The welcome is the one club email every new member receives. It goes about five minutes after they join — at your till, by scanning your QR code, or when you add them yourself — and it is the only email that doesn't wait for their yes to your offers, because it confirms something they have just done.
That makes it your widest-reaching email, and the one most likely to be read: it arrives while they can still smell the coffee. This guide is what to put in it. For how the editor works, see Designing a club email.
What the welcome is for
Three jobs, in this order:
- Confirm the join. "You're in", from a name they recognise — yours.
- Show the card has started. Their stamp balance, and their own QR code so the email itself works as their card next time.
- Ask one or two questions. A birthday is the one that pays off, because it gives your birthday and anniversary email something to work with.
Anything beyond that is optional. A welcome that does these three things in a few short blocks beats a long one that does ten.
The blocks worth keeping
| Block | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|
| Balance | The member's live stamp count, filled in when the email is built. It is the proof that the card has started — and the reason to come back and move it on. |
| QR code | Their own member QR. Many members join at the till and never install the app; for them, this email is their card. |
| Get to know you | Your questions, with a Tell us about you → button. It shows nothing until you have written a question, so it is safe to leave in. |
| Photo | Optional, and worth it if you have a good one of your place or your product. It is what makes the email look like you. |
| Sign-off | Optional. A line and a name — "See you soon, Priya" — is the closest an email gets to a nod across the counter. |
The header (your logo and name) and the footer (why they got the email, and how to unsubscribe) are always there. You do not need to repeat either.
Subject lines
The subject is the first thing a member sees, usually on a phone lock screen. A few rules:
- Put their name or yours in it.
{firstname}and{companyname}are filled in for each member. - Keep it short. A phone shows the start of a subject line, not all of it.
- Keep
{stamps}out of it. A brand-new member may have no stamps yet, and "you have 0 stamps" is not a welcome. - Say what happened, not what you want. "Your card has started" beats "Join our loyalty programme" — they already have.
Example wording by trade
Starting points to adapt, using only the tags the editor supports. {rewardname} is the reward on their card, written the way you named it in the campaign — so it reads best at the start of a sentence or after a colon.
Subject: Welcome to {companyname}, {firstname}
Headline: You're in. The card has started.
Words: Every coffee now counts towards your reward: {rewardname}. No app? No problem — the code at the bottom of this email is your card, so just show it at the till.
Questions: "What's your usual?" (Words) and "When's your birthday?" (A date).
Short on time? Write this for me, where it is available on your account, drafts the wording from your business and your reward. It only changes words in blocks you already have, and nothing is saved until you save — so read it, and make it sound like you.
What not to do
- Promise something their card won't show. If the email says "double stamps this week", your campaign has to give double stamps — staff at the till only see what the campaign does.
- Offer anything for a Google review. Leave the Star rating block out of the welcome — it belongs after a visit — and never write that a stamp or reward is given for reviewing you. Google and the FTC both forbid rewarding public reviews.
- Write a letter. Most members read this on a phone. A headline, two sentences and the blocks above are plenty.
- Put
{stamps}in a sentence. "You have 1 stamps" reads badly. Let the Balance block show the number. - Assume they have the app. Many don't. Point them at the code in the email, not at an app they may never install.
- Ask for anything sensitive. Ask only what you will use. A birthday and a favourite are plenty; health details and the like have no place in a loyalty email.
Before you switch it on
- 01Read it as Sam
The preview fills in a sample member. Read every block as a customer would — is it clear what happens next?
- 02Send yourself a test
Send me a test sends it to your own address. Open it on your phone, in the mail app you use, and check the photo, the balance and the QR code all look right.
- 03Check where replies go
Replies come to your account email unless you enter another address under Replies go to in the Sending panel. People do reply to welcomes.
- 04Write at least one question
In What you ask your members on the Emails tab — a birthday is the best first one. Otherwise the Get to know you block has nothing to ask.
- 05Switch it on
It starts switched off. Once it is on, every new member gets it. Members who joined while it was off do not get it afterwards.
In one sentence
Confirm the join, show the card has started with the balance and QR code, ask for a birthday — then test it on your phone and switch it on.