---
title: 'How announcements reach people: email and SMS'
sidebarTitle: Email & SMS announcements
description: >-
  Soul chooses email or text for each person automatically. Here's how it
  decides, how unsubscribes work, and how to make your emails look like you.
audience: luminary
feature: announcements
type: guide
availability: live
last_verified: '2026-10-13'
keywords:
  - email or sms
  - text message announcement
  - how announcements are sent
  - email branding
  - unsubscribe
  - sender name
  - delivery channel
url: 'https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/email-and-sms-announcements'
---

# How announcements reach people: email and SMS

> Soul chooses email or text for each person automatically. Here's how it decides, how unsubscribes work, and how to make your emails look like you.

You don't pick email or SMS for an announcement. Soul reaches each person the best way it can, based on the contact details it has for them.

## When to use this page

- You want to know why someone got a text instead of an email.
- You see skipped or failed in your broadcast counts.
- Someone asks how to stop getting your emails.
- You want your announcement emails to feel like they come from you.

## How Soul decides

| The person has…                            | They receive                                                       |
| ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| An email address                           | An email, from your portal name, with your header and footer.      |
| No email, only a phone number              | A text message (SMS) with your announcement and a link to read it. |
| A Soul account with no email               | A message by the method they chose in their own Soul settings.     |
| No email and no phone number               | Nothing. Counted as skipped.                                       |
| Unsubscribed from your announcement emails | Nothing. Counted as skipped.                                       |

People who appear twice (for example as a lead and a subscriber with the same email or phone number) are reached once.

## What the email looks like

| Part        | Comes from                                                                                                |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| From        | Your portal name. To change it, rename your portal in [Settings](https://portal.bringsoul.life/settings). |
| Subject     | The announcement title.                                                                                   |
| Header      | Your custom header, if you set one.                                                                       |
| Title       | The announcement title at the top, if Include Announcement Title is on.                                   |
| Body        | Your post, with its images.                                                                               |
| Link        | A link to read the post on your portal.                                                                   |
| Footer      | Your custom footer, if you set one.                                                                       |
| Unsubscribe | A link to stop receiving your announcement emails.                                                        |

Audio files and voice memos don't travel inside the email. Readers open the post on your portal to listen.

## Make your emails yours

**Step 1: Open Email Settings**

Go to [Settings → Email Settings](https://portal.bringsoul.life/settings/email), or click
Customize Emails on [Audience → Announcements](https://portal.bringsoul.life/announcement).

**Step 2: Check the sender name**

Sender Name shows your portal name and can't be edited here. To change it, update your portal
name in [Settings](https://portal.bringsoul.life/settings).

**Step 3: Choose your header and footer**

For Email Header and Email Footer, choose Use Default or Custom. A header might hold your logo,
greeting or tagline. A footer might hold your social links, contact details or signature.

**Step 4: Show or hide the title**

Turn Include Announcement Title on to show the title at the top of the email.

**Step 5: Save**

Click Save Changes. These settings apply to every announcement email from now on, not to ones
already sent.

## Unsubscribes

- Every announcement email includes an unsubscribe link. Someone who uses it stops getting your announcement emails, and future broadcasts count them as skipped.
- Unsubscribing from announcements doesn't stop order and booking emails, which people can't opt out of.
- Members choose how Soul reaches them (email, SMS and other options) in their own settings. See [Profile and settings](https://help.bringsoul.life/members/profile-and-settings).

## Tips

- Collect emails where you can. Email carries your full post, images and branding. A text carries a short message and a link.
- Read your counts. After a send, the Broadcast panel shows how many were sent, skipped and failed. See [Track a broadcast](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/announcements/track-a-broadcast).
- Send yourself a preview. Preview sends a test email to any address. See [Drafts and test emails](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/announcements/drafts-and-test-emails).

## Related

- [Announcements](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/announcements)
- [Email Settings](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/settings/email-settings)
- [Track a broadcast](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/announcements/track-a-broadcast)
- [Send an announcement to everyone](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/send-an-announcement-to-everyone)