How do you welcome someone who hasn’t bought yet?
Three letters for new subscribers, shaped by the medium they browse.
What does this flow do?
Most welcome series treat every subscriber the same. Ours writes to the medium you actually browse, so a watercolourist hears about paper and a sketcher hears about graphite.
It is three short letters, signed by me, that end the moment you place an order.
When does it start?
When someone subscribes, or makes an account without ordering. Two small routers turn both of those into one start signal, so nobody gets welcomed twice.
How does it run, step by step?
- Someone subscribes or makes an account; a router sends a single “start welcome” signal.
- If they have already ordered, the flow stops: they are not new any more.
- The first letter goes out straight away: who we are, and that they can reply for advice.
- A few days later, a letter on where to spend first in their medium.
- A few days after that, what artists usually start with, plus how the discounts work.
- A purchase at any point ends the flow, and they are marked as welcomed.
What happens before every send?
Every email in every flow passes the same quiet check first. Is the customer still in this flow? Have they bought since it started? Have we emailed them in the last couple of days? If any answer says wait, the flow waits a day and asks again, rather than piling another email on top.
After the send, the flow marks a short cooldown, so the next flow that wants this person knows to give them a breather.
How do you build this on your platform?
These are the events the flow needs, and where each one comes from on your store.
Subscribed or signed up Needs a small recipe
Shopify Flow “Customer subscribed to email marketing” or “Customer created”, sent to Bento’s API.
Product viewed Needs a small recipe
Bento.js in the theme, or a custom pixel’s product_viewed.
Subscribed or signed up Needs a small recipe
A Bento form, or a hook on user registration.
Product viewed Works out of the box
Site tracking records page views and links them on identify.
Subscribed or signed up Works out of the box
Our plugin sends $subscribe and $account_created.
Product viewed Works out of the box
Our plugin’s tracking sends $view with the product and category.
How does it connect to the other flows?
- A purchase hands the customer to post-purchase.
- Browsing tells this flow which medium to write about.
- While someone is being welcomed, browse emails stay quiet.
What does one of the emails say?
Thank you for joining us. I started Art Lounge so artists across India could find good materials without guessing.
If you are ever unsure what to buy, just reply to this email. A real person on my team will help you choose.
Kshitij, Art Lounge
An excerpt. The full emails change with each customer’s order and medium.
Questions people ask about this flow?
How many welcome emails should a store send?
We send three over about a week and a half. That is enough to introduce ourselves, help with a first choice and explain the discounts, without filling the inbox of someone who has not bought yet.
How does the welcome email know what someone paints with?
A separate flow watches which products a subscriber looks at and saves their medium, like watercolour or acrylic. The welcome letters read that saved medium in Liquid and switch their tips to match.
What stops the welcome flow?
An order. The moment someone buys, the flow ends and post-purchase takes over, so nobody gets a “here is how to start” letter after they have already started.