Free email is one of GiveSignup’s core products. In fact, in the last year over 550 million emails were sent from our platform. Email is often the primary communication channel for event organizers to share event updates and inform past attendees about future events. Since email plays such an important role for events we’ve continually updated and improved our email offering. It’s why we built Email V2.
We first released Email V2 in January 2022 and many customers are already utilizing the new system. In January 2024 we will be retiring Email V1 and requiring all customers to send their emails from V2. Luckily, it’s an easy transition! In this article we cover what’s involved in the transition and provide information to help make the switch simple and smooth.
Jump ahead to:
- Why Email V2
- What’s Automatic When I Enable Email V2
- What Do I Need to Do?
- How to download a list from Email V1 & how to upload in email V2
- Copying content from old emails & templates to new
- Learn More About Email V2
Why Email V2?
Email V2 has several key advantages that you can look forward to.
- Easy Email Builder: Email V2 has an easy-to-use, drag and drop email builder that lets you customize the look and feel of your emails.
- Mobile Responsive: Email V2 emails are optimize for mobile – important when you remember that 78% of race website traffic takes place on a mobile phone or tablet
- Your Template: Build and save key templates for your events and share them between your races.
- Pre-Built Emails: Set up your emails in minutes with dozens of pre-built emails that include key information, important replacement tags, and beautiful images you can keep (or replace).
What’s Automatic When I Enable Email V2?
With Email V2 being a completely new system there are some things you may have to set up manually, but there are a lot of things that won’t require any action on your end. These include:
- System recipient lists – These are the default lists you get access to like participants, past participants, donors, and volunteers.
- Unsubscribes – Anyone who’s unsubscribed to emails previously will stay unsubscribed after the switch.
- Theme elements – Emails in V2 will automatically pull over things like logos, colors, and footers and headers.
- Send settings – The name you send email from and your reply-to address.
In the next section, we’ll cover manual processes you may need to take for the transition. But all you really need to do to get started with Email V2 is to enable it.
What Do I Need to Do?
Though there are many things that happen automatically when you switch from Email V1 to V2, there are a few things that will require some manual setup. Below we cover what those are and how to set them up in Email V2.
You will not lose your historical data in January. While we will discontinue the ability to send from Email V1, your contacts and previous emails will continue to be accessible and can be migrated to Email V2 anytime. Review the chart below to determine what you will need to manually move to Email V2 and any associated deadlines.
How to download a list from Email V1 & how to upload in email V2
Your custom contact lists in Email V1 will continue to be available for you to download and access. To use them in Email V2, you will need to download them from Email V1 and upload them into Email V2.
- Navigate to Email Marketing >> Manage Lists
- Click on the Download Icon by the list you want to export
- Navigate to Email V2 >> Custom Lists
- Click on Add a New List, name your list, and click Create List
- Click on Add New Contacts, change the tab to CSV Upload and choose the file you just exported.
- Your exported list will have a header row (with labels for the columns), so click Row 1 is a header row and continue.
- Confirm the mapping of your data and Start Import.
Copying content from old emails & templates to new
There are two places you may have old email content you want to bring over to Email V2.
- Templates: Templates that you set up to reuse with multiple emails.
- Sent Emails: Previously sent emails.
From Templates
Navigate to Email Marketing >> Manage Email Templates >> Existing Email Templates
From Sent Emails
Navigate to Email Marketing >> Manage Emails >> Sent Emails
Once you have your previous content open, open a new tab to build an email in Email V2.
The process of copying your content is just that: copying your content. You will copy your old email information and paste it into the new email builder.
Best Practices for Copying Your Content
Here are a few additional things to keep in mind when transferring email templates:
- Copy content over one section at a time. If you try to copy an entire email, you may also copy in formatting that you don’t want. Copy and paste one section at a time to make sure it looks the way you want.
- Use the opportunity to make updates. While you’re moving old content, make sure you’re also updating it with new information like current dates and changes to your event.
- Copy…or improve. You can simply copy your old content, but keep in mind that Email V2 has a lot more features. Consider implementing columns or changing your hyperlinks to action buttons.
- Use the “start from scratch option” when building the new template in Email V2: This is the easiest option to start with. If you’re bringing templates over from a paid source like MailChimp or Constant Contact, then the HTML option may work best. However, emails built in Email V1 will not be mobile responsive, so you do not want to use the HTML to bring them into Email V2.
- Templates are just a starting point: Templates are meant to make the building process faster, but should still be edited on a per send basis. You can add blocks and remove blocks as you see fit. By doing so you make sure each email is unique and speaks to your audience.
Learn More About Email V2
If you want to learn more about Email V2, you can watch our on-demand webinar, review our FAQ, or check out our how-to guides below: