Newsletters are one of the most important features in CampusESP - they power much of the engagement parents have in the portal. The Newsletter Designer allows you to adjust branding elements and shape the look and feel of your Newsletters by adding content blocks, such as text boxes, images, CTA buttons, and YouTube videos. You can also create different newsletter templates for current and prospective families.
1. Visit Your Newsletters Page
Visit the Newsletters page at https://yourportalname.campusesp.com/admin/newsletter_templates. You can also get here by navigating to Content → Newsletters.
2. Start a new Newsletter Design
- Click “Create Newsletter” button
- Configure Newsletter Template details (template name, email subject, audience, email background color, link color)
- By default, the first three posts will be used as the email preview. Click on the “Customize preview” link to type in your own preview message.
- Add an email subject line such as “Your Digest from CampusESP is Here!” You can also use mail merge to address the user or their student by name.
- Create your template by clicking the “Save Changes” button
3. Edit or Delete Existing Content (Optional)
The header message, upcoming events, and top stories are customizable. Hover over the various content blocks and click on the pencil icon to edit the content.
You will likely also have automated content blocks in your template that say “What’s this?” to the right. Click on “What’s this?” to learn more about the automated messages. You can edit the content in automated blocks by clicking on the gears icon, followed by the pencil icon.
4. Add and Reorder Content Blocks (Optional)
You’re able to add additional content blocks such as text, images, YouTube videos, reference posts, advertisements, dividers, CTA buttons, and more.
- Hover where you would like to add a new content block and click “Add Block.” Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop the additional content block type you would like to add from the right and follow the same steps listed in the steps above.
- Note: YouTube videos will not play directly in the email. Users will need to simply click on the video image to watch it in the YouTube browser.
- Reorder your content blocks by hovering over the block you would like to move, clicking on the arrow icon on the left, and holding and dragging it to its desired location.
PRO TIP: If you’d like a CTA button to appear in the middle of a paragraph, you must split the paragraph into two different text blocks.
5. Preview and Send Yourself a Sample Email
Click on the “Desktop” and “Mobile” options to preview what your Newsletter will look like. Click the “Send Preview” link to make sure the Newsletter looks good to send to families! We’ve included an example of what the Newsletter will look like. Enter a specific email address that the preview should be delivered to, or leave it blank to send to yourself, and then click the “Send Preview” button.
Now, your custom Newsletter is built. The final step is to activate it.
6. Activate Your Newsletter and Set Priority
Once you’ve designed your newsletter, you’ll need to click “Make Active” in order for families to start receiving the newsletter.
If you have multiple newsletter templates set as Active, you can set priority by using the drag-and-drop toggles. How does priority work? In the example below, the priorities are:
- Prospective Families Newsletter: If a user is a prospective family member, they will receive this version. Even if they are also a current family member, they will receive this version.
- Current Families Newsletter: If a user is a current family member (and not a prospective family), they will receive this version.
- Default Newsletter: Anyone who doesn’t meet the roles covered in the custom newsletters will receive this version. If you did not have a newsletter configured for both types of families, this would be sent by default to everyone not covered by a custom newsletter.
If you have any issues as you’re creating your first template, let us know at support@campusesp.com!
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