SendGrid extension

With the SendGrid extension, you can use the SendGrid API to send a customized email to each person on a list of contacts. Please note that you'll need a SendGrid account and a SendGrid API key in order to use this extension.

Introduction

Getting started with the SendGrid extension

To get started, add a SendGrid extension to your base. (Make sure the base to which you're adding the extension has a table containing a field with email addresses.)

When you first install the SendGrid extension, you'll be prompted to enter your SendGrid API key.

When your emails go out, your recipients (and their email providers) will need some information in order to know who the emails are coming from. The Customize sender info dialog will let you adjust what shows up in the From section of the email.

• From name: this is the "friendly" name that shows up in an inbox, indicating who the email is from in a more approachable way than the raw email address itself. Many email clients will show just the from name, so it's important to pick a name that the recipient will understand. You could use the name of an individual ("Jane Lastname") or you could use a relevant team-based name ("Beach Cleanup Committee"). Try and keep the from name concise (25 characters or fewer), as some email clients will clip longer from names. If you don't provide a from name, the from name will default to the from email address.
• From email address: this is the email address that the email comes from. You must enter a from email address in order to use the extension.
• Reply to email address: if you want responses to your emails to go to a different address than your from email address, you can enter a reply to email address. If you set a reply to email address, when your recipients click the reply button in their email client, their email will be addressed to your reply to email rather than your from email. If you don't provide a reply to email address, replies to your emails will go to your from email address.

Once you've entered the API key and customized the sender info, you can configure the extension settings. Pick a table containing the email addresses of the people to whom you'd like to send your messages, and pick a view within the selected table—emails will only be sent to email addresses visible in this view.

After that, you'll need to pick at least one email address field. You are required to pick a To email address field, which should contain the email addresses of the people to whom you'd like to send your messages. Additionally, you have the option of choosing a CC and/or a BCC email address field.

Next, you can start composing the subject line and body text for your email. You can insert values from the fields in your table by wrapping field names in curly brackets like so: {Name}.

Please note that the field names are case-sensitive—so if the name of your field is "First name", you'll need to write {First name} exactly like that.

You can also choose to write the body of your email in HTML. Select the "Send as HTML" toggle to use HTML to format your message.

When you're ready, click the Preview button to see how the message will appear to each of your recipients. When you're ready to send, click the Send button.

Help! My SendGrid emails aren't getting to their recipients.

If you find that your emails aren't making it to their recipients, the likeliest culprit is overeager spam filters. SendGrid has a variety of helpful resources on this topic that will help you improve your email deliverability rates.

• Email Deliverability 101: follow these instructions before hitting send to optimize deliverability ahead of time.
• My Emails Are Going to Spam: troubleshooting instructions for when your emails are going to spam.