How to send an email to a participant

Sending an email to the event participants

The below guidance is also applicable to sending emails from content hubs.

There are two approaches for sending emails from your workspace:

• Selecting the user(s) in the Users list and selecting an email template.
  This approach is best suited for sending emails to a small number of specific individuals.
  
  
• Selecting a target or custom audience selecting an email template.
  This approach is best suited for sending emails to larger groups of individuals.

Whatever approach you choose, you will always need to select the recipients, select the email template to be used, and choose between sending immediately or scheduling the email to be sent later.

Note: Only Backstage users with the "manager" role in the workspace are able to send emails from the workspace.

Selecting the user(s) and sending them an email

This approach is best suited for sending emails to a small number of specific individuals.

In the list of users, you can select one or more users (or all users), using the checkboxes to the left, and then click on Send email:

A recap of the number of users that the email will be sent to is displayed (Users selected).
Here you need to also:

• Select the template email you wish to send, in the Template dropdown.
• If needed, enable Schedule for later, and select a date and time in the future for sending the email. If you do not enable this, the email will be sent immediately.
• Click on Send.
• The email will be sent immediately, or sent later (if scheduled for later).

Sending an email and selecting a target audience and a template email

This approach is best suited for sending emails to larger groups of individuals.

You can send an email by following the below steps, without previously selecting any participants in the User list:

1. Go to Content > Users via the workspace main menu, and click on the Send email button:
   
   
2. Select the Target audience you wish to send the email to:
   
   Below is a breakdown of these target groups:
   
   - All users - This includes all the users in the Users list, except the canceled users.
   - Invited to app - not activated - This is only the users that have already received an email from the workspace that contains an invitation link ({{_webapp_link}} or {{_app}} link. This group can for example be used to send reminder emails to access the event.
   - Not invited to app - This is only the users that have not yet received an email from the workspace that contains an invitation link. This group can for example be used to send an initial invitation email to access the event.
   - Active users - This is only the users that have already accessed the app.
   - Custom targeting - Here you can select a custom group of users. More information on using custom targeting.
   
   For more information on sending emails to attendees that are invited via a RSVP invitation, or follow-up invitation emails to RSVP invitees using custom targeting, read on here.
   
   
3. Select the email template that you want to send. Here we have selected the default event invitation email, that contains a unique link for the user to access the event.
   
   
   
4. If needed, enable Schedule for later for the email, and select a date and time in the future for sending the email. This is especially useful for sending reminder emails to join the event.
   If you do not enable this, the email will be sent immediately:
   
   
   
5. Click on Send.

Notes and recommendations

Only Backstage users with the "manager" role in the workspace are able to send emails from the workspace.

Scheduled emails cannot be edited. You can cancel a scheduled email by going to Design > Emails > Mailings tab, and clicking on the trashcan button for that emailing campaign in the list.

Emails can be scheduled up to 45 days after the end date of the event. The email date and time is set based on the workspace's timezone (as specified on the screen beneath the time).

Before sending the email to your audience, we recommend that you send yourself a test email so you can check how it looks. Please also note that a workspace must be in production in order to send invites to more than one user at a time.

If you are sending emails to a large audience that is internal to an organization, we recommend that you ensure that the organization's system is able to manage the volume of emails that will be sent out.

The SpotMe platform will automatically create batches when sending out large volumes of emails. This can cause slight delays, and as such you may wish to send the invitation email a safe time before the start of the event.

Doing this will also provide early access to the event, and if your participants are using the mobile app will also give them plenty of time to download the app. It will also give you time to send a reminder email if needed before the start date/time.

For more detailed information on the options available to you for sending emails to app users, and for troubleshooting, please refer to the articles available in the App activation section.

More recommendations on making sure that the invitation emails sent from Backstage are safely received by your participants are also available in the Configuring email systems for app activation article.