Squarespace Member Sites: How to Send an Automated Email to New Members
Disclaimer
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.
Table of Contents
Before we go into emails, it’s important to know that Squarespace Member Sites are categorized now as ‘Digital Products.’
Previously you could not send automated emails to Squarespace 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:
Member Sites (Formally Member Areas)
Courses
Videos
Now, we 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! 🎉
This could be:
Welcoming them to the group
Giving new Members a tour
Instructing them to take a next step
Giving them a schedule
✐ There are other kinds of automated emails you can send. Thank you emails however are easy to modify if your goal is to send a message to people who recently purchased.
Sign up for Squarespace’s email marketing system Email Campaigns to send automated emails to your new Member Site customers.
Do I need a specific plan to access automations?
No, every plan now comes with automations!
It used to be that you needed the Core plan or higher. Thankfully, Squarespace streamlined their tiers, so now the only difference is the number of emails you can send per month.
If you were previously paying for a higher tier, you may be able to downgrade your plan!
Please make sure to visit Squarespace’s website as these prices and features may change. www.squarespace.com/email-marketing
What’s the difference between a Campaign and an Automation?
Squarespace’s email marketing system is called ‘Email Campaigns’. Within that feature are 2 kinds of emails:
Campaigns or Blasts , meaning emails that you can send manually or schedule.
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:
Subscriber Activity Automations that are triggered by someone joining a mailing list.
Customer Activity Automations that are triggered by a store or digital product being purchased.
When deciding if you want to use Email Campaigns for your business, keep in mind that the tiers are based off of how many emails you send:
Blasts / Campaigns and Automations count towards this total.
The total resets monthly at the end of your ‘usage period.’ Instead of it being the first of the month, they base it off of the start date of your subscription.
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.) These are not counted towards your total.
We highly recommend checking out this Squarespace Help Article for more information.
How do you sign up for Squarespace Email Campaigns?
It’s very easy! All you need to do is begin the process of creating your automated email (per the instructions further down in this blog) and Squarespace will prompt you to upgrade your account.
What if you just want to send an email to all my members, not only new members?
You can do this by sending an email Blast (not an automation) and specifying that it should be sent to your Member Site members.
What if you don’t want to subscribe to Squarespace’s Email Campaigns?
You can modify the Welcome Email that’s sent out after ALL Digital Product purchases. However, this usually doesn’t work for the purposes of this blog though, because:
You cannot modify it on a product-by-product basis.
It is send out after all Digital Product purchases with a pricing plan.
This means that if you sell any other Digital Products, you couldn’t use specific language for your Member Site.
The email will automatically sub out ‘Pricing Plan’ (see below) for the name of their purchase, but that’s the only change based on the specific product that can be implemented.
To edit the content of these email, go to Settings > Customer Notifications > Content & Memberships > Welcome
Before setting up your automated email, it’s important to know what other emails customers automatically receive.
After a Member Site subscription is purchased, your customer will automatically receive the following emails:
Order Confirmed Occurs each time they pay
Account Created
Customer Account Verification Email
Welcome Email Prompts them to log in. ⚠️ Remember, this goes to every one who purchases a Digital Product! If you have more than one Digital Product, be careful.
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.
Set up an automation for new subscribers to your Squarespace Member Site by following these steps:
Setting up your automated thank you email
Step 1: On the backend of your website, go to Email Campaigns > Automations (appears under Email Campaigns)
Step 2: Start a New Automation by clicking Create Automation in the top right panel
Step 3: Select Thank first-time customers (on the left) and click Next (at the bottom). This will prompt you to pick an email template, which you can completely modify.
Modifying the triggers and timing settings
Step 4: A diagram will appear showing the email flow (see above picture). Select Trigger to be able to customize it further.
Trigger: Customer Orders Here you can tell Squarespace that you want this email to go out to people who are purchasing a Member Site subscription. Click Select > Digital Products and select your Member Site.
Filter: Conditions You can use this to only target people who spent more than a certain amount or have purchased a specific number of products. This likely is something you can keep as ‘None.’
Step 5: Select Time Delay (in the diagram) and pick how long after they purchase a subscription to your Member Site the email should go out.
💡 Most people select ‘No Delay',’ but that really depends on the purpose of your email. If the email isn’t time-sensitive, then you could delay it so that it doesn’t get lost in the sea of notifications emails from their purchase.
Customize the email design and contents
Step 6: Select Action (in the diagram) > Edit Email and swap in your copy, colors, etc.
Step 7: Finishing touches:
Make sure to modify the Subject Line and Preview Text.
If this is your first time using Squarespace Campaigns, you’ll need to add in your Sender Details and Legal Address.
Step 8: 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.
You can always click ‘Send Test’ and have an email sent to yourself. This is a great way to check for broken links.
You did it! 🎉
Congrats on setting up your first Squarespace Member Site automated email.
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