How to Create Email Templates in UE Advocacy

The variables in the left sidebar are the only ones we support. If you type in something custom like {{advocate initials}} or {{anything we didn't put there}}, it will not get filled in and will show up as raw text in the email.

If you want text that doesn't change (like "30-minute call" or your office address), just type it directly into the template. No variable needed.

Different event types support different variables. Always check the sidebar for the event you're editing.

{{userFirstName}} — Advocate's first name. If we don't have it (Member Joined emails for example), it falls back to "Hey there"

{{brandName}} — Your company name

{{brandLogo}} — Your company logo

{{hubURL}} — Link to your advocacy hub

{{userFirstName}}, {{brandName}}, {{hubURL}}

{{userFirstName}}

{{missionTitle}}

{{missionDescription}}

{{missionPoints}} (only shows if mission rewards points)

{{missionRewardType}} (only shows if mission has a direct reward)

{{missionDeadline}}

{{missionURL}} (deep link to the mission)

{{userFirstName}}, {{brandName}}, {{hubURL}}

{{userFirstName}}

{{rewardName}}

{{rewardDescription}}

{{rewardImage}}

{{pointsSpent}}

{{userFirstName}}

{{newMissionsList}}

{{newRewardsList}}

{{recentPostsList}}

{{userPointsBalance}}

{{userFirstName}} (the advocate)

{{customText}} — free text the rep adds at the time of sending. Use this when you want the rep to drop in deal-specific context (prospect company, use case, etc.)

{{missionDeadline}}

{{missionPoints}} or {{missionRewardType}}

{{advocateName}}

{{advocateTitle}}

{{advocateCompany}}

{{calendarLink}}

{{customText}}

Emails do not auto-send to your advocates or prospects

Instead, every email gets staged in your Communications tab with an Approve button

An admin has to manually click Approve before the email goes out

The "preview" notification gets sent to whatever email is configured in your account settings (which is why you might see emails landing in your work inbox instead of the recipient's)

Emails auto-send to the actual recipient as soon as the trigger fires (member joins, mission accepted, application approved, etc.)

Nothing for the admin to do, fully hands-off

You're testing a new template and want to spot-check what's going out

You have a sensitive use case (like reference requests) where you want a human in the loop before emailing customers

Your reference workflow needs admin approval before contacting an advocate

The email is high-volume or needs to feel real-time (welcome emails, mission invites, weekly digests)

You don't want admins to have to manually approve every email

You're past testing and ready for the system to run on its own

Application Approved emails (advocate applies, gets accepted, never gets the welcome email)

Reference Request emails (rep submits, advocate never opts in because they never got pinged)

Mission Created emails (mission goes live, no one knows)

Product update or release announcements

Event invites (webinars, advisory boards, customer dinners)

Holiday or thank-you notes

Re-engagement campaigns for inactive advocates

Heads-up before a big mission drops

Anything else you'd normally send from your marketing tool

My emails aren't reaching advocates or prospects (or are going to my work inbox instead). 99% of the time this is Preview Mode being on. Check the Communications tab for pending approvals. See the Preview Mode section above.

My emails are landing in spam or promotions. This usually means you haven't set up a branded sending domain yet. By default we send from a UE-branded address, which works but doesn't get the best deliverability. The fix is to set up a branded domain so emails come from [email protected] instead. Ping our team to get the SPF and DKIM records you'll need to give your IT team.

Can I change the sender name and reply-to email? Yes. Both can be customized in your settings. The sender name is what advocates see in their inbox ("From: Acme Customer Team" instead of "From: noreply"). The reply-to is where any responses go. We strongly recommend setting both to something branded so emails don't look like spam.

My emails look like spam to my advocates. Three things to check: (1) is your sender name set to a real human or team name (not "noreply")? (2) is your reply-to a monitored inbox? (3) is your branded domain set up? Fixing all three usually solves it.

Test sending: how do I send myself a test before going Live? For weekly digests, there's a Send Test Digest button in the digest editor. For other event-triggered emails, the easiest way is to add yourself as an advocate, trigger the event (apply, accept a mission, redeem a reward), and watch your inbox. If you have Preview Mode on, you'll need to check the Communications tab and approve.

My variable shows up as raw text in the sent email. You used a variable we don't support. Check the left sidebar for the exact list. Anything not in there won't fill in.

Why does the admin preview show {{userFirstName}} instead of a real name? Dynamic variables get inserted at the moment the email actually sends, so the admin preview shows the raw template. The advocate will see "Hi Sarah" not "Hi {{userFirstName}}". This is a known UX wart we're working on.

What happens to {{userFirstName}} when we don't have the advocate's first name yet? This comes up most often with Member Joined emails when someone signs up with just an email. We fall back to "Hey there" in that case. Future emails will fill in the name once they complete onboarding.

Can I add a custom variable like {{advocateInitials}} or {{prospectCompanyName}}? Not today. The only supported variables are the ones in the left sidebar of the editor. For things like prospect company on a reference request, use {{customText}} and let the rep type it in at the point of sending.

Where does the Mission Declined "decline reason" text come from? Whatever the admin enters in the Declined Feedback field gets inserted into the email as custom text. The advocate sees the reason and can resubmit.

Why can't I edit my Live template's Preview Mode setting? Once a template is Live, the Preview toggle doesn't show on edit. The current workaround is to duplicate the template, set the new one to Live with the right Preview setting, then delete the old one. We're working on making this editable in place.

My HTML edits aren't saving. Hard refresh the page and try again. If it still won't save, try creating a new template instead of editing the existing one (we've seen edge cases where edit/delete is broken on certain older templates). Ping our team in Slack if it persists.

My HTML isn't showing up in the visual editor. Toggle Visual Editor in the top right AND drag the HTML block into the preview area. It doesn't auto-render.

Can I have multiple templates per event type? Yes. You can build several per event and pick which one is Live at any time. Useful for A/B testing, seasonal swaps, or having different templates for different mission types (e.g. one Mission Created template for content missions, another for events).

The reference request email never went out to my advocate. Two things to check, in order: (1) Preview Mode on the Reference Request template (most common cause) or (2) you have a reference approval workflow with multiple steps and didn't approve all of them

Can I CC someone on reference request emails? Yes, if you have the data. Whatever field you map to the CC list (account owner email, CSM email, etc.) gets pulled in automatically.
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