Setting Up and Using Welcome Badges for Course Enrollments
About Welcome Badges for Courses
A Welcome Badge is a credential that is automatically awarded to a contact the moment they first enroll in a course within your CRM. This feature is designed to create a positive and engaging first impression, encouraging learners from the very start of their journey. It is integrated directly into the course creation process, requiring no manual automation or workflow setup to function.
Unlike a completion certificate, which is awarded after finishing a course, a Welcome Badge is specifically triggered at the point of initial enrollment. This makes it the earliest form of recognition you can offer.
Benefits of Using Welcome Badges
- Immediate Engagement: Learners feel recognized right away, which can increase motivation and course adoption.
- Consistent Setup: Every new course you create includes a Welcome Badge by default, ensuring a uniform recognition experience across your catalog.
- Minimal Configuration: The feature works automatically, saving you time on setup and manual badge issuance.
- Enhanced Learner Profiles: Badges are added to the contact's credential history within their portal, building a visible record of their engagement.
How Welcome Badges Work
Welcome Badges are a default part of new courses. Their behavior is straightforward:
- They are automatically attached to all newly created courses.
- The badge is issued the first time a specific contact enrolls in that course.
- If a contact re-enrolls in the same course, they will not receive the badge again.
- Welcome Badges are not added retroactively to courses that were created before this feature was enabled.
- No workflow is needed to trigger the badge; it happens automatically upon enrollment.
Comparing Credential Types
It's helpful to understand how Welcome Badges differ from other credentials you can issue:
- Welcome Badge: Issued automatically at first enrollment. Purpose is to welcome and engage.
- Completion Certificate: Issued after a learner finishes all course requirements. Purpose is to validate completion.
- Workflow-Issued Badge/Certificate: Issued based on custom triggers you set in a workflow (e.g., passing a quiz, achieving a milestone). Purpose is to reward specific actions or achievements.
Setting Up and Managing Welcome Badges
For a New Course
When you create a new course, a Welcome Badge is automatically added. You can customize it with these steps:
- Navigate to Memberships → Courses → Products and create a new course.
- Open the course settings and find the Welcome Badge section.
- You will see a selection of pre-designed templates. Choose one and save your course.
Customizing the Badge Design
To change the look of the badge:
- Go to Memberships → Credentials.
- Find the Welcome Badge for your course and select to edit it. This will open the Certificate Builder tool.
- Use the builder to modify the text, layout, colors, and images to match your branding.
Disabling or Re-enabling a Welcome Badge
If you do not want a Welcome Badge to be issued for a particular course:
- Go to Memberships → Credentials.
- Locate the specific Welcome Badge and change its status from Published to Draft.
- To turn it back on, change the status back to Published.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Welcome Badges added to my existing courses?
No. This feature only applies automatically to courses created after it was implemented. Existing courses are not modified.
Can I use a custom badge template I designed as a Welcome Badge?
Yes. When selecting a template in the course's Welcome Badge section, you can choose from your saved custom templates.
Can I still use workflows to issue badges?
Absolutely. The automatic Welcome Badge is separate from the workflow system. You can continue to use the "Issue Certificate" action in workflows to award badges for any other reason.
Where is the design for the Welcome Badge managed?
All design changes are made in the Credentials area using the Certificate Builder, not in the course settings.