Sending a one-off email

A one-off email goes to one contact, right now. Open it from + New → Email, from the command palette (type "new email" or "send"), or from Send email on a row of your contacts list. The screen works like a mail client: To, From, Subject and your message, all in one place.

How do I write and send one?

1. To. Start typing a name, email or company. Nothing is listed until you type, and the search covers all of your contacts. Pick one, and Change swaps it later.
2. From. With a connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox, the email goes out from that mailbox by default. You can pick one of your verified sending domains instead, and that email then goes out through SEMAOS from the domain. One case surprises people: if your mailbox address is itself on one of your verified sending domains (jane@acme.com with acme.com verified), SEMAOS sends it from that domain, not through the mailbox, and it counts like any platform send. Sending channels explains the difference.
3. Subject and message. Write them the way you would in your own inbox. The merge-field button inserts a field such as {{contact.first_name}} wherever your cursor was last, in the subject or in the message. A subject can be up to 200 characters.
4. Send. It goes out immediately. There is no scheduled send for one-off emails yet.

Under the message SEMAOS adds your signature (if you've set one in Settings → Signature), your company's mailing address and an unsubscribe link. The law requires the address and the link on every commercial email, so you don't have to add them yourself. If your account has no mailing address yet, the send is refused until you add one.

Do I need a template?

No. A template is something you can load, not a step you have to go through. Load a template lists your templates, with a filter:

• A Simple template loads into the message as a copy you can edit. Your changes go into this email only; the template stays as it was. If the template has a preheader, it doesn't come along, because a one-off email has none: inboxes show your first line instead.
• A Designed template is sent exactly as saved, because its layout can't be edited here without breaking it. The screen shows its name and subject, a link to open it in the template editor (in a new tab, so your recipient and From stay put), and Remove template to go back to writing your own.

If you load a template over something you've already written, SEMAOS asks before replacing it.

How do I check it before it goes?

• Preview shows the email exactly as this contact will receive it, with merge fields filled in and the From it will actually use. If the contact is on your suppression list, or the email is missing its unsubscribe link or mailing address, the preview says so and the Send button stays off until you change something. The preview does not check your sending limits: a send can still be refused when a daily cap or your plan's limit has been reached, and the message says which.
• Send test to me sends the email to your own address, with sample values in place of the contact's details. A test goes out from your connected mailbox, or from your default From address if you have none. It does not use the From you picked on the screen, and the confirmation names the address it came from. Each user can send 25 tests a day (counted by UTC day), shared with the test button in the template editors. During a trial, a test sent through SEMAOS also counts toward the trial's send allowance.

If you change anything after previewing, the preview closes. Preview again to see the new version.

Can I keep what I wrote?

Save as template saves the subject and message as a new Simple template, without leaving the page. Name it and it appears in your templates, ready to load next time or to use in a sequence.

If you try to leave the page with something written, SEMAOS asks first.

Does a one-off email count against my plan?

Only when it goes out through SEMAOS. An email sent from your connected mailbox is never counted against your plan's monthly send limit. SEMAOS caps it at 400 per day for each user, which sits under Gmail's own daily limit; your mailbox provider can refuse sooner. An email sent from one of your sending domains counts like any other platform send, and a new domain's warmup cap applies to it; the screen shows the cap when you pick a domain that's still warming up. On the Free plan every email goes through your connected mailbox.