Lightspeed Loyalty lets you communicate directly with your customers through our marketing tools. The SMS Marketing module allows you to reach your customers with text messages, but the Email Marketing module allows further customization. You can compose simple text-based emails or use templates to include images, web links, and attach one-time rewards or free Loyalty points.

Sending a basic email

When all you need is a simple body of text that's too long for an SMS, you can send a plain email to your customers.

1. Navigate to Email marketing > Send basic email.

   

2. In the Subject field, enter the desired email subject.
3. Compose your message in the Email Body field.
4. Enter the names of the Groups you want to send this email to. If left blank, the email will be sent to all of your customers.
5. When your message is ready, click Send Email.

You can enter certain variables into the body of your email to have Lightspeed Loyalty pull a customer's specific information from their profile. For example, Dear %full_name%, will replace the variable %full_name% with the first and last name in the customer's profile. The variables you can use are:

• %full_name%
• %first_name%
• %last_name%

Sending a template email

You can select one of our built-in templates or design your own to create an email that reflects your business's aesthetic. You can also attach one-time rewards or free Loyalty points to the email to entice your customers to visit you.

1. Navigate to Email marketing > Send template email.

   

2. Click on the desired premade template or click New blank template to design your own.

3. Enter a name for this email. You will be able to view this email in your history or resend it by this name in the future.

   

4. Click Create.

5. Enter the desired Subject line and the Groups you want to send this email to. If you do not specify any Groups, the email will go to all of your customers.

   

6. Optionally, you can attach one-time rewards or free Loyalty points to the email by selecting the desired reward from the dropdown list or entering the number of points to be awarded. The attached reward or points will be added to the Loyalty account of every customer who receives the email.
7. Click Next.

8. You can customize the appearance of your email.

   

   For more information on how, see the section on Designing your Email at the end of this article.

9. Click Next.
10. Review the appearance, subject line, recipients, and attachments for this email.
11. If you're ready to send the email, click Send.

Viewing your templates

Once you've created a new template or customized an existing one, you can click on My Emails to view a list of the templates you've used in the past.

You'll be able to quickly see which templates are still in progress (drafts) and which have already been sent. Hovering over a template will show you several options for interacting with that template.

You can:

• Send it as is.
• Edit the template further.
• Create a Duplicate of the template (useful for starting with an email that has already been sent and updating it).
• Delete the template by clicking the red X.

Viewing previously sent emails

By clicking on Email History, you'll be able to see a log of the emails you've sent to your customers in the past. You can see which groups the email was sent to, how many emails were sent, and what percentage of those emails were opened.

By comparing the Engagement of your previously sent emails (the percentage of emails sent that were opened), you can learn what content resonates with your customer base and adjust your future emails accordingly.

Note that whether you specify certain groups of recipients or send the email to all of your customers, Loyalty will automatically remove customers who do not have an email address in their profile, as well as customers who have opted out of email marketing. The number of recipients recorded in the email history represents the net number of recipients after these customers have been removed.

Designing your Email

Lightspeed allows you to craft completely customized marketing emails by dragging the elements you want to include onto your template.

There are five elements which are the building blocks of your email template:

• Button: a clickable button that will open a URL.
• Divider: a horizontal line to divide sections of your email.
• HTML: a text box in which to put custom HTML code.
• Image: a picture uploaded from your computer or hosted on the Internet.
• Text: a block of formattable text.

In addition to these, an unsubscribe link to opt out of future email marketing will automatically be added to the end of all email templates.

Your template will be constructed by dragging these elements from the list on the right to the template on the left and docking them to previously-placed elements (or the top of the template). Once placed, each element can be further customized to your liking by clicking on it and editing its parameters.

Adding a banner image

1. Click and drag the Image element to the top of the template.

   

2. Click on the grey IMAGE box to bring up its customization options.

   

3. Click Upload image and select the file to upload from your computer, or enter the URL of a web-hosted image.
4. Optionally, you can:
   • Set the image to be the Full Width of the email.
   • Align the image to the left, right, or center.
   • Enter the text that appears behind the image (if it is transparent).
   • Enter a URL to be opened if the image is clicked on (you can set this URL to open in the same tab or a new tab).
   • Set the margins that will separate this image from the other elements by adjusting the Container Padding.
5. Click the Content tab to return to the list of elements.

Adding text

1. Click and drag the Text element and drop it. The designer will prompt you for where you'd like to dock this element.

   

2. Click on the newly-added text box to bring up its customization options.
3. Delete the placeholder text and replace it with the desired message. You can format this message by changing the text's font, size, alignment, and color, as well as bold, underline, or italicize.
4. Optionally, you can increase the space between this text box and other elements by increasing the Container Padding surrounding the text box.
5. Click the Content tab to return to the list of elements.

Changing the background color and width

1. Click on the Body tab.

   

2. Click on Background Color to select the desired color of the empty space in your email.
3. Click on the Content Width value to change the value, or use the + and - buttons to gradually increment the width of the content.
4. Click the Content tab to return to the list of elements.

Now the wider email will fill more of the reader's screen.

Adding element blocks

You can add buttons that, when clicked, will take the reader to the list of products on sale at each of location.

1. Click the Row tab.

   

2. Click and drag the row representing 3 element blocks side by side and drop it below the existing text box.

   

3. Click and drag a Button element to the left block, a Text element to the middle block, and another Button element to the right block. Note that the 3 elements are automatically spaced evenly.

   

4. Click on the left button to bring up its customization options.

   

5. Change the text on the button.
6. Enter the desired URL into the Button Link field. Use the dropdown menu to determine whether the URL will open in a new tab or the same tab.
7. Optionally, you can change:
   • The button's colors (background and text).
   • The alignment of the button (left, center, or right).
   • The thickness, style, and color of the border surrounding the button. (The border can be customized for each side of the button by clicking More Options.)
   • How square or round the button is by changing the Rounded Border value.
   • The size of the padding surrounding the button.

To copy the customized button:

1. Click the second button to highlight it.
2. Click the  (trash can) button to delete the element.
3. Click on the completed button to highlight it.
4. Click the (duplicate) button to duplicate the element.
5. Click and hold the (rearrange) button on the duplicate to drag and drop it into place.
6. Highlight the new duplicate and make any desired changes.

Click Next to review the parameters of the email and send it immediately, or click Save to return to this email another time.