Email Marketing Tutorial

What you will learn#

By the end of this tutorial, you should understand how to:

• prepare the audience before building the campaign
• separate audience targeting from topic-level consent
• create a campaign with the right sender and tracking setup
• queue a campaign with fewer surprises
• review the right reporting surfaces after sending

Scenario#

A development team wants to send a spring appeal to donors who gave in the last 18 months, but only to supporters who are eligible for the selected campaign topic and are not suppressed or unsubscribed.

The team wants to make sure the send is strategically targeted, permission-aware, and traceable in reporting afterward.

Before you begin#

Before creating the campaign, make sure you already have:

• the audience records you need
• at least one Interest group
• any Audience groups you plan to use
• a clear campaign purpose
• any optional template you want to start from

Campaign setup is much easier when the audience structure is ready first.

Step 1 — Understand the difference between scope and consent#

Altrinum separates two ideas on purpose:

• Audience groups decide who is in scope for targeting
• Interest groups decide who is eligible for the campaign topic

A campaign must have an explicit Interest group.

Even if someone is in the selected audience groups, final delivery can still suppress them if they are:

• Do not contact
• tenant-unsubscribed
• not subscribed or eligible for the campaign interest group

Why this matters#

This keeps staff from confusing “strategic targeting” with “permission to send.”

A donor may be exactly the kind of person you want to consider for a campaign and still not be eligible to receive that topic. That is not a flaw. It is part of how responsible email operations should work.

Step 2 — Prepare the audience before creating the campaign#

Before building the campaign, confirm that you have:

• the subscribers or constituents you want to reach
• at least one Interest group
• any needed Audience groups
• a simple definition of the campaign’s purpose

Example#

For a gala invitation:

• the audience group might be past attendees, donors, or likely invitees
• the interest group should reflect the events-related topic permission

For a fundraising appeal:

• the audience group might be recent donors or engaged supporters
• the interest group should reflect the fundraising topic

Why this matters#

When the audience structure is clear before campaign creation, staff are less likely to guess their way through the send setup.

Step 3 — Create the campaign record#

1. Open Email Marketing > Campaigns.
2. Choose Create.
3. Enter the campaign Name and Subject.
4. Optionally choose a saved Template.
5. Decide whether to send to all subscribers or selected audience groups.
6. Choose the required Interest group.
7. Optionally schedule the send.
8. Review the sender and tracking sections.
9. Save.

Decision guidance#

Use Send to all subscribers only when the message is broadly appropriate and the selected interest group truly matches the topic for that broad audience.

For many nonprofit sends, targeted audience groups are safer and more intentional than broad sending.

Good practice#

Give the campaign a name that staff will understand later in reporting, not just a rushed internal label.

A good campaign name makes post-send review much easier.

Step 4 — Build the email content#

Use the email builder to create the body of the campaign.

A strong first campaign usually includes:

• one clear primary purpose
• one main call to action
• supporting content that reinforces the ask rather than competing with it

Example#

For a spring appeal, you might lead with:

• one beneficiary or impact story
• one clear donation CTA
• one supporting detail about urgency or purpose
• only one or two secondary links if they truly help the campaign

Why simplicity matters#

A first campaign teaches your team more when the message is focused. Overloading the email with too many asks can make both supporter behavior and campaign results harder to interpret.

Step 5 — Review sender and deliverability details#

Before queueing, check:

• From name
• From email
• effective sender preview
• bounce domain preview

Why this matters#

Supporters are more likely to trust, open, and act on email from a sender they recognize.

If the sender identity looks unfamiliar, inconsistent, or disconnected from the organization, performance may suffer even when the content is strong.

Practical guidance#

Use a sender framing that fits the relationship context of the message.

For example:

• an organizational newsletter may use the main organization name
• an event reminder may benefit from a recognizable events-team identity
• a fundraising appeal should feel clearly tied to the organization and purpose

Step 6 — Review tracking settings#

Check:

• open tracking
• click tracking
• UTM tracking
• UTM overrides
• secure member autologin where appropriate

When UTM tracking is enabled, Altrinum appends only missing UTM parameters at final render. Existing UTM values are preserved.

Preferences and unsubscribe links are not rewritten as campaign tracking links.

Why this matters#

Tracking choices affect how clearly your team can interpret campaign results later.

Consistent tracking helps answer questions such as:

• Which campaign drove action?
• Which links performed best?
• How did email contribute to giving or registrations?
• Did this appeal outperform the last one in a meaningful way?

Good practice#

Review the tracking preview before queueing, especially when the campaign is part of a larger fundraising or reporting effort.

Step 7 — Sanity-check scope and consent before queueing#

Before queueing, pause and confirm:

• the audience groups match the people you want to consider
• the interest group matches the topic
• sender details look correct
• tracking is configured as expected
• you are comfortable with final suppression removing some recipients

Why this step matters#

This is the moment where many avoidable mistakes are caught.

If the estimated audience feels smaller than expected, review suppression and interest-group eligibility before widening the audience or changing the topic structure.

Step 8 — Queue the campaign#

When everything is ready, queue the campaign from the record or table action.

Editing becomes more limited once a campaign is queued, so do your final review first.

Suggested pre-flight checklist#

1. subject line reviewed
2. interest group confirmed
3. audience scope confirmed
4. sender preview reviewed
5. bounce preview reviewed
6. tracking reviewed
7. body links tested
8. template content reviewed if reused

Good practice#

For a first live campaign, keep the setup simple enough that the results will be easy to understand later.

Simple targeting often teaches more than highly complex segmentation on a first send.

Step 9 — Review results after sending#

After the send, use:

• Email Performance
• campaign reports
• Email Audience Health

to review:

• sent volume
• deliveries
• opens
• clicks
• bounces
• unsubscribes
• audience quality patterns

Which reporting surface should you use?#

Use campaign reports when you want one-send detail.

Use Email Performance when you want cross-campaign comparison.

Use Email Audience Health when the issue may be list quality, suppression, or topic eligibility rather than message content alone.

Why this matters#

A campaign result is easier to interpret when you review both:

• what happened in the send
• what condition the audience was in when you sent it

That combination usually leads to better learning than reading one report in isolation.

Common mistakes to watch for#

What to do next#

After your first campaign, consider these next steps:

• compare campaign results in Email Performance
• review Email Audience Health before the next send
• create one or two reusable templates for common campaign types
• document internal naming and UTM conventions so future campaigns stay consistent