How To Set Up A First Purchase Incentive Offer Using Shopify and MailChimp

Offering a first purchase incentive to website visitors in exchange for their email address is great way to start building up your subscriber list.

The incentive you offer needs to be valuable to make it worth while signing up for. Some examples are, a downloadable PDF, first purchase discount or other special offer, giveaway or competition.

In this article we'll explain the steps needed to set up a first purchase discount in Shopify and MailChimp. If you use a different email marketing platform, the process is the same but the implementation might be slightly different.

There are 4 steps to setting up this marketing tactic:

1. Make sure your Shopify account and MailChimp account are integrated
2. Create the Shopify discount
3. Setup a Welcome email automation in MailChimp
4. Configure a website pop-up to promote your offer

How to Integrate Shopify with MailChimp

Install the ShopSync app from the Shopify App store to connect your Shopify account with your MailChimp account. This will ensure that any subscriber sign ups from your website are automatically added to your MailChimp audience.

How to Create a Discount Code in Shopify

How to Set up a Welcome Email in Mailchimp with Discount Code

1. Create a welcome email automation in MailChimp - you can find full instructions here.
2. If your MailChimp account is connected to your Shopify store, you will be able to use the Promo Code Content Block to add in your discount code. Or you can just add the discount code to your email copy, along with a link.

How to Configure a pop up on your Shopify site

Most of the premium Shopify themes have a website pop-up form option that you can enable which will prompt website visitors to join your mailing list. If your theme doesn't have this feature you can install an app or have this option custom coded in your theme.

Open the theme editor and add in your incentive information to the pop up to let visitors know what they'll get if they join your mailing list!