SendGrid Emails

You'll need access to  ⁠⁠Twilio/Sendgrid⁠ . Reach out to an admin.

Single Send Mass Emails

We primarily use Single Send emails through SendGrid:  https://docs.sendgrid.com/ui/sending-email/single-sends 

Make a copy of a previous email that has a similar look you're trying to build or build from scratch.

Always make sure to send a test email to at least one other person!
  • Check spelling and grammar
  • Check all links

You should only be sending emails to appropriate email lists. If you are unsure what lists, a certain email should be sent to, double check with CoCourtney Dean.

How to Change Spacing when Building an Email



Uploading Contacts

  • email / first_name / last_name are really the only columns you usually need
  • Make sure to remove all extra spaces

When uploading contacts, you can add them to an existing list or create a new one.
  • Marketing > Contacts > "Add Contacts"
  • For new lists, the name should be: Year_Academy_Name of List
  • Ex. 2023_NMA_Accepted-Students
  • Ex. 2024_XMA_Mentors
  • XMA — means all Academies
  • Ex. 2023_NMA-DL_Iranian Students
  • You can also choose to "Add to existing contact list"


Click Tracking

Neuromatch email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is fully set up and working correctly, so our messages pass standard domain security checks. The main issue relates to SendGrid’s click-tracking links: these are not currently served over HTTPS (TLS). For users with stricter browser or security settings, this can cause warnings or blocked links. To balance reliability with engagement tracking, we use different approaches for Emails sent via our API/Portal vs Academy emails sent via the SendGrid UI vs. general newsletters sent via SendGrid UI:
Academy emails sent via API/Portal: no click tracking
  • These are the emails sent via the Portal and/or API and include automated emails and Academy emails. These emails are mission-critical as they contain information about accessing materials, important log-in information, payments, etc.
  • Click tracking is disabled in our settings.

Academy and other emails sent via Sendgrid UI: no click tracking
  • This includes all emails with the exception of a few newsletters. Pretty much any mailing to a specific subset of our community (e.g. all TAs, students from a certain country) that is done within the SendGrid user interface. These emails are mission-critical as they contain information about accessing materials, important log-in information, payments, etc.
  • Always disable click tracking. Access must always work without warnings. Engagement tracking is not required for these.
  • Click tracking can be turned off for individual links by including the clicktracking=off attribute inside the anchor of an HTML link before the href. For example, each link needs to be manually changed from <a href="http://example.com">link text<a/> to <a clicktracking=off href="http://example.com">link text</a>

Select Newsletters sent via SendGrid UI: click tracking on
  • This includes a very limited number of high-level marketing communications: i.e. The Transmitter x Neuromatch newsletter and the Neuromatch quarterly newsletters.
  • Auto click tracking is enabled by default in the SendGrid UI. It's okay to leave tracking on for these mailings to capture engagement metrics.
  • NOTE: A small subset of stricter users may see warnings/avoid clicking until HTTPS is supported. Given the advantages of having the click tracking data and the risks, we will have them on only for these larger, general mailings.