Send new customers a welcome email and include a coupon

AutomateWoo includes a preset that welcomes a customer after their first completed order. The preset waits one hour, then sends a non-transactional email with a personalized coupon and optional related-product recommendations.

Before you begin

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• Create a template coupon under Marketing > Coupons. Set the discount amount, eligible products or categories, sale-item behavior, and other restrictions that every generated welcome coupon should inherit.
• Review Related Products, Up-Sells and Cross-Sells if you plan to keep the preset’s related-products section.
• Treat the email as a marketing message. Review your store’s marketing opt-in and unsubscribe settings before activating the workflow.

Create the workflow from the preset

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1. Go to AutomateWoo > Workflows.
2. Select Browse presets.
3. Find New Customers: Welcome email (with coupon), then select Create workflow.
4. Keep the workflow Disabled while you replace its placeholders and preview the email.

The preset creates the following configuration:

• Trigger: Order Completed, with the order status rechecked before the queued run.
• Rule: Order – Is Customer’s First is Yes. The workflow continues only when AutomateWoo finds no earlier non-draft order for the billing email or customer account.
• Timing: Delayed by one hour, with rules revalidated before the run.
• Action: Send Email sends a non-transactional welcome message to {{ customer.email }}.

The first-order rule checks both the billing email and the customer’s user ID when one is available. It ignores draft orders, but an earlier order in another status can mean the current order is not considered the customer’s first. Test imported customers and customers who previously attempted an order.

Create the template coupon

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The personalized coupon variable clones a WooCommerce coupon. Create that template first and use a clear coupon code, such as welcome-15. The generated coupon inherits the template’s discount and restrictions.

Customize the welcome email

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The preset addresses the message to {{ customer.email }}. Update the subject, heading, preheader, and wording to match the offer. Keep Is transactional? disabled so AutomateWoo applies your marketing opt-in and unsubscribe settings.

The preset contains an incomplete customer.generate_coupon placeholder. Replace its template value with the coupon code you created and make the email’s stated discount match the template coupon.

For example, choose welcome-15 as the template and set the expiry to 14 days, the prefix to welcome-, and the usage limit to 1. Copy the configured variable from the Variables panel and paste it into the email content.

• template: Required. The coupon whose discount and restrictions are copied.
• expires: Optional. The number of days the generated coupon is valid. If omitted, the template’s expiry is used.
• prefix: Optional. The beginning of the generated code; the default is aw-.
• limit: Optional. The total usage limit; the default is 1, and 0 means unlimited.

The generated code is unique, but it is not restricted to the recipient’s email by default. Use an appropriate usage limit and template restrictions. See Personalized Coupons for more examples.

The preset also includes {{ order.related_products }}. Keep it when you want to suggest catalog items related to the first order, or remove the variable and its introductory text when the welcome email should focus only on the coupon.

Test and activate the workflow

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1. Use a new test customer whose billing email and user account have no earlier non-draft orders.
2. Select Preview in the Send Email action to check the message and any product recommendations. The preview shows a placeholder code and does not save a coupon; check the actual coupon’s discount and expiry after a test run.
3. On a staging store, activate the workflow and complete the customer’s first test order. A disabled workflow does not queue events.
4. Review AutomateWoo > Queue for the one-hour delayed event. After it runs, check AutomateWoo > Logs and the generated coupon under Marketing > Coupons.
5. Complete another test order for the same customer and confirm that the first-order rule prevents a second welcome email.
6. When the workflow behaves as expected, configure it on your live store, set its status to Active, and select Save.