Broadcasts

Create a broadcast

Open Broadcasts and click Create broadcast. A draft is created and opens in the full-screen editor, the same editor templates use. It saves as you type.

Fill in the envelope above the body:

• From: a sender address on one of the team's verified domains. Reply-To adds a reply address.
• Audience: a segment, or All contacts.
• Subscribe to: an optional Topic. Contacts who opted out of that topic are skipped, and the unsubscribe link lets them leave only that topic.
• When: leave empty to send right away, or type a date or time such as tomorrow 9am to schedule.
• Subject and optional Preview text.

Write the body in the visual editor or as HTML. Insert contact variables such as {{{contact.first_name|there}}} from the Variables menu, and add an unsubscribe link with {{{OPENSEND_UNSUBSCRIBE_URL}}}. Test email sends the current draft to one address; it does not touch your audience.

Send or schedule

Click Review. Ready to send? lists what will happen and what is missing: the send time, the sender, the audience and how many contacts will get the email, the subject, the content, and whether an unsubscribe link was found. A missing subject, missing content, or an empty audience blocks sending; a missing unsubscribe link is only a warning. Slide Slide to send (or Slide to schedule) to confirm.

On the broadcast's page, Send now sends a draft or scheduled broadcast immediately, and Cancel stops a scheduled or sending broadcast before its audience has been resolved. The ... menu has Rename, Duplicate, Clone as template, and Delete.

Who receives it

• The audience is resolved when sending starts, and each contact is checked again just before delivery.
• Unsubscribed contacts, contacts opted out of the topic, and suppressed addresses are skipped.
• A broadcast whose segment was deleted refuses to send rather than going to all contacts.
• Every recipient gets their own unsubscribe link and List-Unsubscribe headers, so mailbox providers can show a one-click unsubscribe button. See unsubscribe links.
• Mail already accepted by SES cannot be recalled.

Statuses and editing

A broadcast is Draft, Scheduled, Sending, Sent, Failed, or Canceled. Drafts and canceled broadcasts can be edited; other broadcasts can only be renamed.

Reports

The broadcast's page shows Recipients, Delivered, Opened, Clicked, Bounced, Suppressed, Unsubscribed and Complained, split into Deliverability and Opt-out tables with each count and rate. Metrics update as emails go out.

Per-recipient history is kept for 30 days after the broadcast settles. Totals are saved before that history is deleted, so the broadcast and its numbers stay.

Through the API, list recipients with an event type filter or list clicked links; both need full access. To create a broadcast through the API, see create broadcast:

{
  "from": "Acme <hello@example.com>",
  "subject": "Product update",
  "html": "<p>Hello {{{contact.first_name|there}}}</p><a href=\"{{{OPENSEND_UNSUBSCRIBE_URL}}}\">Unsubscribe</a>",
  "segment_id": "YOUR_SEGMENT_ID",
  "send": false
}