Email themes

Training video · 5:32Email campaigns: segment sends, and when a table send is the better toolThe two ways to email people from an event and how to choose. Selecting rows in a table and Send Emails (the module composer, shown on Sessions), then the campaign wizard end to end — Audience (People, Companies, Sessions), the message with templates and merge tags, Recipients with quick filters, the live count, Portal activity and Omit past recipients, Preview as a real recipient with Desktop, Mobile, Dark and Send a test, Send now, Schedule for later and Recurring — and where to read the results in Analytics and History.

What Are Email Themes?

Email Themes control the visual wrapper around your emails — the header, footer, background, colors, and layout that surround the email content. This is separate from the email’s actual text and body copy.

Common use cases:

Sending plain, unbranded emails (similar to a regular Gmail message)
Adding a custom event logo as a header banner
Replacing Sessionboard’s default footer with a branded one
Applying custom colors and typography to all outgoing event emails

📌 Email Themes apply to emails sent manually via the “Send Email” modal and to email campaigns sent from the event — a campaign with no theme of its own is wrapped in the event’s default theme. Automated system emails are not affected.

Email Themes vs. Email Templates

Email Templates	Email Themes
Define the content of the email (subject line, body text, merge tags)	Define the visual wrapper around that content (header, footer, colors, layout)
Existing feature — works the same as before	New feature — enabled upon request
Injected into the theme via {{{content}}}	Must include {{{content}}} to display email body correctly

Think of it this way: the template is what you write inside the email, and the theme is the branded envelope it sits inside.

Accessing email themes

Open Settings → Email Themes within your event. (Organization-wide themes live under Organization Settings → Email Themes and work the same way; the starter template there is Organization Template instead of Event Logo.)

The Email Themes list in Event Settings — the Standard built-in theme and a custom default theme, with the All Themes, Default and Custom tabs

The themes list is organized into three tabs:

All Themes — every theme associated with this event
Default — the theme currently applied to all manually-sent emails (marked with a ⭐)
Custom — themes you’ve created

The Standard theme is built-in and set as the default out of the box. It cannot be edited, duplicated, or deleted.

Creating a new theme

Click Add Theme in the top right corner. The editor opens with a Choose a template dialog:

Plain — a minimal, unstyled wrapper with no header or footer (ideal for clean, Gmail-style emails)
Event Logo — includes your event logo in the header by default

Select a template to start editing. Click the theme name at the top of the editor to rename it.

Using the theme editor

The theme editor is a drag-and-drop builder. The left sidebar contains five panels:

Blocks — add new content blocks (text, images, buttons, dividers, etc.)
Pages & Layers — view and navigate the layer structure of your theme
Global Styles — set global fonts, colors, and spacing
Assets — upload and manage images such as your event logo
Templates — switch to a different starter template

The top toolbar includes: Component outline, Preview, Fullscreen, Code editor, Import code, Download, Delete, Save, Undo, and Redo. Use the Desktop / Mobile toggle to preview how the theme renders across screen sizes.

Required: The {{{content}}} Tag

Every theme must contain the {{{content}}} merge tag. This is where your email template content is injected when an email is sent. If the tag is missing, the editor shows a warning banner — This theme is missing the {{{content}}} tag. Emails using this theme won’t display their content. Do not remove this tag from your theme.

Accessibility suggestions

When you save a theme, the editor checks it for images without alt text, unclear link text, low-contrast text and skipped heading levels, and lists what it finds as accessibility suggestions. Show me selects the element in the editor, and for low-contrast text Use followed by a color applies one that passes. Suggestions never stop you from saving. See Email campaigns → Accessibility suggestions.

Importing HTML

Use the Code or Import code buttons in the toolbar to paste custom HTML directly into the editor. Any valid HTML email layout can be imported, including code from external email design tools.

Available Merge Tags

Insert dynamic variables into your theme to pull live event and recipient data at send time. Tags are available via the Edit variable panel in the editor or can be typed directly in the code view.

Merge Tag	Output
{{{content}}}	The body of the email template — required in every theme
{{{event_name}}}	The name of your event
{{{event_logo_image_url}}}	Your event logo as an image URL
{{{recipient_name}}}	The full name of the email recipient
{{{recipient_email}}}	The email address of the recipient
{{{recipient_phone}}}	The phone number of the recipient
{{{subject}}}	The subject line of the email
{{{replyTo}}}	The reply-to email address
{{{sendFrom}}}	The sender email address
{{{cc}}}	CC recipients
{{{bcc}}}	BCC recipients
{{{emailType}}}	The type/category of the email being sent

Setting a theme as default

Only one theme can be active per event at a time. To set a custom theme as the default:

Go to Settings → Email Themes
Find your custom theme in the list
Click the … (ellipsis) menu on the right side of the row
Select Make Default

The theme will now apply to all manually-sent emails and event email campaigns from this event. The active default is marked with a ⭐ in the themes list. The current default and the built-in Standard theme offer Edit only; other custom themes also offer Make Default and Delete.

The “Design not compiled” badge

If a theme’s design was saved but its HTML could not be compiled (for example, an imported layout the editor could not export), the themes list shows a Design not compiled badge on that theme. Emails keep sending with the theme’s last successfully compiled version, so nothing goes out unstyled — but your most recent design edits are not in the sent emails yet. Open the theme and save it again; a successful save clears the badge.

Key Things to Know

Event and organization level. Event themes are configured under the event’s Settings → Email Themes; Organization Settings → Email Themes holds organization-wide themes.
Manual emails and event campaigns. Themes apply to emails sent via the “Send Email” modal and to event email campaigns — campaigns without their own theme use the event default. Automated and system emails are not affected.
One default at a time. Only one theme can be active per event. All manually-sent emails use the current default.
Standard theme is locked. The built-in Standard theme cannot be edited, duplicated, or deleted. It can only be replaced as default by a custom theme.
HTML import supported. Custom HTML from external email builders can be pasted in via the Import code option in the toolbar.