Squarespace Member Sites: How to Send an Automated Email to New Members

Until recently, you could not send automation campaigns (emails) to Member Site subscribers.

Instead, you could send email campaign blasts to your Member Sites or have members subscribe to a list you would have to manually manage.

With the release of Courses in August 2023, Squarespace created a new category within its e-commerce sphere called ‘Digital Products’.

The products in this category are:

1. Member Sites (Formally Member Areas)

2. Courses

3. Videos

Now, we finally have the ability to set up an automated thank you email for individual Digital Products that can be customized to include whatever information you’d like your new subscribers to have! 🎉

In order to send automated emails, you will need to sign up for Email Campaigns.

Squarespace’s email marketing system is called ‘Email Campaigns’. Within that feature are 2 kinds of emails:

1. ‘Campaigns’ or ‘Blasts’, meaning emails that you can send manually or schedule.

2. ‘Automations’, meaning emails that send automatically and are triggered by a specific event, such as a subscription or purchase.

Within Automations, there are 2 main types:

1. ‘Subscriber Activity Automations’ that are triggered by someone joining a mailing list.

2. ‘Customer Activity Automations’ that are triggered by a store or digital product being purchased.

To get access to automations, you will need the Core plan or higher.

Please make sure to visit Squarespace’s website as these prices and features may change. www.squarespace.com/email-marketing

When deciding if you want to use Email Campaigns for your business, keep in mind that:

• There are limits to some of the emails you can send and they differ based on email type. (Automations are not included in Campaign count in the first row above but the do count towards the total emails sent per month.)

• There are specific settings for automated emails, so we recommend talking to Customer Care to confirm that you can set it up the way you want to.

• Customers will receive other emails with their order, which Squarespace calls Customer email notifications. (See the end of this blog post for more information on these.)

We highly recommend checking out this Squarespace Help Article for more information.

After a Member Site subscription is purchased, they will automatically receive the following emails:

1. Customer Account Verification Email

2. Welcome Email (Prompts them to log in)

3. Order Confirmation (Occurs each time they pay)

If you have your members subscribe to an email list, they will also receive a subscription confirmation email.

These specific emails are part of your Commerce plan and are not set up in Emails Campaigns.

Keep in mind, you can modify the Welcome Email all subscribers automatically receive.

To edit the content of these email, go to Commerce > Customer Notifications > Digital Products > Welcome

Please note: This applies to ALL Digital Product purchases. You cannot modify it on a product-by-product basis.

Set up an automation for new subscribers to your Squarespace Member Site by following these steps:

Step 1 Go to Marketing > Email Campaigns > Automations

Step 2 Start a New Automation by clicking "Add"

Step 3 A pop up will appear. Click 'Customer Activity' and then 'Thank you email'

Step 4 You can select any template to get started. Once you've opened the template, click Automation Settings on the right.

This will allow you to modify the settings in grey, select what category of customer receives the email, and change the timing.

Don’t forget: You’ll want to come back to this part of the menu to add your subject line and email preview.

You can also send a test email to yourself to make sure you like the way it looks on desktop and mobile. This is also a great way to ensure that all of your links are working correctly!

Step 5 Change Conditions to None. If you don’t, you won’t be able to select the specific product you’d like the automated email to be sent to.

Step 6 Select Purchases and then click on Digital Products . Select the Member Site you want the email to be sent to.

Step 7 Click Back and then change when the email is sent by clicking Send Email . It should automatically be 1 Day Later but you can change this to Immediately.

Step 8 Review your settings. They should look similar to what’s below! Of course, this depends on the settings you want to use for your email.

Step 9 When the email is all designed and ready to be officially part of your email marketing strategy, click Activate Automation at the bottom of your settings.

Before doing this, make sure to modify the subject line, email preview text, sender details, and legal address.

You did it! Congrats on setting up your first Member Site automation email. 🎉

Squarespace, Inc. owns the trademark for the term ‘Squarespace.’ Westerly Creative Studio LLC and this website are not affiliated with Squarespace, Inc. For the most accurate information, please visit squarespace.com. All information on this website is subject to change and Westerly Creative Studio LLC provides no guarantees.

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Westerly Creative Studio offers everything from audits & consultations to new, custom builds. Whether you’re unsure about terminology or need to update your website, we’re here to help!

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about the author

Meghan is a co-founder and lead designer of Westerly Creative Studio. With 15 years experience in her field, in addition to a BA in Graphic Design, she’s nerdy about all things color, typography, and illustration related. While her skill set spans the digital and print realms, she specializes in Squarespace websites and branding foundations.