Sending a one-off email

A one-off email goes to one contact, right now. Open it from + New → Email, from the command palette (type "new email" or "send"), or from Send email on a row of your contacts list. The screen works like a mail client: To, From, Subject and your message, all in one place.

How do I write and send one?

1. To. Start typing a name, email or company. Nothing is listed until you type, and the search covers all of your contacts. Pick one, and Change swaps it later. To write to someone who isn't a contact yet, type their full email address and pick Send to followed by the address and "(adds a contact)". The choice appears when the search doesn't list a contact with that exact address. If the address does belong to one of your contacts, SEMAOS sends to that contact and doesn't add a second one.
2. From. With a connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox, the email goes out from it by default. If you've connected more than one, that's the one marked Default under Settings → Mailbox. You can pick one of your verified sending domains instead, and that email then goes out through SEMAOS from the domain. One case surprises people: if your mailbox address is itself on one of your verified sending domains (jane@acme.com with acme.com verified), SEMAOS sends it from that domain, not through the mailbox, and it counts like any platform send. Sending channels explains the difference. While your default mailbox is working, your other working mailboxes are listed below it, each as "Gmail:" or "Outlook:" and its address. Pick one and the email goes out through that mailbox. If the mailbox you picked has stopped working by the time you send, SEMAOS doesn't send it from another address: the email isn't sent, and the message tells you to pick another From or reconnect that mailbox.
3. Subject and message. Write them the way you would in your own inbox. The merge-field button inserts a field such as {{contact.first_name}} wherever your cursor was last, in the subject or in the message. In the message you can also type {{ and pick from the list that opens; it narrows as you type. A subject can be up to 200 characters. Stuck on a first version? Draft with AI writes a subject and message from a short brief for you to edit. See Drafting an email with AI.
4. Send. It goes out immediately. There is no scheduled send for one-off emails yet.

Under the message SEMAOS adds your signature (if you've set one in Settings → Signature), your company's mailing address and an unsubscribe link. US law requires the address and the link on every commercial email; the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide covers both, and adds that the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. SEMAOS adds them so you don't have to. If your account has no mailing address yet, the send is refused until you add one.

What happens when I send to a new address?

SEMAOS adds the address as a contact when you press Send, then sends to it like any other contact. The new contact shows in Contacts with the source One-off send, so it has the same history, unsubscribe link and reply tracking as everyone else, and you can add a name or company later. Previewing an email to a new address doesn't add anything.

Before it adds the contact, SEMAOS checks your suppression list. An address that unsubscribed, bounced or complained before is refused and not added. It also isn't added if your account can't send right now, for example while it's paused. If the send is refused for another reason after the contact was added, such as a daily cap, the contact stays, and you'll find it in the To search next time. A member who can only draft can't add contacts this way, because they can't send a one-off email.

Do I need a template?

No. A template is something you can load, not a step you have to go through. Load a template lists your templates, with a filter:

• A Simple template loads into the message as a copy you can edit. Your changes go into this email only; the template stays as it was. If the template has a preheader, it doesn't come along, because a one-off email has none: inboxes show your first line instead.
• A Designed template keeps its body exactly as saved, because its layout can't be edited here without breaking it. The screen shows its name, a link to open it in the template editor (in a new tab, so your recipient and From stay put), and Remove template to go back to writing your own. You can change the subject. It starts as the template's subject, and what you type goes out with this email only, while the template keeps its saved subject. Merge fields work there too, typed by hand, such as {{contact.first_name}}. If you leave the field as it was, or clear it, the email uses the template's saved subject at the moment you preview, test or send, including a change saved in the template editor after you loaded it.

If you load a template over something you've already written, SEMAOS asks before replacing it.

How do I check it before it goes?

• Preview shows the email exactly as this contact will receive it, with merge fields filled in and the From it will actually use. If the contact is on your suppression list, or the email is missing its unsubscribe link or mailing address, the preview says so and the Send button stays off until you change something. The preview does not check your sending limits: a send can still be refused when a daily cap or your plan's limit has been reached, and the message says which.
• Send test to me sends the email to your own address, with sample values in place of the contact's details. A test goes out the way the real email would. A From on your own verified domain sends the test from that domain; any other From sends it from your connected mailbox, or from that From if you have no mailbox. The confirmation names the address it came from. If you picked one of your other mailboxes, the test goes through it. Each user can send 25 tests a day (counted by UTC day), shared with the test button in the template editors. During a trial, a test sent through SEMAOS also counts toward the trial's send allowance.

If you change anything after previewing, the preview closes. Preview again to see the new version.

Can I keep what I wrote?

Save as template saves the subject and message as a new Simple template, without leaving the page. Name it and it appears in your templates, ready to load next time or to use in a sequence. After that first save, the email stays linked to the template: the button reads Save changes to followed by the template's name, and it updates that template in place, without asking for a name again. It saves only the subject and message, so the template's name and preheader stay as they are, including a rename or a preheader added in the template editor. If you do want a second copy, use Save as new template, and the email is linked to that copy from then on. Loading any template, or starting another email, ends the link.

If you try to leave the page with something written, SEMAOS asks first.

Does a one-off email count against my plan?

Only when it goes out through SEMAOS. An email sent from your connected mailbox is never counted against your plan's monthly send limit. SEMAOS caps it per mailbox by the kind of account: 250 a day for a personal Outlook account, 400 for a personal Gmail account, and 1,000 for a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account. Your mailbox provider can refuse sooner, and Outlook.com's limits can be lower for new accounts and accounts without a Microsoft 365 subscription. An email sent from one of your sending domains counts like any other platform send, and a new domain's warmup cap applies to it; the screen shows the cap when you pick a domain that's still warming up. On the Free plan every email goes through your connected mailbox.