Openstage is designed to help you reach more of your fans, more effectively - using our broadcast builder, you can reach the right fans at the right time and at the right place.
⚠️ Please Note: A 'reply-to' email must be added in your Artist Settings before email broadcasts can be sent.
This 'reply-to' email should be linked to an inbox that you have access to for any fan replies.
Your 'reply-to' email address is used for all email broadcasts - a 'reply-to' email address cannot be changed for individual broadcasts.
Create an Email broadcast
To create an email broadcast, head to:
Engage > Broadcasts
This will open your broadcasts page.
Note: This page displays a list of your email broadcasts and displays status tags for:
Draft - emails that haven't been sent
Complete - emails that have completed sending
Pending - emails that are in the process of sending
Scheduled - emails that have been scheduled for sending later
Create a new broadcast by selecting the '+ New Broadcast' button in the upper right hand side of the window.
Selecting this button will open the new broadcast panel.
1. Choose your channel
First, choose a name for your broadcast and select email as your channel. For SMS, click here.
Note: This broadcast name is internal and for your own records. Fans won't see it.
2. Design your message
You'll be prompted to start a new email from a blank starting point, or from a template.
Selecting 'Blank' will open more options for your broadcast.
Selecting 'Template' will prompt you to select one of your templates before opening more options for your broadcast.
The message preview window will show you your email content at a glance. The 3 dots next to the 'Edit message content' button will give you the options for:
Saving your current work as a template (only available once content is built)
Replacing your current work with a template
⚠️ Please Note: Replacing the template will undo your current work.
Once you have selected your start point, you can add Subject and Preview text for your broadcast. These are both required for your broadcasts.
💪 Top Tip: Use strong CTA in your heading or subject line.
The heading and subject line of your email broadcasts is often the first thing fans will see.
Use a strong call to action (CTA) to drive fans to engage with your broadcast and its content. For example:
Subject: UK! We're going on tour!
Preview text: Register for pre-sale now!
Edit message content
To edit your email broadcast, select the 'Edit message content' button. This will open the email editor.
More on editing email content
More on editing email content
The email editor on Openstage utilises structure presets and blocks for different content types, such as:
Text
Images
Videos
Buttons
Spacers
Dividers
Social links
Drag and drop these blocks into the email content window to build your broadcast.
Click 'Preview' to see your email as it would be presented on desktop and mobile.
🙌 Top Tip: Set blocks to 'stack columns on mobile' for the best formatting results.
When using structure presets with more than one column, set your blocks to 'stack' on mobile. This will move your content blocks from horizontal on desktop to vertical on mobile.
Once you're done editing, hit 'Save' and exit using the 'X' in the upper right hand corner of the window.
Merge tags
The email builder utilises Merge tags to pull fan data, unique codes or external links into the body of your email.
Not all of the merge tags in the email builder are available for use. The merge tags that are used within Openstage are:
First name - applies first name from fan record
Last name - applies last name from fan record
Email - applies email address from fan record
The first name merge tag can be used to personalise the Subject field - simply add {{fan_first_name}} where you'd like fan names to appear.
Merge tags can also be used for Abandoned Cart automations - for more information, check out our article.
⚠️ Please Note: Merge tags cannot be used in the Preview text field.
Preview emails
The email you have created can be previewed in the email builder by selecting the preview button in the main builder window.
Clicking the preview button will open a preview of your email and allow you to switch between desktop and mobile views.
To head back to edit mode, click the 'Switch to edit mode' button in the upper left of the window.
🙌 Top Tip: Check light/dark mode on emails.
Certain email clients, including Gmail, automatically change copy and background colours when displaying in light or dark mode on various devices.
Test your emails on different devices in both light and dark mode to ensure your broadcasts are readable and presented as desired.
3. Choose your audience
The Audience tab allows you to choose the fans that will receive your broadcast.
You can choose from pre-selected audience cards or select 'Other' for a drop-down of all your audiences.
You can add a combination of audiences, which will appear as pills in the 'Added audiences' section.
You can modify your selected audience(s) or create a new audience from scratch with a version of our audience builder on the lower half of the window.
As you refine your audience, details on your recipients will display in the Recipients column on the right hand side of the window.
4. Review your broadcast
Finally, review all the details of your broadcast in a single view. This step checks for any errors or missing info.
Yellow warnings should be reviewed, but emails can still be sent if these aren't fixed.
Red errors MUST be fixed in order to send your broadcast.
Click 'Edit' to go back to the corresponding step to fix any issues or make changes.
On the review page, you can also:
Check Spam Score to see whether your email is likely to end up in spam folders, and this will advise on how you can improve this outcome.
Delete a draft, but NOT an email that has already been sent.
Clone to duplicate the email you are working on, creating a new one with the same design and settings.
Send a Test Email before sending out to your fans (you can send a test if there are no errors and you have saved your draft broadcast).
5. Schedule and Send
When you are ready to send your broadcast, click the green 'Schedule' button in the bottom right hand corner.
⚠️ Please Note: Be aware of schedule dates on cloned broadcasts.
If you have created your current broadcast by cloning another, the schedule time will have been cloned with it.
This means that the schedule time for this email could be some time in the past.
In this case, hitting 'Save & Schedule' will result in the email sending immediately.
You can schedule for a later date, or click 'Publish Now' to send immediately.
Regardless of schedule time, an email will NOT send until you hit 'Save & Schedule'.
⚠️ Do not change your Subject, Preview Text, or desired audience whilst a broadcast is 'Active' (i.e. sending) as this can lead to errors in sending.
Boom. Your fans have mail.
Performance
Once a broadcast has been sent, performance metrics can be found in the Performance tab.
For more on performance metrics, check out our Broadcast Metrics article.