NextKick sends a welcome email to every new member. It introduces the NextKick member app and has buttons to download it. You can turn the email off, change what it says, or also send it by text or push.
Before you start
You need access to Marketing Tools in the admin.
The welcome email goes to every new member, whether staff add them, they sign up through a form or the kiosk, or you import them.
Until you verify a sender email, school emails come from [email protected], and replies go to the school email in Settings. See How to Verify Your School's Sender Email Address.
For how automations work in general, see How to Set Up Automations.
Step 1: Find the New Member Welcome automation
Go to Marketing Tools → Automations.
Find the New Member Welcome card.
The card says it "sends a welcome email with app access details when a new member registers at your school." It shows its status, such as Active, and icons for email, text and push.
Step 2: Turn the welcome email off
On the New Member Welcome card, click More.
Choose Set to Inactive.
New members no longer get the welcome email. To turn it back on, open the same menu again. Members added while it was off don't get it later.
The welcome email is how new families find out about the member app. If you turn it off, invite them to the app another way. See How Can I Send Students an Invitation to Download the App?.
Tip: Choose Set to Inactive instead of Delete. That way you can turn the welcome email back on later without rebuilding it.
Step 3: Customize the welcome email
On the New Member Welcome card, click More → Edit.
Click Customize message.
Edit the email title and text.
To add details like the member's name, click a custom field such as Member Full Name or School Name, or type @.
Click Preview to check it.
Click Save.
The default email has three parts:
A short welcome to your school.
What You Can Do: check in, track progress, and get announcements and events in the app.
Download the App: App Store and Google Play buttons, and a reminder to log in with the email they used to join your school.
Keep the Download the App part so new families can get into the app. The email doesn't include full login steps. You can add a link to How do students download and log in to the NextKick app?.
An email can have up to 5,000 characters.
You can attach up to 5 files, 10MB each.
Notify to Parents is on by default, so the parent contacts on the member's profile get it too. Turn it off to send it only to the member.
Step 4: Also send it by text or push (optional)
By default, the welcome message goes out by email only. You can also send it as a text message or push notification.
On the New Member Welcome card, click More → Edit.
Under Do this automatically, also choose Send text message or Send push notification.
Click Customize message and write the text or push message.
Click Save.
Text message: each text uses 1 SMS credit per part, per recipient. See How to Set Up Two-Way SMS in NextKick.
Push notification: up to 200 characters.
Step 5: Check that it was sent
In Marketing Tools → Automations, open the Automation History tab.
Look for New Member Welcome.
Each row shows the Time Sent, Recipient and Delivery Method.
FAQ
Can I stop the welcome email for just one member?
Yes. Go to Settings → Communication and use Exclude members from automation messages. That member also stops getting other automation messages.
I'm moving my existing students into NextKick. Should I turn it off first?
Imported members get the welcome email too. If you don't want that yet, set it to inactive before you add them, and turn it back on when you're done. See How to Move Your Existing Students into NextKick.
If I turn it back on, do members added while it was off get it?
No. Send those members an app invitation instead. See How Can I Send Students an Invitation to Download the App?.
Does the welcome email include the member's password?
No. It tells them to log in with the email they used to join your school. For the full login steps, see How do students download and log in to the NextKick app?.
A family says they never got the welcome email. What should I check?
Check Automation History first, then the email on their profile and their spam folder. See Why Isn't a Family Getting Emails or Notifications?.
Why do replies go to my school email instead of the sender address?
Until you verify a sender email, emails come from [email protected] with reply-to set to your school email. After you verify one, emails come from that address and replies go to it.