Interactive Email for a Creator Tip Jar

The Product block's price is fixed per block rather than a reader-entered amount, so an actual pay-what-you-want field isn't something MailInApp renders directly. A few Product blocks side by side, each a different tip tier ($3, $10, $25), gets most of the way there with a one-tap Buy now on whichever amount a reader chooses — a real Stripe charge on your own account either way.

Subject

Enjoying the newsletter? Consider a tip

The Product block's price is fixed per block, not a reader-entered amount, so a true "pay what you want" field isn't something MailInApp renders directly. A few Product blocks side by side, each a different fixed tip tier, gets most of the way there — a real Stripe charge on your own account either way.

Most readers who want to tip don't need infinite flexibility on the amount — a small, medium, and generous option covers the overwhelming majority of what a pay-what-you-want field would have collected anyway.

Fixed tiers instead of a free-entry field

Add two or three Product blocks at different prices — say $3, $10, $25 — each with Digital fulfillment and a short thank-you message as the delivery content. A tip has nothing physical to fulfill, so the "download" is just the note itself, emailed automatically the instant payment confirms.

Cover the truly custom amount too

A Button linking out to an external pay-what-you-want page (Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, your own site) catches anyone who wants to give an amount that doesn't match one of the fixed tiers, without forcing everyone else through an extra hop.

It settles on your own Stripe account

Every tip is a real charge on your own connected Stripe account via Stripe Connect — checkout is commission-based on top of Stripe's own processing fees, and MailInApp never holds the funds.

Fold it into content people already open

A tip jar works better attached to a newsletter, episode drop, or update email than sent as its own dedicated ask — the Rating block alongside it ("how was this issue?") gives supporters something to respond to either way.

Getting started

Add two or three Product blocks at different fixed tip amounts, each with Digital fulfillment and a thank-you note as the delivery content, plus a Button linking to an external pay-what-you-want page for custom amounts. Send it as part of your regular content rather than a standalone message.

A typical build-and-send sequence

  1. 1

    Set up a few tip tiers

    Add two or three Product blocks at different fixed prices — a small, medium, and generous tip amount — each with Digital fulfillment.

  2. 2

    Give each one a short thank-you

    Set each block's delivery content to a brief thank-you note; it emails automatically the moment the tip payment confirms.

  3. 3

    Offer a custom-amount option too

    A Button pointed at an external pay-what-you-want page covers anyone who wants to give an amount that doesn't match one of the fixed tiers.

  4. 4

    Send it with your regular content

    Fold the tip tiers into a newsletter, episode-drop, or update email rather than sending a dedicated "please tip me" message on its own.

Frequently asked questions

Can readers enter their own custom tip amount?

Not directly — the Product block's price is fixed per block, so there's no reader-entered amount field. A few Product blocks at different fixed tiers covers most cases, and a Button linking to an external pay-what-you-want page covers a truly custom amount.

Does MailInApp take a cut of tips?

Checkout is commission-based on top of Stripe's own processing fees — every charge still settles directly into your own connected Stripe account via Stripe Connect, the same as any other Product block purchase.

Do I need to manually fulfill anything after someone tips?

No — set the tip's fulfillment to Digital with a short thank-you message as the delivery content, and it emails automatically the instant the payment webhook confirms the charge.

Can I show how many people tipped, or a running total?

Individual tip purchases show up as orders on the Responses dashboard, giving you a real count and per-tier breakdown; there's no public running-total display rendered in the email itself.

Can I cap how many people can claim a limited perk tied to a tip tier?

Yes — set an inventory cap on that tier's Product block; once claimed out, the live view shows a disabled Sold out state instead of Buy now, with the payment webhook doing the actual transactional enforcement.

Build this in the studio

Start on the free plan — every interactive block and the full fallback engine are included on every tier.