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User-Initiated Email Messages
Use Email Studio email message interactions, also referred to as send definitions, to determine how an email send occurs.
A user-defined email message interaction occurs when you manually start the send, while a triggered message interaction occurs in response to an action or API call. When you define an email message interaction, specify the name, external key, and description of the message interaction to identify and describe the message in the application and in API calls. The email message interaction allows you to specify whether to send the message in Multi-part MIME format.
Send Classifications
Send classifications allow users to save the details of an email send and use them for multiple sends. Create a send classification before including it in the interaction. Then, specify the send classification to use when you create an email message interaction. You can override the sender profile and the delivery profile for the send classification that you choose.
Send Logging
If you use data extensions, you can enable send logging when you create the email message interaction. Send logging captures email variable values for each send in a data extension. That data extension retains this data for a specific for a specified definition. In addition to selecting Send Logging in the interaction, create a send logging data extension and update the data extension with AMPscript in the email message content.
Audience
Indicate the audience that receives your message when you create an email message interaction:
- Any number of lists or groups. An audience that contains lists and groups cannot contain data extensions, filters, or Salesforce items.
- Exactly one data extension
- Exactly one filter
- Any number of Salesforce reports or Salesforce campaigns, if you integrate your account with another Salesforce Cloud.
Select subscribers to exclude from the audience. If your audience contains lists, groups, data extensions, or filters, your exclusion can contain any number of lists, groups, and data extensions. The exclusion can also include a domain exclusion list, which is a data extension that contains a list of email domains. By selecting your domain exclusion list, the system excludes any email addresses that use that domain.
If your audience contains Salesforce reports or campaigns, then your exclusions can contain only Salesforce reports or campaigns.
You can exclude subscribers using a script. Create criteria to exclude subscribers in your audience who meet that criteria from the send.
Triggered email interactions and user-initiated email message interactions sent to data extensions use the List Detective feature to prevent sending to email addresses that can damage your deliverability.
You can choose to deduplicate the send by email address. If you select this option, the message interaction sends only one email to an email address, regardless of how many times that address appears in your audience. If you do not select this option, the interaction sends to all email addresses in the audience, even if they appear more than once.
Test Audience
Use the same tools available in the Audience section in the Test Audience section. The test audience includes the test list that receives the message when you click Test Send. This feature lets you test message interactions without editing them.
Message Properties
Specify CC email addresses and BCC email addresses for the email.
- Email addresses you enter as CC email addresses are visible to all recipients of the email.
- Email addresses that you enter as BCC email addresses are invisible to recipients of the email.
User Tracking
When you create the email message interaction, decide whether to track the email links and whether to suppress the send from reports.
Create a User-Initiated Email Interaction
In Email Studio, create a user-initiated email message interaction to send to a user-initiated subscriber list or data extension.
Before you begin, create the email message content and the send classification first.
- Click Interactions.
- Click User-Initiated Emails.
- Click Create.
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Complete Properties.
Property Description Notes Name Name or title of this email message interaction Use this name to identify the message in the application. Subscribers can’t see the name. External Key Name or title of this email message interaction Use this value to identify the message when using the API. Description A brief explanation of the email's content or purpose Use this description to further identify the message within the application. Subscribers can’t see the description. Message Email sent by this interaction Classic emails, Content Builder emails, and shared Content Builder emails can be used in User-Initiated Email Interactions.
Subject Subject line of the email message sent by this interaction
If personalization is used, brackets [ ] are removed from the Subject Prefix.
- To select a personalization string, click Insert.
- To view a larger subject text field when adding large amounts of AMPscript to create a dynamic subject line, click Expand.
Preheader Text displayed after the subject line when an email is previewed To view a larger subject text field when adding large amounts of AMPscript to create a dynamic subject line, click Expand. - If you have Inbox Tools, you see Seed Lists. To run Inbox Detective on your user-initiated send, select Send to Deliverability Seed List. You can send to a seed list with every user-initiated send or choose the interval you want to send to a seed list.
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Complete Send Management.
Property Description Notes Send Classification Sets a send classification to use for this interaction Override Sender Profile Determines whether the interaction uses a different sender profile than indicated in the send classification. If selected, select an override sender profile to use. Override Delivery Profile Determines whether the interaction uses a different delivery profile than indicated in the send classification. If selected, select an override delivery profile to use. -
Click Edit Recipients.
Property Description Notes Select Recipients The lists, groups, data extensions, or filter to receive the email message sent with this interaction. If your account is integrated with Salesforce, you can also choose a Salesforce report or campaign. For Salesforce campaigns, you can filter based on member status.
If you chose a Salesforce object as the target for your send, don’t choose a suppression list for your send. Instead, use a Salesforce object as an exclusion object.
Your user must be mapped to a Salesforce user to use this functionality.
Select lists, groups, audience, data extensions, or data filter and add them to the targeted list.
Exclusion Script The lists, groups, or data extensions that are excluded from the send. Subscribers that appear in both the Target Audience field and the Excluded Audience field are EXCLUDED from the send. De-Duplicate by Email Address Determines whether the interaction prevents multiple messages from this interaction from being sent to the same email address. To display this option, click +. Audience Exclusion Script Determines whether subscribers are excluded from the send based on script logic. If selected, provide the exclusion AMPscript. -
Click Edit Test Audience.
Property Description Notes Select Recipients The lists, groups, data extensions, or filter to receive the email message sent with this interaction. If your account is integrated with Salesforce, you can also choose a Sales Cloud report or campaign. For Salesforce campaigns, you can filter based on member status.
If you chose a Salesforce object as the target for your send, don’t choose a suppression list for your send. Instead, use a Salesforce object as an exclusion object.
Your user must be mapped to a Salesforce user to use this functionality.
Select lists, groups, audience, data extensions, or data filter and add them to the targeted list.
Exclusion Script The lists, groups, or data extensions that are excluded from the send. Subscribers that appear in both the Target Audience field and the Excluded Audience field are excluded from the send De-Duplicate by Email Address Determines whether the interaction prevents multiple messages from this interaction from being sent to the same email address. To display this option, click +.
If your account has SubscriberKey functionality enabled, this option de-duplicates by SubscriberKey instead of email address.
Audience Exclusion Script Determines whether subscribers are excluded from the send based on script logic. If selected, you must provide the exclusion AMPscript. -
Complete Message Properties.
Property Description Notes CC Email Addresses Sends a copy of the email to the addresses entered in this field. Email addresses in this field are visible to all recipients of the email.
BCC Email Addresses Sends a copy of the email to the addresses entered in this field. Email addresses in this field aren’t visible to recipients of the email.
Multi-part MIME Determines whether the system sends the message using multi-part MIME. Multi-part MIME provides an HTML version of the message content to inboxes that can display it and a text-only version to inboxes that can’t render HTML. -
Complete the information in the User Tracking section.
Property Description Notes Track all links found within this email Determines whether the system collects tracking information on links in this email. If selected, the system collects tracking on all links. Suppress this Send from Reports Determines whether sends with this interaction are included in reports. If selected, sends from this interaction are excluded from reports. Tracking Destination Select the Tracking Destination folder. If you select a predefined folder, the job is shown in that folder at the time of send. - Save the message.
See Also
Send a User-Initiated Email Interaction
Send to the specified recipients included in the Email Studio user-initiated email.
- Click Interactions.
- Click Messages.
- Click Email.
- Click User-Initiated.
- Select the user-initiated email to send.
- Click Send.
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Select when to send the email:
- Start immediately, run one time
- Start on the following date and time, run one time. Choose the date and time to schedule the send.
- Review the additional information about the send. The user-initiated send contains this information, so edit the user-initiated email itself to modify it. If your account includes the Inbox Tools package, a Seed Lists section appears. To run Inbox Detective on a user-initiated send, select Send to Deliverability Seed List.
- Click Send.
See Also
Send a User-Initiated Email Interaction Via Test Send
Learn to send a user-initiated email interaction via test send in Email Studio.
- Click Interactions.
- Click .
- Select a user-initiated email to send.
- Click Test Send.
- Enter the email address that you want to receive all test sends in the Test Email Address field. You receive a single email per recipient selected for that user-initiated email send. For example, if the test sent includes 50 subscribers, the test email addresses receive 50 emails.
- Enter any prefix you want to append to the subject line of the send in the Subject Prefix field. Include AMPscript in this field, if necessary.
- Click Test Send.
