Broadcasts
Broadcasts are one-time emails sent to a segment of your contacts. You write the email, pick your audience, schedule it, and it goes out once. Unlike flows, broadcasts aren't triggered by events — you initiate them manually.
When to Broadcast vs Automate
Use a broadcast when:
- You're announcing something new (feature, pricing change, changelog)
- You're running a time-limited promotion
- You want to re-engage a segment of contacts with a curated message
- You're sending a monthly newsletter
Use a flow when:
- The email should go out automatically based on something that happened (user signed up, trial expired)
- You need different emails for different contact states
- Timing is relative to user behaviour, not a calendar date
Quick rule: If you're deciding right now to send an email to people, use a broadcast. If you want emails to go out automatically without you thinking about it, use a flow.
Scheduling
When creating a broadcast, you can:
- Send immediately — goes out right after you confirm
- Schedule for later — pick a date and time (in UTC)
Best times to send (general guidance):
- Tuesday–Thursday tend to outperform Mondays and Fridays
- Morning sends (8–10 AM recipient local time) typically get higher open rates than afternoon
- Avoid late Friday/weekend sends for B2B audiences — lower engagement
Segmentation
Before sending, pick your audience. You can target:
- All contacts in your project
- A specific list (e.g. "Pro users", "Trial users")
- A segment — contacts matching a set of conditions (e.g.
plan = pro AND trialEndsAt IS NULL) - A tag — contacts with a specific tag
Tip: The more targeted your broadcast, the better your engagement rates. A relevant email to 200 people beats a generic email to 2,000.
Common broadcast segments:
- Active trial users:
isOnTrial = true - Paying customers:
plan != free - Power users:
totalViews > 100 - Inactive users who haven't been re-engaged:
updatedAt < 30 days ago AND sentReengagement = false
Subject Lines
Your subject line determines whether the email gets opened. Tips:
Be specific and relevant. "Announcing X" is generic. "You can now password-protect individual share links" tells them exactly what's new and why it matters.
Match the recipient's context. A trial user and a paying user have different priorities. If you're segmenting, customise the subject for each group.
Use variables for personalisation. {{firstName}}, here's what's new in March adds a personal touch. Just make sure you have firstName for the contacts you're targeting.
Use spintax for variation. For large sends, subject line variation helps avoid spam filters that flag identical subjects across many sends:
Keep it short. Under 50 characters displays cleanly on mobile. Over 70 characters gets cut off.
Avoid spam triggers. Words like "FREE", "LIMITED TIME OFFER", excessive capitalisation, and multiple exclamation marks increase spam score. Write like a person, not a marketer.
Preview Text
The preview text (preheader) is the snippet shown in the inbox after the subject line. Most email clients show 50–100 characters. If you don't set it, the email client will pull the first line of your email body, which may not be ideal.
Set it intentionally. The subject + preview text together should tell a clear story: subject hooks → preview reinforces or adds context.
Subject: Your vitelnk trial ends in 48 hours
Preview: You've uploaded 3 videos. Here's what you'd lose access to.
Avoiding Spam
- Use a verified sending domain (SPF + DKIM configured)
- Send from a real, monitored inbox (not
noreply@) - Include a real unsubscribe link — Correios adds
{{unsubscribeUrl}}automatically to all emails - Don't send to cold lists or purchased email addresses — high bounce rates damage your domain reputation
- Warm up new sending domains gradually (start with small sends, increase volume week by week)
- Monitor bounce and complaint rates in Analytics — if complaint rate goes above 0.1%, investigate immediately