Sending emails

Use automatic emails for signup notifications and reminders, or send a one-time email to an entire list, selected people, or one person. You can also export addresses to use your own email service.

Automatic emails

There are three automatic email types: Added to Waitlist Notification, Added to Waitlist via Portal Confirmation, and Waitlist Reminder. See Signup Emails for the first two, and Email Reminders for reminder setup.

Who receives an email?

The person you select on a waitlist is the applicant the email is about. The recipients are the family members with email addresses. For a child, this means the email goes to their family email contacts, such as their parents or guardians.

Messages are sent separately for each applicant. If you select two children in one family, each family email contact receives a separate email about each child. Selecting two applicants does not necessarily mean only two emails will be sent.

WaitlistPlus does not send to missing or invalid email addresses, or to unsubscribed contacts. However, these contacts are not excluded from the displayed recipient count. Treat that count as a review of the selected audience, not a promise of how many messages will be sent or delivered.

Send to an entire list

1. Open the waitlist and click Email list.
2. Check the List selection. Choose a specific list, or [All Lists] to include all lists.
3. Under Only email people whose status is, leave checked only the statuses you want to include. The status names match your account’s setup. For example, leave only Waiting checked if your message is intended for people still waiting.
4. Choose a Template, or enter your own Subject and Body.
5. Complete the Before you send checks below, then click Send Emails. Review the displayed recipient count before confirming the send.

A status filter applies to the applicants on the chosen list or lists. Check both the list selection and the status checkboxes each time; choosing [All Lists] broadens the audience.

Select people on a list to send to

1. Open the waitlist and select the checkboxes beside the people you want to email.
2. Click Email selected in the toolbar.
3. Choose a template or enter the subject and body. Review the selected applicants and complete the checks below before sending.

Use this option when you want to choose particular applicants, rather than email everyone with a selected status. Remember that their family email contacts receive the messages, and siblings generate separate messages.

Send to a single person

1. Open the person’s record and click Send Email.
2. Choose a template or enter the subject and body.
3. Check the applicant and message, then click Send Emails. Review the recipient count before confirming.

A single person’s email can still have multiple recipients because it goes to their family email contacts.

Before you send

• Audience: Check the list, selected applicants, and any status filters. Consider whether siblings will cause the same family to receive more than one message.
• Content: Review the subject, body, and any template text for this particular audience.
• Placeholders: [[person]] refers to the applicant; [[to-person]] refers to the email recipient. Use the right one when addressing a parent about a child. See Email Content for supported tags.
• Final count: Review the count shown before sending. It can include missing/invalid addresses and unsubscribed contacts, even though no email will be sent to them.

One-time emails sent through WaitlistPlus are saved in notification history, like automatic emails. To create or edit reusable messages, see Email Templates.

Get email addresses

Use this option to prepare a deduplicated address list for an external email client or mailing service. It includes adult family email contacts for children on the selected lists and excludes unsubscribed contacts. Shared addresses appear once in the export, unlike the separate messages per applicant sent within WaitlistPlus.

1. Go to Reports > Get Email Addresses.
2. Select a list, or [All Lists].
3. Choose Comma, Semicolon, or New Line, depending on the format your email client or mailing service accepts.
4. Click Get Emails and copy the generated addresses.

Keep family addresses private: When emailing unrelated families from your own email client, paste their addresses into Bcc so recipients cannot see one another’s addresses. Put your own address in To if your client requires it. For larger mailings, use a mailing service that sends individual messages and manages unsubscribes.

Generating addresses does not send an email. Messages you send outside WaitlistPlus use your external service’s sending limits, delivery reporting, and unsubscribe handling; they are not recorded as sends in WaitlistPlus notification history. WaitlistPlus placeholders are not expanded by your external email client. Review the exported audience and maintain unsubscribe preferences in the service you use before sending.

If an email was not received

For address checks, delivery statuses, resending and unsubscribe help, see An Email Was Not Received: Delivery and Unsubscribe Help.

For the differences between list membership, person deletion and email preferences, see Remove, Complete, Delete or Unsubscribe: What Changes?.