⏱️ TL;DR
- What is Email Verification? A security feature that confirms a member actually owns the email address they signed up with.
- Strict Mode (Require Verification): Unverified members are completely blocked from accessing gated content. If they try, they are redirected to a "Please Verify Your Email" page.
- Lenient Mode (Prompt Verification): Unverified members get immediate access to gated content, but you display a persistent reminder banner prompting them to verify.
- Link-Based Verification: Memberstack's verification process is link-based (not code-based). Members click a secure link in their email to verify.
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Key Webflow Attributes:
- data-ms-content="!verified" — Show an element (like a banner) only to unverified members.
- data-ms-content="verified" — Show an element only to verified members.
- data-ms-action="resend-verification-email" — Add to a button/link to let users trigger a new verification email with one click.
1. Choosing Your Flow: Strict vs. Lenient
You can configure how strict your email verification is under Emails > Transactional > Email Verification in your Memberstack Dashboard.
Option A: Strict Mode ("Require verification to complete signup " is ON)
This is best for high-security sites, paid communities, or SaaS platforms where you want to prevent fake or mistyped emails from consuming your database, webhooks, or resources.
- How it works: When a new member signs up, they are logged in, but they cannot access any of your gated pages or Content Groups. If they attempt to visit a gated page, Memberstack intercepts the request and redirects them to a specific URL you define (e.g., /verify-email).
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The Setup:
- In your Memberstack Dashboard, go to Emails > Transactional > Email Verification.
- Toggle 'Enable Email Verification' to ON.
- Scroll down to find the toggle "Require verification to complete signup" and enable it.
- Enter your Redirect URL (e.g., verify-email).
- Design a simple /verify-email page in Webflow instructing them to check their inbox and click the verification link.
Option B: Lenient Mode ("Require verification to complete signup" is OFF)
This is best for low-friction onboarding (like e-commerce or free content sites) where you want members to experience your platform immediately, but still want them to verify their email eventually.
- How it works: Members get full, immediate access to all gated content upon signing up. However, you display a persistent warning banner at the top of their dashboard reminding them that their account is unverified.
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The Setup:
- In the Email Verification settings, toggle 'Require verification to complete signup' to OFF.
- Use Webflow attributes to build a dynamic "Unverified Banner" (detailed below).
2. Webflow Implementation: Banners & Resend Buttons
No matter which mode you choose, you can use Memberstack's Webflow attributes to create custom, dynamic elements that respond to a user's verification status.
Show a Banner Only to Unverified Members
You can design a header banner in Webflow (e.g., a warning bar at the top of the page) and make it appear only if the logged-in member has not verified their email yet.
- The Attribute: Apply data-ms-content="!verified" to your banner container.
- Result: If a member is verified, the banner is completely hidden. If they are not verified, the banner is visible.
Add a "Resend Verification Email" Button
If a member claims they didn't receive their verification email, you can give them a button on your site to request a new one instantly.
- The Attribute: Apply data-ms-action="resend-verification-email" to any button, link, or text element in Webflow.
- Result: When clicked, Memberstack will trigger a new verification email to their address and display a temporary success message.
Show Content Only to Verified Members
If you have specific buttons, download links, or sections that only verified users should see:
- The Attribute: Apply data-ms-content="verified" to the element.
- Result: The element is completely hidden until they verify their email.
💡 Designer Pro-Tip (Prevent Content Flashing):
To prevent your unverified banner or verified-only elements from flickering on page load, hide the element by default in your Webflow designer. Then, add the attribute data-ms-bind:style="display:block" to the element. Memberstack will automatically set the element to display: block once the member's verification status is resolved.
3. Designing your "Please Verify" Page (Strict Mode)
If you are using Strict Mode, you must build a dedicated page (e.g., /verify-email) where users land immediately after signing up.
Recommended Page Layout:
- Headline: "Check your inbox! ✉️"
- Subheadline: "We sent a verification link to your email address. Please click the link in that email to verify your account and access your content."
- The Backup Link: Add a button or text link with data-ms-action="resend-verification-email" in case the email went to spam or expired.
⚠️ Important Note: Standard email verification in Memberstack is strictly link-based. Unlike password resets, there is no 6-digit code entry form. Do not design a code verification form or use inputs like data-ms-member="verification-code" on this page, as they are not supported.
4. Crucial Deliverability & Technical Warnings
- Passwordless Auth Conflict: If you have Passwordless Authentication enabled on your site, automated email verification emails will not be sent. These two features are mutually exclusive because passwordless authentication already verifies the user's email with a login token every time they access the site.
- Query Parameter Stripping: When a member clicks their verification link, Memberstack redirects them to your designated destination and automatically strips query parameters from the final URL (e.g., redirecting to /success?plan=paid will resolve as /success). Keep this in mind when setting up tracking or custom redirects.
- Custom Sender Domains: Just like password resets, verification emails are transactional. To ensure they bypass the spam folder, we highly recommend setting up a Transactional Sender Domain in Emails > Transactional. Avoid using noreply@ addresses, as they hurt deliverability and are blocked by our email processor.
- Webhooks: When a member clicks their link and becomes verified, the member.updated webhook fires where verified status will be marked as true.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Can I manually verify a member from the dashboard?
Yes! If a user is having trouble, you can bypass the email process entirely. Go to Members in your Memberstack Dashboard, click on their profile, and click on 'Actions' button and click on 'Verify Email. They will instantly be marked as a verified member.
Q: Does social login via Google require email verification?
No. When a member signs up using Google Authentication, and if the provider has already verified their identity, Memberstack automatically marks these members as Verified upon signup, so they will never see your verification screens or banners.
Q: Why was my member instantly verified without clicking the link?
In very rare cases, some corporate or educational email servers use aggressive spam filters that "pre-fetch" (automatically open and scan) incoming links. This security scan can accidentally trigger the verification link before the member ever opens the email.
Q: What happens to unverified members if I switch from Lenient to Strict Mode approach?
If you follow Strict Mode approach, any existing members who signed up previously but never verified their email will be instantly blocked from gated content the next time they log in, and they will be redirected to your verification page.
Comments
12 comments
I get the email confirmation text to my email. but when I click on the confirm my email then it redirects to same page ( email confirmation page.)
how to solve this?
Hi Mohamed Ali 👋
Memberstack will use the signup redirect once they click verify. You can set that at the site level or at the plan level.
Hello, member stack, I have a modal for the verification code where I have sent the verification code.When I close verification modal and try to login with same email I get this error.
How can I resolve this?
Aspected behavior,
1. close verification modal
2. press login & get another code or just open verification modal
When I click verify email button in email, it takes me to https://www.jannahcircle.orgundefined/?member=%7B%22verified%22%3Atrue%7D&forceRefetch=true
It say 'The page can't be reached'
Hey Ahmed Qayyum
Thank you for posting. I just made some small edits to your app. This should fix the problem. If it does not please submit a support ticket here so we can dig deeper and find a solution.
The problem is fixed. Thank you so much. There is another issue where I am getting 2 verifications emails on successful signup. I run verification email trigger on Wized.
I don't have much experience with Wized. There are a lot of wized users in our community slack though that may be able to help.
Ahmed Qayyum I have also not spent much time with Wize, but i have a theory! Can you please disable verification emails in Memberstack and then only use Wize to send them? That may fix it. If not, then you can remove the emails from Wize and only enable them in Memberstack. Right now it sounds like the feature is enabled twice.
Is there any way to use member data in the Email Verification email?
like:
Hi [users-first-name],
Thank you for joining....
It is not, but it's on our list of features we'd like to add.
What to do when I can't clone the project for verifying emails? It keeps saying clipboard is empty?
beth rice that's likely a Webflow bug. Are you using Chrome? I've talked with dozens of people about this and the only way to get it working reliably is to use Chrome (vs Firefox, Safari, etc.)
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