Churchday
Book a demoSign in
Back

Sending Reminder Emails (Notify)

Every event has a Notify tab where you set up emails for the people who signed up. Use it to nudge people the day before, greet them the day of, or thank them the day after. You choose who each email goes to, so a note for the waiting list never lands on people who already have a spot.

Before you begin

  • You need access to your church's email features (the same access that unlocks the Emails tab).
  • Create the event first. These emails only reach people who have already signed up.

Step-by-step

  1. Open the event and click the Notify tab. The section is titled Reminders.
  2. Click Add email. A pop-up window opens, titled New email (or Edit reminder if you reopen one you already made).
  3. Pick who it goes to under To. Each choice shows how many people it reaches, so Waitlist only (15) tells you the email lands in 15 inboxes before you write a word.
  4. Check where replies go under Reply to. A new email starts with your name and email, so replies come to you. Writing on someone's behalf, like your pastor? Click the row and pick them: your church team is listed first, you can search anyone in People who has an email, or you can type any email address. Choose Church reply address to use your church's Reply-to setting instead.
  5. Write the Subject. This is the subject line people see in their inbox.
  6. Write the Message. This is the body of the email. In either the Subject or the Message, type / to open a picker that inserts the person's name or this event's details, so each person sees a personalized email.
  7. Choose when to send under When to send. You have two options:
    • On a schedule lets you pick The day before, The day of, or The day after, and a time to send.
    • Send now emails the group you picked right away.
  8. Save or send. If you chose a schedule, click Save and the reminder is queued to go out automatically. If you chose Send now, click Send now, then confirm in the pop-up, which names the group and the headcount one more time.

You're all set. Each email appears in the list on the Notify tab with a line showing when it sends and who it goes to, like "The day before · 6:00 PM · Waitlist only", a line saying who replies reach, like "Replies to Pastor Jimmy", and a switch to turn it on or off.

Who you can email

The To list only offers choices that make sense for your event, so you won't see a check-in group unless check-in is on, or a payment group unless the event is paid.

  • Everyone who signed up: anyone who hasn't cancelled, including the waiting list. This is the starting choice.
  • Registered only: people who have a spot, not the waiting list. Use it for anything that assumes they're coming.
  • Waitlist only: people waiting for a spot, so you can tell them where they stand.
  • Maybe: people who answered maybe, on RSVP-style events.
  • Checked in: people who actually showed up.
  • Registered but didn't check in: people who had a spot and never arrived.
  • Haven't paid: people who signed up for a paid event and still owe.
  • Cancelled: people who signed up and then cancelled.

Send yourself a test first

Before an email reaches anyone, send yourself a copy to check how it looks. A test always goes to you, whichever group you picked.

  1. Click Test send inside the compose window.
  2. Churchday emails a copy to your own account address. The subject starts with [Test], and it never counts as a real send. Its Unsubscribe link only opens a preview, so it never unsubscribes you.

Good to know

  • Headcounts are counted when the email sends, not when you write it. Someone you let in off the waiting list that morning correctly drops out of a Waitlist only reminder before it goes.
  • One email per inbox. If two people in the same household share an address, that address gets a single copy.
  • People who unsubscribed from your church's emails don't get these. Each email ends with an Unsubscribe link. Anyone who has unsubscribed is left out of every group and its count, along with family members registered under their email address. They still get their sign-up confirmation, and the email Churchday sends the moment you cancel an event reaches everyone booked.
  • The day-before and thank-you reminders every event starts with, and the email sent when you cancel, reply to your church's Reply-to setting. If your church hasn't set one, replies to those emails reach no one, and the Notify tab says so with a link to Email settings, where you can add one. You can also open a reminder and pick someone under Reply to.
  • The test copy uses the same Reply to, so you can reply to it to check where replies land.
  • Recurring events can only use Send now. For a repeating event, scheduled reminders are paused for now and the "On a schedule" option is replaced with a note that scheduled reminders are coming soon. Send them manually with Send now in the meantime.
  • Turn reminders on or off anytime with the switch next to each one in the list. Turning one off stops it from sending without deleting it.
  • Times use the event's timezone, shown at the bottom of the Notify tab.
  • Editing a reminder after it has sent re-arms it, so a scheduled one can go out again on schedule and a manual one can be sent again.
  • Deleting a reminder is permanent. It won't be sent again once removed.

What's next?

Related