In the CharityEngine® Creative suite, designing custom emails to send out to a list of donors is simplified.
Table of Contents
Navigating to the Email Builder
To find the email builder and begin designing an email for a campaign, click Campaigns > Create & Push > Creative.
To create a new email, hover over Create New and select Email Message.
Basic Design Tips
The CharityEngine® email design is a click-and-drag structure. The sample screen below is the CharityEngine® default design screen.
Under the first Content tab is a selection of tools and items to click and drag into your email.
Each piece of the default CharityEngine® email setup can be deleted and replaced with a different draggable piece. Click on the piece you want to delete. A blue box will appear around it with the option to delete it or copy it.
NOTE: Clicking the middle of text boxes will also bring up a design toolbar for the fonts, colors, etc. This toolbar can appear on top of the delete/copy options. If this happens, simply click on the circle that appears lined up with part of the blue box to make the toolbar disappear. You can access the delete/copy buttons from here once the toolbar is gone. If you want the toolbar back, click in the middle of the box in order to edit it and use the toolbar.
Templates, Outline, and Preview
Templates
If you aren’t sure where to start when designing your new email, check out the CharityEngine® Templates selection. There are several different design options to start with, based on what kind of email you would like to design. Click in the top right-hand corner of the email builder to find the templates.
Outline
Clicking the Outline button in the top right-hand corner of the email builder will toggle the dashed lines illustrating the outline of the content.
Preview
Click the Preview button in the top right-hand corner of the email builder to preview what the design would look like in the email. Choose to view from Desktop or Mobile. Click the X to exit the preview.
Text Box
Image
Action Section (Turn image/button into interactive link)
The Action section allows you to turn an image or a button into an interactive link. There are four options: open a web page, send an email, make a phone call, or send an SMS text. Choosing one of the four options and filling out the links required will turn your image or button into a link. Clicking the link will lead to the selected one of the four options occurring.
Open Web Page/Unsubscribe/Activation/View Online Links
Under the Open Web Page selection, insert the web page URL you would like the image to link to. There are also Special Links provided by CharityEngine® that you can insert into the image: Unsubscribe, Activation, and View Online.
Send Email
Add an easy link for donors to send emails back to your organization. Fill in the receiving email address where the message would be sent, a subject, and a body.
Make Call
Link a phone number to an image to allow a donor to make a phone call to your organization.
Send SMS
Link a phone number to an image to allow a donor to send a text message to your organization.
Button
Divider
Social
Video
Rows Section
Add another row of content into an email in various styles under the Rows section. Each square in a selection is a section for content, and the different sizes determine the size of the content. Choose a style that works for your email. Click and drag it into the email builder between the pre-existing rows to create another row of content for your email.
Rows Properties
Settings Section
Adjust the general email builder settings under the Settings section.
Additional Message Settings*
*This is a very important section!
This section is imperative in order to reach a full, complete audience. In order to make sure every single one of your donors receives the same general message you are trying to send in your email, you must fill out the text version of your email. This text version will appear to your donors if their email preference is set to text only. This way, even if they cannot see the full email, they will still be informed of your fundraiser, event, etc.
