Orbit's email composer lets you create professional, personalized emails with rich content and precise audience targeting.
Creating an Email
Navigate to Mail in the admin portal and click New Mail. The composer opens with an email-client-style interface.
Audience
Choose who receives your email using the To field:
- All members — every active member who is subscribed to email
- Specific membership levels — select one or more membership tiers. Live subscriber counts are shown for each level.
- Event registrants — select one or more events. Registrant counts are displayed for each event.
- Custom audience — combine membership levels and events to build a targeted list
- Individual — send to a single specific member
The total recipient count updates live as you adjust your targeting.
Subject Line
Enter your email subject. Dynamic fields (see below) work in the subject line as well as the body.
Rich Content
The email body uses a block-based visual editor supporting:
- Text — paragraphs, headings, and lists with full formatting
- Images — upload or embed images directly in the email
- Tables — structured data displays
- Galleries — multiple images in a layout
- Rich link previews — links with preview images, titles, and descriptions
- PDF attachments — embedded PDF previews
Dynamic Fields
Personalize your emails with dynamic field placeholders that are automatically replaced with each recipient's details when the email is sent.
Available Fields
| Field | Replaced With |
|---|---|
{first_name} |
Recipient's first name |
{last_name} |
Recipient's last name |
{email} |
Recipient's email address |
{organization} |
Recipient's organization name |
{membership_level} |
Current membership level name |
{renewal_date} |
Membership renewal date |
{expiration_date} |
Membership expiration date |
{event_name} |
Event name |
{event_date} |
Event date |
{event_location} |
Event location |
{amount} |
Payment amount |
Insert dynamic fields using the Personalize dropdown in the editor toolbar. Fields are inserted at the cursor position.
Previewing
Before sending, you can preview exactly how your email will look.
Visual Preview
See a rendered preview of the email with your branding (logo, colors, header, footer) applied, showing how it will appear in recipients' inboxes.
Per-Recipient Preview
Preview the email as it will appear to each specific recipient, with all dynamic fields replaced with that person's actual data. This lets you verify that personalization is working correctly before sending.
Integration with Other Features
The email system connects with every other part of Orbit, making it easy to share content with your members.
Send as Email
From any event, course, announcement, membership level, or resource, click Create Email on the Sharing tab to generate a new email draft pre-populated with that item's content. For announcements, the audience targeting is automatically carried over (e.g., if the announcement targets specific membership tiers, the email will too).
Add to Email
When composing a larger email like a newsletter, you can include content from across the site as rich link preview cards. From any event, course, announcement, or resource, click Add to Email to append a formatted card — with image, title, and description — to an existing draft email.
This makes it easy to build a newsletter that includes upcoming events, new courses, recent announcements, and resources, all without recreating content manually.
Email Branding
All emails are sent with your organization's branding. Customize the look and feel from Mail > Settings:
- Logo — displayed in the email header
- Primary color — used for the header background
- Secondary color — used for links and buttons
- Header text — optional text in the header area
- Footer text — appears at the bottom of every email (e.g., address, legal info)
- Sender name — the display name recipients see
- Reply-to address — where replies are directed
Changes apply to all future emails, including automated ones. You can preview your branding before saving.