Sending Free Recurring Email Reminders in Gmail (2024 Guide)
In this article we will show you how to set up recurring email reminders in Gmail in just a few clicks. Simply follow the steps below.
Step 1: Enter Your Reminder Details in Google Sheets
For our example, we will send a reminder emails for monthly subscription payments for different applications to our clients.
In our Google Sheet worksheet, we will put the email addresses of our recipients and the application type so we can set custom reminders for each.
Step 2: Create a Lido Account
Lido is a free spreadsheet tool that simplifies email automation and seamlessly integrates with Google Sheets. We will create an account in Lido to send free recurring emails in Gmail.
Step 3: Connect Your Data to Lido
In Lido, click the green “Connect Data’ button. Select Google Sheets and insert your Google Sheet URL in the pop-up.
You'll see a dialog requesting authentication for your Google account. Select the option that permits Lido to access your Google Sheets, then click "Next" to proceed.
Import your data by selecting the columns in Google Sheets and pressing 'Add Data.'
Step 4: Make an Email Template
We will make a new sheet by pressing the + button on the top of the Connect Data Button. This will be "Sheet2".
In this sheet, enter your email subject and body content templates. Reference all your variable details using [@Column]. You can customize the contents to your liking.
Our Email Subject Template in Cell B1 will be: Monthly Subscription Payment Reminder for [@Application]
Our Email Body Template in Cell B2 will be: Dear Valued Client, this is a friendly reminder that your monthly subscription payment for [@Application] is due on the last day of the month. Please ensure that your payment is processed to avoid any interruptions to your service. Thank you.
Step 5: Change Your Dynamic Values using STRINGTEMPLATE
To avoid manually updating values in the Email Subject and Email Body, we'll use a Computed Column in Lido with the formula =STRINGTEMPLATE(). This formula replaces references with values from a specified row.
The syntax is simple:
=STRINGTEMPLATE("reference_cell”).
Beside our dataset, go to Column C and add your “Email Subject” header. Select the option “Computed Column” from the choices. Do the same for Column D.
Our reference cell of the Email Subject will be Sheet2!$B$1 and Sheet2!$B$2 will be for our Email Body. Sheet2! refers to the Sheet Name of the sheet where we put our email templates in. Do not forget to use $ in referencing the cells so they do not change positions.
Using the STRINGTEMPLATE formula for the computed columns will now dynamically populate email templates.
Step 6: Create a Column for Sending Emails
In Lido we will use the SENDGMAIL formula with the following syntax on a computed column in Column E:
=SENDGMAIL(sender, recipient, subject, body)
Sender: For the sender, use your connected Gmail account.
Recipient: To whom you want to send the email to. This will be Cell A2.
Subject: The Email Subject you want to send your reminder with, this will be C2.
Body: Your generated email body will be in Cell D2.
```=SENDGMAIL("LidoHelp@gmail.com,A2,C2,D2)```
The column will automatically populate your SENDGMAIL column and it will look like this
Step 7: Send a Test Email
For out test email, we will change the recipient email in Cell E2 to an email address we have access to. Right click on Cell E2, type your email in the SendGmail formula and click “Run Action” to be able to test your email.
You can also click on the Preview Email option to check your email.
You’ll need to authenticate into your Gmail account the first time but you should see the test email in your inbox.
Step 8: Create an Automation to Run Your Emails
Right click Column E and press Run Column on a schedule to be able to schedule your free recurring emails.
In the pop-up, select the frequency and time at which you want to send the recurring emails from Gmail. For our example, we'll run the automation every month at 10:00 am.
TIP: You can check when your email will be sent on the top of the New Automation Panel.
Now your automation will send a recurring email to your recipients through Gmail for free! Do more automations for sending emails with Lido. Find out how to send reminder emails or how you can send an email to multiple recipients from Excel.