Creating a Broadcast

Updated Aug 28, 2024

How to Create a Broadcast in Simplero  

Navigate to Email Broadcasts

From your Simplero Dashboard, go to Marketing >> select Email Broadcasts.

Create a New Broadcast

Click the blue Create new broadcast button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Choose a Template

Next, choose a template for your broadcast. You can either use a custom email design if you’ve created one or stick with the default options. The default choices are usually either Plain or Simple. The Plain template is unformatted and bare-bones, while the Simple template, though still basic, is contained within a structured layout, making the content less likely to overflow the view.

Once you click Start Writing, you'll move on to the content step of your broadcast—this is where the magic happens. Here, you can insert your subject line and craft your email content.

Composing Your Broadcast

  1. Sender Information: Enter the Sender name, Email from, and Reply-to details. You can override your default settings if needed.

  2. Subject Line: Give your broadcast a clear and engaging subject.

  3. Internal Name: Assign an internal name for easy identification in your broadcasts screen.

  4. Pre-header: Create a catchy pre-header that will appear as the first line of your email in recipients' inboxes.

  5. Email Body: Write your email content. Use the Media Library icon to add images as desired.

Once you're done, click the red Save and Next button.

Selecting Recipients

Include Contacts: Choose who will receive your broadcast by selecting Type of contacts, Sources, and Conditions in the Include section. Only selected contacts will receive the broadcast.

Exclude Contacts: Specify any contacts you wish to exclude from receiving the broadcast in the Exclude section. These exclusions are applied after the inclusions.

You can add multiple groups in both the Include and Exclude sections by clicking the + Add include and + Add exclude buttons.

Tips for Choosing Recipients

When sending out broadcasts, you can choose your recipients in two ways:

  1. Include Recipients: Select specific lists, contacts, purchasers, participants, affiliates, site members, tagged contacts, or other segments to include in your broadcast.

  2. Exclude Recipients: Similarly, you can exclude specific groups to avoid sending to certain recipients.

For example, if you’re promoting a new product to your list, include your main list in the broadcast but exclude anyone who has already purchased the product. This way, you won’t bother those who have already made a purchase.

Key Point: You only need to exclude contacts or lists that are specifically relevant. There’s no need to exclude each product or list that isn’t part of the broadcast.

Click the red Next button at the top-right of the screen when finished selecting your recipients.

Review and Schedule

  1. Schedule Delivery: Choose when you want your broadcast sent—either immediately or at a later time. Set the delivery date and time if scheduling for later.

  2. Send a Preview: Enter an email address in the right sidebar to send yourself a preview.

  3. Preview Modes: Switch between Web and Mobile previews to see how your email will look on different devices.

  4. Send Broadcast: Click the red Queue button in the upper right corner to send your broadcast. If sending immediately, it will say Send broadcast now. If scheduled for later, it will say Queue for delivery later.

  5. If you're not ready to send, you can Save as draft instead.

Navigation and Editing

All sections in the broadcast header are clickable, allowing you to move back and forth through different steps if you need to make any changes.

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Your WYSIWYG Tools

You can use the WYSIWYG editor to enhance your email by adding images, links, buttons, and personalized content. WYSIWYG stands for "What You See Is What You Get," meaning the content you create in the editor will appear the same way to your recipients.

To customize and insert content into your email body, you have two options for adding media, such as PDFs, images, audio, and videos. You can either add media from your Simplero media library (icon pictured on the left below) or import files directly from your computer (icon pictured on right below).

Next, you can easily add links and buttons to your email. For detailed instructions on adding a button to a broadcast, please refer to [this guide]. To add links, use the icon shown below. You can either highlight your text and then click the icon, or click the icon directly to open the link modal and enter all the details.

Finally, let's talk about personalized content—who doesn’t love receiving emails addressed just to them? You can create that personalized experience for your customers in Simplero as well! Just click the icon shown below and select one of the personalization options from the dropdown menu. This feature automatically populates information based on who is viewing the content. For example, it will insert the viewer's name, making the email feel more personalized.

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Understanding How Recipients Work

The recipient count in your queued broadcast may not match the count in the list you're sending to. This is because the system automatically excludes hard bounces, duplicates, and do-not-contact addresses, which will affect the final delivery count.

Additionally, if you're sending an email to subscribers or product purchasers, the broadcast will include all purchasers and active subscribers at the time of delivery, even those who just purchased or subscribed, even if they are not reflected in the initial recipient count.

You can refresh the recipient list to see an updated number, but keep in mind that this count is not dynamically updated as the list grows.

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Editing Emails After Delivery

Unfortunately, once the broadcast has been sent, there’s no way to stop or edit the content. However, you can still update the links. Simply click the pencil next to the link in your broadcast delivery report:

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Testing and Email Previews

Note: When sending yourself a preview email, if you don’t choose to view the email as if it’s sent to you with your name, the preview will appear in your inbox with the name selected in the "preview as if" dropdown. Please remember, this is just a preview and is not an indication of any issues with email delivery or what your recipients will see. This behavior is expected.

Note: Auto-subscribe/auto-unsubscribe links cannot be tested in a preview email. If you try, you'll receive a "bad link" error message. To test those links, you'll need to deliver the email to yourself first, then copy and recreate that broadcast to resend.

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Editing the Legal Footer in Emails

You might notice an additional footer at the end of your email. This is a legal footer, automatically generated by Simplero, and it cannot be edited. Including an unsubscribe option in your email footer is essential for compliance and maintaining trust with your audience. It helps prevent your emails from being marked as spam, which improves deliverability, ensuring your messages reach the inbox instead of being filtered out. Learn more about email footers (and prefixes) in this guide.

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