User Story
Primary user story:
As a newly registered account holder, I want to receive a clear and welcoming verification email from my home wiki so that I understand the benefits of confirming my email and feel confident in taking the next step.
Edge case user story:
As someone who received a verification email but did not register for a wiki account, I want the message to clearly explain how to disassociate my email address from the account so I can easily remove my email from the account.
Problem
The current verification (confirmation) email can be perceived as alarming, especially with language about the user's IP address. This may deter users from confirming their email or engaging further. We aim to revise this email to make it more welcoming and informative, improving the overall onboarding experience and increasing email confirmation rates.
Proposed solution
Update the verification email with clearer, more welcoming language that emphasizes the benefits of confirming one's email and includes guidance for users who did not initiate the account creation. This will help ensure recipients feel safe and supported in taking the appropriate next step.
Open questions:
- Should we pursue implementation of BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification), and if so, what are the technical and policy requirements?
- Decision: we will determine feasibility separately (see T311685 T167337), and move forward with the "without BIMI" designs.
- In what scenarios, if any, are emails sent to users who have not verified their email address?
- Decisions: we can investigate this separately. As of now, I believe no further emails are sent if email isn't verified.
- What metrics will indicate success for the updated email (e.g., confirmation rates, bounce rates, spam complaints)?
- Decisions: we will closely look at email confirmation rates pre and post release. If we can also monitor bounce rates and spam complaints that would be ideal, but if that isn't already set up then it shouldn't block release.
- Are there legal or privacy implications we need to consider when updating the email copy?
- Decision: This task has been reviewed and approved by @EMill-WMF and reviewed by @MMoss_WMF
Proposed design (without BIMI)
| email list | email content |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
Note: We recommend using the landscape/horizontal version, instead of the portrait/vertical one (FYI horizontal SVG logos were created as part of Vector 2022 roll-out).
Proposed design (with BIMI)
| email list | email content |
|---|---|
 |  |
Email contents in the mock as text
Subject:
Confirm your email
Email message:
Welcome {{USERNAME}},
Your {{SITENAME}} account is almost complete. Finish by confirming your email below.
[[Confirm your email]]
If this wasn't you, you can ignore this message or remove this email address from the account.
Email button link:
Special:ConfirmEmail
Email footer link:
Special:InvalidateEmail
Design specs
New sentences to translate
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_subject
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_logo_alttext
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_par1
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_par2
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_button_label
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_plaintext_button_label
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_footer
- https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_plaintext_footer
Acceptance Criteria:
- This new email copy should replace the default verification email
- Release and test on Test Wikipedia
To be handled in follow-up rollout tasks:
- Wikis with GrowthExperiments enabled should no longer get a different verification email; all wikis should receive the same email. Allow time for translations before deployment.
