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This article walks through each of the six steps you'll see in the Email Composer. Open the composer from any of its three entry points (see Sending Emails for where to find them) and step through with the Next button.
\nThis step is where you pick the type of email you're sending. The choice you make here drives a lot of what follows: the visual template, the banner, the default sender and signoff roles, and (in step 2) the default recipients.
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The recipients step asks who is this email going to? Because you picked an email type in step 1, this step often comes pre-filled - the email configuration carries default recipient settings, so by the time you arrive here the right list (or the right member-selection filter) may already be chosen for you. You can still change anything you want.
\nYou have two top-level choices.
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Whichever you choose, a green Recipients chosen bar confirms exactly who the email will go to before you move on.
\nWhen you choose Specific members, an extra panel appears so you can build up the list of recipients. Under Limit to a mailing list, pick Any member or one of your mailing lists as the source, then narrow the list with one of the Pre-filter shortcuts:
\nEach chosen member appears as a chip you can remove with the small "x", and the count to the right of the radio row (for example, "12 of 255 selected") tells you how many will receive the email.
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This is where you write the email itself.
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Subject - the line your recipients see in their inbox. The email type fills this in for you, but you can change it.
\nSalutation - the greeting at the start of the email. Choose Hi {{firstName}}, to address each person personally (the system replaces {{firstName}} with their actual first name when the email is sent), Hi all, for a generic group greeting, or No greeting to start straight into the body.
\nSections - the email is built from a stack of sections. By default you'll see:
\nYou can drag any section to reorder it, click the > chevron on a section to open it for editing, or click the red bin to remove it.
\nClick the chevron on Body / intro to open a rich text editor below the section header. The toolbar gives you bold, italic, headings, bullet and numbered lists, blockquote, links, tables, image actions (add, edit, replace, remove an image), and an Insert merge field dropdown for placeholders like the recipient's first name. The editor also accepts pasted markdown and converts it on the fly.
\nThe Add section menu under the section list lets you add more content:
\nEach section has its own Divider after picker (Thin yellow, Thick yellow, Mintcake, Rosycheeks, Thin granite, Dashed grey, or None). The colour you pick is shown in the dropdown so you can see what the email will look like.
\nA call-to-action (CTA) button is a yellow button inside an article block that links to wherever you want recipients to go - a sign-up form, a contact page, the latest blog post, an external booking link, anything.
\nTo add one, scroll to the bottom of any article block and fill in two fields:
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Once you've filled both fields, the button appears in the email below the block's body text. Leave them empty if the block doesn't need one - the email simply renders without the button.
\nIf you want more than one CTA button (for example, a "book a walk" button and a "see all walks" button), add a second article block with its own button. You can drag the blocks to put them in the order you want.
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The events step controls whether (and how) upcoming group events appear inside the email.
\nThere are up to three options here, depending on which entry point you came in from:
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When you pick Auto-include from date range, more controls appear so you can shape the events list:
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Events you've left ticked are the ones that will appear in the email. The order in the list is the order they'll appear.
\nThe Preview step shows you exactly what each recipient will receive.
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The summary at the top reminds you of the Sending mode (whole list or specific members) and the Recipients (the chosen list or count of selected members).
\nBeneath that:
\nStepping through different recipients is especially useful when you've used merge fields - you can see the {{firstName}} placeholder filled in with each person's name to confirm it looks right.
\nThe final step sends the email.
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How sending happens depends on your recipient choice:
\nSending happens in the background once you start it. You can leave the page; the system continues. When the run finishes, the email is automatically saved to your Sent list so you can refer back to it or reuse it next time (see Drafts and Reusing Sent Emails).
\nBefore anything goes out, the composer runs a final check - for example, if the subject line is still the email type's default title, a warning appears with a Go and edit button so you can personalise it first (you can still send as-is if you meant it).
\nIf you change your mind at any step before the final Send click, Exit composer at the top right takes you safely back without sending.
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