A template is what an email looks like: structure, colours, images, copy. You build it once and reuse it for years, changing only what actually changes.
You find them under Templates in the main menu, and you can create one while writing a campaign too.
The four types
| Type | Where it is used |
|---|---|
| Campaign | Invitations and every email you send yourself |
| Confirmation | The automatic email to whoever accepts |
| Refusal | The automatic email to whoever declines |
| Landing | The look of the public answer pages |
The type is chosen at creation and cannot be changed afterwards: a confirmation template has information available to it that a campaign template does not.
The editor
Text, images, buttons, colours. Two pieces of advice worth more than all the rest:
Write for the preview pane. Half your recipients decide whether to open by looking at the sender, the subject and the first few words. What sits below the fold is only read by somebody who has already decided.
Design for the phone. Most invitations are opened on the move. Single column, large text, buttons wide enough for a thumb.
Placeholders
They are written in double braces and are substituted per recipient at send time.
The person
| Placeholder | Holds |
|---|---|
{{firstName}} | First name |
{{lastName}} | Surname |
{{fullName}} | First name and surname |
{{greeting}} | A ready-made greeting, with the name when there is one |
{{email}} | The recipient's address |
{{phone}} | Their phone |
{{company}} | Their company |
The event
| Placeholder | Holds |
|---|---|
{{eventName}} | The event name |
{{eventDate}} | The full date |
{{eventFrom}}, {{eventTo}} | Start and end |
{{eventLocation}} | The venue name |
{{eventLocationAddress}} | The full address |
{{eventOrganizer}} | The organiser |
{{eventImage}} | The event image |
The links
| Placeholder | Holds |
|---|---|
{{rsvp}} | The personal link to the answer page |
{{addToCalendar}} | Add to calendar |
{{addToGoogleCalendar}} | Add to Google Calendar |
{{optOutUrl}} | The unsubscribe link |
A mistyped placeholder does not break the send: it is substituted with its own name, and recipients read firstName where a name should be. Which is why a test send is not optional.
The greeting deserves a note: {{greeting}} produces a complete formula and falls back to an impersonal version when the name is missing. On half-imported lists that is safer than Hi {{firstName}},, which on a nameless contact becomes "Hi ,".
Saving and reusing
While working on a campaign you can save the template for reuse, and load a saved template to start from it. This is why the second event costs so much less than the first.
Keep a few good ones rather than many: one invitation, one reminder, one confirmation. A library of twenty near-identical variants stops being used within a month.
Testing before you send
Two tools, both worth using:
Preview — shows the result with sample values in place of the placeholders, in desktop, tablet and phone widths.
Test send — actually sends the email to your own address. It is the only way to see how a real mail client renders it, whether the images arrive, how the subject looks in the list and whether the links work.
Advice that holds for every template
- The subject matters more than the contents. Keep it short and make it say what is inside.
- One clearly visible call to action: the answer button.
- The practical information — date, venue, time — in plain text, not only in the image.
- The unsubscribe link is always there: it is the law, and it does not come off.