MCF User Guide
Newsletter
The newsletter lets you email council news and updates to residents who have signed up. Sign-up uses a double opt-in process for GDPR compliance, and you create and send campaigns directly from the admin panel.
How residents subscribe
Residents subscribe through a newsletter sign-up form on your website — typically in the footer or on a dedicated page. The system uses double opt-in: after a resident enters their email address, they receive a confirmation email and must click the link in it before they are added to the list.
The footer sign-up form only appears while the Newsletter module is switched on under Settings > Modules. Turn the module off and the form disappears everywhere — including on the newsletter-only footer layout — so you'll never collect sign-ups you can't act on.
Double opt-in confirms the person actually owns the email address and genuinely wants your newsletter. It keeps your list clean, protects against misuse, and is the GDPR-friendly way to build a mailing list. A resident isn't counted as a subscriber until they've confirmed.
Managing subscribers
Your confirmed subscribers are listed under Communications › Subscribers in the admin panel.
- Go to Communications › Subscribers.
- You'll see each subscriber's email address and the date they signed up.
- If a resident asks to be removed, you can remove them here.
Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link, and the system processes those requests for you — so the list stays current without you having to act on each one. You only need to remove someone manually if they ask you directly.
Creating and sending a campaign
Newsletters are written and sent from Communications › Newsletters.
- Go to Communications › Newsletters and select New Newsletter.
- Enter a clear subject line — this is what residents see in their inbox.
- Write the content using the rich text editor: format text, add images and insert links just as you would for a news article.
- Select Create to save it as a draft.
- Read it through carefully — check for typos, broken links and correct dates.
- When you're happy, select Send and confirm that you want to send to all confirmed subscribers.
Once a campaign is sent, it cannot be recalled. Always preview the content carefully before sending. If in doubt, send a draft to your own address first by adding yourself as a test subscriber.
Newsletters, confirmation emails and unsubscribe handling all depend on your email settings being configured. If sign-up confirmations or campaigns aren't being delivered, ask your super administrator to check the email configuration (see Site Settings).