Communicate lets you write one message and send it to families and carers on the channels they use: email, an SZ App notification, an SMS, your newsfeed or your school’s social media. You can send it straight away or schedule it.
Find Communicate #
In the Control Centre, select Communicate from the menu. The page lists your recently edited messages and how your last email performed. From the toolbar you can start a New Message or manage your Email Templates, Social Post Templates, SMS and newsfeed.
Create a message #
A new message has five steps: Channels, Message Details, Message Content, Recipients and Review & Send. Click Save at any step to come back to it later. Saved messages show as Draft on the Communicate page.
1. Choose your channels #
Click New Message, then click each channel you want to use. A tick shows on the ones you’ve selected. Send to All picks every channel at once.
Channels that aren’t turned on for your school are greyed out. Contact our Customer Success Team if you’d like one switched on.
Click Next.
2. Message details #
Give the message a Message Name. Families don’t see this, so pick a name that helps your team find it later, such as “Athletics Carnival reminder”.
Set the Send Date and Send Time. Leave them as they are to send as soon as you finish, or choose a later date and time to schedule the message.
3. Message content #
You fill in content for each channel you chose. For email there are three parts.
Email Detail: the Email Subject, plus the From Email and From Name that families see. Click Show Authorised to pick from your school’s approved sending addresses. Expand Edit Email Preview Text to set the short line that many inboxes show under the subject.
Email Template: choose a starting design. Blank Template starts from scratch. Use Preview Template to see a design at full size first.
Email Content: write your message in the editor. The template already has your school’s logo and contact details.
Use the Wildcards menu to personalise the email. For example, choose Contacts → First Name and each family sees their own name where you put it.
4. Recipients #
Choose who receives the message.
- Under Add or exclude groups, pick one or more groups, then click Add Group. Each group shows how many email addresses it has.
- Under Add or exclude contacts, search for a person by name, email or mobile and click Add Contact.
- Use Exclude Group or Exclude Contact to leave people out.
Important: When you exclude a group, everyone in it is left out, even if they’re also in a group you’ve added.
Only active groups, and contacts who are active and subscribed, appear in the lists.
5. Review and send #
Check the summary of your message and use the Email Preview and Recipient List tabs to make sure it all looks right.
- Click Send Test Email to send a copy to yourself first.
- Click Complete & Send to finish. If you set a later send time, the message is scheduled and sends at that time. Otherwise it goes now.
Tip: Always send yourself a test email first. It’s the easiest way to catch a typo or a broken link before families see it.
Related articles #
Need a hand? #
Our Customer Success Team is here to help. Call 1300 795 503, email [email protected] or start a live chat in your Schoolzine account.
