Sendgrid app

Sendgrid is an email provider for sending both marketing and transactional emails.

With the Sendgrid app for Beacon, you can email people in bulk, or send payment acknowledgements in bulk - without having to leave the Beacon interface. The Sendgrid app lets you send transactional emails through your Sendgrid account directly from Beacon.

help_outline Currently, you can only send emails from people and payments, but we will be potentially rolling this out to other record types in the future.

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link How it works

Beacon integrates with dynamic templates that you set up in your Sendgrid account. You can design your HTML email however you like in Sendgrid.

In your email, you can add parameters like {{{name.first}}}, {{{amount}}} or {{{payment_date}}}, which Beacon will automatically substitute when you send your email, like so:

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link Install guide

1. Sign up for a new Sendgrid account at sendgrid.com

2. Open up the Sendgrid app in the Beacon, and click Install:

3. Click Connect with Sendgrid. You'll be prompted to enter your API key, which you can create in your Sendgrid account settings (Settings > API keys).

help_outline Note: make sure the API key you create for Beacon has full access to your Sendgrid account.

4. Once you've connected, enter the default "From" information in the app settings. This will be the default email sender.

5. Click Save integration

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link Usage

1. Open payments, and select the people (or payments) that you'd like to send emails for.

2. Click the bulk actions menu, and then click Send emails with Sendgrid:

3. Choose the dynamic template you'd like to send through Sendgrid:

4. Review the other settings to make sure you're happy, and then click Send Now.

5. Beacon will then send the emails through Sendgrid - one for each record selected. When all emails have been sent, you'll see the following success message. That's it!

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link Template parameters

The parameters you have available to you are the same you would have when using Beacon's email templates feature.

For convenience, here are some of the most commonly used ones:

link Sending from people

• {{{name.first}}}: the person's first name
• {{{name.last}}}: the person's last name
• {{{name.full}}}: the person's full name

link Sending from payments

• {{{amount}}}: the amount
• {{{payment_date}}}: the payment date
• {{{customer.name.first}}} the supporter's first name
• {{{customer.name.last}}} the supporter's last name
• {{{customer.name.full}}} the supporter's full name

help_outline Tip: use the above parameters instead of those suggested by Sendgrid in their interface.

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link Frequently asked questions

link Do emails sent through Sendgrid get logged to the timeline?

Yes - these are logged to the people's timeline.

link What if I don't have enough "Sendgrid credits" to send an email?

We check the number of credits you have available before sending. If you don't have enough, then Beacon won't let you send an email.

link Does Beacon check that all parameters are set before sending the email?

No. We strongly recommend that you check this yourself before sending an email.

link Can the Sendgrid app be used to send emails from other records as well?

Currently, only people and payments are supported. However, if this is something that would be useful to you, please let us know.