Sending Emails
As well as campaigns, you can send an email straight to one person, a handful of people, or everyone in a group, smart list or messaging topic. This article covers these one-off emails: composing them, using templates and merge fields, linking files, tracking delivery, and where replies go.
For scheduled, designed sends to a large audience with campaign analytics, use Email Campaigns instead.
Before you start
- Email sending may need to be enabled for your organisation. If you don't see email options, contact support.
- You need permission to create emails in at least one scope. Every email you send is saved as a record in the scopes you choose, so people with access to those scopes can see it later.
- Recipients need an email address on their profile, and their profile must be active. People without an email address are skipped and listed as invalid.
Ways to send an email
- From the Communications dashboard: click Email, choose who it's to (People, A group, A smart list or A messaging topic), pick the recipients, then compose.
- From a list: select one or more people, groups, smart lists, messaging topics, workflow cards, form submissions or e-tickets, open the actions menu and choose Send email (or Send email to (N) when several are selected). Qik works out the people behind each record, for example everyone in a group or the person a submission is about.
- From a person's profile: use the email button in their contact actions.
- From a messaging topic or smart list on the Communications dashboard: click Message and choose New email.
When you send to a group, you're first asked which positions to include, so you can email just the coaches or just the managers of a team, for example.
Composing the email
The Send email window shows who you're sending as and who it's going to. Remove any recipient chip you don't want. Then fill in:
- Template (only shown if your organisation has email templates): leave it as Plain email, or choose a template. A template replaces the message box with the template's own fields, such as a heading, body text or attachments.
- Subject: required.
- Message: the body of a plain email, written in a rich-text editor.
- Scopes: where the email record will be saved. You must choose at least one.
Click Send. An email to one person is created straight away and appears on their profile. An email to several people (or to a group, list or topic) is sent in the background. A progress indicator shows how far it has got, and you'll see a message such as "Sending email to 42 valid recipients". Large sends are paced, so they can take a few minutes to finish.
Need more control, such as setting a different sender name? Click More options in the compose window to open the full email form.
Email templates
Email templates are reusable designs for your emails. Manage them in the Email templates section of the Communications dashboard. Each template is an email content type with its own HTML layout, styles and fields. When you send with a template, Qik puts the values you enter into the template's layout, so every email looks consistent. Campaigns, workflow emails and form confirmation emails can use the same templates.
Merge fields
Merge fields put details about each recipient into the email. Type them in double curly braces, or pick First Name or Last Name from the token menu in the Subject and Message fields. Every recipient gets their own copy with their own details filled in.
| Merge field | What it shows |
|---|---|
{{firstName}} | The recipient's first name |
{{lastName}} | The recipient's last name |
{{to.email}} | The address the email is going to |
{{from.firstName}}, {{from.lastName}}, {{from.email}} | The sender's details |
{{subject}} | The email's subject |
{{data.fieldKey}} | A field from the email template (for templated emails) |
{{unsubscribeURL}} | A link to the recipient's email preferences page (see below) |
To format a date, add a date filter, for example {{data.startDate | date('d LLL yyyy')}}. Dates are shown in the recipient's timezone, or your organisation's timezone if the recipient doesn't have one.
Unfilled merge fields show as "undefined". If a merge field doesn't match anything, for example a typo like {{fristName}} or a field that's empty for that person, the word undefined appears in the sent email. Qik shows it on purpose so the problem is visible rather than hidden. Check your spelling, and test with a single recipient before sending to a large group.
Files and images
Emails don't carry file attachments. Instead, they link to files stored in Qik. Images and files you add with the rich-text editor, or through a template's file and image fields, become links in the email. Recipients can open them from the email without logging in, as long as you (the sender) are allowed to view those files. A file you can't view won't open for recipients.
Sender and replies
Emails are sent in your name. The display name is your first and last name, and replies go to your email address. The From address is your own address if its domain has been verified for your organisation. Otherwise Qik uses your organisation's address or a Qik system address, still showing your name. See Custom Email Sending Domains to send from your own domain.
Tracking delivery, opens and clicks
Each email is saved as a record. You can see recent emails on the Communications dashboard (Recent emails, then View all emails), on the recipient's profile, or by opening the email itself. The email page shows a progress track (Queued → Sent → Delivered → Opened → Clicked), a Delivery history, and a preview of exactly what was sent.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued / Sending | Waiting in the send queue or being sent now. |
| Sent | Accepted for delivery. |
| Delivered | The recipient's mail server accepted it. |
| Opened / Clicked | The recipient opened the email or clicked a link in it. |
| Delayed | The recipient's mail server hasn't accepted it yet. Delivery is retried automatically. |
| Bounced | The recipient's mail server rejected it, usually because the address doesn't exist. |
| Blocked | The email provider refused to send it. |
| Marked as spam | The recipient reported the email as spam. |
| Failed | Something went wrong, for example the template couldn't be rendered, or the address is on the suppression list. |
| On hold | Saved but deliberately not sent. |
Opens are detected with a tiny invisible image, so they're approximate: some email apps block images, and some privacy features open emails automatically. Clicks are tracked by sending links through Qik before redirecting to the real address. Opens, clicks and unsubscribes are also recorded on the recipient's profile timeline.
If an email bounced, was blocked or failed, the email page explains why and offers Resend email (if you're allowed to create emails). Fix the address first if it bounced.
Unsubscribes and suppression
- Addresses that hard-bounce, are blocked, or are added to the suppression list are never sent to again. The email is marked Failed with the reason.
- Someone who marks an email as spam stops receiving campaigns, but can still receive one-off and automated emails.
- The email unsubscribe list ("Stop all email communications") is applied to campaigns. One-off emails, notification emails and workflow emails are not filtered by it, so check before emailing someone who has unsubscribed.
- Plain emails don't include an unsubscribe link automatically. To give recipients a way to manage their preferences, put
{{unsubscribeURL}}in your email template.
See Unsubscribes and Suppressions for details.
Testing safely with stealth mode
Organisation administrators can turn on Enable Stealth Mode in Organisation Settings. While it's on, emails aren't delivered to real recipients. If Divert Emails To is set, they all go to that address instead, with the real recipient shown in the subject line. Otherwise they're dropped. This is useful while you're building automations. Remember to turn it off again.
Tips
- Send to yourself first to check merge fields, links and layout.
- Use a template for anything you send regularly, so formatting stays consistent and recipients get an unsubscribe link.
- Pick scopes deliberately. Anyone with access to those scopes can read the email and see who it went to.
- To send an email automatically when something happens, such as a form submission or a workflow step, see Workflow Step Automations and Definition Automations.