Mailing lists

Mailing lists let your site send news by email to the people who signed up for it. People join a list through a sign-up form on your site, and confirm by email before anything is sent to them. You write campaigns (one email, sent once) and can set up a weekly digest (an email made each week from what’s new on the site). Afterwards, the site shows how each email went: who it reached, who opened it and which links people followed.

Editors write and test campaigns and digests. Sending, scheduling and approving them, and looking after the people on the lists, are for admins (see Mailing lists in the Admin guide).

Note

Mailing lists are a feature an admin turns on under Settings, Mailing Lists, and the emails go out through a service called Mailgun, which an admin connects. If you don’t see Mailing Lists under People in the top bar, the feature is off (see Turning features on).

The Mailing Lists screen

Click People in the top bar, then Mailing Lists. The screen has five tabs:

Tab	What is in it	What editors can do
Campaigns	Every campaign, newest first.	Make, write, test, copy and delete draft campaigns.
Weekly digests	The weekly digests and when each goes out.	Make digests and change them while they are off.
Subscribers	Everyone who signed up or was added, with their status.	Read only.
Lists	The mailing lists and how many people are on each.	Read only.
Segments	Saved rules that pick some of the people on a list.	Make, change and delete segments (see below for the limits).

A coloured line under the title can say:

• Sending is paused: with the reason. Nothing goes out, digests included, until an admin resumes it.
• Add the postal address under Settings > Mailing Lists: every email must carry the organisation’s postal address, so nothing can be sent until an admin adds it.
• Mailgun isn’t set up, so nothing is sent: an admin needs to connect Mailgun first.

Campaigns

The Campaigns tab lists each campaign with its Lists, Status (with the date it was sent or is due) and Recipients (how many people it went to). A digest’s weekly issue shows “digest issue” under its subject. Click a campaign’s name to open it.

A campaign’s status is one of:

Status	What it means
Draft	Being written. Editors can change it.
Waiting for approval	A weekly digest’s issue, waiting for an admin to approve it.
Scheduled	An admin has set it to go out at a time.
Sending	Going out now.
Sent	Gone out, with the date.
Paused	Stopped part way, by an admin or because sending was paused for the whole site. The reason shows under it.
Cancelled	Stopped for good. What had gone out stays sent.
Failed	Something went wrong; the reason shows under it.
Skipped (nothing new)	A digest issue with too little in it to send.

Making a campaign

1. On the Campaigns tab, click New campaign. The campaign opens, named “New campaign”.
2. Fill in its settings (below).
3. Click Edit the email to write the email (see Designing the email).
4. Click Save at the top right. Beside it you’ll see Unsaved changes until you do, and Saved with the time afterwards. If you try to leave with unsaved changes, your browser asks first.

A new campaign starts with a heading “News from {site_name}”, a greeting “Hi {first_name|there},” with “Write your news here.” under it, and a Read more button, unless an email template has been chosen as the default for new campaigns (see Email templates). It is set to go to the first list.

If the tab says Campaigns go to lists: add a list first., there are no lists yet: ask an admin to make one.

Tip

To have Claude write the campaign for you, click Compose in the top bar, then Campaign, and say what the email is about. See Having Claude write it.

A campaign’s settings

Setting	What it does
Name (for you)	So you can tell campaigns apart. Readers never see it.
Subject	The subject line people see in their inbox. Tags work here too, such as {first_name|there} or {site_name} (see Merge tags).
From name	The name the email comes from. Empty, it uses the one set under Settings, Mailing Lists.
Replies go to	Where replies go. Empty, it uses the one set under Settings, Mailing Lists.
Email	Edit the email opens the email builder. The box says how many blocks the email has, and whether it has a plain text of its own.
To the lists	Tick the lists it goes to. Someone on two of them gets it once.
Segment	Everyone on those lists, or a segment, so only the people on those lists who match it get the email. See who matches opens the segment. See Segments.
Members	Only on sites with members. Everyone on those lists, Only members or Only people who aren’t members. With Only members, tick the levels under Of the levels (none ticked: any). Members count when they are active, and are matched by their email address.
Track links (people’s clicks told apart from mail scanners’)	Each link in the email goes through your site first, so you can see who followed which link. Ticked unless an admin changed the default.
Add UTM parameters to links to this site	Adds campaign tags to links to your own site, so the visits they bring show under Campaigns in Stats (source “newsletter”, medium “email”). Links that already have their own utm_ tags keep them.

The Preview text shown after the subject in inbox lists is part of the email itself: set it in the email builder (see below).

Designing the email

Edit the email opens the email builder over the whole screen. It is the same builder as a form’s emails, with Visual, Plain text and Preview tabs and, at the top right, Templates and Done. See Designing the email in Forms for how it works. Your changes are kept with the campaign: click Done, then Save.

With no block selected, the right side shows the email’s own settings. The first, Preview text (after the subject in the inbox), is the short line many mail apps show after the subject. Then the colours, Font and Width (px).

The blocks for mailing emails:

Block	What it does
Heading	A heading, Large, Medium or Small. Tags are allowed.
Text	Formatted text with Insert field value… for tags.
Button	A button with a label and a link (a web address, mailto:, a /path on your site, or a tag).
Image	A picture from the media library, with alt text, width and an optional link.
Subscriber	The reader’s Name, First name, Last name or Email address (choose under Shows), or one of the site’s subscriber fields.
Entries	Your site’s latest posts (or other content), filled in when the email is sent. See below.
Events	Your next upcoming events, or events you pick (only when your site uses Events).
Section	A coloured box to group other blocks.
Two columns	Two blocks side by side. On phones they stack.
Divider	A thin line.
Spacer	Empty space of a height you choose.

The Entries block

The Entries block lists your site’s latest entries, each with its picture, title, short description and a link. Its settings:

• Heading (optional): “Latest news” to start with.
• Shows: under Of, tick the kinds of content to list (such as posts); How many (1 to 12); and, for the kinds that have them, categories or other terms to list only those ((any of)).
• In a digest: only those new since the last issue: for weekly digests (see below).
• Show the date.
• Image and Short description: Show or Hide.
• Link text under each (empty: the title is the link): “Read more” to start with.
• When there are none (empty: the block shows nothing): a line to show when there is nothing to list.

The entries are listed when each email is sent, so the email has the latest at that moment. Members-only entries are always left out. The canvas shows the latest ones now.

The Events block

The same as in a form’s emails: a Heading (optional), and under Shows either Next upcoming (with How many, categories and Featured events only) or Picked events. Image, Venue and Short description can each be shown or hidden. Past events are left out. It is offered only while your site uses Events.

Merge tags

Tags in curly brackets are swapped for each reader’s own details when the email is sent. Insert field value… in a Text block and on the Plain text tab adds them, and you can type them in a heading, a button’s link or the subject.

Tag	Becomes
First name {first_name}	The reader’s first name.
Last name {last_name}	Their last name.
Full name {name}	First and last name together.
Email address {email}	Their email address.
Site name {site_name}	Your site’s name.
Unsubscribe link {unsubscribe_url}	The address of their unsubscribe page.
Email preferences link {preferences_url}	The address of their page for choosing lists.
Each subscriber field	That field’s value, such as {town}, when an admin has set up fields under Settings, Mailing Lists.
Week of (the Monday) {week_of}	Weekly digests only: the Monday of the issue’s week, such as “October 12, 2026”.

Not everyone gave their name. To say something else when a detail is empty, add it after a bar: {first_name|there} reads “Hi Sam,” for Sam and “Hi there,” for someone without a first name. This works for the name, email and subscriber field tags.

The footer

Every email ends with a footer added when it is sent, under your design, which you can’t remove: “You’re receiving this because you signed up for email from” your site, your organisation’s name and postal address, and Unsubscribe and Email preferences links for that reader. You don’t need to write an unsubscribe line yourself. The footer doesn’t show on the canvas, but it does on the Preview tab.

The Preview tab

Preview shows the email exactly as it will be sent to A sample subscriber, Sam Sample (sam@example.com): the subject, the email with its footer at Desktop or Phone width, and its plain text on the right. Subscriber fields show their name in square brackets, such as “[Town]”. Entries and Events blocks show what they would list now.

Email templates

Templates in the email builder saves a design to reuse, as for forms (see Email templates). For mailing emails, Default for offers New campaigns and New weekly digests: new ones then start from that template.

Having Claude write it

1. Click Compose at the top of the campaign.
2. Under What is the email about?, say what to write, for example “The October newsletter: the fall festival is on the 18th at Riverside Park, we’re looking for volunteers (sign up at /volunteer/). Then our latest news and upcoming events.”
3. Click Write. It says Writing… this takes up to a minute.

Claude writes the campaign’s name, subject, preview text and email: a heading, a few short sections of text, each with a button if it needs one, and, when you ask for them, an Entries block of your latest posts and an Events block of upcoming events. The email keeps its colours and font. It replaces the email’s blocks, but a plain text of your own stays as it is. Claude doesn’t write the unsubscribe line or postal address: the footer has them.

When it’s done, the campaign says Written by Compose: check the email, then Save. Open the email with Edit the email, check it, change anything you like, then click Save. Nothing is saved until you do. If Claude left something out, a note under Email says why, for example a button with no address to go to. Cancel closes the box without writing anything.

You can also start a new campaign this way: Compose in the top bar, then Campaign. See Writing with Claude. Compose needs Claude to be connected (see Connections).

Sending a test

Always send yourself a test before a campaign goes out.

1. In the Send a test box, the test goes to you. To send it to others too, type up to 5 more addresses in Also to (up to 5 addresses), separated by commas.
2. Click Send test. Unsaved changes are saved first.
3. It says Test sent to you (and the addresses given).

A test is the email as it would go now, with “[Test]” at the start of its subject. It isn’t counted in the campaign’s numbers, and its links aren’t tracked. If you are on the lists, your own details fill in the tags; otherwise your name from your account does.

If the test can’t be sent, the message says why, for example that the postal address is missing.

Copying and deleting

At the bottom of a campaign, Duplicate makes a copy named “(copy)” as a new draft, with the same email, lists and settings, and opens it. This is the easiest way to start this month’s newsletter from last month’s. Delete removes a draft (it asks first).

Sending is for admins

Editors write and test campaigns. An admin sends or schedules them: the campaign shows An admin schedules and sends it. where the admin’s Send box would be. Once a campaign is scheduled or sending, only admins can change it; editors can still open it and See the email. See Sending a campaign in the Admin guide.

After a campaign is sent: its numbers

Once a campaign has gone out, its page shows Numbers. While it is sending, the page refreshes itself every 15 seconds.

Number	What it means
Sent	How many emails went out. Underneath: how many are still to go, or how many people unsubscribed before their turn came.
Delivered	How many reached the reader’s mail server, as a share of those sent.
Clicked	The share of delivered emails whose reader followed a link, with how many people and how many of them confirmed (see below).
Opened	The share of delivered emails that were opened. Marked Indicative: mail apps open some for people.
Bounced	Emails that couldn’t be delivered, as a share of those sent.
Spam complaints	Readers who marked it as spam.
Unsubscribed	Readers who unsubscribed from this email.
Machine clicks	Emails whose links a mail scanner followed.

People’s clicks and machines’ clicks

Many workplaces and email services check every link in an email before the reader sees it. Their scanners “click” each link, which would make a campaign look far more popular than it is. So the site tells clicks apart:

• Machine: a mail scanner. For example, it followed a hidden link no person can see, clicked several links within seconds, clicked straight after the email arrived, or came from a known scanner.
• Likely a person: a click with none of those signs.
• Person (confirmed): someone who went on to use the page on your site after clicking. Only links to your own site can be confirmed.

Clicked counts people and likely people, never machines. Opens leave out mail scanners and privacy features (such as Apple’s, which opens every email in advance), but they still aren’t exact: that is why they are marked as indicative. Clicks are the better measure of who read the email.

Each link

Under Links, each link in the email is listed with how many People followed it and how many of them were Confirmed. Tick Show machine clicks to add the scanners’ clicks, and how often the hidden link was followed.

Who it went to

Under Recipients, everyone the campaign went to is listed with how their email went: Delivery (Delivered, Bounced, Marked as spam, Not sent (unsubscribed first), Waiting or Sent), when they Opened it and when they Clicked (or Confirmed). The buttons above narrow the list: Everyone, Delivered, Opened, Clicked, Bounced, Marked as spam, Unsubscribed and Not sent. Click an address to open that person’s page.

Admins also have Compare with Mailgun’s totals, which shows Mailgun’s own counts for the campaign.

The weekly digest

A weekly digest is an email made on its own every week: what was published on your site since the last issue went out, and the events coming up. Each week’s issue becomes a campaign of its own, listed under the digest and on the Campaigns tab.

Making a digest

1. On the Weekly digests tab, click New digest. It opens, named “Weekly digest”.
2. Fill in its settings and design its email with Edit the email.
3. Click Save.

A new digest is off. It starts with the subject “{site_name}: the week of {week_of}” and an email with a heading, a greeting, an Entries block “New this week” set to list only what’s new and, on sites with events, an Events block “Coming up”.

Its settings

Setting	What it does
Name	For you; each issue is named after it, such as “Weekly digest: week of October 12, 2026”.
Subject	The subject line. {week_of} is the Monday of the issue’s week.
Goes out on and At	The weekday and time, in the site’s time zone.
From name, Replies go to	As for a campaign.
Email	Edit the email opens the email builder.
To the lists, Segment, Members	Who it goes to, as for a campaign.
Each issue	Waits for an admin’s approval, or Goes out on its own.
Hours it waits (made at its time, sent this much later if approved)	With approval: how long an issue waits for an admin (1 to 168 hours).
Skip a week with fewer than … entries and events	Ticked, a week with less than that to show sends nothing.
Track links, Add UTM parameters to links to this site	As for a campaign.

In the digest’s email, an Entries block with In a digest: only those new since the last issue ticked lists what was published since the last issue went out (or, before the first, in the last 7 days). Events blocks list what’s coming up. Both are filled in when each issue is made.

Trying it out

Send me this week’s issue sends you this week’s issue as it would be now, as a test. Unsaved changes are saved first (while you may still change the digest).

What editors can change

Editors make digests and change them while they are Off. Only an admin turns a digest on (the editor sees An admin turns it on.). Once it is on, the digest says This digest is on: only admins change it.: editors can see its settings and use Send me this week’s issue, but can’t change anything or open its email.

Under Issues, each week’s issue is listed with its status and how many people it went to. Click one to open it as a campaign, with its numbers once it has gone out.

Segments

A segment picks some of the people on a campaign’s lists: those tagged “farm”, those in one town, those who signed up in the last month, those who haven’t opened anything lately. Choose it under Segment on a campaign or digest, and only the people on its lists who match get the email.

The Segments tab lists each segment, Who it picks in words, and how many people it Matches now.

Making a segment

1. On the Segments tab, click New segment.
2. Give it a Name and, if you like, a Description (for you).
3. Beside People who match, choose all of these (every rule must match) or any of these (one is enough).
4. Click Add a rule and set it up (below). Add as many as you need, up to 20. Remove takes one away.
5. Click Save.

Each rule has a kind and, beside it, a choice that turns it round, such as is tagged or isn’t tagged:

Rule	Picks people who	Turned round
On a list	is on any of the lists ticked.	isn’t on
Tagged	is tagged with any of the tags typed (separated by commas).	isn’t tagged
A field	has a subscriber field equal to a value, containing it, or just filled in. Type the field’s name; the site suggests the fields in use. Capital letters don’t matter.	doesn’t have
A member	is a member (active), of the levels ticked (none ticked: any level). Only on sites with members.	isn’t a member
Signed up	signed up in the last so many days.	signed up more than so many days ago
Opened an email	opened an email in the last so many days.	hasn’t opened an email in the last
Clicked a link	clicked a link in the last so many days.	hasn’t clicked a link in the last
Signed up from	signed up from a page, form or import: the words typed appear in how they signed up, such as the address of the page with the sign-up form (/newsletter/) or the note an admin gave an import.	didn’t sign up from

Opens and clicks count people, not mail scanners. Tags and fields are set on each contact by an admin, from an import’s columns, or by a sign-up form.

Who matches now

The box on the right, Who matches now, counts the people who match as you change the rules, and lists the first 100. It counts subscribed people on any list: a campaign narrows it to its own lists.

Under the rules, Used by lists the campaigns and digests that use the segment. Changes apply to what hasn’t gone out yet.

What you can’t change

• While a campaign that is scheduled, waiting for approval, sending or paused, or a digest that is on, uses a segment, only admins can change its rules (you can still change its name and description). This stops an email an admin approved from going to more people than they agreed to.
• Delete segment works only for a segment no campaign or digest uses, sent campaigns included. Choose another segment on those first.

Subscribers and lists

Editors can read who is on the lists, but only admins change them.

The Subscribers tab lists everyone, newest first, 100 to a page, with their Status, Tags and how and when they Agreed. Search names and email addresses, or narrow the list by status, list and tag, then click Filter. Clicking a tag shows everyone with it.

Status	What it means
Waiting for confirmation	Signed up, but hasn’t clicked the link in the confirmation email yet. Nothing is sent to them.
Subscribed	Gets the emails for the lists they’re on.
Unsubscribed	Asked to stop. Nothing is sent to them.
Bounced	Their address doesn’t work. Nothing more is sent.
Marked as spam	They marked an email as spam. Nothing more is ever sent.

Click an address to open that person’s page: their name, fields, lists (with since when), tags and notes; their Consent (how and when they agreed, the wording they agreed to, and when they confirmed); Sent to them, each campaign with its delivery, when they opened it and when they clicked; and Clicks, each click with the link and its verdict (Person (confirmed), Likely a person or Machine, with the reasons).

The Lists tab shows the lists, each with View its number of subscribers. Public lists are the ones sign-up forms offer; the others are for people an admin adds.

Sign-up forms on your pages

Three blocks in the page editor’s Mailing Lists group put mailing lists on your site (see also Every block). They are offered only while mailing lists are on.

The Subscribe block

A sign-up form for one or more lists. Its settings:

• Lists offered (none ticked: every public list): only public lists can be offered.
• Heading, Text and Button (the button says “Subscribe” unless you change it).
• Consent wording: the line under the form saying what people agree to. Empty, it uses the wording set under Settings, Mailing Lists (“I agree to receive email from us. I can unsubscribe at any time.” unless an admin changed it). It is kept with each sign-up.
• Tag sign-ups with (comma separated): tags for everyone who signs up here (up to five), so you can pick them out with a segment later.
• Ask for first and last name: adds First name and Last name boxes, both optional.
• Also ask (optional for visitors): tick any of the site’s subscriber fields to ask for them too.
• Form style: the form’s colours and shapes, as for the Form block (see Form style).
• Layout: Stacked, or In a row (the fields and button side by side).

With more than one list offered, visitors tick the ones they want under “What would you like to receive?” (the first is ticked). With one, there is nothing to tick.

The Newsletter signup block

A compact sign-up for one list, for a coloured band or the footer: a heading, a line of text, then an email box and a button in a row. Its settings: List (empty: the first public list), Heading and Text (clear them to leave them out), Button (“Sign up”), Inside the email field (the faint text in the empty box), Consent wording, Tag sign-ups with (comma separated), Align (Centred or Left) and Form style.

The Email preferences block

Where people who followed a link from one of the site’s emails confirm their sign-up, choose their lists or unsubscribe. Shows first: Email preferences or Unsubscribe. You only need it if you make your own page at one of the addresses below.

The site’s own pages

While mailing lists are on, the site has three pages ready made, hidden from search engines:

Address	What it shows
/subscribe/	A sign-up form for every public list, with a heading “Get our email” and name boxes.
/unsubscribe/	Unsubscribing, for the person whose link was followed.
/email-preferences/	Choosing lists, for the person whose link was followed.

To change one, make a page with that address: yours shows instead. Put a Subscribe block on your /subscribe/ page, and an Email preferences block on the other two.

What visitors go through

1. Signing up. A visitor fills in the form and clicks the button. The form says “Thanks! Check your email: we’ve sent a link to confirm your subscription.”
2. Confirming. They get an email “Confirm your subscription to” your site, naming the lists, with a Confirm my subscription button. It opens a page asking them to confirm, with a second Confirm my subscription button. (The second click is there because mail scanners open links on their own: only a person pressing the button confirms.) The page then says “Thanks! Your subscription is confirmed.” Until they confirm, nothing is sent to them, and someone who never confirms is removed after 30 days.
3. Receiving emails. Each email ends with the footer and its two links.
4. Choosing lists. Email preferences in the footer opens a page listing the public lists under “Email you receive”, ticked where they are subscribed. They change the ticks and click Save, or click Unsubscribe from all.
5. Unsubscribing. Unsubscribe in the footer opens a page asking “Stop sending email to” their address, with Unsubscribe from all, and a link to Choose which emails you get instead. Many mail apps also show an unsubscribe button of their own beside the sender’s name: it unsubscribes them from everything at once, with no page to visit. Either way it takes effect straight away.

The form gives the same answer whether or not the address was already on file, so nobody can find out who is subscribed by trying addresses. A sign-up for an address already on file changes nothing about that person until the link is confirmed. One address gets at most three confirmation emails a day.

On sites with members, members also choose their lists on their account page, under Email.

Common questions

Why can’t I send my campaign?

Sending is for admins. Write it, send yourself a test, then ask an admin to send or schedule it.

Why can’t I change a campaign any more?

Once a campaign is scheduled, waiting for approval or sending, only admins can change it. You can still open it and look at the email with See the email. To reuse it, click Duplicate.

Why does the test show “there” instead of my name?

The test fills the tags in with your details. If the email says {first_name|there} and the site has no first name for you, it shows the fallback, as it will for readers without a name.

Why is the open rate so different from the click rate?

Opens are only indicative: some mail apps open emails for people, and others block the signal that an email was opened. Clicks by people are the better measure.

Someone says they didn’t get the confirmation email.

Ask them to check their spam folder. An admin can send it again with Resend confirmation (see Mailing lists in the Admin guide).

Someone wants to be taken off the list.

They can click Unsubscribe at the bottom of any email. Otherwise an admin can unsubscribe them, or erase them completely.

Why can’t I delete a segment?

A campaign or digest uses it, even one that was sent long ago. The message names them.

What needs an admin

• Turning mailing lists on, the sender, the postal address and the consent wording: Settings, Mailing Lists; connecting Mailgun: Settings, Connections.
• Sending, scheduling, pausing, cancelling and approving campaigns.
• Turning a weekly digest on, and changing one that is on.
• Making and changing lists, and adding, importing, unsubscribing, erasing and exporting subscribers.

See Mailing lists in the Admin guide.