Alva Courses is a Shopify app that enrols a buyer the moment their order is paid and, once sending is switched on, emails them a personal link to the course.
That link opens the course without a Shopify account, so for many students the enrolment email is the main way in. When it goes missing, someone who paid cannot reach what they bought.
Why do enrolment emails go missing?
Enrolment emails go missing for five ordinary reasons: sending was never switched on, the order is not paid, the buyer mistyped their address, a mailbox provider filtered the message, or the address bounced. Only the last two are deliverability problems in the technical sense, so rule out the cheap causes first.
Each cause leaves a different trace, and the Email History card on a student's member page usually shows which one you face before you touch any DNS.
Five causes and where each one shows up
| Cause | What you see | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Sending switched off | What you seeNo enrolment email in Email History | FixTick Send enrollment emails, then click Resend Email |
| Order not paid | What you seeThe order is pending in Shopify and no enrolment exists | FixCapture or mark the payment; enrolment and the email follow |
| Mistyped address | What you seeEmail History shows Sent or Bounced to an address with a typo | FixAdd the student under the correct address with Add Member |
| Filtered as spam | What you seeSent in Email History, but nothing in the inbox | FixAsk them to search spam and promotions, then check authentication and content |
| Bounced address | What you seeEmail History shows Bounced or Failed | FixConfirm the address; if it is right, email support with the order number |
Sent is not the same as delivered
In Email History, Sent means the email service accepted the message, not that it reached the inbox rather than spam. Alva Courses does not track opens either, so no screen shows that a student read it.
The Enrolment email not received help article turns these checks into a support routine.
Is Alva Courses allowed to send?
Alva Courses keeps enrolment emails off until you switch them on. Open Settings, stay on the Email Settings tab, tick Send enrollment emails under Email Notifications and save. The box starts unticked on every store, and while it is off no purchase, import, manual enrolment or resend produces an email.
Two more boxes control individual enrolments. Send enrollment email to member, on Add Member and on a member page's Enroll, is ticked by default.
Send enrollment emails to imported members, on the CSV import screen, starts unticked. Neither box sends anything while the store-wide switch is off.
Students who bought while the switch was off are enrolled but were never emailed. Open each one under Members and click Resend Email, which sends their access link for every course they are enrolled in.
Who sends the enrolment email by default?
Out of the box, Alva Courses sends enrolment emails from a shared alvaapps.com address, with your store name followed by "via Alva Courses" as the From name. Alva Apps looks after that address's authentication, so it works from the first order with no DNS changes. The address is not yours, though, and replies do not reach you.
Change the From name
Click Edit Email Template on the Email Settings tab. From Name sits above the template tabs and applies to the enrolment and completion emails. Use the store name buyers saw at checkout, so the email is plainly from the shop they paid.
Decide where replies go
On the shared address, a student who presses Reply reaches Alva Courses support rather than your inbox. Until you verify your own domain, put your own support address in the Footer Text so questions come straight to you.
Customise the enrolment email covers the full editor and its preview.
How do you send enrolment emails from your own domain?
Alva Courses can send from an address on a domain you own, such as courses@yourstore.com, once two DNS records prove the domain is yours. The setup sits on the Email Settings tab under Own Email Domain, works on both plans and takes a few minutes, plus however long your DNS host takes to publish records.
Enter the From address
Under Own Email Domain, type the address into Email address from which you want to send notifications and click Set Up Domain. Public providers such as gmail.com, outlook.com or yahoo.com are refused, since only they can publish their DNS.
Add the two DNS records
Alva Courses lists Record #1 and Record #2, each with a Type, a Host Name and a Value, and a Copy button beside the last two. Add both, exactly as shown, wherever your domain's DNS is managed.
Verify the records
Click Verify DNS Records. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate, so an early "not yet detected" message is normal. When both records pass, the panel reads "Domain verified. Emails will now be sent from your domain."
Make sure the mailbox exists
Course emails then carry your address as both From and Reply-To, so replies land there. Make sure that mailbox exists and is read; Microsoft recommends From and Reply-To addresses that can receive replies.
What the two records do
| Record | Type and host | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Record #1 · DKIM | Type and hostUsually TXT, at a host ending in _domainkey.yourstore.com |
What it doesLets inbox providers check the signature on every course email. The From address switches once it verifies. |
| Record #2 · Return-Path | Type and hostCNAME, at pm-bounces.yourstore.com |
What it doesPuts the hidden bounce address on a subdomain of yours, so SPF also passes for your domain. Add it too. |
No separate SPF record
There is no SPF record to add. SPF is checked against the Return-Path domain, which Record #2 points at the sending service, so leave your root SPF record as it is.
DMARC is yours to set
Alva Courses does not create a DMARC record. Course email passes DMARC through its DKIM signature, which carries your domain. If you have no DMARC record yet, p=none is a low-risk start, and bulk senders must have one.
Shopify's own emails are separate
Shopify authenticates its own order emails separately, under Settings → Notifications → Sender email. Those records do not cover Alva Courses, and the Alva Courses records do not cover Shopify.
Your domain, your reputation
Once course email goes out under your domain, its reputation is yours, and the panel warns that Alva Courses support cannot fix spam filtering for a merchant's own domain. Each store has one sending domain; Remove Domain clears it for a new one.
What do Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook require?
Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required every sender to authenticate with SPF or DKIM and keep user spam reports below 0.3%. Bulk senders, which Gmail defines as close to 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts, need SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Outlook.com has required the same above 5,000 a day since May 2025.
Mailbox provider requirements at a glance
| Provider | Every sender | High-volume senders |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail (personal accounts) | Every senderSPF or DKIM; spam rate below 0.3%; valid forward and reverse DNS; TLS | High-volume sendersClose to 5,000 a day or more to Gmail, counted across the domain: SPF, DKIM and DMARC (p=none allowed), with the From domain aligned to SPF or DKIM; one-click unsubscribe on marketing mail |
| Yahoo | Every senderSPF or DKIM; spam rate below 0.3%; valid forward and reverse DNS | High-volume sendersSPF and DKIM; a DMARC policy of at least p=none, and DMARC must pass; one-click unsubscribe on marketing mail, honoured within two days; no volume threshold published |
| Outlook.com (outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com) | Every senderEnforcement targets large senders; the same practices are recommended to all | High-volume sendersOver 5,000 a day: SPF and DKIM pass, DMARC of at least p=none aligned with either; enforced from 5 May 2025 |
What applies to a course seller
On the shared address, the sender is alvaapps.com and these rules are Alva Apps' job. On your own domain, the DKIM record meets the authentication rule for every sender, and the spam-rate limit applies at any volume.
The bulk rules depend on the whole domain's volume. Google counts every message from the same primary domain, subdomains included, so newsletters from that domain add to the total, and a domain counted as a bulk sender stays one permanently.
Enrolment email alone would take thousands of orders a day to reach that line. A DMARC record costs nothing, though, and with it, course email from your verified domain meets the bulk authentication rules whatever your volume.
One-click unsubscribe is required only on marketing mail. Google excludes transactional messages, and an enrolment email is transactional, which is one more reason to keep promotions out of it.
Enforcement is tightening: Google began ramping it up in November 2025, including temporary and permanent rejections, and Microsoft says non-compliant high-volume mail can be sent to Junk or rejected with a 550 5.7.515 error.
Sources: Google's email sender guidelines and FAQ, Yahoo's sender best practices and Microsoft's Outlook.com announcement and 550 5.7.515 help article.
What should an enrolment email say?
Write the enrolment email as a receipt for access, not a campaign. A From name the buyer recognises, a subject that names the course, one button and the login hint give filters and students nothing to doubt. Discount codes, product grids and other offers belong in your marketing email instead.
Keep the defaults that work
- Subject: the default, Welcome to {course.title} at {shop.name}, names the course and the shop. If you rewrite it, skip capitals, exclamation marks and sales language.
- Button: Start Learning Now opens the course on your store's own domain, matching the shop the student paid.
- Login hint: the default, Please log in with {customer.email} to access your course, tells a student which address to sign in with later. Keep it.
- Footer: give a real support address, so students can reach you even while you send from the shared address.
One email per order
An order with several courses sends one combined enrolment email, listed as Bundle in Email History. Courses with their own per-course email send separately, so a live class can carry its own session link without crowding the rest.
How do you test enrolment emails before launch?
Test with real orders, not just the preview. Buy the course yourself with a 100%-off discount code or Shopify's Bogus Gateway, using inboxes at Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo plus your own domain. Then check which folder each copy reached, what the authentication results say and whether the button opens the course.
- Tick Send enrollment emails and finish the template, checking both the light and dark preview.
- Place one test order per inbox, as described in Send yourself a test enrolment.
- Note where each copy lands: inbox, Promotions, Junk or Spam.
- In Gmail on a computer, open the email, click More next to Reply and choose Show original. SPF and DKIM should pass, and DMARC too if your domain publishes a record.
- Open the test buyer's member page and check that Email History shows the email as Sent.
- Tap the button on a phone that has never signed in to your store. The course should open without an account.
The Email Templates page has a live preview but no test-send button, so a real order, or Add Member with your own address, is how to see the email in an inbox. The course launch checklist puts this test before launch day.
What happens when an enrolment email bounces?
When a mailbox does not exist, or a student marks a course email as spam, the email service reports a permanent failure. Alva Courses records it as Bounced in that student's Email History and stops sending them the monthly progress digest. Enrolment, completion and certificate emails are still attempted, so the failure stays visible.
Temporary failures, such as a full mailbox, are not treated as bounces. Neither is a delivered message that was then filed as spam, which says something about the message rather than the address.
Bounce reporting has a gap: if the main email service is unavailable, Alva Courses can send through a backup service whose bounces never reach the app. A missing Bounced label is not proof of delivery. See Email bounces and suppression.
Clearing a bounce
Alva Courses has no button to clear a bounce. The bounce is recorded against the address, not the student, so the fix is to reach the student at the right address.
Confirm it with the student, then add them under it with Add Member, or with Enroll on that member's page if the address is already a member. Both send a fresh enrolment email by default.
If the address is correct and mail still fails, email courses@alvaapps.com with the order number so the delivery logs can be checked.
Resending
Resend Email on a member page sends the enrolment email again for every course the student is enrolled in, then waits five minutes before it can be used again.
In Shopify Flow, the Resend course access email action does the same for one course, at most three times per customer per course in any hour.
What if the email never arrives at all?
Do not make the email the only way in. The Course Access - Thank You block puts a Go To Course button on Shopify's thank-you page as soon as the order is paid, even after a guest checkout. The Order Status extension and the My Courses page let signed-in customers return to the course later.
Every way a student can reach a paid course
| Route | When it helps | What it depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Enrolment email button | When it helpsAny time, on any device, with no account | What it depends onSend enrollment emails ticked and the email arriving |
| Thank-you page block | When it helpsRight after paying, including guest checkout | What it depends onAdding Course Access - Thank You in the checkout and accounts editor |
| View Courses on the order | When it helpsLater, from the order in the customer account | What it depends onThe Order Status extension and signing in with the order's email |
| My Courses page | When it helpsLater, from the account menu | What it depends onAdding the page and signing in with the order's email |
Shopify customer accounts usually sign people in with a one-time code sent by email. That code comes from Shopify, not Alva Courses, so a filtered course email does not block sign-in, but a mistyped address blocks both. How students sign in covers every route.
Install the extensions from Settings → Extensions → Installation Instructions in Alva Courses. The steps are in Thank-you and order-status extensions.
Tell buyers what to expect, too. A line in Shopify's order confirmation template, under Settings → Notifications in Shopify, can say the course link follows in a separate email.
A deliverability checklist for course sellers
Run through this list once before launch, and again whenever you change domains or templates. Each line maps to a setting or test covered above, and together the lines close the gaps that a missing enrolment email usually falls through.
- Send enrollment emails is ticked and saved.
- From Name is your store's name, and the footer gives a support address.
- Own Email Domain shows Domain verified, and its mailbox receives replies.
- Your domain publishes a DMARC record; p=none is a fine start.
- Test orders reach Gmail, Outlook.com and Yahoo inboxes with SPF and DKIM passing.
- The thank-you block, order status button and My Courses page are installed.
- The enrolment email carries no discount codes or promotions.
In Alva Courses, Settings → Email Settings holds Send enrollment emails, Own Email Domain and Edit Email Template. Email History and Resend Email are on each member page, and extensions are under Settings → Extensions. Both plans include all of it; see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
The most common reason is that Send enrollment emails was never ticked. It starts unticked on every store, and while it is off Alva Courses sends no enrolment email after a purchase, an import, a manual enrolment or a resend. Tick it on the Email Settings tab in Settings, save, then use Resend Email on the member page for anyone who missed theirs.
No. Alva Courses sends from a shared alvaapps.com address by default, and Alva Apps looks after its authentication, so enrolment emails work from the first order. Verifying your own domain puts your address in the From line, sends student replies to you instead of Alva Courses support, and builds a sending reputation that belongs to your brand.
Two. Record #1 is a DKIM record, usually a TXT record at a host ending in _domainkey, which lets inbox providers check the signature on each email. Record #2 is a Return-Path CNAME on a pm-bounces subdomain, which lets SPF pass for your domain. No separate SPF record is needed. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to verify.
Gmail's stricter bulk rules apply once a domain sends close to 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts, counting all mail from that domain, newsletters included. Enrolment email alone would need thousands of orders a day to get there. The rules for every sender still apply: SPF or DKIM authentication and a spam rate below 0.3%. A verified Alva Courses sending domain meets the authentication rule through its DKIM record.
Yes, if you add the backup routes. The Course Access - Thank You block shows a Go To Course button right after payment, even after a guest checkout. Signed-in customers can open the course from View Courses on their order or from the My Courses page. You can also resend the email from the student's member page.
Open the student under Members in Alva Courses and check the Email History card. Each email shows its date, recipient, course, type and a status of Sent, Failed, Pending or Bounced. Sent means the email service accepted the message, not that it reached the inbox, so a student who cannot find a Sent email should check their spam folder.