Email

Ministrium sends email via a transactional provider (SendGrid in production) using domains authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. There are two send categories: transactional and campaign.

Transactional vs campaign

Type	Triggered by	Examples	Template
Transactional	System event	Donation receipt, registration confirmation, reminder	System template, editable
Campaign	A person in the church	Weekly newsletter, event invite, announcement	Custom template

Transactional does not require explicit opt-in (it’s part of the service). Campaigns do: the recipient must have given consent.

Create a campaign

Communications → Campaigns → New → Email.
Pick a list or dynamic segment (see Lists and segments).
Subject, preview text, body (visual editor or HTML).
Preview with real data from a list member.
Test send to 3 internal addresses.
Schedule or send immediately.

Block-based visual editor

The editor uses blocks: Text, Image, Button, Divider, Columns, Header. Each block is responsive by default.

Available variables


{{member.first_name}}        → John
{{member.last_name}}         → Doe
{{member.preferred_name}}    → Johnny (if set)
{{member.campus.name}}       → Downtown Campus
{{church.name}}              → La Roca Church
{{church.address.short}}     → 1234 Reforma Ave, NYC
{{unsubscribe_url}}          → Per-recipient unique URL (required)

If a variable has no value, it falls back to a per-channel default (configurable in Templates → Defaults).

Deliverability

So your mail lands in the inbox and not in spam:

Authenticate your domain: SPF + DKIM + DMARC (step-by-step guide in Connect domain).
Warm the domain: start with small lists (≤ 500) and ramp volume 20% per week.
Clean list: hard bounces are auto-disabled. Soft bounces retry 3 times then disable.
Complaint rate < 0.1%: above that threshold your domain enters quarantine and you must open a ticket.

Metrics

Each campaign reports: sent, delivered, opens (pixel-based), clicks (redirect), unsubscribes, complaints, bounces. Data lags 5–15 minutes.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection

iOS ≥ 15.4 open rate is artificially inflated by image caching. Don’t use it alone to judge engagement; cross-check with clicks and conversions.

Transactional email triggered by API


curl -X POST https://api.ministrium.com/v1/notifications \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Tenant: la-roca" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "channel": "email",
    "template_id": "tpl_event_confirmation",
    "to": { "member_id": "mem_123" },
    "data": { "event_name": "Youth retreat" }
  }'

This goes through the template engine and respects transactional opt-in.