Template Designs
Navigate to: Menu > Email & Promotions > Template Designs
Overview
Template Designs is where you design everything Backstage Manager sends or prints for your audiences and your team: marketing emails, the automated notification emails your team receives, e-tickets, printed box office tickets, confirmation emails and receipts. Every template can include merge tags, which are replaced with real details when the email or ticket is sent, such as the customer’s name, the show, the performance date, their seat or the stage a card has moved to.
The template types are:
● Email Designs: Emails sent to your audiences and contacts, such as campaigns, renewal invitations and automated performance reminders, and the notification emails sent to your team
● Printed Designs: Tickets printed at the box office, and contact cards, address cards and receipts
● Digital Pass Designs: E-tickets your customers open on their phones or print at home
● Receipt Designs: Order confirmation emails, receipts and invoices
Create an email design
● Go to Email & Promotions > Template Designs
● Click Add Email Design
● Enter a Name for the template, for example Know Before You Go, and the Subject line
● Build your email in the editor using the Content, Structure and Settings tabs (see below)
● Click Preview to check how it looks
● Click Save Template
Content
Drag and drop blocks into your email:
● Text: Add text, such as show details or arrival information. This is also where you add merge tags (see Merge tags below)
● Image: Add a show image or your logo, uploaded from your computer or chosen from your gallery
● GIF: Search for an animated GIF or add an image link
● Button: Add a button that links to another page, for example Book Now linking to the show on your booking pages. Set the button text, link, alignment, colours, border and size
● Divider: Separate sections of your email
● Spacer: Add space between blocks
● Social: Add links to your social media accounts
● Video: Add a YouTube or Vimeo link, for example a show trailer
● HTML: Add your own HTML code
● Product: Add a product to your email
Many blocks also let you set alignment, size and margins, and choose Hide on mobile or Hide on desktop.
Structure
● Set the number of columns, for example two columns to show two shows side by side
● Change the top and bottom margins
● Upload a background image. Not every email program shows background images, so set a similar background colour too
● Change the background colour
Settings
● Email Settings: The maximum width of your email. The recommended width is 600px
● Color Settings: Background, block, button and link colours, for example your theatre’s brand colours
● Font Settings: The font and size for Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, paragraphs and button text
● Line Height: The spacing between lines
● Invisible Preheader: The preview text shown beside the subject line in most inboxes, for example Doors open at 19:00, here’s everything you need to know
Merge tags
Merge tags add personal and live details to your emails. To add one, click into a Text block, open the Merge tags menu in the text toolbar, choose a group and click the tag you want. The groups are:
● Contact Tags: Details about the contact receiving the email, such as their name
● Notification Activity: Details of an activity, for emails telling a team member an activity has been assigned to them
● Notification Schedule: Details of a scheduled shift, including First Name, Last Name, Email, Time, Name and Note, for emails telling staff about a shift
● Notification Time Off: Details of a time off request, for emails to a manager when a staff member asks for leave
● Notification Time Off Answer: The manager’s decision, for emails telling a staff member their time off has been approved or declined
● Automations: Details of a card moving on a pipeline or board, including System User name, Board name, New stage, Card name and Movement datetime
Create a board or pipeline automation template
Template Designs is where you create the emails sent automatically when a card moves stage on a pipeline in Acts & Performers or a board in Contacts & Relationships, for example telling your technical manager that a show has reached Contracting, or your Development Manager that a sponsor has reached Agreement Signed.
● Go to Email & Promotions > Template Designs and click Add Email Design
● Enter a Name, for example Card Moved Notification, and a Subject, for example A card has moved stage
● Add a Text block and write your message
● Click Merge tags > Automations and add the details you need. For example: Card name has moved to New stage on Board name at Movement datetime
● Add System User name if you want to show who moved the card
● Click Save Template
● Set up the automation in Acts & Performers > Pipelines or Contacts & Relationships > Boards by clicking Manage Automation, choosing Time After Board Movement and selecting this template. See the Pipelines, Boards and Automation articles
Add attachments to an email
Emails can’t carry file attachments directly, but you can add download links, for example to a show programme, an access guide or a seating plan.
● Upload the files to Backstage Manager, for example in Acts & Performers > Files, and copy the link to each file
● In your email design, drag an HTML block to where you want the links
● Paste in the following code, replacing YOUR_FILE_URL_1 and YOUR_FILE_URL_2 with your file links:
● <p>Attachments:</p><p><a href="YOUR_FILE_URL_1" target="_blank">Download Attachment 1</a></p><p><a href="YOUR_FILE_URL_2" target="_blank">Download Attachment 2</a></p>
● Change the link text, for example to Download the access guide
● Save the template and send yourself a test to check the links work
Notification emails for your team
As well as board automations, you can design the emails Backstage Manager sends your team automatically:
● Activity notifications: Sent to the team member assigned to an activity. Use the Notification Activity merge tags
● Shift notifications: Sent to staff when they are scheduled for a shift. Use the Notification Schedule merge tags
● Time off requests: Sent to a manager when a staff member requests leave. Use the Notification Time Off merge tags
● Time off answers: Sent to the staff member when their manager approves or declines. Use the Notification Time Off Answer merge tags
Once created, assign each template in Settings: Activities Notification for activities, Schedule Notification for shifts, Time Off Notification for leave requests and Answer Notification for manager decisions.
Confirmation emails and receipts
The confirmation email is what customers receive after booking.
● Go to Email & Promotions > Template Designs and click Add Receipt Design
● Choose to build it in the visual editor or in HTML
● Add your own content, for example arrival times, access information and a note about your bar opening before the show
● Add the dynamic tags you need (see below). [cart_table] must be included
● Save the template
● Go to Settings, choose your template in the Confirmation Email Template dropdown and click Save Storefront Settings
Dynamic tags for confirmation emails:
● [cart_table]: A breakdown of the order. Required
● [order_date]: The order date
● [cart_id]: The order number
● [ticket_button_url]: The link to the customer’s tickets. Wrap it in a link, for example <a href='[ticket_button_url]' target='_blank'>View Your Tickets</a>
● Other receipt tags: [currencySymbol], [trans_id], [user_fname], [user_email], [message], [invoice_message], [ticket_button] and [cart_table_simplified]
● Language tags: ##order-confirmation## and ##ordered-on## change to the customer’s language
Only one confirmation email is sent per order, even if the order includes several shows or products. To make it relevant, you can use dynamic content based on what the customer bought, for example: Hi first name, thanks for booking for the show, here are your details, and here are other shows you might enjoy.
Season ticket confirmation emails
● Create a separate confirmation email for season tickets, then connect it to your season in Settings > Confirmation Email Template and click Save
● If an order includes both single tickets and season tickets, the customer receives the season ticket confirmation email
Reservation emails
A reservation is when a customer has reserved tickets but not paid yet, for example a school group reserving seats. You can set a separate email for reservations in Settings > Reserved Email Template. To let customers pay online, include a Pay now link to your storefront’s reservation page with {transaction-number} at the end, so each customer’s link opens their own reservation.
Digital pass designs (e-tickets)
When a customer opens the link in their confirmation email, they see their e-ticket.
● Click Add Digital Pass Design
● Build your design in the HTML editor, adding the e-ticket tags you need, such as [event_name], [perf_date], [perf_time], [section_name], [row], [seat], [entrance_name] and [barcode]
E-ticket designs can be set at a very detailed level, by event, section, product type or price band. This means an Adult and a Child ticket in the same order can have different designs, and you can add performance day information, such as running times, bar opening times or a pre-show dining offer, to help increase spend.
Printed designs (box office tickets)
● Click Add Ticket Design, or Printed Designs
● Set the size of the design. It must exactly match your ticket stock, or tickets will print blank or with blank space
● Click Choose Tag, select a tag and click Add Tag. Tags are grouped by type, for example ticket values and receipt values
● Drag the tag to where you want it on the ticket, for example the show name at the top and the seat and row prominently
● Click a tag to change its font and size, or to add custom text
● To add an image, such as your logo or a sponsor’s logo, choose Custom Image from Choose Tag, click the [custom_image] tag, enter the Image URL and set the Height and Width
● Click Preview Ticket at any time to see how the ticket will print
● Click Save ticket
Contact cards, address cards and receipts
Use the same ticket designer to create:
● Contact cards: Reusable cards for season ticket holders or Friends, using the values under Contact Value. The card’s barcode gives access to every performance they have booked
● Address cards: Using the values under Header Value, for example for posting tickets
● Receipt cards: Using the values under Receipt Value
Once created, assign your contact card, address card, receipt and voucher designs to your organisation in Settings.
Tag reference
● Language tags: ##confirmation##, ##row##, ##seat##, ##name##, ##ticket##, ##voucher##, ##type##, ##section##, ##issue##, ##date##, ##time##, ##venue##, ##price##, ##tax##, ##extra-charges##, ##delivery## and ##code##. These change to the customer’s language
● Contact card tags: [contact_full_name], [contact_phone_number], [address], [contact_id], [contact_barcode], [custom_field_1], [custom_field_2], [custom_field_3], [row], [seat], [venue_name], [location_name], [ticket_type_name], [section_name] and [entrance_name]
● Header tags: [contact_full_name], [contact_phone_number], [address], [confirmation_id], [custom_field_1], [custom_field_2] and [custom_field_3]
● Receipt tags: [payment], [order_date], [issue_date], [payment_date], [total], [confirmation_id], [currency], [contact_full_name], [contact_phone_number], [custom_field_1], [custom_field_2] and [custom_field_3]
● General ticket tags: [currency], [confirmation_id], [issue_date], [barcode], [voucher_code], [event_name], [row], [seat], [venue_name], [location_name], [ticket_type_name], [section_name], [perf_day], [perf_date], [perf_time], [contact_full_name], [price], [tax], [booking_fee], [delivery_fee], [year], [answer], [logo], [custom_field_1], [custom_field_2] and [custom_field_3]
● E-ticket tags: All the general ticket tags, plus [contact_phone_number], [entrance_name], [address], [total], [payment], [order_date] and [payment_date]
Tips
● Use your theatre’s brand colours and fonts in Settings so every email looks consistent
● Always fill in the Invisible Preheader, as it is often the first thing people read after the subject line
● Send yourself a test of every template and check the merge tags fill in correctly
● Put the performance date, time, seat and entrance prominently on e-tickets and printed tickets to help front of house
● Give templates clear names, for example Automation - Card Moved or Receipt - Season Tickets, so they are easy to find when setting up automations and settings