Email automation at scheduled time to a subset of companies - issues pulling in data/emails, help!

Assuming your data looks like this:

Then you'd add a Find Record step to your automation to look for all the relevant records, and within my context it's looking for everyone in Group 1

You'd then insert the Email values from all the found records like so:

And you'd end up with this:

And I've set it up for you here!

Thank you, appreciate the time you took to respond! The Find Record tool was what I was missing to find the proper emails - then I set up a repeating group.

you're trying to send a scheduled email from Gmail using Airtable data, but you're running into some issues with how the email addresses and fields are being pulled in. Let's break this down and try to troubleshoot the issue.

1. Issue with "Invalid email address in the 'To' field"

The error message you're getting—Invalid email address in the "to" field: fldU4hKNRZaMDR6U3—indicates that instead of pulling an actual email address, it’s trying to use a field ID or a reference to a field. This means you're likely using the wrong syntax or method to pull the email data into the “To” field.

Solution:

• When you're setting up the Gmail integration, you want to make sure you're referencing the actual field containing the email addresses, not the field ID. So, in the "To" field, you should be selecting the email field from your Airtable base (e.g., Email Address or whatever the field is called in your Airtable base).

  If you’re seeing fldU4hKNRZaMDR6U3 in the “To” field, that’s the field ID, not the email itself. You'll need to ensure you're choosing the actual email address field in Airtable.

2. Fields in the body show "FIELD ID" instead of data

It sounds like the fields you're trying to pull into the body of the email are showing the field ID instead of the data itself. This suggests that the merge tags (placeholders for the data) are not being set correctly.

Solution:

• When setting up the email body, you need to use the correct placeholders for the fields. For example, if you're pulling data from an Airtable field like "Company Name" or "Contact First Name," the placeholder should match the field name in Airtable.

  In most integrations like this, the placeholders are typically written as {{field_name}} or similar. Double-check that you're using the correct syntax for the integration you're using. If it's pulling FIELD ID, it could be that you're not using the right placeholder syntax.

  If you’re using an Airtable-Gmail integration tool like Zapier or Integromat (now Make), make sure you're mapping the fields properly in the setup interface.

3. The Key for Pulling Data

You mentioned you're unsure about the key mechanism to pull the relevant data. In many cases, the “key” for pulling the right data from Airtable is a unique field like an email address, a record ID, or a unique company identifier. Since you're pulling data based on a specific condition or time, you might not need a unique key if you're pulling a list of emails to send the email to.

Solution:

• If you're trying to send an email to a subset of your contacts, you could set a condition in Airtable (like filtering records based on a certain field or criteria) and pull in the emails from that filtered list.

  For example:

  • Filter your Airtable base to only include records that meet a certain condition (e.g., "Company" is equal to a certain value or "Send Email" is checked).
  • Then, in the Gmail integration setup, map the filtered emails from Airtable to the "To" field.

4. Using Lookup Fields

If you need to pull in related data from a different table (e.g., pulling in a company’s name based on the email address), you can use Lookup fields in Airtable to create a reference between tables. In the email body, you can then reference the lookup field to pull in the relevant data.

Solution:

• If you're using a Lookup field in Airtable (to pull in data from a linked record), make sure the lookup field is set up correctly, and that you're referencing the correct lookup field in the email body.

Example Steps to Fix the Issue:

1. To Field:

   • Ensure you’re selecting the actual field that contains email addresses (e.g., "Email" field) in the "To" field of the email setup. Avoid selecting the field ID like fldU4hKNRZaMDR6U3.

2. Body Fields:

   • When pulling in other fields into the email body (like names, dates, etc.), make sure you’re using the correct merge tags or field references, such as {{First Name}} or {{Company Name}} (depending on the integration tool you're using).

3. Filtering the Records:

   • If you want to send the email to a subgroup of people, set up a condition in Airtable to filter the records (e.g., filter by a checkbox or date) and then pull those records into your email campaign.

4. Lookup/Linked Fields:

   • If pulling data from another table (like company details), ensure the lookup field is set up properly and is being referenced correctly in the email body.

5. Test and Debug

Finally, do a test run:

• Send a test email to yourself to make sure the "To" field is correctly pulling email addresses and the body is displaying the correct Airtable data (not the field ID).
• If it's still pulling field IDs, double-check that you're using the correct merge tags/field names as per your email integration tool.

If you're still having trouble after trying these steps, could you clarify what integration tool you're using to connect Airtable to Gmail (like Zapier, Make, or another)? This could help narrow down the troubleshooting further!

You can use the BaseMailer extension to design the email templates using drag & drop template builder, select the records or view and schedule the email to send at specific time.

https://airtable.com/marketplace/blkELmD2dcBpsQZZW/basemailer