Newsletters and emails

Subscribers lists everyone on your mailing list: people who signed up in your shop, buyers who said yes at checkout, people on a drop’s waitlist, and anyone you added or imported. The top says how many are happy to hear from you, and how many joined in the last 30 days.

The tabs sort them by where they stand: subscribed, waiting for them to confirm, unsubscribed, bounced or marked as spam. How they joined says where each came from, and Consent what they agreed to.

Press Add subscriber to add someone, Import to bring a list across, or Export CSV to download the list as it’s filtered.

Press Add subscriber, then fill in their Email address, and their Name and Tags if you like.

Tick They asked to hear from me: the law says you need their say-so before sending newsletters, so today’s date and a note that you added them are saved with their details. If your welcome email is on, Send them your welcome email is ticked for you. Press Add to my list.

1. 1Step 1: Press Import, then Upload a file (a .csv) or Paste it in.
2. 2Step 2: The columns are email, name and tags. Name and tags are optional, and a header row is fine.
3. 3Step 3: Have a look at the list. What happens says, for each person, whether they’ll be added, are already on your list, unsubscribed before, aren’t an email address or are listed twice. Nobody is added or emailed yet.
4. 4Step 4: If you like, fill in Tag everyone in this import.
5. 5Step 5: Tick Everyone on this list asked to hear from me. Only tick it if they did, for example at a fair, in a message or on your old shop.
6. 6Step 6: Tick Also ask them to confirm by email if it’s an older list. Each new person gets one email with a button, and only gets newsletters once they tap it.
7. 7Step 7: Press Add.

A list from another shop or email tool often has a column saying who agreed to marketing, or each person’s status. Anyone it marks as no, unsubscribed, bounced, cleaned or not yet confirmed is left out, marked Said no to emails, left out.

Someone you deleted after they’d left your list is remembered as a no, so an old list can’t sign them up again. Up to 2,000 rows go in at a time.

Give subscribers tags when you add or import them, or on their record. Tap a tag above the list to see just those people, and choose Subscribers with a tag in a campaign to write to them.

These are separate from the tags on Customers, which you can email with Customers with a tag.

Tap anyone in the list to open their record. You can change their Name and Tags and press Save changes.

• Consent record: what they agreed to, when they agreed and confirmed, when they unsubscribed, and when you last emailed them.
• Send it again: for someone who hasn’t tapped the link in their confirmation email. Emails can hide in spam.
• Unsubscribe: no more newsletters. They can sign up again from your shop whenever they like.
• Delete: removes their details for good. Use it when someone asks you to forget them. If they’d already left your list, only their email is kept, as a note that they said no.

In Settings, Emails, under Newsletter sign-ups:

• Let buyers join your newsletter shows a sign-up box above your shop’s footer, and wherever you add a Newsletter sign-up section. Off hides the boxes. People already on your list stay on it.
• Ask new subscribers to confirm sends new people an email with a link, and they join once they tap it. This is called double opt-in. It’s on to start with, it keeps typos and fake addresses off your list, and it’s the safest choice under UK rules.

Campaigns lists your newsletters under Drafts, Scheduled and Sent, with who each went to, when, how many got it and how many Opened it. Layouts holds the ones you’ve saved to reuse.

1. 1Step 1: In Campaigns, press New campaign. Give it a Campaign name only you see, and choose what to Start from: a fresh email, one of your layouts or an earlier campaign.
2. 2Step 2: Under The basics, write the Subject line and, if you like, the Preview text people see after it in their inbox.
3. 3Step 3: Choose who gets it.
4. 4Step 4: Build the email from blocks.
5. 5Step 5: Press Send a test to see it in your own inbox.
6. 6Step 6: Press Send or schedule.

The preview beside it updates as you write. Changes save from the bar at the bottom. If AI help is on, Draft it for me writes a first go from a few words, for you to check and change.

Who gets it? can be Everyone subscribed, Subscribers with a tag, Customers with a tag, Customers, Not bought yet, Bought a product or Haven’t ordered in a while. Only people who are subscribed ever get campaigns, whichever you choose.

Haven’t ordered in a while is for subscribers who’ve bought before but nothing lately. Choose No order for at least 3 months, 6 months, a year or 2 years.

Under the choices, it says how many people would get it right now.

The email is built from blocks: heading, text, image, button, products, quote, divider and spacer. Tap one under Add a block, fill it in, then drag it into place, or use the arrows. Each block can be copied or removed.

• Image: drop in a picture, and Describe the picture for people who can’t see images. It can link somewhere too.
• Button: the Words on the button and Where it goes, a page on your shop like /shop or a full web address.
• Products: up to 6 from your shop, two to a row, with their picture and price.
• Quote: a kind word from a customer, and who said it.

The preview can show a phone or a desktop, and light or dark, as different mail apps do.

Press Send a test. It goes to you, your team or your shop’s own addresses, never to customers. Its subject starts with “[Test]”, it uses what’s on screen even if you haven’t saved, and it doesn’t count in your numbers.

Every newsletter also goes with a plain text version, made from your blocks, for mail apps that don’t show designs. Choose Plain text above the preview to read it. Switch back with Email.

Press Send or schedule (or Save and send). Ready to send? says how many people it’ll go to, and lists anything to fix first, like an empty block or a missing subject.

• Send now sends it in small batches over the next few minutes. While it’s going out, Stop sending stops it for anyone it hasn’t reached yet.
• Pick a time takes a date and a time in your shop’s time zone. It goes to everyone in the audience at that moment, so people who join before then get it too. To change it, press Back to drafts.

Once a campaign has gone, How it did shows Recipients, Delivered, Opened, Clicked and Unsubscribed, and Most clicked links shows which buttons, pictures and products people tapped.

• Each person counts once, however many times they open it.
• Opens are a rough guide: some mail apps hide them and some open everything. Anyone who tapped a link counts as opened.
• Unsubscribed is people who used this email’s unsubscribe link.
• If it didn’t reach someone, See why in the email log shows what happened.

Choose Save as a layout from a campaign’s More options menu and give it a Layout name. It keeps the subject, words, pictures and blocks. Who it goes to is chosen each time.

Layouts are under Layouts in Campaigns, and in Start from when you make a new campaign. Open a layout and press Start a campaign from this. Changing a layout doesn’t touch campaigns already started from it.

Automations has four emails that send themselves at the right moment: a Welcome email, a Basket reminder, a Review request and Back in stock alerts. Each has a switch, says how many went in the last 30 days, and has Preview email. Change their wording in Email templates.

Nobody gets pestered: it’s one reminder per basket and one review request per order.

When someone joins your newsletter (once they’ve confirmed, if you ask them to), the Welcome email says hello. Type a discount code in its box and press Save to include it, or leave it blank for no code. A welcome code says how to make one.

When someone gets as far as checkout but doesn’t pay, the Basket reminder sends them one nudge, with their basket saved and waiting. Choose How long to wait, from 1 hour to 48 hours.

It only goes to people who reached checkout, and every reminder has a link to stop them. See them, and send one sooner, in Open baskets.

When an order is delivered (or paid for, if it’s all downloads), the Review request waits the days you choose, then asks how they’re getting on, with stars to tap for each thing they bought. They don’t need an account. One request goes per order, and buyers can tap a link to stop them.

If some are due to go, the card says how many are waiting. What buyers do next is in Asking for reviews.

When something sold out comes back, Back in stock alerts emails everyone who asked to be told, so they don’t miss it twice. The card says how many people are waiting for a restock. When something is back says how buyers ask.

Use the switch on an automation’s card, or the same switch in Email templates. It takes effect straight away, and it’s noted in your Activity.

• While the Welcome email is off, people who join get no welcome, and it isn’t sent later.
• While the Basket reminder is off, no reminders go, and Send reminder now isn’t offered in Open baskets.
• Review requests that fall due while the Review request is off are skipped, not saved for later.
• While Back in stock alerts are off, the people waiting stay on the list, so they can still be told once you switch it back on.

• Only send newsletters to people who signed up, or who bought from you and were given the chance to say no.
• Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link. It can’t be taken out.
• Order emails, like confirmations and posting emails, go to every buyer.

Emails only go to real inboxes once Handsold has switched email sending on. Until then they’re kept in your Email log, so you can see exactly what buyers would get.