A love letter to great company emails

Jess Schalz
6 min readSep 27, 2024

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Casual analysis of email messaging and how they succeed in engaging their users.

I recently got an email from Steam regarding some legal changes to their Steam Subscriber Agreement. The email copy was so clear and helpful that, for once, I didn’t resent a company for adding inbox clutter.

A Black woman in a yellow shirt and polkadot hair scarf smiling at a computer at her kitchen table, with breakfast next to her
I’ve never been this happy to receive a product email but maybe one day... (Photo by Diva Plavalaguna)

Let’s go over some company emails I’ve gotten recently that I loved or appreciated, and why they’re effective.

Steam

As said above, Steam sent an update regarding legal updates to their Steam Subscriber Agreement.

Screenshot of an email from Steam about updates to their Steam Subscriber Agreement. Text is transcribed in the article below.

Medium doesn’t allow alt text bodies long enough to transcribe all the text in the screenshot, so I’ve included it below.

We’ve updated the Steam Subscriber Agreement. The updates affect your legal rights. They include changes to how disputes and claims between you and Valve are resolved. The updated dispute resolution provisions are in Section 10 and require all claims and disputes to proceed in court and not in arbitration. We’ve also removed the class action waiver and cost and fee-shifting provisions. Please carefully review the updated Steam Subscriber Agreement here.

This updated Steam Subscriber Agreement will become effective immediately when you agree to it, including when you make most purchases, fund your Steam wallet, or otherwise accept it. Otherwise, the updated Steam Subscriber Agreement will become effective November 1, 2024, unless you delete or discontinue use of your Steam account before then. If you would like to delete your Steam account, you can learn more about account deletion here.

Why I love it

  • Simple, clear, concise update with no frills
  • Focuses on what changed and how the user can find the new info
  • Provides additional information relevant to changing behavior (when the user agrees to it, OR on the default date the changes are active)
  • Provides alternative actions if the user doesn’t want to agree to it (deleting the account)
  • Provides links to more information in multiple places

You Got This

You Got This is an incredible organization that ran conferences and events focused on core interpersonal skills and technical knowledge. I’ve loved attending their events and referring to their resources over time. Everyone involved seems lovely, and all the speakers are wonderfully authentic.

When I got the following email, I was honestly kind of devastated.

Medium doesn’t allow alt text bodies long enough to transcribe all the text in the screenshot, so I’ve included it below.

tl;dr: You Got This is shutting down, resources will remain available, please join us for our last event on December 11 (I’ll send you one more email once tickets are available).

As the director of You Got This, I’m writing to share some significant news about the future of the project. After careful consideration and due to the challenges of securing sponsorships in 2024, we’ve made the difficult decision to bring You Got This to a close. This also means that You Got This 2025 is cancelled due to lacking sponsorship and increased running costs.

While this announcement may come as a disappointment to many, I want to emphasize that I’m not approaching this moment with sadness, but with pride. Over the years, we’ve built an incredible content library of more than 150 pieces focused on core skills. This wealth of knowledge remains an invaluable resource, and its impact will continue long after our final event on December 11 2024.

Why I love it

  • Provides a summary at the top of the email before going into details
  • Assures users of some concerns preemptively (You Got This 2025 cancelled, resources still available, last event date)
  • Lets users why You Got This is closing (lack of sponsorship)
  • Sets an example of how to move forward emotionally (with pride, not sadness)

If you want to check out You Got This’s content library, check out these videos:

Phoria

Phoria aggregates size-inclusive clothing brands and filters them based on a user’s personal measurements, style preferences, aesthetics, and dedication to ethical business stewardship. I’ve loved using them as a plus-size shopper, and it’s opened my closet up to a variety of new designers.

Nico (founder, CEO, data defender, and “doer of all the things”) recently sent out an email regarding data retention.

Hey friend, It’s totally normal for bodies to change over time, so we recommend checking your measurements at least a few times a year. You last updated your measurements on June 22, 2024. If you haven’t logged in in the last 6 months, those measurements will be auto-deleted. Keeping your measurements updated on Phoria lets you filter more than 300 plus-friendly brands to just the ones that are size-inclusive to you. Hope to see you around! Nico Phoria Founder & Data Defender

Why I love it

  • Sets a standard for data transparency and expiration
  • Treats a sensitive topic with neutrality and kindness
  • Provides timelines and conditions for when your data gets deleted
  • Provides example of why the data is relevant to the platform (measurements let you filter brands)

Superfit Hero

Superfit Hero is a plus size sportswear brand that’s monopolized my shopping habits. I’ve had their leggings for years and they’re still opaque with no holes. A+, 10/10, would recommend.

Since their leggings have mild compression, they recently pursued compression garment testing and sent out the results.

Medium doesn’t allow alt text bodies long enough to transcribe all the text in the screenshot, so I’ve included it below.

This is kind of a long email and may not be relevant for you. However, if you are one of ≈11% of women that suffer from lipedema or lymphedema, you may find this information useful.

Lymphedema and lipedema (also known as lipoedema) are two distinct medical disorders that involve the swelling of arms and legs. Wearing compression garments is an important part of treatment for these conditions. Unfortunately, medical grade compression garments are not generally available in extended sizes. This causes many people to go searching for compression garments on their own.

In this way, many people have found their way to Superfit Hero and our SuperHold™ compression collection. We have heard from so many customers, and even a few medical providers, that our compression leggings are helpful for them. While our leggings were not specifically designed for this purpose, we were so happy to hear that they were helpful in this way.

“What is the compression level of your leggings?”

So I began the search for a testing facility that could help us answer this question. We just got our results back!

It’s worth noting that I couldn’t find a testing facility that could measure above a size 3X. We tested three sizes of our leggings and received results between 8–15mmHg. Your level of compression will vary depending on the measurements of your body. This is not medical grade compression (20mmHg+) but if you are looking for a moderate amount of support for all day relief, our SuperHold™ compression garments have proved to be very helpful for many people just like you.

Learn more about our SuperHold™ compression collection and read the FAQs here: https://superfithero.com/pages/compression-leggings-for-lipedema-lymphedema

As always, feel free to reply with any questions. And thanks for supporting our small business!

Micki Krimmel, Founder & CEO

Why I love it

  • Sets expectations (length of email, type of content)
  • Provides additional context for folks who aren’t affected by lymphedema/lipedema
  • Sets expectations (Superfit Hero leggings aren’t medical garments but were evaluated by a testing facility, even if the facility couldn’t test all the sizes)
  • Uses formatting/font changes to catch the eye (in case someone isn’t affected by lymphedema/lipedema but still wants to know about compression data)
  • Provides external link for more info (FAQ already built and available)

As a summary, each of these emails demonstrated active care for their user. The tone of each is very different, but the message is the same: here’s a change, here’s how it affects you, and here’s what you need to do.

I hope other companies can take note of positive user interactions and learn from them.

About the author

Jess Schalz (she/they) is a software engineer-turned-technical writer. She has a terrible cat named Sudo, and the two of them live in Minneapolis, MN.

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Jess Schalz

Software engineer turned technical writer and autistic as heck. (she/they)