Getting started with Flexmail

Welcome to Flexmail. This guide walks you through everything you need to set up before you send your first campaign. Each step is straightforward, and once you have worked through them, you have a solid foundation in place. Most users complete this setup in under an hour.

Before you begin

To follow this guide, you need the following:

• A Flexmail account (free trial or paid subscription)
• Access to your domain DNS settings, or someone who can help you with that
• A list of existing contacts in CSV format, if you are switching from another platform
• Your company logo and brand colours, preferably as HEX codes

Step 1: Choose your communication languages

Flexmail supports multilingual sending from a single account, an advantage if your audience spans multiple language communities. When you first log in, Flexmail asks which languages you want to use.

If you only send in one language, Flexmail keeps it simple and hides settings you do not need. If you select multiple languages, you also choose a fallback language: the language Flexmail uses when no translation is available for a specific contact.

Step 2: Set up your Brand kit

In the Brand kit, you store your logo, colours, and fonts. Once set up, these are available every time you create a message or template, so you do not have to look up your HEX codes each time.

Go to Settings and then to Brand kit.

1. Upload your logo
2. Add your primary and secondary brand colours using HEX codes
3. Select your preferred fonts

Step 3: Set up sender validation

Before you can send a campaign, Flexmail needs to confirm that you have access to the email address you want to use as sender. This is a one-time step per sender address.

Go to Settings and then to Add or remove senders. Add the address you want to use, and Flexmail will send a confirmation email to that address. Click the link in that email and you are ready to send. You can add as many sender addresses as you need.

Step 4: Set up email authentication

Email authentication tells receiving mail servers that your emails actually come from you. Without authentication, your emails are more likely to end up in the spam folder. Flexmail uses three security standards: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

Once you have validated a sender address, Flexmail automatically checks whether the domain records are set up correctly. If anything is missing, you can download a file from your account with the exact settings your domain administrator needs to add. DNS changes can take 24 to 48 hours to complete, which is completely normal.

Step 5: Set up your custom fields

Custom fields let you store extra information about your contacts beyond the standard fields such as name and email address. Think of fields like company name, birthday, subscription type, or other details relevant to your organisation.

Setting up these fields before importing contacts allows you to map your data correctly straight away instead of having to import again later. Go to Settings and then to Manage custom fields.

Step 6: Set up interests

Interests are labels you attach to contacts to track what they are interested in. They are one of the most effective tools in Flexmail for sending relevant, targeted emails in the long term.

Interests can be added to a contact in several ways:

• Automatically, when a contact clicks a link in your email that you have tagged with a specific interest
• During import, by assigning interests to contacts in bulk
• By the contact themselves, when they complete an Opt-in form or update their profile page
• Via the API, for more advanced integrations

You do not need to have everything planned out right now. Start with the categories that make sense for your organisation. They populate on their own as contacts interact with your emails.

Go to Contacts and then to Interests to get started.

Step 7: Import your existing contacts

If you already have a contact list, you can import it into Flexmail via a CSV file. Flexmail guides you through the process step by step.

Go to Contacts and click Add contacts. Upload your file and then map each column to the correct field in Flexmail, including the custom fields you created in step 5.

Step 8: Import your unsubscriptions into the Blacklist

If you are switching to Flexmail from another platform, this step is important. Anyone who previously unsubscribed must not receive emails from your new setup.

Export your unsubscribed contacts from your old platform and then import that list into the Blacklist tab in Flexmail, before you import your active contacts. Flexmail automatically excludes these addresses from all future campaigns.

Step 9: Create your first segment

Segments let you define specific groups within your contact list so you can send more relevant emails. In Flexmail, segments are built from contact fields, custom fields, interests, and behaviour, and they update automatically as your contact data changes.

Go to Contacts and then to Segments, and click Add segment.

Step 10: Create an Opt-in form

An Opt-in form allows visitors to subscribe to your emails directly through your website. When someone completes the form, that person receives a confirmation email. As soon as they click confirm, they are added to your account as a verified contact.

This Double opt-in process provides you with documented consent for every contact, exactly what the GDPR requires. It also keeps your list clean and your engagement rates high, because everyone on it genuinely wants to hear from you.

Go to Forms, then to Opt-in forms, and click Create new Opt-in form. Once you are happy with the form, generate the embed code and add it to your website.

Step 11: Create your first template

Templates save you time and keep your emails consistent. Instead of building your layout from scratch each time, you start from a template and only adapt the content.

Go to Campaigns, then to Messages, and click Create new message. Use the Email Builder to design your layout, add your logo, and apply your brand colours. When you are happy with the result, save it as a template.

Useful templates to create early on:

• Newsletter template, for sharing updates and articles
• Single-topic template, for targeted messages with one clear call to action
• Promotional template, for offers and product announcements
• Event invitation template, for webinars and in-person events

Step 12: Create a welcome email

A welcome email is the first message a new subscriber receives from you, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. Research shows that 76% of people expect a welcome email immediately after subscribing, and subscribers who receive one show 33% more long-term engagement.

Tell new contacts who you are, what they can expect, and how to get the most out of your emails. Create your welcome message in the Email Builder, and then set up an Automation workflow to send it automatically whenever a new contact subscribes.

Step 13: Send your first campaign

Create your campaign by choosing your message, sender address, subject line, and the segment you want to reach. Decide whether to send the campaign immediately or schedule it for later.

After sending, check your campaign reports to see how it went. Your open rate, click rate, and unsubscribe rate each tell you something useful about how your message was received, and where you can improve next time.

If the open tracking consent policy is active, Flexmail calculates the open rate based on contacts who gave consent for open tracking. Read more in Reading reporting when the consent policy is active.

Common mistakes to avoid

Skipping email authentication

Many users skip steps 3 and 4 and try to send a campaign right away. Without a validated sender address and correct DNS records, your emails are far more likely to land in the spam folder or be rejected completely. Complete authentication before you send anything.

Importing contacts without documented consent

It is tempting to import every email address you have ever collected. However, if you cannot prove when those individuals agreed to receive emails from you, do not import them. Sending to people without consent leads to spam complaints, harms your sender reputation, and breaches the GDPR.

Forgetting to import unsubscribers first

When migrating from another platform, importing active contacts before your Blacklist is a common mistake. Always import unsubscribers first (step 8) so that no previously unsubscribed contact receives your first campaign by mistake.

Not setting up custom fields before importing

If you import contacts before creating custom fields, you will need to import again or update records manually later to add that data. Take the time to create your fields in step 5 so the import is accurate from the start.

Sending without a test profile

Personalisation placeholders like first name or company name appear empty or broken in your preview if you have not filled in a test profile. Set this up via Settings before you view or test a message.

Next steps

Well done on completing your setup. Here are some good next steps to get even more out of Flexmail:

• Explore automation by setting up a Workflow sequence
• Run an A/B test on your next campaign to optimise your subject lines (Pro and Premium plans)
• Add more Opt-in forms on specific pages of your website to grow your list
• Set up link tracking to automatically assign interests based on what contacts click