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Documentation Email Marketing

Email Marketing

Email Marketing How-To

Browse tenant guides generated directly from the Markdown files in docs/tenant.

Introduction

Use this guide when you already know the email task you need to complete and want a direct operational path through the campaign tools.

This page is especially useful when your team needs to move from “we should send something” to “we are confident this campaign is correctly targeted, permission-aware, and ready to queue.”

When to use this page

Use this page when you need to:

  • send to a segment instead of everyone
  • create or reuse a template
  • add UTM tracking
  • organize email topics with interest groups
  • review audience quality before a send
  • reduce mistakes before queueing a live campaign

What you will learn

This guide shows you how to:

  • choose the right audience scope
  • align the campaign with the correct topic-level consent
  • review sender and tracking details before queueing
  • decide when to use templates
  • review audience quality before a major send

Before you start

Before creating or editing a campaign, make sure you have:

  • the subscribers or constituents you want to target
  • at least one Interest group
  • any Audience groups you plan to use
  • a clear campaign purpose
  • a basic sense of whether this is a broad send or a focused one

A campaign setup usually goes more smoothly when audience logic is prepared first and content is built second.

Send to a segment instead of everyone

Use this workflow when the campaign should go only to a specific audience rather than to all broadly eligible subscribers.

Step 1 — Open or create the campaign

Open the campaign record or create a new one.

This is where you will define the campaign setup, including audience mode, consent gating, sender details, and tracking behavior.

Step 2 — Keep broad sending turned off

Leave Send to all subscribers off.

Use this when the campaign is intended for a targeted audience rather than everyone who could potentially receive that topic.

This is usually the right choice for:

  • fundraising appeals to a donor segment
  • event invitations to likely attendees
  • follow-up messages tied to a recent action
  • targeted stewardship or cultivation campaigns

Step 3 — Choose the audience scope

Select one or more Audience groups.

These groups define the pool of people you want to consider for the send.

For example, you might target:

  • recent donors
  • past event attendees
  • newsletter-engaged supporters
  • a static staff-curated segment

Step 4 — Select the required interest group

Choose the Interest group that matches the campaign topic.

This is the topic-level permission gate that helps determine who is actually eligible to receive the campaign.

How this works in practice

Audience groups define who you want to consider.

The interest group defines who is eligible for this topic.

That means a person may match the audience scope but still not receive the send if they are unsubscribed, suppressed, or not eligible for the selected interest group.

Example: For a spring appeal, you might target recent donors with an audience group while still requiring the fundraising-related interest group.

Common mistake

Do not use audience groups as a substitute for topic-level consent. They serve different jobs.

Create a reusable template

Use templates when your team sends recurring communications that should share a consistent structure.

This is especially useful for:

  • newsletters
  • event invitations
  • stewardship updates
  • recurring campaign formats

Step 1 — Open Templates

Go to the template area in email marketing.

Step 2 — Create a new template

Build the content in the email builder and save it as a reusable template.

A good template often includes:

  • consistent branding
  • a familiar header/footer structure
  • a repeatable CTA pattern
  • placeholder content blocks that staff can update for each send

Step 3 — Reuse it in campaigns

Choose that template when creating future campaigns.

This reduces repetitive setup work and helps teams maintain consistency over time.

Good practice

Treat templates as a starting point, not as “already reviewed content.”

Before sending from a template, still check:

  • links
  • campaign framing
  • audience/topic alignment
  • outdated dates or wording
  • whether the structure still fits the message

Email builder blocks

The active campaign and template editor uses the Easy Email builder. Its top-level sidebar categories are Layouts, Nonprofit, Content, Personalization, and Links. The Conditional Content card is shown with the Dynamic Content family label inside the custom block library.

Layout blocks

Use Layouts when you need structure before adding copy or calls to action.

Available layout blocks:

  • 1 column
  • 2 columns
  • 3 columns
  • 4 columns

Use one-column layouts for most email content. Use multi-column layouts sparingly because narrow mobile screens can make dense layouts harder to scan.

Standard content blocks

Use Content for the basic building pieces of an email.

Available content blocks:

  • Text
  • Image
  • Button
  • Social
  • Divider
  • Spacer
  • Hero
  • Wrapper

These are general Easy Email blocks. They are best for custom sections, simple copy, images, spacing, and one-off calls to action that are not tied to a specific event, program, or giving form.

Nonprofit blocks

Use Nonprofit blocks when the message is tied to Altrinum records or common advancement communication patterns.

Available event blocks:

  • Event spotlight - feature one event with a fuller invitation.
  • Event CTA - add a compact registration push when the audience already knows the event.
  • Event details + CTA - include schedule and location details before the action.

Available program blocks:

  • Program spotlight - highlight a cohort, series, or flagship program with more context.
  • Program CTA - add a simple action block for a familiar program.
  • Program details + CTA - include the program window and orientation copy before the click.

Available giving blocks:

  • Giving appeal - combine donor-facing copy, urgency, and a donation button.
  • Giving CTA - add a compact ask with a headline and button.
  • Donation form spotlight - promote a specific giving form with stronger framing.
  • Campaign goal - show progress or matching details when those details matter to the ask.

Available story blocks:

  • Supporter quote - add a human proof point without choosing a record.
  • Image + Appeal - pair a campaign image with appeal copy and a branded CTA.
  • Impact story - tell one short donor, beneficiary, volunteer, or alumni story.

Event, program, and giving blocks open a picker so staff can choose the related record and options before insertion. Story blocks insert editable starter content directly.

Personalization blocks

Use Personalization blocks when you want a reusable section with merge tokens already included.

Available personalization blocks:

  • Personal greeting
  • Donation recap
  • Event reminder
  • Footer signature

These blocks depend on the recipient and campaign context available at render time. Always test personalized content before sending.

Link blocks

Use Links when you need common token-based calls to action.

Available link blocks:

  • Member portal CTA
  • Preferences CTA
  • Donation CTA
  • Event registration CTA
  • Dashboard CTA
  • Unsubscribe footer

Use these when the destination should be generated from a supported email token, such as member portal, preferences, unsubscribe, giving form, event registration, or tenant dashboard links.

Dynamic Content

Use Dynamic Content when content should appear only for recipients who match display rules.

Available dynamic content block:

  • Conditional Content

Clicking this block opens a rule modal before insertion. Configure the display rules first, then insert the editable conditional section.

Add conditional content to an email

Use Conditional Content when part of an email should appear only for recipients who match specific profile, giving, or event-engagement rules.

For example, one campaign can include a donor-specific paragraph, an event-attendee note, or a fallback section for records missing useful profile data.

Step 1 - Open the Easy Email builder

Open the campaign or template content in the email builder.

In the block library, find Conditional Content. It appears with the Dynamic Content family label.

Step 2 - Configure the rule before insertion

Clicking the block opens a rule modal before anything is inserted.

Choose whether the section should display when:

  • all conditions match
  • any condition matches

Use all when every rule must be true. Use any when one matching rule is enough.

Step 3 - Choose one or more rule categories

Each condition can use one of these categories:

  • Profile
  • Giving history
  • Event engagement

Examples include:

  • show when profile email is not blank
  • show when last donation amount is greater than 100
  • show when attended event count is greater than 0
  • show when upcoming registration exists

Step 4 - Save the block and edit the content

After saving the rule modal, the conditional block is inserted into the email.

Replace the placeholder copy inside the block with the content that should only appear for matching recipients.

Step 5 - Preview and test before sending

Always preview or test-send before queueing a live campaign, especially when using multiple conditions.

Template-only builder preview is mainly a layout preview and may not reflect final per-recipient filtering. Campaign rendering and sends use recipient context to decide whether marked sections should remain visible.

Giving and event-engagement rules require a reliable recipient-to-constituent context. Until SendportalSubscriber records are durably linked to TenantUser records, profile rules are the safest option for regular campaign sends.

Track campaign links with UTM tags

Use UTM tracking when your team wants more consistent attribution and downstream reporting across email, giving, and campaign analysis.

Step 1 — Turn on UTM tracking

Open Workspace Settings > Campaign Email UTM Tracking to set tenant-wide defaults, or enable Apply UTM tracking on an individual campaign.

Tenant-wide settings include:

  • Enable automatic UTM tagging for campaign emails
  • Default UTM Source
  • Default UTM Medium
  • UTM Campaign Pattern
  • UTM Content Pattern
  • UTM Term Pattern

Campaigns can also provide overrides for:

  • utm_source
  • utm_medium
  • utm_campaign
  • utm_content
  • utm_term

Step 2 — Review the values

Check the generated UTM values and override them if needed.

This is helpful when:

  • the campaign belongs to a larger fundraising initiative
  • reporting needs consistent source/campaign naming
  • staff want to connect email activity to giving or web behavior more clearly

Step 3 — Confirm the preview

Review the UTM preview before saving or queueing.

When UTM tracking is enabled, HTTP and HTTPS links in marketing campaign emails receive missing UTM parameters at final campaign render. Existing UTM values are preserved, which helps avoid overwriting links that were already tagged intentionally.

The system skips special-purpose links such as signed links, unsubscribe links, preferences links, member-access links, mailto: links, tel: links, and page-anchor links.

Good practice

Use lowercase, hyphenated values where possible, such as:

  • utm_source=newsletter
  • utm_medium=email
  • utm_campaign=spring-appeal-2026
  • utm_content=hero-button
  • utm_term=monthly-donor

Use the tenant pattern tokens when you want consistent generated values. Supported tokens are {campaign_id}, {campaign_name}, {campaign_slug}, {tenant_id}, {tenant_name}, {tenant_slug}, and {date}.

Organize email topics with interest groups

Use Interest Groups to define topic-level communication categories such as:

  • newsletters
  • events
  • appeals
  • program updates
  • community announcements

Campaigns require an interest group so that topic-level preferences can be respected during delivery.

Why this matters

Without a clear topic model, teams often fall into one of two problems:

  • sending too broadly because everything feels like one big list
  • over-segmenting by audience without understanding whether the topic is still appropriate

Interest groups help the system distinguish topic permission from targeting logic.

Recommended approach

Create interest groups that reflect meaningful communication categories your supporters can reasonably understand, not overly technical internal buckets.

For example, “Events” or “Appeals” is usually clearer than a very narrow internal campaign label.

Review audience quality before a major send

Before a significant campaign, open Email Audience Health.

This is especially useful before:

  • a major appeal
  • a gala invitation wave
  • a newsletter relaunch
  • a year-end campaign
  • any send where volume or visibility is high

Review areas such as:

  • marketing-eligible constituents
  • tenant-unsubscribed constituents
  • do-not-contact records
  • topic opt-outs
  • other health or readiness indicators surfaced by the system

Why this matters

A smaller-than-expected send audience is not always a setup error. Sometimes it reflects the actual condition of the audience.

Audience health review helps staff understand whether the campaign result is being shaped by:

  • list quality
  • suppression levels
  • preference restrictions
  • stale records
  • targeting choices

Good practice

Check audience health before changing your campaign logic. Sometimes the issue is not the segment. It is the readiness of the audience behind it.

Review sender details before queueing

Before queueing a campaign, review the sender setup carefully.

Check:

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

Why this matters

Supporters are more likely to trust and engage with a sender they recognize.

A technically valid sender setup can still produce a weak experience if the sender name feels unfamiliar or inconsistent with what supporters expect from your organization.

Good practice

Use a sender identity that matches the relationship context of the message.

For example:

  • a general newsletter may come from the organization
  • an event reminder may use the events team framing
  • a fundraising appeal may need recognizable development branding

Sanity-check the campaign before queueing

Before queueing, pause and confirm:

  • the campaign purpose is clear
  • the audience groups match the intended scope
  • the interest group matches the topic
  • sender details look trustworthy
  • tracking is configured correctly
  • key links have been tested
  • you are comfortable with final suppression reducing the send audience

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 rechecked if reused

This is one of the highest-value moments in the workflow. A careful two-minute review here can prevent a very visible mistake later.

Tips and common mistakes

Tip

If a send audience looks smaller than expected, check suppression and interest-group eligibility before changing your audience groups.

Warning

Sending to all subscribers when you meant to target one segment is usually a scope mistake, not a copy mistake. Confirm the audience mode before queueing.

Warning

Reusing an older template without reviewing links, sender framing, and topic alignment can create a confusing supporter experience.

Tip

For a first live campaign, keep segmentation simple. One clear audience group, one matching interest group, and one strong call to action usually teaches more than an overbuilt first send.