A welcome email is a crucial touchpoint in your contest experience. It confirms a successful entry, thanks participants, and sets the stage for ongoing communication. Here’s how to set up a welcome email for your contest on ViralKit.

Open the Welcome Email Settings

Begin by either creating a new contest or editing an existing one within your ViralKit dashboard. Once you have your contest framework set up:

1. Locate the option for “Send a welcome email” within your contest settings.
2. Toggle this option to “Yes” to enable welcome emails for new entrants.
3. Click on the “Open Welcome Email Settings” button that appears. This will take you to the email configuration page.

Email Details

On the email configuration page, you’ll be able to set up the following elements of your welcome email:

• Email Subject: Craft a subject line that acknowledges the participant’s action, like “You Have Successfully Entered: [CONTEST_NAME]”.
• Email From: Enter the email address that will appear as the sender, which is typically a no-reply address such as [email protected].
• Name From: Input the name that participants will see as the sender, usually your company or contest name, like “ViralKit”.
• Reply To Email: Specify an email address where participants can send their questions, often the same as the “Email From” address.

Personalizing the Email Body

The body of your welcome email can be tailored to each participant using merge tags. Construct your message to include:

• A personalized greeting with the participant’s first name: “Hello [FIRST_NAME]!”.
• A confirmation of their successful entry and the name of the contest: “Congratulations on successfully entering [CONTEST_NAME]”.
• An invitation to engage further, such as sharing the contest with friends: “We’re excited to have you participate. Keep an eye on our updates, and in the meantime, why not share the contest with your friends? [IF_REFERRAL_LINK]”.

Using Merge Tags

Merge tags dynamically insert relevant participant and contest information into your email. The available tags for your welcome email include:

• [FIRST_NAME]: Inserts the participant’s first name.
• [LAST_NAME]: Inserts the participant’s last name.
• [EMAIL]: The participant’s email address.
• [CONTEST_NAME]: The name of your contest.
• [IF_REFERRAL_LINK]: If your contest includes a referral program, this tag adds the participant’s unique referral link. Otherwise, it defaults to the contest’s landing page link.

Setting the Order for Email Delivery

You have the option to send the welcome email based on the order in which users entered:

• Lowest entry order to send email: Set the starting point for sending emails. For instance, “1” to start from the first entrant.
• Highest entry order to send email: Define the end point for sending emails. For example, “25000” to include all entrants up to the 25,000th.

This feature allows you to segment your welcome emails if you’re running a tiered entry system or if you want to send different messages to early birds versus later entrants. You just click the “+ Add Another Email” button and set different lowest/highest entries parameters for that email.

Finalizing Your Welcome Email

Once you’re satisfied with your welcome email setup:

1. Review the email for accuracy and ensure all merge tags are correctly placed.
2. Click “Save Settings” to implement your welcome email.

Now, when someone enters your contest, they will receive a personalized welcome email, confirming their participation and fostering a positive relationship right from the beginning.