Warning: It is important that your organization assigns full Administrator rights to only a select number of users for Templates. Any changes can affect multiple web pages. We strongly encourage users knowledgeable in all areas of website design to perform tasks in Templates.
In Templates, you design and maintain email templates to provide consistency for various types of email. For example, you can have an organization template with a header and font used to send email to all alumni. On the Properties tab, you set defaults for the messages created from the template, such as the from name and subject. On the Design tab, you design the basic layout for the template, including any graphics or pictures.
Tip: For best practice information about email, refer to Blackbaud Communication Services Best Practices for Email.
Show Me: Watch how to create an email template.
When you create an email message, you base the message on a template to save time and effort. All the elements exist in the template. You can change a specific message, but the template provides a base that helps maintain consistency.
Note: In each email you send, you must include links to the pages on your website that contain your organization’s privacy statement and the User Email Preferences Form so recipients can opt out of your email communications. We recommend you include these links in email templates.
To improve your email marketing for mobile users, six mobile friendly email templates are available for you to copy and use as new templates. These templates are more narrow in width and include larger fonts for improved usability on mobile devices. They also render more consistently across mobile devices, browsers, and desktop and web-based email programs. You can easily identify these in the email templates grid by viewing templates with “Placeholder” in the Description column.
To use these templates, create a copy of one and update the placeholder text in the new template with your unique content. For example, you can replace the merge field placeholder text with merge fields in the HTML editor. You can also replace the sample logo banner with your organization's logo banner.
Tip: One copy of each mobile friendly email template exists in the program. When you host multiple websites, you access them in each site's Templates area.