Automate Email Campaigns for Membership Subscribers

Site URL: http://activateagency.co.nz

Hi there,

I'm wondering if there is currently any way to automate email campaigns to free members area subscribers?

Eg. members receive an automatic email thanking them for registering and giving next steps; queue emails to arrive a certain period after they've registered for memberships etc?

I know that I can automate to regular mailing list subscribers, but I can't see any way to set up the same automation for those who register as members, which seems like a pretty essential tool that I had honestly assumed would be available based on the combination of regular email automations & members areas.

I've just migrated my email marketing from Mailchimp to Squarespace and created a Members Area for an online workshop programme we are delivering. We already have the list of approved members, so I have been able to import them successfully into a mailing list and send them an initial welcome email using a regular email campaign.

However, I note that I can not manually add these participants into a membership and give them access to the members area - I have to email them again using the regular email campaign function, and ask them to register for the members area, at which point I'm unable to automate emails to them as free members rather than "customers".

Even if they register as members to gain access to the members area and then I manually add them into an additional mailing list, then it's still not possible to automate an email sequence for them because they have to "subscribe" to the mailing list themselves... 

So it seems like the only way to be able to have the combination of 1. participants in a free membership + 2. automated emails enabled is to make people register for a membership AND then subscribe for an additional mailing list... which somewhat defeats the purpose of automating emails to get people engaged anyway.

It would be wonderful to know if anyone has a good way around this, or if not whether this functionality is likely to be forthcoming in future?

Thanks in advance!

Any update on this from Squarespace?

@keraor did you find a solution? I've just come across the same issue and agree it seems like a big oversight!

On 3/10/2021 at 3:04 AM, keraor said:

Site URL: http://activateagency.co.nz

Hi there,

I'm wondering if there is currently any way to automate email campaigns to free members area subscribers?

Eg. members receive an automatic email thanking them for registering and giving next steps; queue emails to arrive a certain period after they've registered for memberships etc?

I know that I can automate to regular mailing list subscribers, but I can't see any way to set up the same automation for those who register as members, which seems like a pretty essential tool that I had honestly assumed would be available based on the combination of regular email automations & members areas.

 

I've just migrated my email marketing from Mailchimp to Squarespace and created a Members Area for an online workshop programme we are delivering. We already have the list of approved members, so I have been able to import them successfully into a mailing list and send them an initial welcome email using a regular email campaign.

However, I note that I can not manually add these participants into a membership and give them access to the members area - I have to email them again using the regular email campaign function, and ask them to register for the members area, at which point I'm unable to automate emails to them as free members rather than "customers".

Even if they register as members to gain access to the members area and then I manually add them into an additional mailing list, then it's still not possible to automate an email sequence for them because they have to "subscribe" to the mailing list themselves... 

So it seems like the only way to be able to have the combination of 1. participants in a free membership + 2. automated emails enabled is to make people register for a membership AND then subscribe for an additional mailing list... which somewhat defeats the purpose of automating emails to get people engaged anyway.

 

It would be wonderful to know if anyone has a good way around this, or if not whether this functionality is likely to be forthcoming in future?

 

Thanks in advance!

Hey SquareSpace any answer? I have this issue as well.

I too am having this issue. Not with moving existing members over, but the fact that even after people sign up for my members area, I need to also have a "subscribe" box for them to get the automated emails of the program I'm offering. I've created half of the emails and now I see I can only automate them up to 60 days after, but my program is a 10 week one, so now I may have to split it up and have 2 "subscribe" boxes for each half of the program ughhh.

This is a huge issue.  I would not have signed up for Squarespace member areas or for Squarespace email campaigns if I had realized that you can't send an automated email to your new members.  It's so fundamental to this process.  How can they have overlooked it?  

Hi Everyone! I believe I have found an answer, at least for the Welcome Members Email. I located this information in the "Customizing the Members Area Experience" Help Page. I've copied and pasted the instructions below.

Once you get to Step 3, scroll down and click Customer Notifications. Then click Membership Welcome. You are now able to edit the Welcome Email!

This doesn't help with sending automated emails after the initial welcome, but I hope this helps anyone who needs to automate the welcome email.

Customize member navigation

When a member logs in to their customer account, they’ll see a new navigation menu, listing the gated pages in that member area. Choose how you want this member navigation to appear:

1. In the Home menu, click Settings, then click Member Areas.
2. Click Member navigation.
3. Choose where you want logged-in members to view their member navigation.
4. Click Save.

Hi! 

It took me a while to find this, but I am also having this issue.  I agree this is insane that you can't send automations to members of a site. Or at the very least allow you to added a checkbox in the checkout for membership areas like you can for products. This is what squarespace says:

Member Areas and automations

It's not possible to send automations to members after they sign up for one of your member areas. Members aren't automatically added to a mailing list, so they won't receive subscriber activity automations, and they don't receive customer activity automations, even if they join a member area with a membership fee.

If you want your members to receive automations, they'll need to subscribe to a mailing list after becoming a member. To do this, build a mailing list and set up a subscriber activity automation using that list. Then, add a newsletter block in your member area and ask members to subscribe.

Keep in mind, if you add members to the list manually, they won't receive the automations. They'll have to sign up on their own.

Chiming in that it's frustrating that you can't bulk email members, especially with the pricing of Member Areas. Or at least automate mailing lists between Member Areas and Email Campaigns. I hope this is on Squarespace's radar. 

I also agree this is frustrating and a huge oversight! I wouldn't have recommended the member areas yet to a client had I known this wasn't possible.

Only work around we have found is manually uploading the subscribers to a new opt-in form connected to a new Mailing List for the next 60 day funnel. Agreed -- we need the ability to send longer funnels beyond 60 days!

On 5/10/2022 at 11:17 AM, Kate said:

Only work around we have found is manually uploading the subscribers to a new opt-in form connected to a new Mailing List for the next 60 day funnel. Agreed -- we need the ability to send longer funnels beyond 60 days!

Kate, can you provide a more detailed explanation of your workaround - screenshots too? This is a ridiculous issue from Squarespace

Still no response from Squarespace on this topic and it was flagged as a problem 18 months ago?  Really disappointed and not what I’d expect from them.

It’s the most bizarre and nonsensical thing I’ve probably ever seen (and that’s saying a lot)!!!  It’s a lose all situation… extra work for us, extra for our customers and also SS have created a situation that opens the risk of a lot of companies not being compliant with data protection laws, because we’re having to engineer clumsy, manual workarounds.

COME ON SQUARESPACE!!! YOU’RE BETTER THAN THIS!!!

I was weighing up whether to set up memberspace on an alternative platform and this seals it really.  How can you not have an automated mailing list option like with product purchases?  It doesn’t make any sense.

what about an integration with something like Mailchimp? Then the purchasers go into a mailing list and you can send to them as often and over years and years if you want.

On 8/11/2022 at 5:06 PM, therisejourney said:

Kate, can you provide a more detailed explanation of your workaround - screenshots too? This is a ridiculous issue from Squarespace

Yes please!

Posting here to also say there there's isn't a way to easily email all members is an oversight, there are updates we need to let our members know about, such as meeting times and dates, this is making running our business much more difficult than it has to be. Please add the feature to at least copy and paste email addresses easy.

To note about email campaigns - some messages we want to send to our members don't constitute setting up an entire new email campaign to just remind them of a meeting. This should be more simple.

Genuinely cannot believe this has been overlooked. Email automations are crucial to creating a good membership experience.

Should not have to get new customers to jump through additional hoops to receive standard communication about their newly purchased memberships.

A bit ridiculous.

I also cant believe this!  There are so many issues I have been experiencing with the Members Area specifically for an online course.  What I am seeing is that the whole process has not been thought through and its incredibly frustrating.  It has taken me 3 months to get this all set up which is just ridiculous!  And when issues are fobbed off to the development team, we are supposed to sit around and wait??  I dont think so.  Its not good enough to make a product available and sell it when all the flaws have not been fixed and are relying on customer feedback to know what they are.  I am taking this to the top.  

Also chiming in -- we need a way to email members and create automations for them. We have a free mailing list of subscribers and a paid membership, so using "Subscribers" for these features is not an option.

Can a Squarespace staffer at least reply that these features are on your roadmap? Thanks.

This is absolutely insane. 

SQUARESPACE - Where are you on this almost 2 years after this issue was brought to your attention!!

I have wasted hundreds of dollars on these member areas that I may not even be able to use. Not being able to automate campaigns to member segments is absolutely ridiculous and a BASIC FUNCTION!

Furthermore, the inability to duplicate some page types for different member areas is another major red flag on these member area features. 

Does anyone know how to send an email campaign to a specific email address or set of receipients that is chosen manually?

same problem here. i can't believe i wasted the amount of money i did.... come on squarespace... :(

This is crazy. Now I know why some of the online courses I saw others launch are on Wordpress. Anyone here still have any luck or did anyone switch to wordpress and find a solution there? Can't believe I spent so much money on the members area and building my site only to be unable to automate emails to my daily courses. I'm guessing Squarespace doesn't even read these?

On 1/23/2022 at 7:21 AM, IllusoryTime said:

Hi Everyone! I believe I have found an answer, at least for the Welcome Members Email. I located this information in the "Customizing the Members Area Experience" Help Page. I've copied and pasted the instructions below.

Once you get to Step 3, scroll down and click Customer Notifications. Then click Membership Welcome. You are now able to edit the Welcome Email!

This doesn't help with sending automated emails after the initial welcome, but I hope this helps anyone who needs to automate the welcome email.

Customize member navigation

When a member logs in to their customer account, they’ll see a new navigation menu, listing the gated pages in that member area. Choose how you want this member navigation to appear:

1. In the Home menu, click Settings, then click Member Areas.
2. Click Member navigation.
3. Choose where you want logged-in members to view their member navigation.
4. Click Save.

 

Yes! This works!

On 3/9/2021 at 7:04 PM, keraor said:

Site URL: http://activateagency.co.nz

Hi there,

I'm wondering if there is currently any way to automate email campaigns to free members area subscribers?

Eg. members receive an automatic email thanking them for registering and giving next steps; queue emails to arrive a certain period after they've registered for memberships etc?

I know that I can automate to regular mailing list subscribers, but I can't see any way to set up the same automation for those who register as members, which seems like a pretty essential tool that I had honestly assumed would be available based on the combination of regular email automations & members areas.

 

I've just migrated my email marketing from Mailchimp to Squarespace and created a Members Area for an online workshop programme we are delivering. We already have the list of approved members, so I have been able to import them successfully into a mailing list and send them an initial welcome email using a regular email campaign.

However, I note that I can not manually add these participants into a membership and give them access to the members area - I have to email them again using the regular email campaign function, and ask them to register for the members area, at which point I'm unable to automate emails to them as free members rather than "customers".

Even if they register as members to gain access to the members area and then I manually add them into an additional mailing list, then it's still not possible to automate an email sequence for them because they have to "subscribe" to the mailing list themselves... 

So it seems like the only way to be able to have the combination of 1. participants in a free membership + 2. automated emails enabled is to make people register for a membership AND then subscribe for an additional mailing list... which somewhat defeats the purpose of automating emails to get people engaged anyway.

 

It would be wonderful to know if anyone has a good way around this, or if not whether this functionality is likely to be forthcoming in future?

 

Thanks in advance!

IllusoryTime’s solution worked for me - I tested it and immediately received my customized wellcome email after signing up for my own membership  🙌🏽

Some clarifications / updates --

1. Member Areas are now "Digital Products" and you can modify your Digital Product welcome email by going to Commerce > Customer Notifications > Global Email Styles > Digital Products.

The downside to this is that it modifies it for ALL products. Being able to specify between them isn't currently an option, just like how all check outs are the same. 

2. We still can't send automated emails but you can send campaigns (bulk email to the group). 

Marketing > Email Campaigns > [Create Email] > Email (top right next to Style) > To & From > [Name of Your Membership, under Digital Products]

If you have something you plan on sending out and you have the content ready, you can schedule it to send on x date. 

3. If you want people to subscribe so that you can send automations, include a subscription opt-in in the checkout. You can even make it so that it automatically appears checked. 

This keeps you from needing to manually add them to a list.

The downside is that:

• It's what will appear for ALL checkouts, so this doesn't work if you're selling other items
• Unlike the campaign selection, sending emails to this subscription means that they will still receive emails even if they leave your community. This means you will need to manually remove them. 
• They need to verify their membership AND consent to receiving emails.

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206540717-Adding-a-newsletter-subscribe-option-to-checkout

If you want to use a different email subscription list for your checkouts, you can include a subscription opt-in in your membership homepage. However, you'll still need to manually update it. 

Lastly, Squarespace does not officially monitor the forum for update requests, so make sure to contact them directly if you'd like to encourage changes. 😊

You can now send automated emails to your Member Site members when they sign up! 

👉 The process is a bit long for the forum, especially with screenshots, so I created a blog post: View blog post here.

It has more in-depth steps with images as the settings can get a bit confusing -- especially for those who haven't used Squarespace Campaigns yet.

Here are the core steps:

Step 1: Go to Marketing > Email Campaigns > Automations

Step 2: Start a New Automation

Step 3: Click 'Customer Activity' and then 'Thank you email'

Step 4: Select a template to get started. Once you've opened the template, click Automation Settings on the right

Step 5: Change Conditions to None

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. It should automatically be 1 Day Later but you can change this to Immediately

Step 8: Review your settings

Step 9: Activate your automation