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.

Proposed design (without BIMI)

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).

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

https://www.figma.com/design/6US3OlzBWHfz2TVEDSbHbU/T215665-improve-verification-email?node-id=75-2089&t=NpshtotizR5JurVa-1

New sentences to translate

1. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_subject
2. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_logo_alttext
3. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_par1
4. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_par2
5. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_button_label
6. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_plaintext_button_label
7. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_html_footer
8. https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&showMessage=Mediawiki:confirmemail_plaintext_footer

Pilot testing results

Results from T400843: Product Analytics: Improve verification email - measure email verification rate before and after copy changes

Email verification shows an improvement in the three pilot wikis (English, Commons, Wikidata) across MoM, YoY. We see a 41.6% same-week email verification rate prior to roll-out (November 3rd, 2025-December 15th, 2025) and 45.9% same-week email verification rate after roll out (December 15th, 2025-January 14th, 2025). The increases were highest on Commons and the increases were seen across app and non-app new accounts. At present we see no negative impact or significant disruption, and overall trends are positive.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Rollout email improvements to all wikis

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Follow up task (not included in this task): T327679: Move Emailability code from GrowthExperiments to MediaWiki core