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.
Design specs
Release plan:
- Release & test at beta wikidata T396155: [Epic] Improve verification email (WE1.1.22 FY2025-26) (November 25, 2025)
- Release the new email to one or more pilot wikis: T396155: [Epic] Improve verification email (WE1.1.22 FY2025-26) (December 2, 2025)
- Measure the impact: T400843: Product Analytics: Improve verification email - measure email verification rate before and after copy changes
- Allow adequate time for translations.
- Then, if we see that the email verification rate remain unchanged or increase,
- Then we will announce in Tech News and release the new email to remaining WMF managed wikis. (This task)
Acceptance criteria:
Remove code for the old verification email and the GrowthExperiments version that replaced the old email on wikis with GrowthExperimented enabled.
Implement the "new" verification email as detailed in T396155: [Epic] Improve verification email (WE1.1.22 FY2025-26)
Given I register a new account on a Wikimedia wiki,
And enter an email address,
When I check my email,
Then I receive the "new" verification email