Create and send an email

Emails in Orchestrate let you send personalized, targeted messages to users based on their metadata, product usage, or past engagement. Use emails to reach users outside your app, to bring them back in-app or share essential updates.

You can send one-off emails or use emails as part of a journey to coordinate multi-channel messaging, optimize timing and sequencing, and personalize experiences across channels.

This article explains how to create and send a one-off email, configure email settings, and understand how emails behave when used individually or within a journey. For more information on adding emails to a journey, see Add messages to your journey.

Prerequisites

To create and send an email, you must:

• Have a configured and verified email domain. See Set up and verify an email domain in Pendo.
• Have Email Content Editor, Email Creator, or Subscription Admin permissions. See Default app-level roles.

Create a new email

You can create an email from a pre-defined template or by cloning an existing one.

Use a template

Pendo provides pre-defined templates for common use cases, making it easy to create emails quickly. There are two main template types: marketing and transactional. Use the correct type for your use case to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. See Marketing and transactional email templates for more information.

After you select a template type, it can’t be changed. To use a different type, create a new email and select the appropriate template.

To create an email:

1. In the left-side menu, go to Orchestrate > Emails.
2. Select + Create email in the top-right corner.
3. On the Create email page, select the app the email should be sent from.
4. Hover over a template and select Select template.

Note: This creates a standalone email that can't be added directly to a journey. To create or add an email to a journey, go to Orchestrate > Journeys and either create a new email, or clone a standalone email. See Add messages to your journey.

Important: If you're using a transactional template, make sure it matches your use case and compliance requirements. See Marketing and transactional emails for more information.

The Email details page opens, where you can edit content and configure settings such as segments, scheduling and email recipients. 

Clone an email

You can clone an existing one-off email to speed up creation. Emails that are part of a journey can’t be cloned.

1. In the left menu, go to Orchestrate > Emails.
2. Using the filters at the top of the page, select Managed in > Emails to exclude journey emails.
   
    
3. Select an email to open it.
4. On the email's Settings page, select the ellipsis (...) in the top-right corner and choose Clone email.

A cloned copy is created, which you can edit as needed.

Important: If you clone an email created from a transactional template, the cloned email inherits the transactional settings. Ensure you use the correct template type for your use case and compliance requirements. See Marketing and transactional email templates for more information.

Edit email content

Edit your new email (template-based or cloned) in the Visual Design Studio.

1. In the Email template section of the Settings tab, select Edit email in the top-right corner.
2. The Visual Design Studio opens. 
3. Hover over any content block and select the icons to edit, move, or delete it.
4. Hover above, below, or beside a content block and select the + icon to add new blocks.
   
   

Available content blocks and customization options:

• Text block. Add or edit title and body text.
• Personalization tokens. Insert metadata values for tailored content. See Add personalization below.
• Image block. Add or replace an image using a URL or uploaded file.
• Button. Edit button text, link, and style.
• Hyperlink image. Add a Link URL to make an image clickable.
• Side-by-side layout. Place text and images next to each other using the + icon.

Select Save top right to save changes. To create a new template, select Save Template, then choose whether to update the existing one or create a new version.

Select Exit to return to the Settings page.

Note: The unsubscribe section can't be edited or removed from marketing templates.

Add personalization

You can personalize email content using visitor or account metadata. Personalization inserts dynamic values so each recipient sees tailored content.

Common uses include:

• Addressing users by name.
• Adjusting content by location or account.
• Creating unique URLs per recipient.

Personalization improves open and click rates and reduces spam likelihood. You can insert up to 20 personalization tokens per email; tokens exceeding this limit appear as plain text.

Insert personalization tokens

1. While editing an email, hover over a text block and select the Edit icon.
   
   
2. Place the cursor where the token should appear.
3. In the Edit Text window, select the Personalization icon.
   
   
4. Choose the metadata field from the dropdown.
5. In Default value, enter a fallback value if metadata is missing. For example, use there for first name fields: "Hi Sam" becomes "Hi there" when no metadata is available. If you don’t enter a default value and metadata is missing, the token renders as blank in the email.
   
    
6. Select Insert, then Done.

Personalization values

Tokens inserted with the editor appear in your text as structured placeholders. For example, inserting a visitor’s first name, and fallback of “valued customer” creates the following token:

{visitor.firstname|valued customer/}

You can type these tokens directly into the text editor or into fields like button links if you prefer. Use the following syntax options:

Tip: Always provide a default value in personalization tokens to avoid blank spaces where metadata is missing.

Configure email settings

In the Email details section, select Enter details to configure your email.

• Subject line. Enter the email subject.
• Preview text. Optional text displayed in recipients' inboxes.
• Sender name. Name displayed as the sender.
• Email domain. Domain used for sending.
• From address. Address displayed to recipients.
• Reply-to address – Address designated to receive replies.
• Recipient metadata – Field containing recipients' email addresses. See Choose IDs and metadata.

Select Save.

Choose your recipients

By default, a new email has the segment set to No one. To define your audience:

1. Select Edit in the Segment card. 
2. Choose an existing segment or create a Custom segment.
3. (Optional) Select Include recently created visitors without activity to include users who haven’t logged in yet. See below for more detail.
4. Select Save.

Your segment size may not indicate the number of email recipients – you can view this information in the email recipient card. 

Include recently created visitors without activity

This setting lets you include visitors who were created in the past year (via CSV upload or API) who haven’t had in-app activity. This is useful for:

• Onboarding new users imported via email lists.
• Reaching users who opted into communications but haven’t logged in.

Important: Only enable this if you’re sure the email addresses are valid. High bounce rates can harm deliverability and your ability to send messages from Pendo.

Even with this setting, Pendo only sends emails to visitors who were created since August 2025 and within the last 12 months. See Email eligibility rules below.

Email eligibility rules

Regardless of segment, emails aren’t sent to visitors inactive for over 12 months. This protects your sender reputation and helps maintain deliverability.

View email recipients

The Email recipient section allows you to view who will and won’t receive your email. Because the segment size may not always match the number of email recipients, this section provides a detailed breakdown.

To get updated email recipient data, make sure you’ve added the email metadata in Settings first.

Once configured, you'll see how many visitors in the segment are currently eligible to receive the email, based on the latest segment data. Segments are dynamic, and this number reflects current eligibility.

Definitions

• Eligible recipients: Active visitors with valid email addresses who haven’t unsubscribed, bounced, or marked emails as spam.
• Missing or invalid email address: Visitors with a missing or invalid email address, based on the selected metadata field.
• Marked as spam: Visitors who marked previous emails as spam.
• Bounced: Visitors whose emails couldn’t be delivered due to invalid addresses or server issues.
• Unsubscribed visitors: Visitors who opted out of marketing emails. Transactional emails are still delivered. View Marketing and transactional email templates. 
• Inactive visitors (more than a year): Visitors with no app activity in over 12 months.
• New inactive visitors (less than a year): Visitors created in the last year but without app usage.

The Email recipient section separates recipients into two categories:

• Who will receive the email:
  • Eligible recipients
  • New inactive visitors, if the option to include them is selected
  • Unsubscribed visitors, if sending a transactional email
• Who won’t receive the email:
  • Missing or invalid email address
  • Marked as spam
  • Bounced
  • Inactive visitors (more than a year)
  • New inactive visitors, if the option to include them is not selected
  • Unsubscribed visitors, if sending a marketing email

Note: Visitors may belong to more than one category. As a result, category totals might not add up to the total segment size.

Schedule delivery

1. In the Scheduling tile, select Edit.
2. Set the time and date for the send.
3. (Optional) If email throttling is turned on, you can Ignore email throttling to bypass the email throttling limit.
4. Select Save.

Note: Transactional emails ignore throttling automatically.

Applying a schedule doesn’t automatically send the email. See Send or activate your email.

Email throttling

Subscription admins can limit how many marketing emails a visitor can receive in a set time period across standalone and journey emails. This applies to all marketing emails across your entire subscription. Transactional emails aren't included and are sent even if the visitor has already received the maximum number of emails within the set time period. You can turn this off for individual emails, including those that are part of a journey, in their settings.

To configure global email throttling:

1. In the left-side menu, go to Orchestrate > Emails.
2. Select the Settings tab.
3. Turn on Email throttling.
4. Enter the maximum number of emails each visitor can receive and the number of days for the time period.

Ignore email throttling

If email throttling is turned on, you can ignore it in an email's scheduling settings. You can also choose to ignore throttling for individual emails in a journey. Transactional emails ignore throttling automatically.

Note: You can't order emails and journeys like you can with guides.

Send a test email

Before sending, test your email to verify content and formatting.

1. In the Email template section of the Settings page, select Send a test email.
2. Enter recipient email addresses (press Enter after each).
3. Select Send email.

Tip: You must complete all email details and have a verified domain to send test emails.

Send or activate your email

To send or activate a scheduled email:

1. In the email status dropdown at the top of the page, select Scheduled.
   
   
    
2. In the confirmation modal, select Set to Schedule.
   
   

Email send schedule

The send schedule differs for one-off and journey emails.

One-off emails

• Send now: Delivered within a few minutes of activation.
• Scheduled send: Delivered at the scheduled time.

Journey emails

• Emails send in bulk once daily.
• If a visitor becomes eligible after an email sends, they receive it the next day.
• When a journey is activated, all eligible recipients receive the first email within an hour.
• After the journey has started, new eligible visitors receive their first email within 24 hours.
• Each subsequent email requires a 24-hour interval.

Unsubscribe settings

Marketing email templates automatically include an unsubscribe link that can’t be removed or edited. See Marketing and transactional templates for more detail.

When a recipient unsubscribes, they're removed from all future Orchestrate emails classified as marketing emails, regardless of what segments the user belongs to. This applies even if the unsubscribe event came from a third-party email integration, such as HubSpot.

​​To sync unsubscribes with other systems, use Webhooks. If a user wants to re-subscribe, contact Pendo Support.

Delete an email

You can delete emails from the Emails table.

1. Select the checkbox next to one or more emails.
2. Select Delete.
3. Confirm the deletion in the modal.

Note: Emails that are part of a journey can't be deleted.