This task is for Site and Hub Administrators.
Our Newsletter tool helps you conduct email campaigns with your registered participants and subscribers. With Newsletters, you can send regular email updates and communications to help you foster community engagement.
Newsletters are linked to your Participants database, so you can target specific groups of registered participants and subscribers. For example, you can send newsletters for:
Welcome or reminder emails to dynamic participant groups
Updates for hub participants or a community panel group
Users who have subscribed to a project’s updates via the Follow Project widget
Please note that newsletter updates are not automatic; you must create and send them manually, and there are several stages to this:
Create
Go to Newsletters in the main menu and select Create Newsletter to begin a new one or choose one from the list to edit it. You can also select the Duplicate icon in the Action column to copy and edit a Sent newsletter.
Add a Subject line for the email newsletter in the available field.
Check Include site logo to add your logo to the header. You may not need to include this if you add a banner that incorporates your logo.
Check Add banner image to use the Select banner dropdown. This allows you to use a site or project banner. If you need to upload one, you can do it using the text editor and add it to the body of your email.
You can use the text editor in the text field to write your newsletter. When drafting, you can use the template we include to help structure your content.
Save & Preview when you’re finished. You can return to the draft if you need to.
When drafting, please note:
Our template includes the placeholder [PARTICIPANT_SCREEN_NAME]. This placeholder will show in the preview but automatically include the recipient’s screen name in the email once it is sent.
If you paste in content, copy it from a formatting stripping tool like Notepad to ensure all formatting is removed. The text editor allows you to apply any text formatting.
Use Code View if you want to add HTML to your newsletter.
You cannot wrap text around an image in a newsletter, nor can you include a table with no border. Additionally, there’s no option to upload a document; you’ll need to retrieve the document’s URL and use the Insert Link option.
Some email clients (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) don’t support specific fonts and will use a fallback font instead.
Our newsletters are responsive to devices (if the email client supports it), so the font will resize to fit the device it’s viewed on. This ensures that your newsletters are easy to read on mobile devices. However, this means that when you specify a font size it becomes fixed and will not automatically resize on different devices.
Preview
After you select Save & Preview, you can see how your newsletter will look to recipients and check for any errors. You can select:
Back to edit design if you need to add or edit the content.
Send Test Email to enter your or a colleague's email address and preview the newsletter in your email. Enter each email address (separated by a comma if there are multiple) and select Send Test.
Add Recipients if you’re happy with your content and are ready to choose who will receive the newsletter.
Add Recipients
In the Select Recipients screen, you can choose who will receive the newsletter in two ways:
Select a participant group: check each relevant participant group or Select All. You must have already created your participant group to include it, but you can select Create a Group to open your Participants database in a new tab if you need to create one now.
Select participant from a previous project: check each relevant project, or Select All, to choose from participants who registered, contributed, or subscribed to a specific project. To send the newsletter to subscribers, you must ensure that Include Project followers is checked.
The selections you make from these options create your List of recipients. If duplicate email addresses appear in more than one group, they are automatically removed, and you can uncheck any recipient to prevent them from receiving the email. If you have a lot of recipients, use the Search box to find a specific one.
When you’re happy with the list, select Add selected recipients for a final review of the newsletter before sending it. You can also select Back to edit design to make content edits or Send Test Email to send a preview to a colleague.
You can only send newsletters to verified participants and Project Admins. If a Site or Hub Admin needs to receive it, you can either send them a test email, or they must Subscribe to a project via the Follow Project widget to be included as a project follower.
If you need to resend the activation email to participants who are pending activation, you can do so from the Participants list.
Send
Here, you can review your newsletter before hitting Send. Navigating away from this screen will save the content but not your recipient list; you’ll have to add your recipients again when you return.
Once you hit Send, you’ll see a success message, and the emails are sent out immediately. However, depending on the email traffic, there may be a delivery delay. Please note that you cannot schedule a newsletter; you must send it manually.
You can track metrics such as deliveries, opens, and clicks from the Sent newsletters list.