How to send email marketing campaigns


UCF uses a third-party email marketing service for sending email blasts, newsletters, announcements, event reminders. 

Instructions for using this are provided below.

Table of Contents


Email Marketing Campaign Service

Email Marketing campaign service designed for email blasts, newsletters, announcements, event reminders. Upload contacts via CSV or rest API. Service features design with drag-and-drop content or HTML to create single sends or schedule automation.

The service is a web-based application that works in most web browsers, which means you don't need to download or install any software on your computer. 

Email Marketing Campaign Prerequisites

Before you can start using the Email Marketing Campaign Service, you need to do the following:

  1. Submit a Service-Now request to request credentials.
    • Sending email from the FROM address of @ucf.edu address is supported. To send email from another mail sub-domain, (example, bus.ucf.edu, ist.ucf.edu) additional CNAME records may need to be added to DNS. Mail domains may only be added if owned by UCF.
  2. Obtain login access for your department.

How to login

 

  1. Navigate to https://app.sendgrid.com/ssologin

  2. Type in your UCF NID, example: nid@ucf.edu and NID Password --> Click Log In with SSO
     
  3.  Type in your UCF NID, example nid@ucf.edu and NID Password --> Click Next
    • Sign on using your UCF NID and NID password.  

    Graphical user interface, websiteDescription automatically generated

    • Choose an authentication method (Duo Push is recommended) 

     

      

    https://guide.duo.com/ can help when configuring your device and accessing Microsoft Office 365 with MFA. 

     

    NOTE: As of the last update to this Knowledge Base(KB) article, Microsoft 365 keeps sessions active for 180 days provided no sign out commands or password resets have occurred.  

 

Best Practices

All Mail clients render HTML/CSS differently, in their own ways and for their own reasons. The differences in what HTML and CSS they support depends on many factors. When rendering HTML and CSS in emails many things impact what the end user is going to see. The mail exchange server, the preprocessor, the browsers, the rendering engines, and more; all affect the way your message is going to be displayed. These vary from client to client; browser to browser; server to server. However, don't start pulling your hair out just yet, because there are some best practices you can utilize so that your emails' coding will stay intact across different clients and platforms.

Layout

Backgrounds

Images

Videos

How to send an email using UCF's Email Marketing Campaign Service

 

Add a Sender

Specifying a sender in Marketing Campaigns is required and provides identity information about where the emails are coming from in each email you send.

When you add a sender, you need to specify the following information:

 

Add Contacts

Marketing Campaigns offers a number of ways to add contacts to lists, including:

Upload CSV

Uploading a CSV file to Marketing Campaigns is one of the most common ways to import contacts.

You can upload a CSV containing up to 1M contacts or 5GB of data, whichever is less.

  1. Use this CSV template to make sure your upload is formatted correctly.
  2. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  3. Click Add Contacts at the top right corner of the page. Then, select Upload CSV from the menu.
  4. A page will load where you can choose whether to add your contacts to All Contacts, an existing contacts list, or a new list you create.
  5. Upload your CSV file by dragging and dropping it onto the upload box or by clicking the select a CSV file to upload.
  6. Click Next: Review CSV Upload.
  7. A new page will load where all fields related to your contacts are listed. You can see which fields don't have a corresponding reserved or system field.
  8. For each unmapped field, either select a custom field from the drop-down or create a new custom field by clicking Create New Custom Field.
    1. You can also choose Skip Column for any fields you do not want to map to your contacts.
  9. When you're done mapping the fields, click Next: Add Contacts.
  10. Your contacts are now queued to be uploaded. Depending on the number of contacts you added, it may take some time before you see the new contacts in your account.


Add Contacts Manually

You can add your contacts manually from the Contacts page.

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Click Add Contacts at the top right corner of the page. Then, select Manual Add from the menu.
  3. Choose whether to add your contacts to All Contacts, to an existing list, or to a new list you create.
  4. Add your contact's email address and any other information you have.
  5. When you're done, click Add Contacts.

Create a SignUp Form

You can use Signup Forms to capture new contacts and add them directly to Marketing Campaigns. You can embed your forms directly into webpages using an <iframe>. Forms can also be shared using a Twilio SendGrid-hosted link, making them a great way to grow your lists by engaging customers wherever they are.

You can create as many as 15 Signup Forms, allowing you to deploy lists and segment contacts in the ways that best suite your business needs.

To create a new signup form:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Signup Forms in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Click Create a Signup Form.

  1. A page will load with configuration tabs and a preview of the form. On the Settings tab, add a Form Name.
  2. You can populate the Add contacts to field with any of your contacts lists, including All Contacts.
  3. Next, add a Confirmation Message. This field contains the text that contacts will see once they’ve submitted the form.

  1. Navigate to the Build tab to add fields to the form itself.

If a contact (defined by a unique email address) already exists in your contact database, any new or updated data will be reflected on that existing contact.

  1. You can change the look of your form using the Styles tab. In addition to modifying fonts and colors, you can change the button styles and the width of the form.
  2. Once you are happy with the form, select Save & Apply.

How to share code to make your Sign Up Form accessible

Once your form has been created, you can share it by embedding it into your own webpages or by providing customers with a direct link to the form. The link is hosted by Twilio SendGrid. If you choose to embed your form, it will be hosted in an <iframe>.

To share the code for your signup form:

  1. Navigate to the signup form you want to share or embed.
  2. Click the action menu and select Share Code.

  1. A modal will open where you can copy either the direct link to the Twilio SendGrid-hosted form — titled, Landing Page — or the embeddable <iframe> code — titled, Direct Embed.
  • The Landing Page link can be pasted anywhere, including in an email or on a social media site.
  • The Direct Embed code can be pasted into the HTML of your website wherever you want to display the form.

 

Manage Sign Up Forms

Using the action menu on the Signup Forms page you can edit, duplicate, or delete existing signup forms.

Because of the <iframe> technology used to create the signup form, the form dynamically updates on the page or pages where you have the form embedded anytime you edit a form and click Save & Apply.

 

Manage Contacts

Managing contacts is an integral part of your Marketing Campaigns lifecycle. You can create lists for contacts as well as view and edit each individual contact within your contacts database.

To view a specific contact profile, search your contact database from the search field on the Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App. You can also search a specific list or your All Contacts list. Once you have located the contact, click the contact’s email address. You will be able to view the email, engagement data, profile information, custom fields, and list associations in a detail view for the contact.

Searches are case agnostic but must be done using a whole email address that includes an @ and any top-level domain like .edu

To view any custom fields you have assigned to this contact, or to view any lists that you have added this contact to, you can flip through the Reserved Fields, Custom Fields, and Associated Lists tabs in the contact's detail view. You may view all custom fields at once, or you can filter custom fields by the following types: “Text”, “Date,” and “Number”.

 

Editing Contacts

When viewing a contact, click any of the Edit buttons (pencil icon) to edit the contact's information within that section. This includes the Twilio SendGrid-provided reserved fields, any custom fields you’ve added for the contact, and any lists the contact is associated with. You cannot edit the reserved email field because it is the key way Twilio SendGrid identifies the contact as unique.

To edit the associated lists for your contact:

  1. Select the Associated Lists tab.
  2. Click Add to list.
  3. A menu will open where you can select one of your lists.
  4. Click Add.

 

Deleting Suppressed Contacts

A suppression is the action a sender takes when choosing not to send email to an address. This action is usually initiated when a recipient has unsubscribed from your messages or a recipient’s email provider has rejected emails sent to the address.

  • Global Unsubscribes - Addresses on this list are opted out of all mail.
  • Bounces - Addresses that have failed to deliver to the recipient's inbox. Once an address has been added to this list, we do not attempt to deliver further messages to it. We will instead drop them to protect your external reputation.
  • Spam Reports - Addresses that have marked your mail as spam.
  • Blocks - Addresses that have blocked your mail temporarily, usually due to factors like a denied IP address. You can attempt to resend to these addresses.
  • Invalid - Addresses on this list are malformed and do not have a valid email address structure. (example info@ucfedu should be info@ucf.edu)

Emails sent to addresses listed in the Bounces, Invalid, Spam Reports, Group Unsubscribes, and Global Unsubscribes lists are automatically dropped by Twilio SendGrid. Feel free to remove these addresses from your lists to save money and time.

It is common to have contacts that result in a group unsubscribe, block, bounce, invalid email address, or spam report. Attempting to send email to these contacts can negatively impact your reputation since these contacts do not want to (and will not) receive your marketing emails.

To remove all of your unusable Marketing Campaigns contacts:

  1. When viewing your dashboard, navigate to the left-hand menu and click Suppressions.
  2. Open a specific group, such as Bounces or Spam Reports, and click the action menu (gear wheel) in the upper right corner. Then select Download as CSV.
  3. Repeat the previous step for each of the groups that you want to remove and merge each of those lists into a single CSV file.
    1. You will merge the CSVs in your software of choice outside of the Twilio SendGrid App.
  4. Return to your dashboard, navigate to the left-hand menu, and select Marketing > Contacts.
  5. In the upper right corner, click Add Contacts and select Upload CSV from the dropdown menu.
  6. A new page will load where you can select Add Contacts to a new list. Name the new list something obvious to you like "Remove Invalid Emails."
  7. Either drag and drop your CSV file into the upload box or select select a CSV file to upload and click Next: Review CSV Upload.
  8. You will now be asked to map fields to columns for your contacts. You may have fields without pre-existing columns such as reason that are returned in the CSV reports. Select Skip Column for these fields. Then, select Next: Add Contacts.
  9. Your contacts will now be added to the new list. This may take some time depending on the number of contacts.
  10. Once your list is populated with the contacts, you will see a Count associated with the list on the Marketing > Contacts page.
  11. From the Marketing > Contacts page, click the action menu (three dots) to the right of your newly created list and select Delete This List.
  12. A modal will load asking if you want to delete the list only or the list and its associated contacts. Check the box indicating you want to permanently delete "all <Number> contacts associated with this list."
  13. Once you have selected the correct radio button in the modal, the confirmation button text will change to reflect your choice. Select Delete This List and All <Number> Contacts.
  14. Your new list and all associated contacts will now be queued for deletion. Your contact count may take some time to update.

 

Deleting Contacts

It is common to have contacts that result in a group unsubscribe, block, bounce, invalid email address, or spam report. Attempting to send email to these contacts can negatively impact your reputation since these contacts do not want to (and will not) receive your marketing emails.

To remove all of your unusable Marketing Campaigns contacts:

  1. When viewing your dashboard, navigate to the left-hand menu and click Suppressions.
  2. Open a specific group, such as Bounces or Spam Reports, and click the action menu (gear wheel) in the upper right corner. Then select Download as CSV.
  3. Repeat the previous step for each of the groups that you want to remove and merge each of those lists into a single CSV file.
    1. You will merge the CSVs in your software of choice outside of the Twilio SendGrid App.
  4. Return to your dashboard, navigate to the left-hand menu, and select Marketing > Contacts.
  5. In the upper right corner, click Add Contacts and select Upload CSV from the dropdown menu.
  6. A new page will load where you can select Add Contacts to a new list. Name the new list something obvious to you like "Remove Invalid Emails."
  7. Either drag and drop your CSV file into the upload box or select select a CSV file to upload and click Next: Review CSV Upload.
  8. You will now be asked to map fields to columns for your contacts. You may have fields without pre-existing columns such as reason that are returned in the CSV reports. Select Skip Column for these fields. Then, select Next: Add Contacts.
  9. Your contacts will now be added to the new list. This may take some time depending on the number of contacts.
  10. Once your list is populated with the contacts, you will see a Count associated with the list on the Marketing > Contacts page.
  11. From the Marketing > Contacts page, click the action menu (three dots) to the right of your newly created list and select Delete This List.
  12. A modal will load asking if you want to delete the list only or the list and its associated contacts. Check the box indicating you want to permanently delete "all <Number> contacts associated with this list."
  13. Once you have selected the correct radio button in the modal, the confirmation button text will change to reflect your choice. Select Delete This List and All <Number> Contacts.
  14. Your new list and all associated contacts will now be queued for deletion. Your contact count may take some time to update.

 

Delete a Contact List

There are two methods to delete a contacts list — one in which only a specific list or segment will be deleted and the contacts will remain in All Contacts, and one in which you can delete a list or segment and ALL associated contacts.

Be aware that deleting and re-adding contacts will count towards UCF's monthly allotment of added contacts. 

When you delete a contact, all stats related to that contact will also be removed.

To remove a list or segment but keep the contacts in All Contacts:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Click the action menu (three dots) to the right of your list or segment.
  3. A menu will be displayed where you can select Delete This List or Delete This Segment.
  4. A modal will load asking if you want to delete the list only or the list and its associated contacts. Check the box indicating you want to "Only delete this list and keep contacts associated with this list."
  5. Once you have selected the correct radio button in the modal, select Delete This List.
  6. Your list will now be deleted, but the list's associated contacts will remain in your All Contacts list.

To remove a list or segment and ALL associated contacts:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Click the action menu (three dots) to the right of your list or segment.
  3. A menu will be displayed where you can select Delete This List or Delete This Segment.
  4. A modal will load asking if you want to delete the list only or the list and its associated contacts. Check the box indicating you want to permanently delete "all <Number> contacts associated with this list."
  5. Once you have selected the correct radio button in the modal, the confirmation button text will change to reflect your choice. Select Delete This List and All <Number> Contacts.
  6. Your list and all associated contacts will now be queued for deletion. Your contact count may take some time to update.

To remove one or more contacts from your account entirely:

  1. Navigate to the All Contacts list from the Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Search for the contact you want to delete.
  3. Click the Delete This Contact button (trash can icon) to the right of the contact.
  4. A modal will load asking you to confirm the deletion. Select Delete This Contact to permanently delete the contact from your account.

 

Delete all contacts

To delete all of your contacts at once:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Click the action menu (three dots) to the right of the All Contacts list.
  3. A menu will display where you can select Delete All Contacts.
  4. Once you select Delete All Contacts, a confirmation modal will load.
  5. Type "Delete All Contacts" in the modal's form field to activate the Delete All Contacts button.
  6. Select Delete All Contacts to permanently delete all contacts from your account.

 

Edit or remove contacts from a list

To manage your contacts and lists more efficiently, you can edit your lists and contacts from the Contacts page.

To edit a contact:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App and search for the contact you want to edit.
  2. Click the email address of the contact you wish to edit. This takes you to the contact's detail page.
  3. To edit any of the profile fields, click on the Edit button (pencil icon) to the right of the field.
  4. Once you have finished making all of your changes, click Save.

To delete a contact from your account:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Search for the contact you want to edit.
  3. Once the contact is found, you can either click the Delete This Contact button. (trash icon) or click on the email address to see the contact's detail page. From the detail page, click the Delete button at the top-right of the page.
  4. If you are deleting the contact from a specific list and not All Contacts, click Remove Contact. If you are deleting the contact from the account, select Permanently delete this contact from my account.

To remove a contact from a list:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App and search for the contact you want to edit.
  2. Click the email address of the contact you wish to edit. This takes you to the contact's detail page.
  3. Click the Associated Lists tab.
  4. Find the list you want to remove the contact from and click Remove from list (trash icon) to the right side of the list.
  5. When you see "Are you sure you want to remove this contact?" click Remove List.
  6. The contact will no longer be associate with the list.

 

Export Contacts

To view the contents of a contact list, you can export the list to a CSV and download it to your computer.

To export contacts:

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Contacts page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  2. Locate the contact list you want to export and click the action menu (three dots) to the right of the list.
  3. Select Export. This will initiate an export.
    1. You will receive an email when your export is ready to be downloaded.
  4. Navigate to the The Active Exports page in the Twilio SendGrid App.
  5. You will see a list of all current and previous exports that are ready for download.
  6. From here, you can find the exported contacts list and select Download CSV.

Exported CSV files are only available for download for 72 hours after the export is initialized.

 

Content Management APIs

You can integrate with the Contact Management APIs to create and update lists, add contacts, manage reserved field data, export contact lists, and pull data about your contacts and lists. Learn more through the documentation for the Marketing Campaigns Contact APIs.

 

Add an Unsubscribe Group

Unsubscribe Groups provide your recipients with an alternative to opting out of all email that you send, by giving them the opportunity to specify the kinds of email that they would no longer like to receive.

  1. Navigate to Marketing and click Unsubscribe Groups.
  2. Click Add Unsubscribe Groups if you do not already have any unsubscribe groups, or click Create New Group to add a new group.
  3. Enter the Group Name and Group Description for your Unsubscribe Group.

The Group Name as well as the Group Description are public-facing and will be visible to your recipients.

  1. Select the checkbox if you want the Unsubscribe Group to display on the unsubscribe preferences page.
  2. Click Save Unsubscribe Group.
  3. Find your newly created Unsubscribe Group, click the action menu, and then click Preview.


Create and Manage Unsubscribe Groups

Adding Unsubscribe Groups to your emails makes it easy to honor your recipients' email preferences and protect your sender reputation by complying with anti-spam legislation.

 

Create an Unsubscribe Group

To create an Unsubscribe Group:

  1. Select Marketing and then click Unsubscribe Groups.
  2. Click Create New Group.
  3. Add a Group Name and Group Description.

Make sure your Group Names and Group Descriptions are customer-friendly. This is what your recipients will see.

  1. Select the checkbox if you want the Unsubscribe Group to display on the unsubscribe preferences page.
  2. Click Save Unsubscribe Group.

To view the unsubscribe preferences page, select the action menu next to an Unsubscribe Group and then click Preview. Toggle to the Unsubscribe Preferences tab to view all of the options listed.

Adding an Unsubscribe Group to your Email

Using the Design Editor:

  1. Select your preferred Unsubscribe Group by clicking Settings and selecting the group from Recipients.
  2. From the Build tab, drag the Unsubscribe module to insert Sender Information and a link to the {{{unsubscribe}}} tag.
  3. To manually hyperlink to the {{{unsubscribe}}} tag, enter the text you would like to link.
  4. Highlight the text then select the link icon from the top toolbar.
  5. In the URL field enter {{{unsubscribe}}}, then click Save.

Using the Code Editor:

  1. Select your preferred Unsubscribe Group by navigating to Settings and then selecting Recipients.
  2. Enter the following code styling to the HTML window where you would like your unsubscribe content placed:

Using a Custom Unsubscribe Link

While Twilio SendGrid Unsubscribe Groups are a powerful way to manage unsubscribes and email preferences, we realize some senders may have their own subscription management tools. For these senders, Marketing Campaigns supports custom unsubscribe links as well.

If you would like to use a custom URL for your unsubscribe link, from the Editor, navigate to Settings in the left-hand sidebar and select the Recipients dropdown menu. Under Unsubscribe Group, select Use Custom Link...

This will expand a new field where you can insert a URL for one of your own pages where recipients can manage their subscription preferences.

To place your Custom Unsubscribe link into your email, highlight any text within the body of your email and click the small link icon to specify a hyperlink. In the URL field that appears, enter the tag {{{unsubscribe}}}. Since you've specified your Custom Unsubscribe Link in the Settings panel, SendGrid will replace the Unsubscribe Tag with your custom URL.

 

Add recipients to an Unsubscribe Group

You can add recipients to an unsubscribe group by uploading a CSV or adding them manually using the UI. To programmatically add recipients to an unsubscribe group, see our API documentation

To upload a CSV:

  1. Find the group you want to add recipients to and click the action menu.

 

 

  1. Select Upload a CSV.
  2. Drag the CSV you want to upload into the field, or click select a CSV file to upload and locate the file you want to upload from your files.
  3. Click Upload CSV.

To manually add recipients to an Unsubscribe Group:

  1. Find the group you want to add recipients to and click the action menu.
  2. Select Manually Add.
  3. Enter a recipient email address and then click Save.

Editing an Unsubscribe Group

To edit an Unsubscribe Group:

  1. Navigate to the Unsubscribe Group you want to edit.
  2. Click the action menu.
  3. Select Edit.

From the Edit Group page, you can change the Group Name, Group Description, and display preferences.

Deleting an Unsubscribe Group

To delete an Unsubscribe Group:

  1. Navigate to the Unsubscribe Group you want to delete.
  2. Click the action menu.
  3. Select Edit. The Edit Group page opens.
  4. Click Delete Group.
  5. Confirm that you want to delete the selected group and then click Delete.

 

Create a Single Send

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing.
  2. Select Single Sends.
  3. To create a new one-to-many email, click Create Single Send.
  4. Select the template that you want to use for your email.

You can also create a template from an existing Single Send by selecting the action menu next to the email you'd like to reuse and selecting Create Template.

  1. Select an editor.
    You can choose between the Design Editor and the Code Editor.

 

 

The Design Editor offers users powerful drag & drop editing tools, making it possible to build beautiful emails using a library of content modules like text boxes,images, buttons and more. For those familiar with HTML, there are options to edit the HTML of individual modules, drag in a custom code module, or to import an entire HTML email with drag & drop markup.

The Code Editor provides users who are importing, editing, or crafting custom HTML a robust, IDE-like environment, featuring side-by-side code and preview panes, syntax highlighting, error flagging and image management.

Inside the Design Editor, you use the Settings, Tags and Build tabs to design and configure your email. Inside the Code Editor, you can click the left Settings tab to expand the settings window, and then you can configure your email using the Settings and Tags tabs.

 

 

 

  1. Define key settings like From Sender, Email Subject, Preheader, Recipients, and Scheduling by filling in the fields in the Settings tab.

When selecting segments, make sure you are limiting your selection to 10 segments.

  1. Add your custom content by clicking the Build tab in the Design Editor, or by editing the HTML code in the Code Editor.

 

 

Make sure to include the {{{unsubscribe}}} tag to test and send your campaign.

For more information about customizing your campaign, see Using the Design Editor or Using the Code Editor.

 

How to use the Design Editor

The design editor allows you to build your templates and emails using intuitive, drag & drop tools. The what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editing experience features a library of modules for easily adding content to your email.

To use the design editor for Single Sends:

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing, and then click Single Sends
  2. Click Create a Single Send.
    To create a Single Send email using an existing (drafted or sent) email, find the Single Send you'd like to use and click the action menu next to the email.
  3. Then, select Edit or Duplicate.
  4. Select Design Editor, and then click Continue.

To use the design editor for Automations:

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing, and then click Automations .
  2. Click Create an Automation.
  3. Determine whether you’d like to send a pre-made "Welcome" series or a custom Automation and then click Select.
  4. Give the automation a name, entry criteria, exit criteria, and select an unsubscribe group.
  5. Select the send time and then click the edit button next to Email 1.
  6. Select Design Editor, and then click Continue.
    The Design Editor opens.
  7. Select the template that you want to use for your email.
    You can select a Blank Template, a custom template that you have already created, or one of Twilio SendGrid’s pre-built templates. For more information, see "Working With Marketing Campaigns Email Designs"
  8. Select Design Editor and then click Continue.
    The Design Editor opens.
  9.  

Using drag and drop modules

Drag and drop editing helps you swiftly construct your email, using pre-built content modules. You can edit individual modules in the left sidebar and reorder modules in your email body by clicking and dragging your mouse.

To add a drag & drop module:

  1. Navigate to the Build tab and then click Add Modules.

 

 

 

  1. Find the module tile you want to add to your email. Then, drag and drop it into your content area.
  2. Edit the module settings and add your custom content to build your email.

Drag and drop module descriptions and styles

ModuleDescriptionUnique Style Options
ButtonA clickable button that links to a URL.button color, border color, font color, width, height, padding, border radius, font size, button text, button URL, alignment,container background, container padding
ColumnsThe Columns module comprises multiple column layouts. When you drag a column module into your design, you will be presented with layout options. Each layout provides a number of columns distributed among common width ratios. Available layouts include evenly distributed 1, 2, 3, and 4 columns, 1:2 and 2:1 columns, 1:3 and 3:1 columns.

Within a column there are multiple drop zones for other non-column modules such as images, buttons, and text.		container background, container padding, cell padding, columns
CodeThis is an "anything goes" module where you can enter your own custom HTML.Module styles are not available for code modules.
TextCan contain text, tables, and images.Background color, padding, line height
ImageCan contain a single image. Data attributes can be inserted directly in the <img> tag.Image background, image margin, link url, alt text, alignment, responsive, height, width
Image and TextThis is a columns module with 2 columns - each can contain either an image or some text.Image, image position, image background, image margin, text background, text margin
SpacerAllows you to insert spacing between other modules.To add spacing using this module, simply adjust the padding in the <td> tag. For example, the spacer module adds a spacing of 50 pixels.Background color, spacing (padding-bottom)
DividerA visual divider, or horizontal rule, that can be placed between modules.Background color, line color, height, padding
SocialIcons that allow for social media integration within your emails.The module offers 5 different social media icon options (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest) all of which can be toggled on or off as well as fully customized to match individual branding and design standards.URL, size, border radius, and icon ( Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest).
UnsubscribeThis module is pre-populated with your sender information and a hyperlink to the {{{unsubscribe}}} tag which are required in order to be compliant with anti-spam laws. If you are using transactional templates, you need to include sender information the JSON array. For more information, see How to Send Email with Dynamic Transactional Templates.Background color, padding, line height, font, font size, link color, alignment, Address Line, Unsubscribe Settings.

Using global styles

In addition to editing the styles for individual modules within your email/template, you may also make changes to the global styling of your entire email/template. This includes attributes such as the background color, text color, or font family.

The email body is the entire area that your email or template fills inside your recipient’s browser or email inbox.

Under the Global Styles dropdown menu in the left hand sidebar, click Email Body or Content Container to view and edit the following styles:

Global StyleStyle Options
Email Body

Background Color - This is the color for the background of your entire email/template.

Text Color - This is the color of all text in your email/template.

Link Color - This is the color of all links in your email/template.

Font Family - This is the font family to be used for all text in your email/template.

Font Size - This is the default font size to be used for all text in your email/template.

Content Container

Width - This is the width of the container for your entire email/template. Your modules are all contained within these dimensions.

Background Color - This is the color of the area containing your modules.

Padding - This is the amount of space that you want between your modules and the boundaries of the content container.

 

Editing module HTML

To edit Module HTML:

  1. Select the module in the design editor and click the < > icon.
    A window opens where you can edit the module HTML.
  2. When you are finished editing the HTML, click Update.

If you make any structural code changes, you need to convert the module to a code module.

Code modules

The code module is a unique drag and drop module that allows you to insert any custom HTML in your email as a single module which can be relocated and edited.

The Design Editor does not modify or validate any HTML inserted via a code module. Please be careful when using custom HTML. Always preview your email before sending it.

 

Adding images with the Design Editor

To upload an image:

  1. Navigate to the Build tab and then click Add Modules.
  2. Select the Images module and drag and drop it into your content area.
    This opens a window where you can upload images to your image library.
  3. Drag and drop the image you want to use from your files or select Choose images to upload.

To insert an image:

  1. Navigate to the Build tab and then click Add Modules.
  2. Drag and drop the Images module into your content area.
    A window opens where you can select images from the image library.
  3. Select the image you want to add to your email.
    The Image Details tab opens.
  4. Insert your image in the email by clicking Save Image.

 

Using Substitution Tags with the Design Editor

To add a substitution tag to your email:

  1. Navigate to the Tags tab.
  2. Locate the tag you want to add to your email and click the copy icon.
  3. Paste the tag into the module.

When copying and pasting a tag from the Tags tab, a default will be added automatically. Default values are supported by the insert keyword only. For this reason, tags with default values will be saved with a different syntax automatically.

 

Test data with the Design Editor

  1. To access the test data preview, open a design in the Design Editor and select the Preview tab.
  2. With the Preview tab active, you will see a {} Show Test Data button on the left. Click this button to open the test data window.

 

The Design Editor's Preview tab with the {} Show Test Data button highlighted
 

 

  1. You will now have a side-by-side view of a code window and your design.

You can place the data for a contact into the code window. Note that the data must be in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format. JSON is a way of structuring data in a collection of key/value pairs. For example, if you use the first_name substitution tag, first_name is the key and the customer's name is the value. These keys can also be thought of as variables. Like a variable in algebra, these variables represent a value you don't yet know. The following sample customer is provided in JSON format for you to experiment with.

{
  "first_name": "Tira",
  "last_name": "Misu",
  "email": "recipient@example.com",
  "alternate_emails": "recipient+@example.com",
  "address_line_1": "1234 N. Real Ave.",
  "address_line_2": "Suite 200",
  "city": "Denver",
  "state_province_region": "CO",
  "postal_code": 80202,
  "country": "United States",
  "phone_number": "+15555555555",
  "Sender_Name": "Orders",
  "Sender_Email": "orders@example2.com",
  "Sender_Address": "1234 N. Exist St.",
  "Sender_City": "Portland",
  "Sender_State": "OR",
  "Sender_Zip": 97227,
  "Sender_Country": "United States"
}
  1. Once you have test data in place, you should see any substitution tags for which data is present rendered properly.

 

A template with the first_name substitution and multiple address substitutions in text fields
 

 

 

A side-by-side view of the test data and the rendered values in the template
 

 

Previewing your email

To preview your email or template, click the Preview button in the upper-left corner.

You can toggle between a mobile and desktop preview mode by clicking either the desktop or mobile phone icons above the content area.

To view a plain-text version of your email or template, click the T icon. When in this preview mode, you can edit the plain text content of your email or template by clicking the Edit Plain Text button.

When previewing an email, you also see a preview of the From name, the Subject, and the preheader text that you have selected.

 

Editing the HTML Head

The HTML <head> element is where you can define any metadata you would like to include with your email or template. For example, you can use the <head> element to define any custom fonts or CSS styles you would like to use.

To edit the HTML head of your email or template:

  1. Navigate to the Build tab in the left-hand toolbar and scroll to the Advanced menu.
  2. Expand the option titled Edit HTML Head.
  3. Click Edit to begin editing your HTML head.
    A window appears where you can insert your custom HTML.
  4. Once you've finished making your changes, click the Update button.

 

Adding custom fonts using the HTML Head

Most commonly, users add custom fonts by using the tag to reference a web font hosted somewhere on the internet. For example, Google Fonts.

Make sure that you define a web-safe font to use as a fallback if one of your recipient’s clients does not support your custom font.

While some inbox providers do not support web fonts, the following popular clients do provide web font support*:

  • Apple Mail
  • Outlook.com app
  • Outlook 2000
  • Default Android Mail app (not the Android Gmail app)
  • iOS Mail

* This list may change and we cannot guarantee 100% support from any of these clients.

To add a custom font using the HTML head:

  1. Open the HTML Head by navigating to the Build tab in the design editor.
  2. Scroll down to the Advanced drop-down menu and select Edit HTML Head.
  3. Click Edit to begin making your changes.
  4. Insert a <link> tag containing an href attribute pointing to your web font.
<link href="https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Oswald" rel="stylesheet" />

Next, add a <style> to specify that you want to use this new font family:

<style>
  body {
    font-family: 'Oswald', sans-serif;
  }
</style>

Importing custom HTML with drag and drop markup

If you are writing your own custom HTML that you plan on importing into the design editor, refer to the drag and drop code examples to ensure that any modules you create are compatible with our drag and drop functionality. If you do not specify a data type that matches one of our drag and drop modules, your code is imported as a text module.

To import custom HTML:

  1. Navigate to the Build tab in the left-hand navigation.
  2. Scroll down and select the Advanced drop-down menu.
  3. Expand the option titled Import Drag & Drop HTML.
  4. Click Import.
    A window opens where you can paste in your own HTML.

 

 

 

  1. Paste or enter the HTML you want to use and then click Import.

Any HTML that you import replaces all existing content in your email or template. If you want to import only a section of HTML, use a code module.

 

Drag and drop markup

Twilio SendGrid parses your custom HTML, looking for any drag & drop compatible modules.

  • First, we look for any HTML elements that contain the attribute role="modules-container".
  • Next, we look for all HTML elements with the attribute role="module" that are descendants of the "modules-container" element.

The role="modules-container" attribute is required so that we know where your drag and drop modules are located. All of the Twilio SendGrid pre-built templates include the role="modules-container" by default. You are only required to include this attribute when creating an email or template from scratch that you want to be compatible with the design editor.

Any HTML outside an element with the "modules-container" attribute is discarded. Only supported styling options and attributes are included.

If you don't include the "modules-container" attribute in any of your custom HTML, then all of your HTML is imported as a single text module.

Following are examples of how you should structure and organize your custom HTML, where [module content] represents the content of your modules.

 

Drag and drop code examples

<table class="wrapper" role="module" data-type="image">
  <tr>
    <td [styles go here] align=['left' or 'right']>
      [MODULE CONTENT]
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

  <table class="module" role="module" data-type="divider">
    <tr>
      <td [styles go here] bgcolor=[some color]>
        <table height=[some height]>
          <tr>
            <td bgcolor=[some color]></td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>

Exporting HTML from the design editor

To export template HTML from the design editor:

  1. Navigate to the Build tab in the left-hand navigation.
  2. Scroll down and select the Advanced drop-down menu.
  3. Expand the option titled Import/Export.
    This starts the raw HTML download of the template, excluding images.

SendGrid hosts the images included in the pre-built templates and any images you have uploaded to the image library, so when you export a template’s HTML from the design editor, the embedded URLs in each <img> tag remains valid.

To open exported HTML in the code editor using Single Sends:

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing and then click Single Sends.
  2. Click New Campaign and then select Blank Template.
  3. Select Code Editor.
  4. Paste the raw SendGrid template HTML into the code editor.

To open exported HTML in the code editor using Automations:

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing and then click Automations.
  2. Click Create an Automation and then navigate to Custom Automation and click Select.
  3. Navigate to the first email in the Automation series and click Edit Email Content.
  4. Locate the blank template and click Select.
  5. Select Code Editor.
  6. Paste the raw template HTML into the code editor.

 

Adding Categories with the Design Editor

Category information will be stored as a “Not PII” field and may be used for counting or other operations as SendGrid runs its systems. These fields generally cannot be redacted or removed. You should take care not to place PII in this field. SendGrid does not treat this data as PII, and its value may be visible to SendGrid employees, stored long-term, and may continue to be stored after you’ve left SendGrid’s platform.

To add a category:

  1. Navigate to the Settings tab and click Single Send Settings to expand the menu.
  2. Find the Categories field.
  3. Enter the name of a new category or select a previously used category from the drop-down menu.

 

Creating a new design

To create a new design, you can either build one from a blank template or duplicate an existing templates.

 
  1. Navigate to the Design Library in the SendGrid App.
  2. When the Design Library loads, you will be taken to the Your Email Designs tab.
  3. You will see a large Create Email Design button on the page. Click this button.

 

 

 

  1. After clicking Create Email Design, a new window will open where you can select which editor you wish to use—the Design Editor or the Code Editor.

 

A window with two large boxes displaying your choice of editor, the Design Editor or Code Editor
 

 

The Design Editor makes it possible to build and edit an email template with drag and drop modules that require no coding. The Code Editor is appropriate for customers who wish to build and edit templates by manipulating the HTML code directly. Once a design is created, it is not possible to change the editor used for that design. However, if you choose the design editor you'll still have HTML editing options, and with the code editor you'll enjoy convenient visual tools like side-by-side code and preview panes.

For full documentation on working with the editors, see our Design and Code Editor documentation. For best practices regarding HTML email design, see our Cross-Platform Email Design documentation.

  1. Once you have selected an editor, the template will load in that editor and you can begin working with your template.

Developers can use the POST /designs API endpoint to programmatically upload a design.

 

Duplicating an existing design

You can create a new template by duplicating one of your existing templates or duplicating one of the Twilio SendGrid pre-built designs.

  1. From the Design Library select the Your Email Designs tab to duplicate one of your existing designs. Select SendGrid Email Designs to duplicate a Twilio SendGrid pre-built design.

 

The Design Library tabs to select between your designs and the pre-built designs
 

 

  1. Click the action menu at the bottom of the design you want to copy and select Duplicate

 

The design duplication menus highlighted in the Design Library
 

 

  1. After clicking Duplicate, a new window will open where you can select which editor you wish to use—the Design Editor or the Code Editor.
  2. Once you have selected an editor, the template will load in that editor and you can begin working with your copy of the template.

Duplicated designs will have "Duplicate:" prepended to the Email Design Name by default. This text is meant to help you differentiate a duplicate from the original design until you change the name yourself.

Developers can use the POST /designs/{id} API endpoint to programmatically duplicate one of their own designs and the POST /designs/pre-builts/{id} API endpoint to duplicate one of the Twilio SendGrid designs.

 

Editing a design

You can edit any of the designs in the Your Email Designs tab. You cannot edit one of the pre-built designs directly; you must duplicate the template first and make changes to your copy.

  1. Navigate to the design you want to edit.
  2. Click the action menu at the bottom of the design you want to modify and select Edit.

 

The Edit menu item button below a design
 

 

  1. The template will open in the editor originally used to create the campaign—the Design Editor or the Code Editor.

After you create a design, you cannot switch between the design and code editor to modify that particular template. If you wish to switch editors, you can duplicate the design and select the alternate editor during the duplication process.

 

Create a Single Send from an existing design

  1. In the Design Library, you can select either the Your Email Designs or SendGrid Email Designs tab.
  2. Click the action menu at the bottom of the design you want to use for your Single Send and select Create Single Send.

 

The Create a Single Send menu item button below a design
 

 

  1. After clicking Create Single Send, a new window will open where you can select which editor you wish to use—the Design Editor or the Code Editor.

 

A window displaying two large boxes as editor options, the Design Editor or the Code Editor
 

 

  1. Once you select an editor, your Single Send will open, allowing you to finish the Single Send setup process.

You can manage Single Sends programmatically with the Single Sends API.

 

Create a new design from an existing Single Send

If you have a Single Send that uses a design you would like to manage in your Design Library, you can add the design from the Single Send.

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing, and then click Single Sends.

 

The SendGrid App with the Marketing Campaigns and Single Sends navigation items highlighted
 

 

  1. Find the Single Send you would like to create a design from, click the action menu and select Create Design.

 

The action menu expanded below a Single Send with the Create Design menu item selected
 

 

  1. After clicking Create Design, a new window will open where you can select which editor you wish to use—the Design Editor or the Code Editor.
  2. The Design used by the Single Send will now be added to your Design Library where you can edit, duplicate, and use it to deliver more Single Sends or Automations.

 

Create a new template from an existing Automation email

  1. From the left-hand navigation, select Marketing, and then click Automations.
  2. Click the action menu next to the automation you want to duplicate an email from and then select Edit.

 

The Edit option selected from the action menu on an Automation
 

 

  1. After selecting Edit, the Automation will load. Scroll to the email in the Automation that you would like to create a design from.
  2. Click the action menu, and then select Create Design.

 

The Create Design option selected in an Automation email's action menu
 

 

  1. After clicking Create Design, a new window will open where you can select which editor you wish to use—the Design Editor or the Code Editor.
  2. The Design used by the Automation email will now be added to your Design Library where you can edit, duplicate, and use it to deliver more Automations or Single Sends.

 

How to Send your First Email

  1. As you're editing your email, you can see what it looks like by clicking Preview from within the design editor, or, from the code editor simply toggle between Desktop, Mobile, and Plain text. You can also preview from the Single Sends index page by hovering over the action menu and clicking Preview.
  2. You can test your email by sending it to yourself and up to 10 other recipients. We'll automatically append "Test - " to the subject linee so your recipients know it's a test and not the real send. From Settings, click Test Your Email and enter the email addresses to send your test to.
  3. With your email fully tested and ready to go, click Send or Schedule. You'll have the chance to do a final review of settings before confirming your send!

 

Searching your Single Sends

After creating multiple Single Sends, you can modify and delete them as needed. To make managing multiple Single Sends easier, Twilio SendGrid offers search functionality, enabling you to find a Single Send quickly by name.

You can also filter your search results by status—"Draft," "Scheduled," or "Triggered"—and any categories you have added to your Single Sends.

When filtering by multiple categories, Marketing Campaigns will return results matching any of the categories specified. For example, if you filter by the categories "Newsletter," "Promotion," and "BOGO," Marketing Campaigns will return Single Sends matching one or more of those categories.