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Member Groups & Mailing Lists

A member group represents a filtered list of members from your database. Member groups can be used as a mailing list or with other membermojo functions, such as the member directory.

The most common use of a member group is to send regular newsletters and correspondence to all members.

Member groups are maintained from the Member Groups & Mailing Lists page.

Default Groups

When a new organisation is created we create three groups:

  • 'Administrators' - members that have a Site Role of Admin.
  • 'All Members' - members that appear on the Member List page (membership state is Active or Pending Payment).
  • 'Expired Members' - members that appear on the Expired Member List page (membership state is Expired)

Viewing or download the members of a group

The Members button for each group on the Member Groups & Mailing Lists page displays the group members.

Click Download for a CSV file containing group member details.

Change the columns for viewing or download by clicking More / Change View/Columns.

Using a group as a mailing list

Tick the Use member group as mailing list and enter a Mailbox prefix. Once saved the group email address will appear on the Member Groups & Mailing Lists page.

If an admin sends an email to one of these addresses membermojo will automatically forward to the group members using the Email and Email 2 fields on their member record. Members without an email address will be skipped.

Emails can include formatting, images and attachments.

The admin does not need to be signed in to do this but must send the email from their administrator email address so we can verify who they are.

Group members can also be sent to Mailchimp to deliver emails using their service. See Mailchimp.

Unsubscribe from all mailing lists

All group emails support "one-click unsubscribe" which many email services offer as an option when viewing email. (see Unsubscribe from Email)

An unsubscribe link can also be included as a footer within group emails. A member can use the link without signing in to remove themselves from your mailing list.

An unsubscribe link is an important signal to email providers that your emails can be controlled by their customers, and may reduce the chance of it being labelled as spam. We recommend unsubscribe footer links for all mailing lists.

Unsubscribe footer links are controlled by the per-group Unsubscribe Action setting.

If set to One-click only (no footer) - all group email or With footer - all group email an unsubscribe will set the Unsubscribe group email field on the member record. This will prevent the member from receiving any group email.

Unsubscribe from individual mailing lists

Opt-in/out fields on your form can be used to filter the members in a group. Unsubscribe links can set/reset these fields to remove the member from the group.

  • Add a Yes/No field to your member form for each group you need to allow members to opt out of.
  • Add the Yes/No field as a condition to the group. i.e. 'opt out' is 'no' (not opted-out)
  • Under Unsubscribe actions select the option to set your condition field. e.g. With footer - Set 'opt out' to 'yes'.

When a member unsubscribes using "one-click unsubscribe" or the footer link the opt out field will be set to 'yes' and the member removed from the group.

The same process can be used to set an opt-in field to 'no'.

Allowing non-admins to send group email

By default only admins can send group email, but this can be changed.

When editing a group Permitted Mailbox Senders can be set to:

  • Administrators - the default, only full admins can send to this group.
  • This Group - to allow members defined by this group to send to this group.
  • Member Group - to allow members of a different group to send emails to this group.

For example, to allow some members to email members without being an admin:

Create a new 'Permitted Senders' group:

  • click Add Group on Member Groups & Mailing Lists and give it a name 'Permitted Senders'
  • under Filter add a Include/exclude member or group / Include Member condition, then enter the first senders name
  • repeat using Include Member to add each sender
  • test the members of the 'Permitted Senders' group by clicking View
  • click Save to finish

Modify the 'All Members' group to allow the new group to send email:

  • click Edit for the 'All Members' group
  • change Permitted Mailbox Senders to your new member group
  • Save

Members in the permitted sender group can now send emails to all members. (but must still send their email from their member address so we can recognise them)

Changing the from name and reply to address

Group emails are always sent from the mailer.shortname@membermojo.co.uk address, but will be displayed using the name of your organisation plus the name of the group. e.g. "Sample Club All Members"

By default replies are addressed to the original sender.

The From Name and Reply To setting has several options:

  • From Organisation, Reply to Sender - the default setting.
  • From Organisation, Reply to Fixed Email - allows entry of a central reply address, such as a membership enquiries mailbox. This setting means the sender's address is not revealed.
  • From Sender & Organisation, Reply to This Group (discussion) - the senders name is included in the displayed from name. e.g. "John Smith (Sample Club Committee)". Replies are directed back to the group. A footer is also added containing the senders email so replies can be sent directly to the sender.
  • From Sender & Organisation, Reply to Sender - the senders name is included in the displayed from name. Replies are addressed to the original sender.

Using conditions to filter members

The list of members in a group is determined by one or more conditions.

If there are no conditions the group will include all current members from the Member List page.

Click add condition to view the fields available for matching:

  • Include/exclude member or group - include or exclude individual members or include the members of another group.
  • Member form fields - match using the fields on your member form such as a ticked Yes/No field or Choice field set to an option.
  • System fields - match using system fields such as a member's Expires on or Site role fields, or if they are a lead or linked member.
  • Last membership payment - match using fields from the last membership payment.
  • Age - match using a member's age. Options include age today, school age, age at start of organisation year or UK Athletics age category. (requires Date of birth field on the member form)
  • Checkout item purchase - match using fields from the last purchase of a checkout item.
  • Attendance - match using attendance records.
  • Outstanding payment - match members with an outstanding pending payment or unpaid payment request.

Click a field name to view its description then choose the type of match, such as 'Equal to' for choice fields or 'From date' for a date field.

Notes:

  • Date conditions are either 'before' or 'from' an entered date. A 'from' date condition will include the entered date, 'before' will not.
  • All date fields have matching days values - such as 'Expired on days'. This is the number of days since the date value. For example if a member's 'Expires on' is 1st Jan 2020 and today's date is 20th Jan 2020 then 'Expired on days' will be 20.
  • Text fields can be matched as blank of not blank. The content of a text field cannot be tested.
  • To match more than one choice field value add the condition multiple times, one for each value.
  • By default only members with a Membership state equal to Active or Pending Payment are included in the group. Add one or more System fields/ Membership state conditions to only include members with those states.

Example 1 - for expired members add the condition System fields/ Membership state / Equal to and pick Expired.

Example 2 - to create a committee group use multiple Include/exclude member or group / Include member conditions, one for each committee member.

Example 3 - for members below school year 8 (12-13) add Age / School year, click Less than and enter a value of 8.

Example 4 - for members that have purchased a checkout item in the past 30 days add Checkout item purchase / Purchase days, select the item, then click Less than and enter a value of 31.

The number of members matched is shown below the filter. Click View to verify the matched members.

Multiple conditions

With the exception of Include member and Include group all conditions must be satisfied to include a member in the group. If the same condition is repeated then any one of the values can match.

Example 1 - for an age range add conditions Member form fields / Date of birth days / Less than and Member Form fields / Date of birth days / Greater than.

Example 2 - for active and expired members add conditions System fields / Membership State / Equal to as Active and System fields / Membership State / Equal to as Expired.

Example 3 - using conditions System fields / Membership state / Equal to as Expired and Include/exclude member or group / Include Member will contain expired members and the included member.

Example 4 - using conditions System fields/ Membership state / Equal to as Expired and Member form fields/ Email as Blank will contain expired members without an email address.

Example 5 - using conditions System fields / Membership state / Equal to as Expired, System fields/ Membership state / Equal to as Active and Member form fields/ Email as Blank will contain expired and active members without an email address.

Multiple condition lists (OR)

A group can match multiple lists of conditions. (an OR query)

To add another list click add condition / New condition list (OR) then enter conditions into the new list.

Example - your form allows members to tick one or more Yes/No special interest options. To create a group matching members that have ticked any option first add a condition Member form fields / Special interest 1 as Yes. Then add more condition lists, one for each field, that includes members ticking each option.

Footer

A footer is automatically added to group emails if:

  • From Name and Reply To is set to include the senders email in the footer (discussion).
  • an Unsubscribe Action is configured.
  • Footer text is defined.

Footer text can include links and placeholders.

Send to primary email address only

(only applies if Email 2 has been added to your member form)

By default group emails are sent to the primary and Email 2 address present on each matching member record.

Tick Do not Send to Email 2 to limit distribution to just the primary address.

Test your groups

When editing a group click Send Test Email to send a sample group email to your admin address. This will demonstrate how the from name, reply address and footer will be formatted.

To verify you are able to send group email, or to experiment with formatting and placeholders, send an email to a group with a small distribution list - such as the administrators group.

Once a group is saved use the Members button on the Member Groups & Mailing Lists page to view the group members.


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