Managing and creating email templates

Being able to customize the emails sent out from your event is crucial.

The emails that attendees receive leading up to, during, or after the event are part of the full event experience. In the case of build-up or invitation emails, they may provide participants with their first glimpse of the upcoming event, therefore encouraging them to attend while enabling a smooth and secure access.

The Email editor in Backstage provides all the tools that you need to create high-standard and fully customized emails.

Emails are managed in workspaces using email templates. Your event will always have a set of predefined email templates that are based on the workspace type.

You can edit these existing email templates in your workspace to fit your needs, or create and save new ones. Emails can be edited and created by Backstage users with managers or editor roles in the workspace.

Tip: In order to maximize the deliverability of your emails, please make sure that you follow the recommendations outlined in the Making sure that participants receive your event emails article when managing your email templates.

Accessing the workspace email templates

To access the Emailing module and all the email templates present in the workspace, go to the Design category in the workspace main menu, and select Emails. 

A list of the existing email templates present in the workspace is displayed:

From this screen you can:

• See the full list of email templates present in the workspace, including their name, subject line, last modification date, classification (transactional or promotional), and availability for use status (active/inactive).
• Click on each individual email template, in order to edit it.
• Create and save new email templates.
• Delete individual or multiple templates.

Full list of emails per usage / module

The below list of email templates is present by default in your workspace. Below you'll find information on what each of these templates is used for, what links they might include, as well as a preview of the email content.

Access event / invitation emails:

• Existing user - retrieve profile
• Reminder - 2h prior
• Event invitation
• Post-event thank you
• Download the app
• Reminder: Download the app

Registration page module emails:

• (Registration) - Waitlist seat was not claimed
• (Registration) Waitlist available seat
• (Registration) Invitation to access the event
• (Public registration) Pending manual approval
• (Registration) Registration not found
• (RSVP) Private event invitation
• (RSVP) Private event invitation declined
• (RSVP) Private event invitation reminder
• (RSVP) Private event invitation accepted
• (Public registration) - Verify email

Meetings module:

• Meeting invitation
• Meeting cancellation
• Meeting invitation update

Appointments module:

• Meeting invitation
• Meeting invitation update
• Meeting cancellation
• [Meeting request] Reminder
• [Meeting request] Meeting rejected
• Meeting attendance status updated
• [Reminder] Upcoming meeting reminder - all participants
• [Reminder] Upcoming meetings daily summary - app users
• [Reminder] Upcoming meetings daily summary - external users

Forms module emails:

• Automated email - Forms module behavior

Feeds module emails:

• Instant email notification - Mentioned in post
• Feed - New post

Deeper look into each email template

Existing user - retrieve profile

Purpose: Help attendees access a registration that they have already created for the event.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Sent to who/when: Sent automatically to an attendee who has already registered to the event or was already added to the user list (for example to be invited as RSVP), whenever they try to re-register to it via a registration page. Find out more about the retrieve registration mechanism.

Content: Contains a unique confirmation code that attendees can use to safely retrieve their existing registration:

Reminder - 2h prior

Purpose: Remind attendees about an event starting in xxx time, so they will be ready to log in at that time.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Manually.

Sent to who/when: Sent to attendees who have been added to the Users list or who have registered to the event. This email is sent out prior to the event start time, and can be scheduled based on the event start time (i.e. scheduled to be sent 2 hours before the event start time).

Content: Contains a personalized "Access the app" {{_webapp_link}} “magic link” (or activation link):

Event invitation

Purpose: Used for events with a known audience, where RSVP is not necessary and you still want to invite people and have them save ICS in their calendar.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Manually.

Sent to who/when: Sent well in advance of the start date, to all users as a standard invitation, so that they can confirm their attendance by accessing the event. 

Content: Contains a personalized "Access the event" {{_webapp_link}} “magic link” (or activation link):

Post-event thank you

Purpose: Thank you email with a reminder to access any session replays that are available, if applicable.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Manually.

Sent to who/when: Typically sent after the event is finished to attendees who are considered to have attended the event. 

Content: It includes a personalized "Access the replays" button {{_webapp_link}} “magic link” (or activation link):

Download the app

Purpose: Designed to request that attendees download the mobile app and access it.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Manually.

Sent to who/when: Sent to all users on the workspace list well before the start of the event to allow them to explore and interact with event content. 

Content: Includes instructions on how to download the app from the stores and a "Download the app" button/link to download the app from the stores:

Reminder: Download the app

This is the exact same as the "Download the app" template described above, but with an adjusted subject line so it serves as a reminder email that can be sent manually or scheduled:

Automated email - Forms module behavior

Purpose: Email template used by the Forms module to automatically send attendee form results to Backstage users (when configured). This is used to inform an event organizer of each new response, and in some cases (for example advisory board meetings) to allow moderators to verify the responses.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Information purposes only. Contains only populated metadata (placeholders):

(Registration) - Waitlist seat was not claimed

Purpose: Email that is sent automatically by the system when waitlisting is enabled on a session. Informs an attendee that a seat was available for a session that they had signed up on the waitlist for, but is no longer available as they did not claim it in time.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: This is used for information purposes only. The email contains the name of the waitlisted session:

(Registration) Waitlist available seat

Purpose: Email that is sent automatically by the system when waitlisting is enabled on a session. Informs an attendee that a seat is available for a session that they had signed up for, and that they can claim it within a specified time frame.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: The email contains the name of the waitlisted session that has a seat available, and a “Register for the available seat” link that includes a redirect to the session {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration, to allow the attendee to claim the available seat:

Meeting cancellation (when using Meetings module)

Purpose: Email used by the Meetings module, to automatically send emails to attendees to inform them that a meeting that they were invited to is cancelled.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the cancelled meeting.

Meeting cancellation (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Meetings module, to automatically send emails to attendees to inform them that a meeting that they were invited to is cancelled.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the cancelled meeting.

[Meeting request] Reminder (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to remind an invited attendee to share their available time slots for a meeting, in view of sending an appropriate meeting invitation.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Contains a description of the meeting and a link to a page where attendees can select the time slots that they are available for.

Meeting attendance status updated (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to confirm to an attendee that their response (or change of response) to a meeting invitation has been received and recorded.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: For information purposes only. Includes the meeting details and the recorded response (meeting attendance status).

Meeting invitation (when using Meetings module)

Purpose: Email used by the Meetings module, to automatically send emails to attendees to inform them they have been invited to a meeting.

Transactional / Promotion: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Contains the details of the meeting that the user is invited to, as well as Add to calendar buttons. The user cannot accept the meeting invitation via the email, this must be done via the app:

Meeting invitation (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to automatically send emails to attendees to inform them they have been invited to a meeting.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Contains the details of the meeting that the user is invited to. The user can accept the meeting invitation via the email, using the dedicated buttons.

[Meeting request] Meeting invitation (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to invite attendee to share their available time slots for a meeting, in view of sending an appropriate meeting invitation.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Contains a description of the meeting and a link to a page where attendees can select the time slots that they are available for.

[Meeting request] Meeting rejected (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to inform an attendee who, after receiving a [Meeting request] Meeting invitation email, has shared their available time slots for a meeting, however no suitable timeslot was available for the meeting.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Only the message saying that no timeslot was available.

[Reminder] Upcoming meeting reminder - all participants

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to allow event planners to send an email before the start of each meeting, to all participants (app users and external users), to remind them when the meeting will start.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the upcoming meeting.

[Reminder] Upcoming meetings daily summary - app users

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to allow event planners to send a tailored summary of all the meetings that the app users (not the external users) have planned for the day. This is only sent to the app users.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the upcoming meetings.

[Reminder] Upcoming meetings daily summary - external users

Purpose: Email used by the Appointments module, to allow event planners to send a tailored summary of all the meetings that the external users (not the app users) have planned for the day. This is only sent to the external users.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the upcoming meetings.

Meeting invitation update (when using Meetings module)

Purpose: Email used by the Meetings module, to automatically send emails to attendees to inform them that there has been a change made to a meeting that they are invited to.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the updated meeting, as well as updated Add to calendar buttons.

Meeting invitation update (when using Appointments module)

Purpose: Email used by the Meetings module, to automatically send emails to attendees to inform them that there has been a change made to a meeting that they are invited to.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Informational purposes only. Contains the details of the updated meeting, as well as updated Add to calendar buttons.

(Registration) Invitation to access the event

Purpose: Email sent automatically to attendees who successfully register for the event via a registration page.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Includes a personalized "Go to event" button with a {{_webapp_link}} “magic link” (or activation link):

Instant email notification - Mentioned in post

Purpose: Email sent automatically by the Feeds module, when enabled, to an app user, informing them that they have been mentioned on a feed post, in order to encourage them to interact with the feed post.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Message with the event name, name of the attendee, the feed name, post contents, and the post author. Includes a “View this post” button with a {{_webapp_link}}{{post_redirect}} link to directly display the post:

Feed - New post

Purpose: Email sent automatically by the Feeds module, when enabled, to the moderator(s) of a feed, informing them that a new post is pending review and can be moderated.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Message with the feed name, post, and post author, and a “Review” button with a {{post_link}} link to perform the review on the feed post:

Instant email notification - Response to post

Purpose: Email sent automatically by the Feeds module, when enabled, to an app user, informing them that another app user has responded to their feed post, in order to encourage them to interact with the feed post.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Message with the event name, name of the attendee, the feed name, post contents, and the post author. Includes a “View this post” button with a {{_webapp_link}}{{post_redirect}} link to directly display the post:

(Public registration) Pending manual approval

Purpose: Email sent automatically by the registration page module to confirm the registration is received and is being reviewed. This is sent to attendees who register via a registration page that has a manual approval step configured.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Information purposes only. Includes a confirmation message that their registration is under review and they will be kept informed. Does not include a "Access the event" button.

(Registration) Registration not found

Purpose: Email sent automatically to attendees who try to access an event that they have not previously registered to or been added to.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Includes message informing the user that they need to register first in order to access the event, and includes a "Register for event" button with a registration link {{_registration_link}}.

(RSVP) Private event invitation

Purpose: This is the email invitation that is sent to attendees who are invited to RSVP for the event. Attendees can answer Yes or No.

Transactional / Promotional: Promotional.

Automatically or manually sent: Manual.

Content: Includes the event name and date, as well as two buttons and a link:
Yes, I will attend” The user confirms that they will attend via the link {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration&fp_rsvp_status=yes.
No, I won’t attend: The user confirms that they will not attend and is taken to the registration page form that is designed for attendees who answer “No”. {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration&fp_rsvp_status=no.
View event details: The user can visit the registration main page by selecting this link {{_registration_link}} to the main registration page that shows the event information.

(RSVP) Private event invitation declined

Purpose: Email sent automatically to users who have answered NO to the RSVP invitation email.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Includes the event name and date, as well as a button and a link:
Update RSVP: Button to allow the user to change their previously provided RSVP response if they want to: {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration.
View event details: The user can visit the registration main page by selecting this link {{_registration_link}} to the main registration page that shows the event information.

(RSVP) Private event invitation reminder

Purpose: This is a reminder invitation email that has the same content as the (RSVP) Private event invitation email template described above.

Transactional / Promotional: Promotional.

Automatically or manually sent: Manual.

Content: Includes the event name and date, as well as two buttons and a link:
Yes, I will attend: The user confirms that they will attend via the link  {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration&fp_rsvp_status=yes.
No, I won’t attend: The user confirms that they will not attend and is taken to the registration page form that is designed for attendees who answer “No”. {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration&fp_rsvp_status=no
View event details: The user can visit the registration main page by selecting this link {{_registration_link}} to the main registration page that shows the event information.

(RSVP) Private event invitation accepted

Purpose: Email sent automatically to users who have answered YES to the RSVP invitation email.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Includes the event name and date, as well as a button and a link:
View event details: The user can visit the registration main page by selecting this button {{_registration_link}} that shows the event information.
Update RSVP: Link to allow the user to change their previously provided RSVP response if they want to: {{_registration_link}}&redirect=/registration

(Public registration) - Verify email

Purpose: Email sent automatically to attendees who have registered for an event via a registration page, to verify their email address and to prevent users from registering with someone else's email address.

Important: It is important that "Verify my email address" link in this email template is not modified, as it can prevent attendees from completing their registration successfully.

Transactional / Promotional: Transactional.

Automatically or manually sent: Automatic.

Content: Includes a personalized "Verify my email address" button, that contains a personalized {{_webapp_link}} “magic link” (or activation link) to access the event.

Creating a new email template

To create a new email template in your workspace, go to Design > Emails in the workspace main menu, and click on New template. The New template tab is displayed, where you can create your email template using the new email editor:

At this point, you can follow the steps below to create your email template using the design editor (recommended), or you can select Use my own HTML code if you want to copy paste the code from an email created on a third party platform. More information

Add the email information

Start by adding the following basic information to your email:

Name
Add a Name for the email template that will only be visible in Backstage, and that will allow you to identify it. When you are sending emails from the workspace and selecting email templates to be used, if an email does not have a Name, then the Subject will be displayed in the drop-down in order to help you identify it (instead of “untitled”). The title is therefore very helpful to help identify email templates that often have very similar subject lines.

If you are working in a workspace that contains your custom email templates (that were created previously using the “legacy” email editor), they will not have a Name. Instead they will be called “Untitled” in the template list.

From
If needed, edit the From field, should you wish to change who the email is sent from.
By default, "SpotMe Support" is the sender, with the email address being "event-management@spotme.com". You can change the sender name here directly, but to change the email address domain to that of your organization, your organization's domain administrator will need to amend the domain SPF and DKIM records. More information.
Should you change the email domain in this field without having amended the SPF and/or DKIM records, the email editor will not allow you to save the change, and an error message will be displayed.
In older templates and workspaces, the default "From:" address may still be set to "noreply@spotme.com." This address should never be used. Replace it with "event-management@spotme.com" to ensure successful email delivery.

Only ASCII characters are supported in the "local" and "domain" part of the email address. Unicode characters are not supported. For example: using email address “John Doe <john.doe@mydomain.com”:
- “John Doe”: This is the user-friendly email address name. ASCII and Unicode are supported.
- “john.doe”: This is the “local” part of the email address. ASCII is supported, Unicode is not supported.
- “mydomain.com”: This is the “domain” part of the email address. ASCII is supported, Unicode is not supported.”

To note, changing the sender email address from SpotMe Support <event-management@spotme.com> to an an actual senders email address (for example John Doe <john.doe@yourorganization.com>) can be beneficial in order to make your emails look as authentic as possible, however please also keep in mind that any out of office replies that are automatically sent from the recipients of your emails will be sent back to the configured sender email address. This may as such result in a large number of automatically generated out of office emails being received by the configured email address.

Subject
Enter a Subject line for the email, it will be seen by the recipients.
The subject line, like any text in the email template, supports dynamic placeholders (for example {{_event_name}} or {{fname}}) that can be used to personalize the email.
The email subject should be no more than 60 characters or 10 words, in order to display properly on mobile and on all email providers

Email type:
Choose whether this email is “Transactional” or “Promotional”. Find out more

Active/Inactive
Toggle whether you want the email template to be Active (i.e. accessible for use in the workspace) or Inactive (not accessible).
If an email template is already being actively used for sending emails in the workspace, even if you set it to inactive it will continue to be used for sending those emails. Setting the email template to inactive will only mean that the template will no longer be available to be selected when sending new emails.

Edit the main body of your email

When starting to create the email itself, you may wish to edit the main characteristics of the email body first.

This includes:

• The main text color.
• The main background color.
• The email body width and alignment.
• The font family and weight.
• The preheader text (short summary text that follows the subject line when viewing an email from the inbox).
• How hyperlinks will look (color + with or without underline).
• HTML title (the HTML <title> tag in the exported HTML).

To access the settings for the main body of the email, click on the Body button in the right panel:

Tip: For a more comfortable experience, you can edit the body of your email in full screen, by clicking on the button.

Remember to click on Save once you have finished editing.

Add content to your email

You can add content to your email by adding and editing items such as rows and columns, headings, user QR codes, paragraph blocks (with dynamic content placeholders, buttons, hyperlinks, images, etc.), dividers, and tables.

To access the content menu, click on the Content button in the panel to the right.

From here you can drag and drop content items from the panel to the right, into the the email editor in the panel to the left:

Once you have added a content item, you can configure that item. Read-on below to find out how to configure each item type.

Add rows and columns

Before you start adding content, you can adjust the layout of your email, by adding rows and columns to your email body:

Click on the Add row button. Here you can decide whether you want to use a single or multiple column layout in the row, and adjust the properties for the row and the columns: this includes background colors or a background image, padding, borders, responsive design. You can also adjust this after having added content items.

Add headings

Enter the heading text in the main panel to the left.
In the panel to the right, choose the heading level (H1-H2-H3-H4), the font family, the font weight, the text color, the alignment, line height, the spacing, and whether any links should be active.

Add user QR codes

From the panel to the right, drag a User QR code component into the main panel to the left:

This will add a SpotMe user QR code to the email template. The QR code is linked to the user profile in the workspace, and when used will pull information from the user profile.

For the user QR code, you can adjust the container padding for all sides or each size independently:

Add paragraph (text) blocks

Enter the text in the main panel to the left.
In the panel to the right, choose the font family, the font size, the text color, the alignment, line height, the spacing, and whether links should be active.
You also have the toolbar in the text component to help you format the text to your needs using all the usual formatting options, inserting emoticons, hyperlinks, and "Merge tags" dynamic content placeholders).

Tip: When typing text, if you wish to enter a line break, you can use Shift+Enter. This will move to the next line without creating a new paragraph.

Use dynamic content placeholders (merge tags)

In headings or in any paragraph content items, you can insert dynamic content placeholders (or merge tags) to personalize the email. Using the metadata in Backstage, placeholders (merge tags) can pull-in information related to:

• The event name
• Meeting details based on the available meetings metadata in the workspace.
• Participant details based on the available user metadata in the workspace.
• Session details: Available claim time / Waitlisted session name.

This can be done by using the Merge tags button in the toolbar, and selecting the placeholder (merge tag or metadata) that you want to add:

If you wish to add a custom color to a tag, please first select the color for your text and then (with the correct color selected) insert the tag. If you try to change the color of a tag that is already inserted it will not work.

You can also insert merge tags by starting to type a curly bracket "{" into the component. The email editor will pull-up a drop-down list of tags that you can insert.

Add a user ID

If you wish to insert the personal ID of your attendees in the email template, you can use the {{_id}} placeholder. 

Do not use the {{fp_ext_id}} tag. The {{fp_ext_id}} tag corresponds only to the ID of the attendees who were created directly in Backstage. This means that all self-registered users - users that registered via a public (open) registration page -  will not have a "fp_ext_id".

Add buttons

Enter the text for the button directly in the panel to the left.
In the panel to the right, choose the action type for when attendees click on (or tap) the button in the email. You can choose if the resulting action should open in a new browser tab or not, and configure the link itself (if the action is to open a website). More information on links is available below.

Use hyperlinks

Links can be used on any text (or buttons) in your emails, by selecting the text where you want to add the links and clicking the "link" button in the email editor toolbar:

This opens the link editor window, where you can configure the link as a URL.

This URL can be edited to point to online content outside the app, and specific content within the app:

More information on the types of links that can be used to access an event.

Use special links

Special links can also be added by selecting the text where you want to add the link and clicking on the "link" button in the email editor tool bar:

They are used to add the:

• app install link: https://install.events/{{_app}}
• privacy policy link: {{_privacy_link}}
• Add to calendar or add to Google calendar links: {{_calendar_ical_link}} or {{_calendar_google_link}}
• Event links {{_webapp_link}}: User profile link / Agenda link / Speakers link / Sponsors link 
• Personalized links: 
  • Web app link
  • Registration link
  • Registration form link
  • Unsubscribe link
  • Session registration summary link

Note: The information in the Add to calendar buttons can be customized via the workspace settings. The look of the links in the emails can also be modified. 

Use a "access web app link" with a redirect to specific content in the web app (page, form/survey, feed, sponsor, etc.)

In addition to using the User profile link / Agenda link / Speakers link / Sponsors links described in the Use special links section above,  you can follow the below steps to add a link to your email that allows users to directly log-in and access specific content in the web app. 
Please note however that direct links to documents are not supported.

STEP 1 - Copy the path to the web app content you wish to point users to:

1. Access the web app for your event, and navigate to the content that you want the link to point to.
2. Copy the "path" part of the URL from your browser, as explained below.
   Here, for example, we will copy the path to the "Ressources" content page:
   

Example URL:

https://eu-webapp.spotme.com/bc58a1d1734b32f73e43d50e25a3c3f8/view/kbvqcbhu-3cf56l2z1ki0000000/01b6ef30-8a1c-4259-b0d5-af990f73aca3

The "path" part of this URL that you need to copy is:

bc58a1d1734b32f73e43d50e25a3c3f8/view/kbvqcbhu-3cf56l2z1ki0000000/01b6ef30-8a1c-4259-b0d5-af990f73aca3

STEP 2 - Add the content link to the email:

1. Go to Design > Emails in Backstage, and open the email template you wish to add the link to.
2. In the email, select the text you want to add the link to, and click on the link button:
   
3. Now click on Special link, and then Personalized link, and finally Web app link:
   
    
4. Now, in the URL field, add &redirect=/PATH, and replace PATH with the part of the URL you copied previously in STEP 1 one above:
   

Here for example, the full URL for the link is:

{{_webapp_link}}&redirect=/bc58a1d1734b32f73e43d50e25a3c3f8/view/kbvqcbhu-3cf56l2z1ki0000000/01b6ef30-8a1c-4259-b0d5-af990f73aca3

Click on Save to finalize your changes in the email template. You can check that the link works by sending yourself an email.

Note: Email opens and clicks are only counted when recipients click on the following links: {{_webapp_link}}, {{_registration_link}} or https://install.events/{{_app}}. Other links are not counted.

Add images

In the panel to the right, you can upload an image to the email template using a file from your computer, or enter the link (URL) that points to an online image that will be inserted into the email. You can then adjust the width of the image, the alignment, and the padding, and even apply a variety of effects (cropping, resizing, inserting text, rounding corners, etc.:

Important: The recommended aspect ratio for images is 4:1, with recommended dimensions of 800 x 200px. Please note that if you enabled the Width > Auto On toggle, on mobile devices this will stretch the image to the full width of the screen.

Add dividers

In the panel to the right, adjust the horizontal width of the separator, choose the line type (solid/dotted/dashed) and the thickness, adjust the alignment, and adjust the padding.

Add background colors

You can add a background color to the entire email body, by clicking on the Body button in the panel to the right:

By selecting any specific item in the body of your email (a row, column, block, or any specific content item) you can also add a background color to that item. After selecting the item, use the Background color field in the panel to the left.

Add a custom preheader to your email

A "preheader" is the short summary text that follows the subject line when recipients view an email from the inbox.

In the Email settings of the Body section, in the panel to the right, you can enter your own personalized preheader:

If you do not add a custom preheader, the email editor will automatically use the first few words of the email text as a preheader.

Change how links look in the email

You can change how hyperlinks will look in your email. To do so click on the Body button in the panel to the right, and scroll down to the Links section:

Here you can modify the color of the hyperlinks, as well as whether they should be underlines or not.

Rearrange, delete, or duplicate items

Once you have added content items to the email editor, you can easily move them around to find the right structure for your email. Simply select the item in the email editor and use the button to drag and drop the item to the desired location. You can also use the bin button to remove an item from the email editor, or the duplicate  button to duplicate an item.

Example of a basic 1-column email with dynamic content

Below is an example of an email containing each of the above mentioned items:

Here you can see that we have also used dynamic placeholders that work with the workspace metadata, using the attendee's first name {{fname}} and the name of the event {{_event_name}} to personalize the email.

Using multiple columns for your email layout

By selecting the main frame of the email editor, you can change the layout of the email by using the columns options in the panel to the right:

By selecting a "two column" layout, all the existing content is moved into one column to the left, and a new empty column is added to the right. You can then add additional items to the other column, or easily drag and drop existing or duplicated items from the left column into the right column.

You can at any time change back to a 1-column layout, using the columns options.

Create, save, and reuse custom content blocks across email templates and workspaces

In a workspace, any row or column that you create in an email template can also be saved as a reusable block. This saved block can then be accessed and inserted from other email templates within the workspace. 

Starting April 7, 2026, custom blocks can also be saved in your organization's workspace templates, allowing you to easily transfer them to and reuse them in any new workspace that you create.

Saved blocks are a great way to save time by reusing custom content, as well as an efficient way to ensure that consistency between different emails within a workspace is maintained.

Some examples of saved blocks that are useful to reuse are branded headers, disclaimers, signatures, banners, buttons, etc.

To access the default SpotMe blocks, simply click on the Blocks button in the panel to the right. Here you can drag and drop any block into the email body, or use the search bar to find a specific block:

To save a new custom block that can be reused later, create or select a row or column in the email editor, and then click on the blue Save icon:

Next, you can choose where it will be saved in the custom blocks section. Enter a name for the category of the block, and apply tags that can help you identify the block using the search bar (especially helpful when you have many saved blocks to choose from):

Once the block is saved in an email template in the workspace, you can now access it via any email template within that workspace.

Editing for desktop or mobile devices

In the email editor, you can toggle between editing how the email will look for recipients who open the email on desktop, and how it will look for recipients who open the email on mobile:

This is done by selecting Desktop or Mobile in the panel to the right, when editing a content item:

When editing the email for desktop, you will have more options available in the email editor, and the system will automatically adapt how the email looks so that it displays properly on mobile. As a result, we recommend that you always edit for desktop, and that you only use mobile to preview how the email will look.

Note: In each content item in the panel to the right, depending on whether you have selected Desktop or Mobile, if you scroll down you will see a section called Responsive Design. Here you have the option to toggle Hide for Desktop or Hide for Mobile. Toggling this option will hide the item in the email when seen on desktop or mobile.

Copy and pasting the email body from one template to another

The below copy and paste functionality is supported on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari.

You can use the Copy and Paste buttons in the email editor to copy the entire email body from one email template into another:

Simply click on Copy in the email template for which you want to copy the body, go to (or create a new) email when you want to paste the email body, and click Paste. This will work across emails within the same workspace, but also between emails from one organization to another (as the email body is copied to the clipboard).

Note: The From and Subject line information will also be copy-pasted along with the email body into the new email. Only the email template Name is not copied over.

Previewing the email

While creating or editing your email, you can at any time preview the email to see how it will look to the recipients.

To do so, click on the eye icon located in the bottom left of the email editor:

The preview is immediately displayed:

From here you can select the device type (laptop, tablet, mobile) and the corresponding screen resolution for the preview. You can also open the preview in full screen for a better view of the email and device/resolution options:

Send a test email

Once you have finished editing your email template, before you start sending emails out to your audience we highly recommend that you send out some test emails in order to verify that everything looks and is working properly, whatever the recipient's device type.

To do so, go to Content > Users in the workspace, select yourself in the user list, then click on Send an email.

Find out how to send emails to your audience

Global email templates and package updates

It is worth noting that the SpotMe platform has its own global "default" workspace emails, that are part of the SpotMe workspace templates, and can also be managed at the module level.

For example updating a module to the latest version in a workspace template or a workspace may result in an update to one or more email templates i that workspace/workspace template.

Below is a breakdown of how email templates are handled when creating a workspace from a workspace template or updating a module in a workspace:

Creating a workspace from a workspace template:

Updating modules in a workspace or workspace template:

Tracking email clicks and opens

You can see the number of opens and clicks for the emails you sent out via the email logs in Backstage.

Email opens and clicks are only counted when recipients click on the following links: {{_webapp_link}}, {{_registration_link}} or https://install.events/{{_app}}. Other links are not counted.

How do I use my own HTML code?

To add your HTML code to an email template, by click on the Use my own HTML code button.

This button is only available before you start adding any content to the email:

From here, click you can simply paste in the HTML code from your external template.

Tip: Before using custom emails, if your event is internal to your organization (or you know specifically what email client or software your recipients will be using), check that the email client or software will properly support/display HTML.

Creating your own emails from scratch can however be delicate due to the lack of standardization between systems: there are many different email design tools available, and each of them can produce emails that may display differently depending on the email system or browser your recipients are using.

Below are some recommendations on how you can create/design your own custom email templates:

1. Use a professional email design tool (for example Mailchimp, BEE Free, Pardot, or Marketo).
2. Purchase an email template from a verified provider (for example Envato or Theme Forest).
3. Have your own web or marketing team develop the custom email templates for you.
4. Test the custom email template out on several email systems. You can do this using a service such as Litmus, or you can manually test on the most frequently used email systems (Gmail, Outlook 365, Outlook 2016 and Apple Mail) and on different platforms.

If you have any issues with a custom template, we recommend that you contact the service or person that has designed/built the template.

Note: Remember to convert any variables or to merge any tags from the source design tool, so they align with SpotMe’s conventions, and then test the template on multiple email clients.

Below is a table containing the most frequent conversations that are needed:

Troubleshooting

Ensuring that the participant “Email address" link font color is properly applied

If you wish to include the participant's email address within the body of the email in the form of a link, depending on the email provider it can occur that the email address does not keep the intended color that you set for it using the text editor.

To avoid this, you can follow the below steps:

1. In the email template editor, add the “Email address" as a variable, by entering "{email" and selecting Email address as the suggested variable:
2. Click on the added Email address variable, and access its details by selecting the "link" button in the email editor toolbar. Here you need to select Send Email as the Action type, and enter {{email}} in the Mail To field, and then save.
   
3. Now you can select the added email address link, and change its font color using the toolbar:
   
    

This will make sure that the email is converted to a link and that the correct/selected color is applied to the font for the email address link.