# Recommended Setup Pattern — Master Control Notification Form

The simplest way to manage mass emails is to run them all from **one
dedicated internal form**. We call this the **Master Control
Notification Form**. It keeps everything consistent and makes it easy
for your team to manage campaigns.

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## How It Works

1.  **Create a Control Form**: Set up a Gravity Form used only by admins
    or staff. This form is not public-facing.
2.  **Add Message Fields**: Include fields for Subject and Message.
    These values can be used directly in your notification template.
3.  **Connect a Feed**: Create a Mass Email feed that runs on the
    control form. The feed’s conditional logic determines when it should
    run. For example, add a radio or dropdown field with choices for
    your different target audiences. Then configure conditional logic so
    that only the feed matching the selected audience runs and creates
    the batch.
4.  **Use Conditional Logic**: Within the feed, apply rules that decide
    *who* should receive the email. For example:
    - “Send only to donations received this month.”
5.  **Leverage Notifications**: You can select an existing Gravity Forms
    notification as the template, or build your own from scratch. Merge
    tags let you pull values from the control form (Subject, Message) or
    from the target form’s entries.

When you submit the control form, the plugin creates a batch, applies
your conditional logic, and prepares the emails for sending.

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## Why Use This Pattern?

- **Consistency**: Every campaign starts from the same place, with the
  same workflow.
- **Safety**: Keeps live forms clean — you won’t accidentally blast
  emails by reusing public submissions.
- **Flexibility**: Conditional logic lets you route messages to
  different target audiences without building multiple control forms.
- **Simplicity**: Staff only need to learn how to use one form to run
  every campaign.
