Guide to Setting Up Email Templates and Tasks

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Qualtrics
Qualtrics CX

This guide covers how to write clear, accessible email templates and how to set up an Email Task in a workflow. It brings together voice and tone principles, accessibility standards, and practical structure guidance so every email, whether it goes to a coworker or a constituent, is easy to read and easy to act on. Use it as a shared reference when drafting new templates or reviewing existing ones.

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Setting Up an Email Task

Adding the Email Task to Your Workflow

To get started, here is how to set up an Email Task:

  1. Go to the Workflows tab in your survey.
  2. Create a new workflow and choose Survey Response as the event that starts it.
  3. Add a task and select Email from the task list.
  4. Name your workflow State Email to Constituent - Survey ID.
    1. Example: State Email to Constituent - SV_1zudWjqRPswOXzg. If you need help locating your survey ID, see How Do I Locate My Survey ID?

For a full walkthrough of these steps, see Qualtrics Support: Email Task.

Once the Email Task is added, you're ready to configure it.

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Email Template Structure and Best Practices

These practices apply to every email template, whether it is going to a coworker or a constituent. Naming conventions and a few sending requirements differ by audience, and those differences are called out directly.

Structure

  • Subject line. Front-load the topic and action needed. Keep it short, specific, and honest about the content, and avoid spam-trigger patterns such as all capital letters, excessive punctuation, or overused words like free or urgent.
    • Make each subject line distinct so it does not get caught in spam filters. Good piped text options include a Ticket ID, Response ID, or the current date.
    • Internal example: Action Required: Approve the Q3 Budget by Friday
    • External example: State of Iowa Feedback Response, Ticket ID: ${e://Field/TicketID}
  • From name and address. Use a recognizable sender name. All State of Iowa custom send-as domains are available, so use one rather than a generic address, since sender identity has a major effect on deliverability and open rates.
  • Reply-to address. Use a monitored inbox, such as a team or department address, rather than a personal one, so replies don't get missed.
    • If you don't want recipients to reply, use a no-reply address instead, and say so clearly in the body of the email so people don't try to respond and get nothing back.
  • Body. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and bold text for key dates or decisions. Personalize where useful, using name or relevant context, and cover one clear purpose per email.
  • Call to action. Make it obvious what the reader needs to do and by when. Use one primary action, described clearly, and place it near the top. Restate it at the close if the email is long.

Tone and voice

  • Keep the tone conversational but professional.
  • Avoid unnecessary jargon or acronyms unless they are standard for your audience.
  • Be direct about deadlines, owners, and next steps.

Formatting

  • Keep line length reasonable and avoid large unbroken blocks of text.
  • Use headers or bold labels for standability in longer messages, such as What Changed, What You Need to Do, or Timeline.
  • Limit to one primary ask per email. Secondary items go in a clearly labeled section at the bottom.

Personalization and dynamic content

  • Use merge or piped-text fields for name, relevant data, or links rather than generic greetings, and always test them with edge-case data, such as missing fields, special characters, or long names.

Testing before send

  • Send a test to yourself and at least one other reviewer.
  • Check all links, including dynamically generated or piped ones.
  • Preview across at least one desktop and one mobile client.
  • Confirm the From address, reply-to address, and subject line all display correctly.
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Voice, Tone, and Accessibility Principles

These principles apply across internal and external email templates alike. To learn more, see the Iowa.gov Voice, Tone, and Style Guide and the Iowa DX Accessibility and Inclusivity guide.

Writing style:

  • Be direct, clear, confident, and human. Write simply, get to the point, and use we, our, and you or your rather than stiff, impersonal phrasing.
  • Aim for an 8th-grade reading level or below, use contractions, and favor active verbs, especially in calls to action.
  • Keep it scannable: short sentences and paragraphs, subheads and bullets, one primary topic or ask per email.

Accessibility:

  • Skip e.g. and i.e. Use for example instead.
  • Use bold for emphasis, not quotation marks or italics. Reserve quotation marks for actual quotes.
  • Spell out and instead of using an ampersand and avoid all capital letters for titles or emphasis.
  • Don't use em dashes; use a period, comma, or short hyphen instead.
  • Use real bullet or numbered list formatting rather than typed characters, and reserve headings for actual section titles.
  • Avoid directional language, such as below or to the right, and write descriptive calls to action instead of click here or learn more.
  • Add real alt text to images, and avoid extra blank lines or spaces used for visual spacing.
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Resources

Style and accessibility

Qualtrics workflows and email tasks

Sending, deliverability, and addresses

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