Create and send marketing emails

In the marketing email editor, you can create marketing emails to send directly to recipients or using automation. 

This article covers creating marketing emails, selecting recipients, editing sending information, and previewing & testing. Learn more about editing email content and design. 

Create a new email

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. In the top right, click Create email.
3. In the right panel, select a sending method:
   • Regular: send or schedule a single email to specific contacts or segments.
   • Automated: create and save an email for automation using workflows. This option is only available for accounts with a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise subscription. 
   • Blog/RSS: create and save an email for your blog or RSS subscribers. This email will be sent automatically when you publish new content to your blog or RSS feed.
4. In the left sidebar menu, select the template types to review email templates for different use cases. For example, you can use event, newsletter, engagement templates, and more. To see all available templates, click All templates.
5. Hover over a template and click Choose template. 

Edit email content and design

Once you've created a marketing email, you can edit its content, appearance, and module locations. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. Edit the email's content and design. 

Edit sending information

You can set the email's subject line and preview text. You can also specify the name and address the email will display as the sender, as well as the address that will receive any replies. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the email editor, click the inbox content module at the top of the page.

4. In the sidebar editor, enter a subject line for the email in the Subject line field. To add personalization tokens, click Personalize. Learn more about personalizing email subject lines.
5. In the Preview text field, enter a summary of the email that will display in some email clients. 
6. Click the From name dropdown menu and select a sender.
7. To add a new sender:
   • Click the From name dropdown menu and select Add from name. 

4. • In the dialog box, enter a from name, then click Add from name. 
5. To delete a from name as an option:
   • Click the From name dropdown menu and select Manage from names.
   • In the right panel, click the delete icon next to the name. Names of users cannot be deleted. 
6. Click the From address dropdown menu and select an email address that'll display as the sender's email. 
7. To add a new email address:
   • Click the From address dropdown menu and select Add email address.
   • In the dialog box, enter an email address, then click Add email address. 

Please note: to use an email address as a from address, it must either be hosted on a connected domain or verified. Learn more about verifying email addresses to send marketing emails.

11. To delete a from address as an option:
    • Click the From address dropdown menu and select Manage email addresses.
    • In the right panel, click the delete icon next to the email address. Email addresses of users cannot be deleted. 
12. By default, email replies will go to the email set as the from address. To send replies to a different email address: 
    • Clear the Use as reply-to address checkbox. 
    • Click the Reply-to address dropdown menu and select an email address. Learn more about tracking replies to marketing emails. 

Edit recipients

You can set contacts and segments who will receive the email, as well as those that won't receive the email, even if they're included on segment you're sending to. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the left sidebar, click the send icon. 
4. To change the type of email, click the Sending method dropdown menu and select a sending method: 
   • To a segment of contacts: send or schedule for specific contacts or segments.
   • Through an automation: send using a workflow when the workflow enrollment triggers are met. Learn more about creating automated emails. 
   • Through an API: send outside of the email editor using an API. Learn more about sending marketing emails with single-send API in our developer documentation. 
5. Click the Subscription type dropdown menu and select a subscription type that applies to the content of the email. Learn more about setting up subscription types.
6. Click the Send to dropdown menu and select the checkbox next to each contact or segment you want to receive the email. 
7. Click the Don't send to dropdown menu and select the checkbox next to each contact or segment you want to exclude from receiving the email. 
8. By default, emails won't be sent to unengaged contacts, as in recipients who haven't opened your last 11 marketing emails. To turn off this setting, clear the Don't send to unengaged contacts checkbox. Learn more about managing unengaged contacts.
9. If you have a Marketing Hub Enterprise account and are using an email frequency safeguard, you can exempt this email from the frequency cap. To do so, clear the Apply email frequency cap to this send checkbox. Learn more about email frequency safeguards.
10. In the Audience section, you'll see how many contacts set as recipients will receive this email. To access more information about types of contacts who won't receive the email:

• • In the Audience section, click Review reasons. 

• • In the right panel, review each category of contacts who won't be sent the email. 
  • To create a segment of contacts who won't be sent the email for a specific reason, click View in segments in the Contacts affected column. 
  • To address a specific reason contacts won't be sent the email, review the Recommended actions column. 

Schedule email sending

You can send a marketing email immediately or schedule the email to send at a specific date and time. This option will not apply when creating automated emails for workflows.

In accounts with a Marketing Hub Enterprise subscription, if you're opted into the beta for contact send time optimization, you can optimize when a contact receives an email based on their previous engagement. Learn more about marketing email send time optimization. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the left sidebar, click the schedule icon. 
4. To send the email immediately, select Send now. 
5. To set up scheduling for a regular email: 
   
   • Select Schedule for later. 
   • Click the Date field and select a date. 
   • you can use the beta feature to optimize when a contact receives an email based on their previous engagement.
   • Click the Time dropdown menu and select a time.
     • In accounts with a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise subscription, if you're opted into the beta for contact send time optimization, you can click Suggest best time to send to use recent recipient engagement data to select a time that's most likely to result in high engagement. Learn more about optimizing marketing email send time.
   • In the What time zone do you want to use? section, select a time zone option: 
     • Account default: send at the specified time using the account's time zone. 
     • My time zone: send at the specified time using the user's time zone. 
     • Recipient's time zone (varied): send at the specified time using the time zones on the contact records of the recipients. Any recipients without time zone data will be sent the email using the account's time zone. 
6. To set up scheduling for a blog or RSS email: 
   • Click the Time dropdown menu and select a time. This option will not appear if your frequency is set to Instant. 
   • If you’ve selected weekly or monthly, the date options will depend on the frequency selected when setting up your email: 
     • If you’ve selected weekly, click the Day of the week dropdown and select the day that you’d like the email to send. 
     • If you’ve selected monthly, click the Day of the month dropdown and select the day that you’d like the email to send. 
   • If exact timing isn't critical, select the Adjusted send time checkbox, which will still ensure that the email is sent within 5 minutes of your scheduled send time. Selecting this option is beneficial for smoother email delivery and optimizes HubSpot's email deliverability when multiple users schedule emails for the same exact time.

Manage email settings

When setting up the email, you can set a campaign, language, and office location, among other options. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the left sidebar, click the setup icon. 
4. Click the Campaign dropdown menu and select a campaign to associate with the email. Learn more about working with campaigns
5. To limit the users who can access this email, click Edit permissions in the Manage access section. Learn more about limiting access to assets. 
6. To edit the internal name of this email, enter a new name in the Internal email name field. This name will not be shown to contacts receiving the email or its web version. 
7. In the Categorize section, click a dropdown menu to set a custom property or click Create new property to create a new one. Learn more about working with custom email properties. 
8. To set the language of your email, click the Language dropdown menu and select a language. If you select a supported language, default modules will be translated into that language. 
9. To create a shareable version of the email that can be viewed in a browser, toggle the View in browser switch on. Learn more about working with browser versions of marketing emails.

Set up automation

You can set up simple workflows to automate actions after the email is sent.

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the left sidebar, click the workflows automate icon.
4. Create a simple workflow. 

Set footer information

In the footer, you can set up required subscription preferences links and set the footer's office location. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. Click the footer of the email. 
4. To edit the office location in accounts with a single office location, click Edit in the Office location section. 
5. To change the email's office location in accounts with multiple office locations, click the Office location dropdown menu and select a location. Learn more about managing office locations. 
6. Click the Unsubscribe link dropdown menu and select an option: 
   • Unsubscribe: the footer will contain a link to unsubscribe from all marketing emails.
   • Manage preferences: the footer will contain a link to customize the recipient's subscription types.
   • Both: the footer will contain both types of subscription management links. 

Preview and test the email

Before you send the email, you can preview it as a specific contact or preview a specific email client. You can also preview the email in your inbox by sending a test email. 

Preview an email as a contact

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. At the top right, click the Preview and test dropdown menu and select Preview as contact. 
4. In the top left, click the Preview as dropdown menu and select a contact. 
5. To preview the email in dark mode, click the Display options dropdown menu in the top right and toggle the Dark mode preview switch on. 
6. To preview the plain text version of the email, click the Display options dropdown menu in the top right and toggle the Plain text view switch on. 

7. To share a link to the preview with other HubSpot users, click Preview web version in the top right. Only users logged in to HubSpot can view the link. 

Preview an email in different email clients

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the top right, click the Preview and test dropdown menu and select Preview in an email client. 
4. To view the inbox preview as a specific contact, click the Preview as dropdown menu at the top of the page and select a contact.
5. By default, the most popular email clients will be selected to include in the inbox preview. To deselect an email client, click the Choose preview type dropdown menu in the top left, and clear the checkbox to the left of the email client name. 
6. To select additional email clients, click the Choose preview type dropdown menu, then select the checkbox next to each email client you want to test. 

7. In the top right, click Preview. 
8. Once the test has finished processing, click the Expand button under a client preview to see the preview in more detail. Then, click theleftleft arrow and rightright arrow icons to switch between different email clients. 
9. To access a previous set of previews, click the dropdown menu in the top left next to Display options and select a preview. 

10. By default, many clients will initially turn off images when the email first loads. To see how your email appears without images, click the Display options dropdown menu in the top left, then toggle Image blocking on. 

Send a test email

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the top right, click the Preview and test dropdown menu and select Send test email.
4. In the right panel, click the Send test to dropdown menu and select a recipient. 
5. To receive the test email as a specific contact, click the Preview as contact dropdown menu and select a contact. 
6. To receive a test email of the plain text version of the email, click to expand the Advanced section and select the Send plain text version checkbox. 

7. Click Send. 

Finalize the email

Once you've finished setting up and drafting your email, you can send or publish it. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Email.
2. Click the name of a drafted email. 
3. In the top right, click Review and publish, Review and schedule, or Review and send, depending on the way you've set up your email. 
4. In the Required fields section, you can review actions you must take to send the email. 
5. In the Warnings section, you can review empty fields and other recommendations to improve the email experience for your recipients. You are not required to fill out these fields to send the email. 
6. In the Suggestions section, you can review additional suggestions for improving your email. You are not required to implement these suggestions to send the email. 
7. Review the email's information, including total recipients, send time, and any simple workflows that'll run after you've sent it. 
8. When you're finished resolving errors and reviewing the email, click Publish, Schedule, or Send.