Email Template Management

Retreat Portal stores email templates making it easier to send out emails to a wide variety of audiences. Each template can be customized to meet your unique needs. Format colors, fonts, signatures, etc. You also get to decide which fields to include in each email.

Important - Email templates are version controlled. This means that you first copy an existing template, edit it, then activate it. Only active templates are used when sending emails. We use version control to ensure that incomplete templates aren't accidentally used to email guests or groups.

Start by clicking the gear icon in the top-right of the page and select Business. Them click Email Templates on the left-side panel.

There are two types of email templates: Required and Custom. The required templates are created by DKD Software and provided for use in automated scenarios - such as program registration. They must exist because they are used in business processes. The custom templates are used when manually sending emails and can be created by yourselves. DKD Software does supply some starter custom email templates.

Pick the email template you want to edit. The two most common ones you'll edit are:

• Guest registration confirm - this template is sent to each guest who registers for a program.

• Guest registration payment confirmation - this template is sent to the buyer who is making the purchase in a cart. It is possible that the buyer and guest are not the same person.

Next, pick the version you want to edit. More than likely you'll want to pick the one that says 'Active' as that is the version which you are currently sending to guests.

Click the Copy button. This will create a new version and the fields below will become editable.

You can change the Sender Name, Subject, Body, or the BCC fields.

Note: The BCC field allows you to specify one or many email addresses to get BCC'd whenever the selected email template is used. It can be a great way to get notified of any registration or payment.

To see the most up-to-date placeholders that are allowed in the email subject and body click the 'View placeholders catalog' link. The placeholders allow you to include dynamic information in the email body or subject - for example, the guest's first name, last name, salutation, how much they are paying, the program title, dates, etc.

When done with the edits click the Save button.

On the right-side panel you can see a preview of the email. Click the Preview button to see what the email would look like. You can also click the Send to me button which will use the template to send you a sample of what the email would look like.

The values in the preview and sample email are fake - i.e. the first name, the cost of the program, description of the registration, etc.

Finally - when you are happy with all of your edits and you want to start using the template click the Activate button. Once you activate a template you can no longer edit it. This is deliberate because we want to prevent accidental changes to templates that may get used at any moment. To edit and active template start from the beginning of this tutorial by copying the template, editing it, then activating the new template.

Create Custom Templates

To create a custom email template click the 'Manage custom templates' button in the Email Templates screen.

On the Manage Custom Email Templates screen click 'Create custom template' to define a new template or click 'Edit' to edit an existing custom template.

In this screen all you are doing is managing the existence of the template, the actual email body, subject, etc. are managed as described above.

Click 'Create custom template'. Then indicate if the purpose of the template is for Programs or Reservations. This is an important distinction and you can click the icon to the right with the question mark to learn more, but the gist is that an email template is meant to target an entire program (e.g. all guests in the program or the group leaders) or individual reservations (e.g. guests only).

Provide a label for the template as well.

Finally, click 'Save'.

Back in the list of Email templates you will see your newly created template. Click the 'Edit' link and, from there, you can manage the contents of the template (body, subject, etc.) like any other template.