Creating an Email

There are three ways to create an email:

1. Use the Email Builder
2. Drop in your own code
3. Have us do everything for you

Let’s start with the last one. If you have the content but no time to create and send, you can hand it all over to us. You can either login to StoneShot and fire up a chat (it goes straight to your dedicated team) or email over your request. Check out the briefing process and put up your feet.

Still here? Ok, great, let’s go through making an email.

Using the Email Builder

We’ve put in a ton of work to optimize the email production process. In fact, we’re slowing you down by even writing this so let’s get to it!

Go to Content > Emails and click New Email (top right). At this point you can either pick a template from our library (Email Library tab) or use one of your own custom templates (My Templates). The library has 10+ rock-solid templates covering the kind of emails investment marketers most often use. The process to create an email is the same regardless, so we’ll use “Event invitation – in person” from the library here.

Hover over the template and pick Build and you’ll go into the Email Builder.

First look

Your email will always be visible so you can see progression as you add layouts and your content. The Desktop/Mobile toggle at the top allows you to see how your email will look on – you guessed it – desktop and mobile devices. Toggle and you’ll see how the I can attend and Decline buttons stack on mobile. We’ve built these responsive features into all layouts in the library.

The panel on the right allows you to specify the basics (subject lines, senders, lists, etc). There are additional options under Advanced – more on that later.

The Email Builder will auto-save in most cases so you don’t need to worry about losing your work. You only need to save when you enter a block of content – more on that later.

Subject lines and the email sender

You’ll see there are two subject lines, allowing for simple A/B testing. All you need do is enter the second subject and the StoneShot platform will use the winning subject line after testing both. We recommend always using A/B Testing – check out A/B Testing for more info.

Next is the email sender. In our own StoneShot account we’ve setup restricted sender so we can only send from a @stoneshot.com mailbox. You should see your own corporate domain instead.

The icon to the right of that allows you to use a dynamic sender. This is usually the contact owner within your CRM… so you can send to a single list and the StoneShot platform will dynamically send from each recipient’s relationship manager. Please see Dynamic Emails for more info.

Finally, Reply To allows you to control where replies will go. Again, this could be a static email address or a dynamic one.

Lists

You can see there are three selectable lists. The first is simply your Recipient Lists… the contacts that will get your email when you launch. Seed List allows you to include your own team at launch. It’s a good way to give your colleagues some visibility without them adding to your open and click metrics. Suppression List allows you to manage an exclusion list. It simply removes any matching contacts in your Recipient Lists.

Below the lists, you can see Reach, Opt-outs and Bounces. Reach gives a count on the number of contacts in the Recipient List that will receive an email. That’s the Recipient List minus the Suppression List if you’ve picked one minus any opt-outs.

Opt-outs shows a count on those people that previously unsubscribed. You don’t have to worry about this one, our platform will never email these folks. Finally, Bounces shows the contacts we expect to bounce.

How do we know an email address will bounce before you’ve even sent the email? We specialize in working with financial services firms and keep track of broken email addresses. It means we can warn you ahead of sending so you can clean your lists and retain a squeaky-clean sender reputation. We don’t exclude these emails from your send, but you can export them by clicking the link on Bounces.

Tags and Teams

Tags allow you to flag content either for reporting or engagement scoring. Teams allow you to segregate content by team within the StoneShot Platform.

Layouts

Right, let’s head into the Layouts tab (above panel on right) and explore how we can add content to the email.

Within our email library, we’ve broken out layouts into Header (the top bit), Body (middle bit) and Footer (bottom bit). If you’re using a custom template, you can make any sections you wish but we tend to follow this approach for all master templates we make.

Within each section you can see layouts. If you’ve made a new email, you’ll see the default layouts for the master template you’ve used. You can click on a layout to get to the components within it. We’ve detailed each component within the email library.

We give layouts a descriptive name based on their components. Click the + button at the bottom of the section to view thumbnails of the available layouts, then select the one you’d like to add. Added layouts go to the bottom of the list – you drag and reorder them, using the icon shown, to determine their position in the email, and the email preview with refresh as you make changes.

Let’s go into the “Banner, Heading, Event Details & 2 Buttons” layout and look at the components.

You can see a preview of the image, edit the image source, add a link and add alt text. Clicking on the image icon will take you into the image browser.

This lets you upload images or manipulate images you’ve already uploaded. Right-click on an image and pick Edit. This will allow you to resize, crop, flip/rotate and apply filters to the image.

When you’re done altering and filtering, hit Apply and then click Save. This will allow you to either overwrite the image you selected or to save a copy. Click Save and you’re done.

Email testing

Do we need to say how important it is to test your email before launch? Nope, thought not.

Head into the Test tab above the right hand panel. The Email Builder will tell you if there are any obvious issues, we always, always, always send a test. All you need do here is pick your email address and click Send Test. You’ll get a test email shortly after. You can also use the Share button to give the preview link to a colleague or compliance for approval.

Advanced

When we created the Email Builder we did a ton of user analysis and popped the lightly used features under Advanced. Hmm, it’s not really advanced at all… we could have called it “Stuff you don’t use much” but the tab would have been too big.

Anyhow, you can change the options here for A/B Testing, turn off email tracking and more. You’re probably looking at it all now going “hmm, aha..” and will never go there again.

Launch and scheduling

So that’s it. You’ve created an email, tested it out and it looks fantastic. Your clients are going to love it. So let’s get it out there!

Hit the Schedule button and you can pick the launch date and time as well as having a final skim over all options. If you tick Use Send Time Optimization, it works out the optimal time to send an email to each recipient on the list. We’ve written a full page on it – you’ll love it.

Cloning

You’ve made the perfect email and you want to clone it, tweak the content and send again? That’s what the Clone button is for! Clone lets you choose what you want to clone and will make a new email with today’s date.

Dropping in your own code

If you’re an email pro and have coded your own email, all you need to do is this:

1. Pick Content > Emails from the navigation.
2. Click New Email and pick Paste your own code.
3. Hit Build.
4. Complete the necessary fields on Summary, click HTML, paste in your code and hit Save.
5. Click Test, send yourself a test email, and review it to ensure all content displays correctly and all links and functionality work as expected
6. Finally, hit Schedule in the top-right corner of the page to send it.

FAQ

How can I send an email?

The quickest approach is to clone an existing email as this brings over the recipient list(s), sender and other options. You can do that by navigating to Emails on the Content menu, clicking into the email and hitting Clone. You’ll get a prompt to choose which elements you’d like to copy and you’ll see the new email when done.

It’s then just about editing the content, testing and launching.

To create a new email, click New Email on the Content > Emails page. You can create an email using the Email Library or one of your own custom master templates. Then choose the layouts you want, paste in the content,  test and launch.

Why has my campaign not sent yet?

When you launch a campaign it goes into a queue. It could be that your colleagues have scheduled their campaigns to be sent out at the same time too so the system is working on those.

Unfortunately, this means that yours may have to wait a little while and how long the wait is depends on the size of the audience they’re sending to. In most cases, there shouldn’t be more than a 15-minutes delay but if you find this not to be the case please contact support@stoneshot.com.

Can I update a link in an email after it's been sent?

Yes you sure can, assuming you have link tracking enabled. More info can be found on our Troubleshooting campaigns page.

Can I recall an email that’s been sent?

Unfortunately not, once an email has been sent out it cannot be edited or recalled.

How can I cancel a scheduled email?

There are a few places where emails can be scheduled:

• Email Builder (Content > Emails)
• Blog Distribution (Automation > Emails)
• Events (Events > Events)

For Email Builder campaigns, open the campaign and select Pause/Purge (if it has not already been sent). Purge removes all contacts from the campaign and prevents the email from sending.

For Blog Distribution, go to Automation > Emails and turn OFF the schedule. For Events, go to Events > Events > Event Name > Schedule and disable the schedule.

How can I be added to the email test list?

Adding or changing recipients on a test list is easy. Go into Contacts > Lists and search for the test list. It’s usually called something like Test list – Do not delete. Click into the list and pick Add contacts from the Add/Remove button. Pick Use existing contacts assuming the contact exists already, then search for the contact using their name or email. Click the checkbox against the contact and then hit Add.

That’s it. Next time you test an email, you’ll see the contact you added.

Why am I not receiving a test email?

There are a few reasons why you might not receive a test email.

1. Contact isn’t opted in. Search for the contact at the top of the page. Click into the contact, click Edit and ensure the Opt-in? slider is green.
2. Dynamic data is missing. Most emails have {FIRSTNAME} in them but could also have a dynamic sales manager sign-off. Looking at the contact, ensure a sales manager is selected under Segmentation.
3. Email has dynamic sender. Again, ensure the relevant dynamic fields are set against the contact.
4. Spam or email other delivery issue. The email could be backed up in your email system. Check in with your tech support for help.

Why can't I add multiple recipient lists to my email?

You can but not when sending an A/B campaign. Simply remove the second email subject and you’re good to go.

How can I extract the HTML from an email?

To extract the HTML of an email within the StoneShot platform, you should follow the process outlined below:

1. Go to Content > Emails and click on the email you wish to extract.
2. Click Clone to make a copy of the email.
3. Click into the cloned email and uncheck the open and click tracking options on the Advanced tab.
4. Click Convert to convert the email to plain HTML.
5. Go to the Layouts tab and copy the source HTML.

Why can't I see my Salesforce campaign in the SF campaign dropdown?

The SF campaign must be:

• marked as ‘Active’ in Salesforce
• accessible by the StoneShot/Salesforce user
• in the 250 most recent campaigns (by last modified date)

How can I archive an email?

There’s no specific archive feature but you can just delete old emails. Generally, our users clone an email to create a new one. It means they have versions of an email that won’t be used again. We retain the content of an email against a campaign anyway… you never really lose the content by deleting an email.

How can I retrieve an archived email master template?

Go into an email that was created using the archived master template. Go to Advanced and click on the Master Template at the bottom. Then click Unarchive.

Can I send to multiple recipients on the Test tab in the Email Builder?

You can’t send to multiple recipients on the Test tab but it’s pretty quick to send to each person individually. If you want to test a larger list, go to the Summary tab, pick your test list under Recipient Lists and launch the email.

Can I use the API to embed a form into my website?

Yes. You don’t need to make a form in the StoneShot Platform to do this… more that you can pull and push any contact fields you need. You can actually do much more such as integrating email preferences, events, fund documents and profile management. Take a look at our API documentation and contact support@stoneshot.com if you need help.

What's the quickest way to resend a campaign to non-opens?

The quickest way is to make a Dynamic List. Go to Contacts > Lists and hit New List. Pick Dynamic List. Under Filters, choose Emails. Pick Did Not Open, then Email by Campaign and choose the campaign. Finally either leave the last option to All Time or choose a time frame. Now just send to this list.

What dynamic merge fields are available to use in StoneShot emails?

A full list of dynamic merge fields can be found on Dynamic Merge Fields.

Why can’t I access an email in StoneShot?

There are a few possible reasons why you may not be able to access an email:

1. Permissions: Your user role may not have the required permissions. For example, Viewer users can view emails but cannot edit or manage them.
2. Content availability: The email may have been removed, archived, hidden, or restricted to specific users or teams.
3. Login or authentication issues: Problems with Single Sign-On, two-factor authentication, VPN connections, or IP restrictions may prevent access.
4. Browser or technical issues: Browser settings, such as blocked cookies or scripts, can occasionally affect how content loads.

If you believe the issue is related to permissions, contact your StoneShot or your administrators to review your user role. For login or technical issues, check that you are correctly authenticated and connected to any required VPN or network.

Can I copy Sales Managers on each individual email send?

Yes. In the Advanced section of the email template, enable the Include CC contacts option. This will copy the nominated Sales Manager on every individual email that is sent.

Please note:

• If your contact list contains 100 recipients, the Sales Manager will receive 100 separate emails—one for each recipient.
• Only one Sales Manager can be CC’d per contact using this feature.

If you’d like to use this feature, please contact the StoneShot Support team and let us know which Sales Manager field you’d like to use. We’ll update the required background settings to enable the feature for your account.

Why isn’t my image displaying in the email template?

If your image is not displaying correctly in your email template, it could be due to one of the following reasons:

• The image filename contains special characters, such as ? or +.
• The image filename contains spaces.
• The image file size is too large.
• The image has been copied and pasted into the template instead of being uploaded and linked correctly.

To resolve the issue, remove or replace any spaces or special characters in the filename with – or _, and try reducing the size of the image through the Image Editor.

Why is the Sender Name changing when I send myself a test of the email?

First, check the sender name specified in the email template. If it matches the sender name you expect, but a different name is displayed when the email arrives in your inbox, this is most likely due to how the contact has been saved in your Global Address Book or Outlook contacts.

If Outlook has cached a different sender name for that email address, it will override the sender name specified in the email template when the message is displayed.

To check whether Outlook has cached the sender name:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Go to the Home tab.
3. In the Find group, click Address Book.
4. In the Address Book window, make sure All Address Books or Contacts is selected.
5. Search for the email address that is displaying the incorrect sender name.
6. If you find an entry with the wrong display name, right-click it and select Delete.

Once the cached entry has been removed, Outlook should display the sender name specified in the email template the next time you receive an email from that address.

Can a deleted or missing template be recovered?

Possibly. Please provide support@stoneshot.com with the name of the template and the approximate date or period you last worked on it, and we’ll see if it can be retrieved.

If the template has been deleted, we may be able to restore the HTML version of the template. Unfortunately, Email Builder templates cannot be restored once deleted, so they may need to be recreated.

Can I embed a video in an email and have it play automatically when the email is opened?

No. Most major email clients, including Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo, do not support embedded video playback or autoplay functionality. While a small number of email clients, such as Apple Mail, can play embedded videos, support is limited and cannot be relied upon.

The recommended approach is to use a thumbnail image or animated GIF with a play button overlay that links to the hosted video. This provides the best compatibility across email clients while still offering an engaging experience for recipients.

Why can't I schedule my email to send?

Please check that all required fields in the Summary section have been completed.

• Sender Name
• Sender Email
• Subject Line
• At least one Recipient List has been selected
• A Campaign Code has been entered (if enabled for your account)

If you’re still having trouble please get in touch with us at support@stoneshot.com

Can I send one email to multiple lists?

Yes. You can select more than one Recipient List when sending an email. StoneShot will automatically dedupe contacts, ensuring that each individual only receives the email once, even if they appear in multiple lists. A separate campaign report will be generated for each recipient list selected.

If you would prefer to receive a single consolidated report, you can first combine the lists into one Dynamic List by following these steps:

1. Go to Contacts > Lists, click New List and select Dynamic List.
2. Under Add Filter, select List Membership.
3. Use the Search Lists field to find your lists or select them from the dropdown. Hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple lists, then click Apply.
4. The list will refresh to display the selected lists combined into a single dynamic list.

You can then use this dynamic list as the Recipient List for your email and receive a single campaign report.

Why is my email stretching beyond the width of the page?

This is usually caused by an image or table inserted into a rich-text editor layout that is wider than the email layout itself.

If you have added images or tables, check that their widths do not exceed the width of the area. Where possible, we recommend setting the width to 100% so that the content scales correctly within the available space.

What's the best way to copy content between email templates?

If both email templates use the same layouts, the easiest way to copy content is to open each email in separate browser tabs or windows and copy and paste the content from one template to the other.

Why does the font change when I paste text into my email?

The text may have been copied with existing formatting, causing it to look different from the default layout styles.

When you paste in the copy you will see two options: Keep formatting and Remove formatting. You will want to select Remove formatting.

You can also highlight the copy, expand the styles drop down in the top left and select the Brand Manager Typography you would like to apply.

Can I adjust the padding on layouts?

No. The padding around layouts is prefixed according to your email brand guidelines.

Can I change the sender email address?

Yes. In the Summary tab, you can choose either a static or dynamic sender.

• Static Sender – manually enter the prefix of the email address and select the domain you would like to send from. The domain dropdown contains the list of domains that have been authenticated for sending.
• Dynamic Sender – automatically populates the sender details based on each contact’s assigned Sales Manager. The Sales Manager’s sender name and email address are configured within their segmentation settings. To enable this option, click the switch icon next to the Sender Email field.

Why can't I see the Simulate Dynamic Sender dropdown?

The Simulate Dynamic Sender dropdown is only available when your email template contains a dynamic sign-off. If your template uses only a dynamic sender name and email address, the dropdown will not display.

Why are words being split with hyphens in my email?

Newer versions of Outlook have introduced an automatically enabled smart justification feature that can cause words to hyphenate rather than wrap onto the next line. Our Support team can apply a code fix that may help improve how this text is displayed. However, this fix will not apply when an email is forwarded, as Outlook’s own formatting rules will override the email code.

Can I use different background images in banner layouts?

Yes, however background images in emails are coded differently from standard images to ensure they display correctly across email clients. As a result, they cannot be made editable in the same way as other images. If you require multiple background image options, each variation will need to be created as a separate layout.

Are background images supported by all email clients?

No. Background images are not supported consistently across all email clients and require additional coding to maximise compatibility.

Most modern email clients support background images, and Outlook can be supported when they are coded using VML. However, some email clients may not display them as intended. For this reason, background images should always include a fallback background colour.

Can we add drop shadows to buttons?

Yes, drop shadows can be added to boxed or rectangular CTA buttons, although they are not supported by all email clients (most notably Outlook). For more complex button shapes, such as arrow-style CTAs, we recommend using an image instead. However, wherever possible, we recommend using “bulletproof” HTML buttons (made up of a background colour and text) to ensure the most consistent rendering across email clients.

Can we have rounded corners for layouts?

Yes, however some email clients (including Outlook) do not support rounded corners. In these cases, the layout will automatically fall back to square corners.