Creating a Send Email Action on a Workflow Task

A Send Email action lets you send templated emails to members as part of an automated workflow. For email campaigns, you attach this action as the entry item on the first task of a workflow — when a member enters the task, the email fires automatically.

How it fits together: "Send Email" is an Action type in Gravity Rail. In a campaign workflow, you assign it as the entry action on your first task. When a scheduled event triggers the workflow for each targeted member, the member enters the first task, which fires the Send Email action and delivers the email.

Prerequisites

• A workflow with at least one task (see Workflows)
• An inbox configured in your workspace (see Email & Inboxes) — this determines the "from" address for the email
• Your email content ready (subject line and body, optionally in HTML)

Steps

1. Open your campaign workflow

Navigate to Workflows and open the workflow you'll use for the campaign. If you don't have one yet, create a new workflow and add at least one task (this will be the task that sends the email).

2. Navigate to the Actions page

Go to Actions in your workspace.

3. Create a new action

Click New Action.

4. Configure the trigger

Set the trigger to Task Entered and select the first task of your campaign workflow. This ensures the email fires when a member enters the task — which happens automatically when the scheduled event starts the workflow for each member.

5. Select "Send Email" as the action type

In the action type dropdown, select Send Email. The email configuration form will appear.

6. Select the inbox

Choose the inbox that will send the email from the Inbox dropdown. This determines the "from" address and reply-to behavior. Replies to this email will be received by this inbox (and can trigger a reply-handling workflow — see the main tutorial).

7. Enter the subject line

In the Subject field, enter your email subject. You can use template variables for personalization:

{{member.first_name}}, your enrollment update is ready

8. Enter the email body

In the Body field, enter your email content. You have two options:

• Plain text: Write your message as plain text.
• HTML: Paste or write HTML markup for rich formatting, images, and styling.

Use the Content Type dropdown to switch between text and html.

Template variables work in the body as well:

html

9. Set the content type

Select the content type from the dropdown:

• text — Plain text email (default)
• html — HTML-formatted email with support for styling, images, and layout

10. Set an email override (optional)

If you want the email to go to a specific address instead of the member's email on file, enter it in the To Email field. Leave this blank for campaigns — the email will be sent to each targeted member's email address automatically.

11. Save the action

Click Save to create the action. The action is now linked to your workflow task and will fire whenever a member enters that task.

Template Variables

You can personalize both the subject and body with template variables using {{variable}} syntax. Commonly used variables for email campaigns:

For conditional content, use Jinja2-style blocks:

{% if member.data.profile.company %}
Company: {{member.data.profile.company}}
{% endif %}

For the full list of available variables, see Template Variables.

HTML Email Tips

• Use inline CSS — Most email clients strip <style> blocks. Apply styles directly on elements with style="..." attributes.
• Single-column layout — Complex multi-column layouts break in many email clients. Stick to a single-column design.
• Test across clients — Render your HTML in Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail before sending to your full audience. Each handles HTML differently.
• Keep images hosted — Reference images via absolute URLs (https://...). Don't embed base64 images.
• Include a plain-text fallback — Some recipients view emails in text-only mode. Consider what your message looks like without formatting.