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Email and templates

Keep client emails with the project or booking they belong to. Use templates to save time on messages you send often.

Client emails come from your studio’s LYGHTBOX address, such as yourstudio@mail.lyghtbox.com, where the name is your account link. When a client replies, the reply returns to the same project or booking thread. LYGHTBOX does not connect to your Gmail or Outlook inbox, so emails sent to your own business address will not appear here.

Create message templates

Go to Settings → Templates and select New template. For each template, add:

  • An internal template name.
  • A General or service-based category so it is easy to find while composing.
  • An optional subject.
  • The message body, with personalized text such as the client’s first name, full name, email, or phone.

All templates on this page are for email. You can edit or delete them later. Before deleting one, check whether a service’s Client emails use it.

Selecting a template replaces the subject and message you are writing. You can then edit them for the client. Emails you send from a project use your first name and studio name as the sender.

Project email threads

Open a project to write an email. The client’s email address is filled in, and you can change the recipients before sending.

To send a message:

  1. Confirm the recipients and subject.
  2. Write the message or select Templates and choose a category and template.
  3. Insert personalized text, such as the client’s first name, where useful.
  4. Select Attach if you want to choose or upload files.
  5. Select Send, or select the clock button to choose a future date and time.

An email needs at least one valid recipient, a subject, and a message body. A message can include up to 10 attachments totaling no more than 25 MB.

Your draft saves to the conversation when you pause typing. Sent messages appear in the thread, and replies keep the current subject.

Messages during fulfillment

Open a job in Fulfillment and use Client messages to continue the same project or booking conversation. This keeps delivery questions and gallery messages with the client’s existing history.

See Fulfillment for preparing a gallery message and marking work delivered.

Read message history

The project thread shows the sender, subject, message, attachments, and delivery information. Select Load older messages to continue back through a long conversation.

Useful states include:

  • Scheduled - set to send at the time shown.
  • Failed - delivery did not complete.
  • Canceled - the send was stopped before delivery.

While the button is available, use Cancel send for a scheduled message or Undo send for a message you just sent. This restores the message as a draft. If you already have another draft, LYGHTBOX asks before replacing it. You cannot take back an email that has already been sent.

Clients with access to the project or booking in the portal can read and reply under Messages. Their reply appears in the same conversation and notifies your studio. Clients do not see internal system messages.

Client replies

A client’s reply to a project or booking email appears in that conversation and notifies your studio. Some emails can’t be answered by email, and the sender is told why:

  • A new email to your LYGHTBOX address that isn’t a reply is returned. The sender is asked to reply to your latest email or use the client portal.
  • Replies to emails that aren’t part of a conversation are returned with a note to contact you through your booking page. These include waitlist offers, reservation links, and gallery emails to guests or to people who asked for a download.
  • Replies that are too large or have too many attachments are returned with a note on how to send them.

Gallery emails to the project’s or booking’s main contact are part of its conversation, so their replies arrive like any other.

Emails LYGHTBOX sends for you

Some emails go out without any setup, and each kind has one place to change it:

  • Booking confirmations, cancellations, and waitlist updates go out when a client books, when you cancel a booking, or when a client joins a waitlist.
  • Payment, contract, and questionnaire reminders: choose when they go out in Settings → Reminders. They stop once the client pays, signs, or answers. LYGHTBOX writes these messages for you.
  • Questionnaires: each package chooses when its questionnaires go to the main contact. Edit the package in Settings → Services & Packages.
  • Replies to new inquiries: choose a message template under Reply to inquiries on a service. It goes out right after someone submits an inquiry form for that service.
  • Follow-ups for quiet inquiries: add up to 3 under Follow up when inquiries go quiet on a service. They go if the client hasn’t replied, and stop once the client answers one or books.
  • Emails after booking, around the project date, or after delivery: add Client emails to a service. Pick a message template and when to send it, such as right after booking, 2 weeks before the project date, or a week after delivery. They go to the main contact once the project is booked. Ones around the project date also need a date, and ones after delivery wait until it’s delivered.
  • Mini-session reminders and follow-ups: set them on the booking page under Emails.
  • Welcome emails for new subscribers: choose one on an audience signup form. It’s sent as marketing email, from your marketing sender, and counts toward your monthly marketing email allowance.

To see what’s coming up for one client, open Automated emails on the project or in the booking’s details. Choose Skip to cancel one email without changing your settings.

When you send a contract or invoice yourself, you can review the recipients, subject, and message before sending the link.

Good template uses

Reusable templates work well for:

  • Inquiry replies.
  • Session preparation guides.
  • Thank-you notes after a session.
  • Delivery notes to send with a gallery link.

Write from the project when you want to review a personal message before sending. To send a template automatically after booking, around the project date, or after delivery, add it to the service’s Client emails.

One-to-one email vs campaign email

Keep these two uses separate:

  • Use project or booking email and document messages to communicate about a client’s work. Clients can reply to these messages.
  • Use Campaigns for newsletters, launches, and availability announcements to subscribed contacts. Campaigns have separate sender settings, scheduling, and delivery reports. Each campaign email includes a link to manage preferences or unsubscribe.

Campaigns do not appear in a project’s email conversation.