The Sporty platform lets you send great looking, professional eNewsletters that are easy for people to read on computers and phones. You can save multiple eNewsletter templates for different groups. Easily send an eNewsletter to any of your online databases or use your own email list. This powerful utility automatically deduplicates your recipient emails and also lets people unsubscribe automatically if they wish. Try it out by sending yourself an eNewsletter.
- Creating an eNewsletter
- eNewsletter Background
- Adding Content
- Editing, moving and deleting content
- Preview your eNewsletter
- Sending an eNewsletter
- Displaying eNewsletters on your Sporty website
Creating an eNewsletter
To create an eNewsletter, login to Sporty and go to your Dashboard.
Click the News & eNewsletter tile, then click the Create eNewsletter button.
If you have existing eNewsletters already saved, you can open one and update it by selecting the Open eNewsletter option.
Alternatively, select Blank eNewsletter to start building a newsletter from scratch.
Open eNewsletter
Select this option to view and open saved eNewsletters. The system uses your Sporty Documents & Media folders for storing your eNewsletters.
Select the folder your saved eNewsletter is in, then click the eNewsletter to open it.
If you wish to delete an eNewsletter, click the trashcan icon to the right of the eNewsletter.
Blank eNewsletter
Select this option to start building a new eNewsletter from a blank template.
The Subject field is automatically pre-filled with your organisation name. Click into the space to edit the Subject, enter your own custom subject if you wish.
The From email field is automatically pre-filled with the email address of the user logged in. You can update this by clicking into the field and entering an alternative email address.
This is the email which the eNewsletter will be sent from that readers can reply to.
eNewsletter Background
Change the background colour of the eNewsletter by clicking on Advanced Options.
Select the colour you want the background to be, or type in the hex code number of the specific colour you want to use. When you have made your choice, click Save.
Adding Content
Add content in content blocks to your eNewsletter. Content available to add is text, images, buttons, and news articles.
Click +ADD CONTENT.
Select what type of content you want to display. These are explained in detail below.
Text
This content type creates a text box area for you to enter text into. You can either type new text, or copy and paste your text from another source. Format your text however you please.
Tip: Personalise your eNewsletter by including each recipient's name (if known) to their individually received eNewsletter once sent.
To do this, select the merge field {} icon. This will automatically be replaced with each recipient's first name if each eNewsletter if you are sending the eNewsletter to a Sporty database. If you are sending this eNewsletter to people who are not a part of your database, this field will not populate so only use this field if you are sending to only your database.
To add a link to a word or words in the text, highlight the word or the words then click the link icon identified below.
A Link URL field will appear. Paste or type in the URL/link that you want that specific word or words to take the reader when clicked.
Text links will automatically appear for email addresses when they are entered. Clicking on the link will display what link the text is linked to.
To add a link for readers to click to directly call a listed number, enter the phone number then click the link icon. In the Link URL field, type tel: followed by the number.
To attach a downloadable attachment to the eNewsletter, click the paperclip icon. Your computer file library will open for you select the file. The attachment will appear at the bottom of the given text box.
For more detailed instructions on how to send documents with your eNewsletter, please see this support article.
Image
Click + ADD CONTENT and click Image.
There are three ways you can add an image.
- Click on the image from your image library displayed,
- Upload a new image from your computer,
- Select an image from stock images.
Click Save once you have identified the image you want to insert into your newsletter.
You have the option to make the image interactive. Once you have selected the image, click the dropdown identified here and choose where you would like the reader to go once they click the image.
There are the following options.
- None: the image is nothing but an image.
- Website Url: enter the external website URL that you want the reader to go to.
- Page: select the page on your Sporty site that you want the reader to go to.
- Document: choose which document you want to open when the image is clicked.
- Online Form: from the pre-existing forms in Online Registrations, select which one you want to open when the image is clicked.
Once Save is clicked, your image will appear in the section where you chose to add it.
If you decide that you want the image to be linked elsewhere or you wish to change the image after you have inserted it, click the settings cog on the top right corner of the image to open the image settings.
Button
Add a button to your eNewsletter for people to click and be directed to the location you have set when setting the button up.
For example, you might want to create a Register Here button that links to a specific registration form set up in your Online Registrations area.
You can change the appearance of the button you are adding. Select the font type, button font colour, button colour and border colour. You can also choose whether your button has square or rounded corners.
Note that the default appearance of your buttons here is automatically set from the default button settings of your website on the Sporty platform. Learn how to update your default button settings here.
There are a number of options that make it easy for you to set the web address the button links to.
- Website URL - Type or copy & paste any web address you want the button to go to
- Page - Select a page from your Sporty website
- Document - Link directly to a document that exists in your Sporty Documents & Media area
- Online Form - Choose a form from your Sporty online registrations area
- Email address - Enter an email address
News Articles
If you click +ADD CONTENT and select News Articles, your eNewsletter will automatically include the news articles that already exist in the News area on your Sporty site and will be configured as per your set up.
This lets you avoid having to recreate content and makes it easy for you to include existing news articles that you may already be using elsewhere on your website.
You can set how your news articles will appear here. Options include List view, Grid view and Single article.
- List View - Displays your articles in a vertical list with a thumbnail image alongside each article
- Grid View - Displays your articles in a grid that is two columns wide
- Single Article - Lets you select a single article for the position in your eNewsletter
If you have sorted your news articles into categories, you can set which categories of articles will appear in your eNewsletter. This is useful if you have an eNewsletter that you regularly reuse for a particular audience, for example to Junior members.
When you create news articles for your website relevant to juniors, you would set a Category tag of 'Junior' for each one. Now if you set the Categories field in your News Article settings to 'Junior', your eNewsletter will automatically display the latest articles from your website that are relevant to juniors.
You also can set the number of articles that you want to display.
Note that if you are using the Grid View, you should select an even number of articles since they appear side by side in two columns.
Column Splitter
The column splitter allows you to create up to four sections to add content into on your eNewsletter.
For example, if you select 3 then you will see 3 columns displayed as shown below.
Editing, Moving and Deleting Content
All content blocks have three tools found at the top right corner of each block.
- Drag-handles: click to drag and drop the content block to a different area of your eNewsletter.
- Settings cog: open the content settings window and make changes.
- Trash can: delete the content block.
Preview your eNewsletter
While you are creating or updating your eNewsletter you can preview it as you go. Previewing it allows you to view your eNewsletter just as your readers will.
On the top right hand corner of your eNewsletter builder screen is the Preview button. Click this to preview your eNewsletter.
A pop-up will open displaying your eNewsletter preview as it currently has been designed.
When you're happy with how your eNewsletter looks, click the green Save & Continue button at the bottom right then select which folder you would like to save your eNewsletter in and click Save.
Your eNewsletter has now been saved to your Sporty site, where if you now click Open eNewsletter at the beginning of the process, you would find this eNewsletter. If you do not wish to send it yet, make your updates, click Save & Continue, select the folder to save it to and return to it when you are ready.
Note: each time you return and save your eNewsletter you will be asked where you want to save it. The current location will be shown in green. Click Save again which will present you with an overwrite notification message. Click Save to overwrite the old version of your eNewsletter if you have made changes to it.
Sending an eNewsletter
Once you are satisfied with your eNewsletter, click Save & Continue.
Select where you would like to save your eNewsletter, then click Save.
You will now select who you want to send the eNewsletter to.
Recipient Options
Select one or multiple recipient groups from the options listed.
Note: If an email address exists more than once across all groups selected, the system will recognise this and only send one eNewsletter to a given email address.
- Website admins - People who have Sporty login access for your website
- Subscribers - People who have opted in through the Subscribe widget or the Notices widget on your website on your website on the Sporty platform
- Forms/Databases - People who reside in a database associated with your online registration form
- Custom list - Lets you type or copy & paste email addresses directly into the input box. If you use this option, don't forget to tick the Use custom list checkbox
Note: When Use custom list is ticked, you will then able to tick on the Delete custom list after sending if you do not intend to keep the list of emails.
- Cc me - This will include your own email address in the recipient group (based upon whatever email address is associated with your Sporty login)
Once you have selected the recipients for your eNewsletter, click the Review and Send button. A pop up will display to confirm the number of recipients and the email list that they are derived from. This is a very helpful visual reminder especially to those who are sending out bulk emails to large databases.
If you are sure, click Send.
A message will show that your newsletter is being sent. Click on OK to exit this view. This will not affect the sending of your eNewsletter.
For help sending from the SuperCRM, click here.
Displaying eNewsletters on your Sporty Website
A link can be added to your website, or shared to others for users to view eNewsletters in their web browser. After you have received your eNewsletter email, click the link at the top of the eNewsletter in the email to view it in your browser.
You can now highlight the URL and copy the link to your eNewsletter.
On your Sporty website, add a button widget. Here you can style your button and paste the link of your eNewsletter into the Link section. Click Save.
For further information relating to adding a button to your Sporty site, click here.