Automated welcome for new customers

A welcome automation for new users of your online store or website is a campaign that helps build relationships with customers from the very start and when they begin actively using it.

Automation target

The welcome automation automatically sends the first email to customers who recently registered on your online store and connects with them immediately while they are actively using your website, saving you time, increasing the likelihood of a purchase, and improving the chances of future interaction with your online store.

A welcome automation triggers when a new contact is added to the mailing list and automatically sends the first email. The message can be just a greeting and an introduction to your online store, but it can also include a promo code. Additional messages can follow after a delay.

You don’t have to send any welcome, thank-you, or discount messages manually; Boldem handles everything for you. That saves time and lets you quickly and reliably build relationships with new customers.

Prerequisites

To create an automation, you’ll need:

• Activated E-mailing plan in your Boldem account.
• An online store or other type of website integrated with a Boldem account.
• Fully verified sending domain.
• The mailing list where you want to save new recipients.
• Transactional template – the message you want to send to the recipient.
• Subscription form (optional) – you don’t need a subscription form if you only want to automatically send messages to recipients who newly register in your online store integrated with Boldem. However, if you collect recipients for your newsletter on your blog or elsewhere, you must use a subscription form.
• Promo codes (optional) – if you choose to offer customers promo codes as part of their welcome, you need to add them first.

Find details for each step in the chapters below.

Website/online store integration with a Boldem account

To ensure data from your website (online store or another system) loads correctly into the Boldem app and you can effectively use all features, such as automations or subscription forms, you must first integrate your website with your Boldem account. You have these integration options:

• A general integration that lets you display a form on your website to collect data.
• Instant integration of your online store with Shoptet or Upgates, enabling seamless synchronization of the contacts database, cart data, and orders.
• Advanced integration of any website or online store on any platform that, in addition to displaying the form, can also—for example—synchronize contacts or order and cart data. However, this integration requires a developer to create a custom implementation for you.

For full functionality of the integration, a Boldem account with the E-mailing plan or higher is required. You can change your plan anytime via the Billing menu. If you encounter any issues when upgrading your plan, contact your salesperson or our customer support by email, phone, or chat.

• Shoptet store integration with your Boldem account.
• Integration of an Upgates store with a Boldem account.
• Integration of the Rocketoo store with a Boldem account.
• Integration of any website with the Boldem app.

If you plan to use automation only to collect contacts via a form, simply integrate your website with Boldem using the steps below:

1. Log in to the Boldem app.
2. In the left menu, select Settings and click Websites.
3. On the right side of the dialog, click Add website.

4. Enter your website’s domain URL and click the Create website button.

5. The code will appear; copy it to the clipboard either by clicking the copy icon or by selecting it manually.

6. Insert the code into the pages of your website where you want to track visitor activity or display forms. Ideally, place the code in the page header.

Mailing list

If you don’t yet have a suitable mailing list to save newly registered recipients to, click Mailing lists/Create mailing list and finish creating the new list. Remember the list name.

Transactional template

Only transactional templates can be used in automations. Any smart template can be set as a transactional template. A transactional template requires a fully verified sending domain to work properly. You can manage sending domains in Settings/Domains.

To create a new transactional template, follow these steps. You can update an existing smart template in the same way — in that case, open the template and continue with step 4:

1. Log in to the Boldem app and go to the Templates section.
2. Click Create new template and select Create smart template.
3. Choose whether to edit a predefined template from the gallery, use a sample template, or start from scratch with an empty template.
4. Click the gear icon. The Information tab will appear.

5. On the Information tab, enter the template name, subject, and preheader (subject preview).

6. Enable transactional features with the toggle switch Template for transactional emails (Automation and API). Additional fields for the transactional template will appear.
7. Fill in Sender Email, Sender Name, and select Domain Router from the dropdown list.

8. In the top-right corner, click Done and select Save and Exit.

Subscription form

The subscription form is used to store user information in a mailing list in Boldem. Use it when you want to subscribe users to newsletters or to contact unregistered users of your online store.

If your online store is integrated with Boldem via a ready-made solution (Upgates, Shoptet), new customers are automatically saved to the selected mailing list and you don’t need a subscription form for this purpose.

To display the subscription form on your connected website, you must first create it in your Boldem account:

1. Click on Subscription forms and select Create new form.
2. Select Pop-up.
3. Enter the form name. This is for your reference.
4. From the Main mailing list drop-down menu, select the list where you want to save the form’s recipients.
5. From the Website drop-down menu, select the website you integrated with Boldem and on which you want to display forms.
6. Optionally enter a description of the form for your reference and click Create form.
7. The form editor opens with the following menu:
   • Use sample form – select this to edit the sample two-step form.
   • Use a blank form – select if you want to start creating the form from scratch.

The process of creating a form is similar in both cases; with the sample form, the individual elements are already prepared for you and only need to be configured. The sample form also contains two steps. The second step appears after the user submits the form. If you don’t want to display this step, just remove it; in that case the form will simply close after dispatching the data.

1. If the form is empty, click Insert content.
2. The left menu opens with elements you can insert into the form. As a minimum, the form will need a text field for entering data and a button to dispatch the form.
3. Drag the Text Field block onto the editor canvas on the right.
4. Click inside the text field. The Edit block menu appears on the left.
5. To collect email addresses with a form, choose the custom field to store the data in — Email — from the drop-down menu.
6. Customize the title and description of the text field to suit your needs.
7. Click the grid icon to view the list of content blocks.

8. Drag the Button block onto the canvas to the right. Typically, the button is placed below the text field.
9. To edit the button style, click it and choose the properties you want. You can also add any other content, such as images or extra text, adjust colors, change the background, show a close button for the form, and so on.
10. Once you’re satisfied with the changes, click the Enable button at the top of the page.
11. Save the form by clicking Done and select Save & Exit.
    Note: Don’t be confused if the form’s background shows a page from the sending domain instead of the website where you plan to display the form. This is for illustrative purposes only. You can find your website’s address in Settings/Websites.

By default, the form is shown to each visitor only once and immediately after all pages on the integrated website have loaded. On the Settings tab, under Window configuration, you can customize the form’s behavior and how it is displayed:

• For testing purposes, it can be useful to temporarily show the form repeatedly. In that case, turn off the toggle switch for Show only once. When you’re finished testing, remember to switch it back.
• By default, the form displays immediately when the page loads. In the drop-down menu Trigger type, you can choose when to display the form.
• To show the form only on specific pages of your website, select the appropriate option in the drop-down menu Condition for displaying the form.
• If necessary, you can also restrict the form’s visibility to specific IP addresses.

Promo codes

If you decide to encourage your users to purchase with a discount, it’s practical to use a separate promo code for each user. Before using promo codes in a template, you need to add them to the system — either manually or by importing from a file:

1. Go to Settings/Promo codes.
2. Click All groups and select Add group.
3. Enter a group name, choose its color, and confirm by clicking the Add button.
4. Click on New promo code.
5. In the drop-down menu Expiry date settings, select the type of validity for the promo codes. It should match the validity set in the online store from which you generate the promo codes.
   • No time limit – all imported promo codes can be used without expiration.
   • Common – all imported promo codes share a single expiration date and time. Once selected, a field will appear to enter the common expiration date.
   • Individual – each imported promo code has a defined expiration date and time. In this case you must have two custom fields in the imported file: one for promo codes and the other for the expiration date (or date and time).
6. If you have a file of promo codes to import, click Select file and confirm your choice by clicking Create.

7. You can also import a small number of promo codes manually by entering them into the Promo codes field. In that case, enter one promo code per row. To add an expiry date to manually entered promo codes, select Expiry date settings → Individual in the drop-down menu and append a semicolon or vertical bar to the promo code name, followed by the date and time in the format set in your account (see note above), e.g.:

CouponCode11;29.3.2028 11:38

CouponCode12|29.3.2028 12:00

8. Confirm the dialog by clicking Create.

Using a promo code in a template

You can organize promo codes into groups that can be assigned different colors and names. Each group has a unique identifier, e.g. {{coupons.group_794}}. Copy it and paste it into the templates you plan to use in campaigns or automations.

In the template, paste the copied promo codes group identifier where you want unique promo codes to appear to recipients after the campaign is dispatched or after starting an automation and sending transactional emails.

Personalized greeting in the template

When creating a template you’ll send to recipients, always consider how its opening — the salutation — will come across to them.

Automatic declension of first names

Boldem can automatically inflect first names into the 5th case. To generate salutations, use the vokativ variable. Use this variable by inserting the following string into the template:

{{ vokativ contact.name }}

This string will be replaced after the message is dispatched with the recipient’s first name in the correct vocative form. For example, if the recipient’s first name is Jana, the template will show Jano. To address the recipient informally as Ahoj Jano, use the following string in the template:

Hi {{ vokativ contact.name }},

If you’d like to thank someone for registering, use the following string:

Thank you for registering, {{ vokativ contact.name }}!

Automatic declension of surnames based on gender

In many cases of personalized salutations, you need to correctly inflect not only the recipient’s first or last name but also adjust the salutation itself based on the recipient’s gender. Since Boldem lets you record a recipient’s gender, using the resulting string is a breeze.

If gender is set for recipients, you can use the following string in the template instead of a specific salutation:

Thank you for registering{{ if contact.sex != null }}{{ if contact.sex == 1 }}, Mr. {{ end }}{{ if contact.sex == 0 }}, Ms. {{ end }}{{ vokativ contact.surname }}!{{ else }}!{{ end }}

This string is actually scripting code that checks whether a given recipient has their gender set correctly and uses the appropriate salutation:

• If gender is set to Male and the recipient’s last name is Novák, the salutation used is: Thank you for registering, Mr. Novák!
• If gender is set to Female and the recipient’s last name is Svobodová, the salutation used is: Thank you for registering, Ms. Svobodová!
• If gender is not set, a gender-neutral salutation without a last name will be used: Thank you for registering!

You can, of course, customize the salutation text (shown in bold in the example) to suit your needs. We recommend always thoroughly testing the salutation on a small sample of test recipients with all variants (i.e., both genders and a recipient with no gender specified).

You can similarly distinguish the salutations “Dear Sir”, “Dear Madam”, or “Hello” when the recipient’s gender isn’t specified. In that case, use the following code in the template:

{{ if contact.sex != null }}{{ if contact.sex == 1 }}Dear Mr. {{ end }}{{ if contact.sex == 0 }}Dear Ms. {{ end }}{{ vokativ contact.surname }},{{ else }}Hello,{{ end }}

The result is personalized salutations based on the specified gender:

Automation scenarios

Before creating an automation workflow, decide what you want to achieve with it. Do you only want to thank recipients for registering or subscribing to your newsletter? Motivate potential customers to make their first purchase? Or send a series of promotional, informational, or educational emails after they sign up? There are many options, and you can build the automation exactly as you like. Below we’ve selected examples of automations and their variants that you can create in Boldem for welcome purposes. This list is by no means exhaustive and you’re free to get creative — you can arrange the automation blocks to suit your needs:

• Welcome for users logged in via the form
• Welcome new Shoptet and Upgates users

Automation scenario – welcoming users via a form

This simple automated welcome campaign helps you greet visitors to your website who subscribed to your newsletter or other content via a form by sending a single email immediately after they subscribe.

Create automation

1. Log in to your Boldem account and go to the Automation section.
2. Click Create new automation.
3. Enter an automation name and a description. Both are for your reference and can be changed later on the Settings tab in the automation details.
4. Confirm your submission by clicking Create automation.

The automation diagram opens, with an overview of blocks you can use in an automation on the left and a canvas on the right where you’ll place them. Adding is done by dragging and dropping individual blocks (drag and drop).

When will the automation run?

The automation is triggered after a new recipient who subscribed via a subscription form is added to the selected mailing list.

Automation Blocks

First, we need to add a trigger block that tells the automation how the recipient will enter it:

1. On the left, select the Triggers tab, drag the Subscribes to a list block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the Mailing list drop-down menu, select the list you want to save recipients to.
3. From the drop-down menu Select action, choose Recipient subscribed via form.
4. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click Save.

Now we’ll add a block to dispatch an email:

1. In the left pane, select the Actions tab, drag the Send email block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the Template drop-down menu, select the transactional template you want to send to the recipient.
3. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click Save.

Connect blocks.

You can further customize the automation to suit your needs – for example, if you want to send the user another email after an additional delay, repeat the previous steps – i.e., add the Wait and Send email blocks. You can adjust the delay over time and test what works best for your customers. You can also find inspiration in the more advanced automation for welcoming newly registered users of Shoptet and Upgates, which we show below.

Once you’re satisfied with the settings and number of blocks, save the automation by clicking Done/Save.

Thoroughly test the automation before you start it! Find testing procedures in the article Testing Automations. Do not underestimate testing, and start the automation only after thorough testing.

Once you’ve completed testing with a positive result, start the automation by clicking Start.

For general information on working with automations, see the chapter Working with automations in Boldem.

Welcoming newly registered Shoptet and Upgates users

This automated welcome flow helps you welcome newly registered visitors to your online store on the Shoptet or Upgates platform by dispatching an email within 60 minutes of registration. A delay follows, then the dispatch of another email. These steps are optional and entirely up to you how you want to reach out to your customers.

We’ll also show a more advanced variant that lets you target users solely based on whether they’ve already purchased, and if not, encourage them to buy.

Create automation

1. Log in to your Boldem account and go to the Automation section.
2. Click Create new automation.
3. Enter an automation name and a description. Both are for your reference and can be changed later on the Settings tab in the automation details.
4. Confirm your submission by clicking Create automation.

The automation diagram opens, with an overview of blocks you can use in an automation on the left and a canvas on the right where you’ll place them. Adding is done by dragging and dropping individual blocks (drag and drop).

When will the automation run?

The automation starts after a new recipient is added to the mailing list you set up during the integration with Shoptet or Upgates. Recipients are synchronized to the mailing list every 60 minutes.

Automation blocks – email dispatch with delays

First, we need to add a trigger block that tells the automation how the recipient will enter it:

1. In the left pane select the Triggers tab, drag the Subscribes to a list block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the Mailing list drop-down menu, select the list where your online store’s customers are stored. It’s the same mailing list you selected when creating the integration and you can find it in Settings/Integration.
3. From the drop-down menu Select action, choose the item Recipient subscribed via integration.
4. Click Save.

How to add a block to email dispatch:

1. On the left, select the Actions tab, drag the Send email block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the Template drop-down menu, select the transactional template you want to send to the recipients.
3. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click Save.

Connect the blocks by clicking the light dot on the trigger block and dragging the mouse to the dark dot on the action block.

Now we’ll insert a Wait block to create a delay before the dispatch of the next email:

1. In the left pane, select the Operators tab, drag the Wait block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the drop-down menu, select After a certain time and set the delay, e.g., 2 days.
3. Click Save.

4. Integrate the Send email block with the newly added block.
5. Insert the Send email block again, but choose a different template this time. The template’s content should be different from the previous email to encourage the customer to read it and respond.
6. Integrate blocks.

If you want to send the user another email after an additional delay, repeat the previous steps—i.e., add the Wait and Send email blocks. You can adjust the delay later and test which timing works best for your customers.

Once you’re satisfied with the settings and number of blocks, save the automation by clicking Done/Save.

Thoroughly test the automation before you start it! Find testing procedures in the article Testing Automations. Do not underestimate testing, and start the automation only after thorough testing.

Once you’ve completed testing with a positive result, start the automation by clicking Start.

Automation blocks – email dispatch based on conditions

In many cases you’ll want to reach out to newly registered customers based on certain conditions — for example, whether they’ve already made a purchase. Based on the results, you can send them targeted messages with the appropriate incentives.

To add a delay and a condition to an automation that checks whether a customer has already made a purchase from your online store and sends different emails based on that, follow these steps:

Create a new automation and add a trigger:

1. In the left pane select the Triggers tab, drag the Subscribes to a list block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the Mailing list drop-down menu, select the list where your online store’s customers are stored. It’s the same mailing list you selected when creating the integration and you can find it in Settings/Integration.
3. From the drop-down menu Select action, choose the item Recipient subscribed via integration.
4. Click Save.

Next, add a delay block — the Wait block — to create a pause between adding the recipient to the list and sending the email. The delay can be minutes, hours, or days. If you want to reach the recipient as quickly as possible while there’s still a chance they’re at their device, choose a shorter number of hours. If, on the other hand, you want to give the recipient some time to think it over, enter 1 or more days.

1. In the left pane, select the Operators tab, drag the Wait block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the drop-down menu, select After a certain time and choose a delay, e.g., 2 days, 2 hours, and so on.
3. Click Save.

At this point we’ll add a condition to check whether the recipient has already purchased in our store; if so, we’ll send that recipient a different email than recipients who haven’t purchased yet.

1. On the left, select the Operators tab, drag the Condition block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. Click Select new condition. A dialog for selecting a condition will open.
3. In the Source drop-down menu, select Recipients’ activity on the website.
4. In the Select website drop-down menu, select the online store you previously integrated. If you don’t see the online store in the list, the integration wasn’t set up correctly. Check the status in Settings/Integration or add the online store.
5. In the drop-down menu Recipients’ activity on the website, select Purchased in store.
6. In the drop-down menu Time limit, select either Last X days or Last X hours depending on how you want to reach your clients and on the delay you selected in the previous block:
   • In the last X days – use this if you placed a delay before this condition, i.e., the Wait block with a specified number of days. If you want to give the user a chance to look around and decide at their leisure, enter in the condition the same number of days you set in the Wait block.
   • In the last X hours – use this when you’ve placed a Wait block before this condition with a delay measured in hours. Enter that number here as well.

7. Click Save rule.
8. Click Save to save the entire block.

Now we’ll add a block to dispatch an email:

1. In the left pane, select the Actions tab, drag the Send email block onto the automation canvas, and double-click it to open the block settings.
2. From the Template drop-down menu, select the transactional template you want to send to recipients who haven’t made a purchase in the store within the specified time.
3. Leave the other settings at their defaults and click Save.
4. Connect the blocks by dragging the connector from No on the condition block to the Send email block.

5. We insert the Send email block again, but this time we select a template to address recipients who made purchases in our store during the specified period, so we’ll choose different wording for the message.
6. Connect this block by dragging from the Yes spot on the condition block to the Send email side.

You can further customize the automation to suit your needs – for example, if you want to send the user another email after an additional delay, repeat the previous steps – namely adding the Wait and Send email blocks. You can change the delay over time and test which works best for your customers.

Once you’re satisfied with the settings and number of blocks, save the automation by clicking Done/Save.

Thoroughly test the automation before you start it! Find testing procedures in the article Testing Automations. Do not underestimate testing, and start the automation only after thorough testing.

Once you’ve completed testing with a positive result, start the automation by clicking Start.