twilio-sendgrid-email-settings

Overview

SendGrid email settings control how your messages are constructed, personalized, and tracked. Most configuration happens in the SendGrid Console, but templates and tracking can also be managed via API.

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Dynamic Templates

Templates use Handlebars syntax and are managed in Console > Email API > Dynamic Templates. Template IDs start with d-.

Supported Handlebars helpers:

Helper	Use	Example
if / unless	Conditional	{{#if premium}}Welcome back!{{/if}}
each	Iteration	{{#each items}}{{this.name}}{{/each}}
equals / notEquals	Comparison	{{#equals status "active"}}...{{/equals}}
and / or	Boolean logic	{{#and premium verified}}...{{/and}}
greaterThan / lessThan	Numeric	{{#greaterThan count 5}}...{{/greaterThan}}
length	Array/string	{{length items}}
formatDate	Date format	{{formatDate date "MM/DD/YYYY"}}
insert	Module insert	{{insert "module_name"}}

NOT supported: Custom helpers, inline partials, lookup, log, with, blockHelperMissing. SendGrid implements a subset of Handlebars.js.

Template Versions

• Dynamic templates (IDs starting with d-): Support Handlebars
• Legacy transactional templates: Use -substitution- syntax — not interchangeable with Handlebars

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Tracking Settings

Setting	What it does	Caveat
Open tracking	Inserts a tracking pixel	Unreliable: Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens; image-blocking clients produce false negatives
Click tracking	Rewrites URLs through SendGrid's redirect	Can trigger spam filters on some domains
Subscription tracking	Adds unsubscribe footer	Required for CAN-SPAM compliance
Google Analytics	Adds UTM parameters	Only for marketing campaigns

Configure per-message or account-wide in Console > Settings > Tracking.

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Link Branding (Custom Tracking Domains)

By default, click-tracked links route through url####.ct.sendgrid.net. Link Branding lets you use your own domain (e.g., links.yourdomain.com) instead, which improves deliverability and builds trust.

Setup: Console > Settings > Sender Authentication > Link Branding

Requires a CNAME DNS record pointing your subdomain to sendgrid.net. Validate via API: GET /v3/whitelabel/links/{id}/validate

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Content Type Priority

When sending multiple content types, email clients display in this priority:

1. text/x-amp-html (AMP — only in supporting clients, requires sender registration)
2. text/html (standard — most clients)
3. text/plain (fallback)

Always include at least text/plain and text/html.

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CANNOT

• Cannot use custom Handlebars helpers — Only the built-in set listed above.
• Cannot guarantee open tracking accuracy — Pixel-based tracking is fundamentally unreliable. Do not use for business-critical logic.
• Personalizations subject is a plain string override — It bypasses the template subject. To use dynamic subjects, set Handlebars variables (e.g., {{{subject}}}) in the Dynamic Template's subject field and pass values via dynamic_template_data.
• Undefined template variables are silent — Missing keys in dynamic_template_data render as empty strings with no error.

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Next Steps

• Send email: twilio-sendgrid-email-send
• Delivery tracking: twilio-sendgrid-webhooks
• Manage bounces/unsubscribes: twilio-sendgrid-suppressions