Table of Contents

Configure emails - set up an invitation email

Julia Walther Updated by Julia Walther

The following example presents the configuration of an invitation email using the LA LUNA template.

To create an email, go to your event.

You can create an email from the dashboard or go directly to the communication section and start creating your email from there.

Create your email from the dashboard

Click on '+ Create email' in the dashboard. This button will take you to Sweap's email builder, where you can set up your email.

create email from dashboard

Create email within the communication section

Click on '+ Create Email' in the 'Communication' section. This button will take you to Sweap's email builder, where you can set up your email.

create email within communication section

Set up email

To create your email, simply follow the steps in our system. You will find the menu of our email builder on the left side. In the different sections you can enter all the information you want to send to your guests.

You can find our preview function in the upper right margin ("Show preview"). With this function you can always see how your email would look like. Especially if you are still at the beginning of creating your own emails with Sweap, the preview function will be a great help. With the help of the preview you can easily see where the changes you have just made are visible within your email.

Create email overview

1. Email type and template

In the first step you need to select the email type and the email template that you want to use. In our example, we set up an invitation email, accordingly we select the type 'Invitation'.

select email type

Since we want to build our invitation using the LA LUNA template, we will use this template accordingly. If you have created your own templates for your events, you can also use these templates. More information about custom templates can be found here.

select email template
2. Sender Informationen

Within the next step you define the sender information:

  • Email Subject
  • Sender Name
  • Sender Email Address
  • Reply Email Address
  • BCC Email Address
By the way, you can work with placeholders in the email subject. You can find more information about placeholders here.
By default, the sender email address in Sweap is "mail@sweapevent.com". You can also set your own sender email address, for more information click here.
If you do not include a reply email address, Sweap's no-reply address will be used. This means that no replies are possible, because they would disappear in nirvana.
3. General Design

In the next step you define the general design of your email. Define your color scheme here to give your email the look that matches your corporate identity. Here you can define the general design settings for the following items:

  • Primary color / Corporate Identity (CI) color
  • Background color
  • Outer background color
  • Text color

Take a look at the preview to see what you changed. This will give you a direct overview of which area is meant by its name.

4. Header

Next you can design the header section of your email.

You can insert a preheader here. The preheader is a teaser text that is usually displayed below the subject in the preview of an email. It is used to give the recipient a first insight into the content. The usage of preheaders can increase the opening rate of your emails.

Additionally you can upload your logo. You can decide whether you want to display your logo on the left, in the middle or on the right. You can also upload a header image here.

When uploading images it is important to respect the recommended image sizes, these are optimal for the different email clients. You can find our advice on image sizes by clicking on the small circle with the question mark. More information about the image sizes that you can use in Sweap can be found here.

5. Main Area

In the main area you can store all your relevant information. For this purpose, you can use two text fields that you can fill with our text editor (1 and 3 in the image). You have various formatting options available here. You can find useful information about our HTML editor here.

In addition to the two text fields, you can also define the action field area (2 in image). In invitations and invitation reminders, you can give your guests the option of accepting or cancelling an event in this area. You can also freely define the display of the date - the left side of the action field area can be individually filled with content. For confirmation emails, you can add the QR code of your guest in the action field area.

If you don't need this area you can easily hide tthe action field area.

Create email main area - preview
6. Call to Action Area

The Call to Action Area is a separate area below the main area.

With the Call to Action area you have the possibility to provide your guests with further information by clicking on a button.

There are two ways to setup the button within the call to action area:

  • On the one hand you have the possibility to place a URL directly. Simply insert the desired URL into the field.
  • On the other hand you have the possibility to upload a file. By clicking on the pencil icon, the upload dialog window opens and you can upload your desired file.
Email builder - Call to action area

You can only implement one button in the call to action area - but if you want to make additional content available for your guests, you can use a simple trick here.

In this case, simply use the upload dialog window, upload a file and do not save this process, but copy the URL that was created by the upload. You can now use this URL as a hyperlink in your body text - so you have the possibility to provide further documents for your guests.

File upload
7. Virtual Event

In this section you can insert a link to a virtual event. If you do not fill this area, it will not be displayed in your email.

If you fill the area, you create another another button, the virtual event button. This button will be displayed below the call to action button.

8. Social Media

Link your social media appearances in this area. Currently you can add the following social media links to our system:

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • XING
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Within the footer you can communicate further information to your guests.

Information that should always be stored here are your imprint and your privacy policy - link both via hyperlinks with the information on your website.

In addition to this information, you can also add a footer image, which will then be displayed within your email.

Please note that we have already integrated an unsubscribe link in the footer - we cannot deactivate or change this. This is a legal necessity. If a guest clicks on this integrated link in the email, he will automatically be redirected to an unsubscribe area.
10. Invitation Preferences

Within the invitation settings, you can define how your guests can respond to your event from your invitation email.

The following variants are available to you:

  • Activate registration form
  • Activate direct acceptance from email
  • Activate direct declining from email
10.1 Activate registration form

By activating this function, the guest will get to your registration page by clicking on the registration button and will find the corresponding registration form there. The guest can now make his entry and register for your event by submitting the form.

If you don't want to use a registration form, please deactivate this function - please note that you still have to create a registration page. You can set there which info you want to show to your guests. You can find more information about this in our article about the contents and modules of a website.
10.2 Activate direct acceptance from email

If you activate the acceptance directly from the email, you will still redirect your guest to your registration page, but no registration form will be displayed. The guest will not be able to enter any further information. Your guest only has to agree on the registration page within a pop-up window that he wants to register for your event.

This is necessary to prevent unwanted acceptance or rejection by automatic spam checks.

A direct confirmation contradicts an additional query by mandatory fields. The system generates a note that the mandatory fields must be provided before a confirmation is possible.
10.3 Activate direct declining from email

In terms of cancellations, it is recommended to activate the cancellation directly from emails. This function takes your guest to your registration page via the 'Decline' button, where they must confirm within a pop-up window that they wish to decline their registration for your event. This is necessary to prevent unwanted registration or cancellation by automatic spam checks.

If you disable this feature, the guest will have to fill out your registration form to unsubscribe from your event. It can be assumed that this extra effort is only done by a few guests, which would worsen your feedback rate. We therefore recommend activating the direct unsubscribe from the email.

Direct cancellation from email - confirmation request

10.4 Register Page Selection

Since you send your guests to a registration page with your invitation email, you can define within the invitation settings on which registration page your guests should land.

This feature is relevant if you need to create multiple registration pages. This scenario can occur if you divide your guests into different segments.

For example, you want to invite your guests in different languages. In this case you can create a German and an English registration page. At the same time, you can also create your emails in multiple languages.

By default, our system always links to the registration page that you have defined as the "default page".

If you use placeholders to direct your guests to your registration page, it is also important that you specify the registration page using this function. If you do not do this, our system will redirect your guest to the "default page" via the placeholder.
11. Additional Options

In this section you can activate if and how you want to send an iCalendar file to your guests. You can attach the iCalendar file to your email and/or include a link in the email. Via the iCalendar file your guests have the possibility to save the calendar entry comfortably in their calendar (e.g. Outlook, GoogleCalendar, AppleCalendar etc.).

Attention: Some email programs mark emails with attachments as spam.
12. Email Testing and Finalization

In the last step, you have the option to set a name for your email. Furthermore, you can activate the tracking of the opening rate of the sent emails here.

Please only activate this function if you have the explicit consent of all invited guests to save the personal opening rates. You can find a detailed explanation here.

You can also make a language selection here. This language selection controls in which language information such as the ticket, iCal, Wallet, etc. is displayed.

You can select between

  • Event Language
  • German
  • English

Last but not least, you can send out a test email. To do this, click the "Test" button. A dialog window will open, where you can configure the test options.

Send test mails from builder

You have the option to send your test email to multiple recipients at once. Simply enter the desired email addresses into the designated field, and confirm each email address by pressing the Enter key.

Within the second step you to select a guest from your list whose data will be used to fill the Liquid placeholders. Alternatively, you can use one of our provided test guest data sets. All recipients of the test email will see the message as if it were specifically personalized for the selected guest.

You can find out more about sending test e-mails here.

After you have made all settings for your email, don't forget to save it. Your email is now successfully created and can be sent.

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Call to Action Button withinin emails

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