaaS companies send, from welcome emails to security alerts.
Questions about these emails
Yes. This page shows 28 from software companies, each one full length: Zoom offering 50% off your next two months, Wispr Flow's 50% off Flow Pro ending tomorrow, MarketerHire offering a full year of Air Starter free, TexAu's lifetime deal, and Notion and Perplexity pointing users at a feature. They come from 511 promotional and 107 discount emails that SaaS brands sent to two real inboxes.
They read more like a note than a flyer. 40% use a plain-text design, against 18% of promotional email from other industries, and 8% open with a hero image, against 27%. 56% are written to teach or explain, against 32%, and 18% lead the subject with a discount, against 23%.
The page keeps the clearest offers and feature emails, one per brand except Wispr Flow, and leaves out broken or clipped renders, an email naming its sender in full, repeats of one template, emails that are not software promotions, and walls of text. It adds 10 SaaS discount emails from the same inboxes. The percentages describe all 511 collected.
Nitrosend, if you want promotional email written and sent from an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT instead of a drag-and-drop editor. It writes each email in your brand's colors, fonts and voice, and product emails and promotions go out on one plan.