Outbound email

Angel Cheung

Updated April 19, 2026 22:52

The outbound email node sends a single email with optional attachments. There are outcomes for 'sent' and optionally 'not sent', allowing you to continue an experience even if there is a sending failure or bounce. You can learn more about this in the outcomes section below.

Configuring the action

Sender details

Select a Sender Profile or use merge field containing the Sender Profile API name for dynamic sending. Preview the Sender Profile settings you'll be sending with in the preview panel.

Using a merge field instead of a selected profile has a couple of limitations to be aware of:

Sender Profile settings won't be visible in the preview panel
This flow won't appear in the "Flows using this Sender Profile" section of your Sender Profile

Recipient

Recipient: Who this email is being sent to. Enter a single email address or use a merge field to populate it dynamically. Merge fields may be used here.
Additional CC address and BCC address (optional): Add any extra CC or BCC recipients here. These are in addition to any CC and BCC addresses already set in the Sender Profile. Learn more about CC and BCC here

Email subject

Email subject: A brief description or summary that conveys the purpose or content of the email to the recipient. Merge fields may be used here.

Unsubscribe link

If your Sender Profile is set to the Marketing category, an unsubscribe link is required to stay compliant. Enter a custom URL or use the Generate unsubscribe link node to create one.

Designing email

Design your email choosing from two options. Email message bodies are limited to a maximum of 255KB, and will be rejected if the limit is exceeded.

Build from scratch

Use the email builder to design your email. This tool allows you to edit, drag, and drop content into the email canvas. Learn more about designing with Build from scratch here

Use HTML code

If you prefer to use custom HTML code, select the HTML option and paste your code into the text field. You can preview the template before saving the node. Learn more about designing with Use HTML code here

Export HTML

After designing an email, the HTML can be exported (downloaded) easily by clicking the 'Export HTML' button:

Variables

The Variables tab lets you define custom variables for your outbound email node—without writing code or modifying your template. Use variables to manage dynamic content, conditional logic, and values like links, button text, or region-specific footers. Reference variables anywhere in your email design using the builder or HTML mode.

Use variables to keep templates clean, reusable, and easy to update. Move logic out of your email body and into simple, no-code controls.

To learn more, including available variable types, best practices, and advanced examples—see our full guide:
Using variables in Outbound Email nodes

Attachments

Uploading attachments

Use the attachments tab to manage attachments for an outbound email. This tab allows you to upload files from your local machine as attachments, and allows you to view (download) existing attachments; as well as delete them.

email attachments.png

You can upload as many attachments as you like, however, the email design and attachment size combined must be less than 10MB to send successfully. As email size can change depending on merge fields used, you must take this into account when designing an email with attachments.

We check attachments before uploading successfully. The cases where a file will not be uploaded successfully include:

File size too large. You must upload files less than 10MB.
File type not supported. We support TXT, HTML, ICS, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebM, MP4, MPEG, PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, and XLSX.
File name taken. Please rename your file and upload again, or delete the existing file.
Server unavailable. Please contact support.

Attachment indicator

On the flow canvas, outbound email nodes that have attachments are denoted by a circular blue paperclip badge on the node icon.

In the case that you finish designing your flow that has outbound email nodes with attachments, try to activate the flow, and are presented with this message:

The following attachments are unavailable and can't be accessed...

You will need to either delete the listed attachments, or upload them again to proceed and activate the flow.

Outcomes

The outbound email node can send recipients down different flow paths based on email delivery; we call these outcomes, and you can manage these on the Outcomes tab.

Sent path

The experience will continue on this path if the email has been successfully submitted to the provider for delivery.

Not Sent path

If the email could not be submitted to the provider, a 'Not sent' outcome is determined. You can choose to continue the experience down the 'Not Sent' path, if configured.

When toggled off, the experience will end and exit the flow.

When toggled on, the Not Sent path will be visible on the canvas, where you can further configure the experience on this path. You can refer to Merge fields section below to personalise experiences continuing on this path.

Merge field explorer

In later nodes, when viewing the available merge fields for the Outbound email node in merge field explorer you can expect to see the below.

Only one outcomeReason will be displayed. For example, if your email continues on the 'Sent' path, you will see either "opened" or "success-timeout", not a combination of these outcomes.

Mergefield name	Description	Possible outputs	Definition and examples
outcome	The final email delivery status (string)	`success`	The message was sent to the carrier for delivery, and no failure notifications were received during the wait time period, OR the email was opened. The experience will continue on the 'Sent' path.
outcome	The final email delivery status (string)	`failure`	The message failed to be sent. See outcomeReason (below) for possible reasons. The experience will continue along the Not Sent path (if configured) or exit the flow.
outcomeReason	The reason for a message delivery (string)	`failed: [reason]`	The carrier has accepted the email message, but encountered an error while sending it to the recipient. The experience will continue along the Not Sent path (if configured) or exit the flow.
		`failed-normalization`	The recipient's email is invalid. Ensure it is present and in the correct email format. The experience will continue along the Not Sent path (if configured) or exit the flow.
		`other-error`	The recipient's email is invalid. Ensure it is present and in the correct email format. The experience will continue along the Not Sent path (if configured) or exit the flow.
		`rejected`	The recipient's email is invalid. Ensure it is present and in the correct email format. The experience will continue along the Not Sent path (if configured) or exit the flow.