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Flowforth uses both Lists and Categories to manage how emails are sent and how recipients receive them. Understanding the difference is key to effective email communication.

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What Are Lists?

Lists come directly from Planning Center. They determine who receives an email.
  • Lists are created and managed in Planning Center, not Flowforth
  • Flowforth syncs these lists automatically
  • People cannot remove themselves from a Planning Center list through Flowforth

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Example Lists:

  • “Volunteers”
  • “First-Time Guests in the Last 30 Days”
  • “Kids Ministry Parents”
  • “Small Group Leaders”
Lists answer the question: “Who should receive this email?”

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What Are Categories?

Categories are created within Flowforth. They describe the type of email you’re sending.
  • Categories let recipients choose what emails they want without fully unsubscribing
  • They give people control over their inbox while staying connected
  • This leads to fewer full unsubscribes and better engagement

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Example Categories:

  • “All Church Updates”
  • “Kids Ministry”
  • “Youth Ministry”
  • “Event Announcements”
  • “Volunteer Reminders”
Categories answer the question: “What kind of email is this?”

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Why Categories Matter

Without categories, recipients have only two options: receive all your emails or unsubscribe completely. Categories give people a third option: stay subscribed but opt out of specific types of emails they’re not interested in.

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The Problem Categories Solve

Imagine a parent who:
  • Wants to receive Kids Ministry updates
  • Doesn’t want Youth Ministry emails (their kids are young)
  • Wants All Church announcements
Without categories, if they receive a Youth Ministry email, their only options are:
  1. Ignore it (annoying)
  2. Unsubscribe from everything (you lose them)
With categories, they can unsubscribe from just Youth Ministry and keep receiving everything else.

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How Recipients Manage Preferences

Every email includes an unsubscribe or manage preferences link in the footer. When recipients click this link, they can:
  1. Unsubscribe from a specific category - Stop receiving that type of email
  2. Resubscribe to categories - Opt back into categories they previously left
  3. Unsubscribe from all emails - Fully opt out (last resort)
Even if someone is on a Planning Center list, Flowforth will not send them an email if they’ve unsubscribed from that email’s category. Their preferences are always respected.

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How They Work Together

When you send an email, you select:
  1. A List → Who the email goes to (from Planning Center)
  2. A Category → What type of email it is (from Flowforth)
Flowforth then filters the list to only include people who:
  • Are on the selected list
  • Are subscribed to the selected category
  • Haven’t fully unsubscribed

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Example Scenario

You’re sending a Youth Ministry email to the “All Church” list:
PersonOn “All Church” ListYouth Ministry CategoryWill Receive?
Sarah✅ Yes✅ Subscribed✅ Yes
Mike✅ Yes❌ Unsubscribed❌ No
Tom❌ No✅ Subscribed❌ No
Lisa✅ Yes✅ Subscribed✅ Yes
Mike won’t receive the email even though he’s on the list because he unsubscribed from the Youth Ministry category.

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Best Practices

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For Lists

  • Create specific lists in Planning Center for different groups
  • Use dynamic lists when possible (e.g., “Parents with kids in Youth Group”)
  • Keep lists updated and clean

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For Categories

  • Fewer, broader categories are better - Too many categories overwhelm recipients and reduce effectiveness
  • Aim for 3-6 categories that cover your main communication types
  • Use clear, descriptive names recipients will understand
  • Think in terms of ministry areas or communication types, not specific events

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General Tips

  • Always assign a category to every email
  • Let recipients know they can manage preferences (mention it occasionally)
  • Review category subscription stats to understand what content people want
Need help organizing your lists or categories? Contact support@flowforth.co.