Issuing bulk certificates manually can quickly become time-consuming when you need to personalize dozens or even hundreds of awards.
Canva makes it easy to design beautiful certificate templates, but distributing them individually still requires manual work. By combining Canva’s design tools with Activity Messenger’s automation features, you can generate and send personalized certificates to multiple recipients in minutes.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to create bulk certificates using Canva and automatically distribute them by email or SMS using Activity Messenger.
Once you are logged in to Activity Messenger, navigate to the More dropdown and choose New Certificate.
This will open Canva, where you can choose from different certificate templates. Select the template you want to use, and leave space in the design for personalized information to be added via mail merge.
Dynamic fields, also known as mail merge, allow you to personalize certificates for each recipient based on your uploaded student data or an evaluation form filled out by the instructor.
This allows you to send personalized Canva-designed certificates to multiple recipients with one click. Merge fields automatically fill in details, such as name, level, date, and course title for each recipient.
📌 Read More: Here is a more in-depth tutorial on how to mail merge with Canva.
After you’ve created your digital certificate, the next step is to upload the recipient data and link it to the dynamic attributes in your template.
You simply need to navigate to the list and click upload. From there, you can use the sample Excel file.
There are three ways you can upload recipient information:
Once your file is uploaded, you can automatically generate the certificates and test the dynamic fields to ensure the data imported correctly.
Once your file is uploaded, Activity Messenger maps each column in your spreadsheet to the corresponding dynamic field in your certificate template. The system then generates a unique, personalized certificate for every row in your data, with no manual work required.
💡Did You Know? Activity Messenger allows you to import lists of participants, families, and classes from your class management software, such as iClassPro, Studio Pro, and Jackrabbit. The system automatically imports student names, birthdates, class names, levels, email addresses, phone numbers, and more.
Distributing certificates in bulk via email or SMS saves time compared to manually sending them one at a time. While Canva does not have built-in certificate distribution functionality, Activity Messenger seamlessly integrates with Canva to simplify the process.
Here’s how to send bulk certificates to many clients at once:
Create an email or SMS template in Activity Messenger and insert the personalized certificate into the message:
Once your email or SMS template is ready, you can send your certificates in bulk. With Activity Messenger, you can send certificates to hundreds of recipients at once with just one click.
Once sent, Activity Messenger allows you to track delivery and engagement. You can see who opened the email or SMS and whether they downloaded their certificate. This tracking helps ensure that no recipient misses their certificate and allows you to easily follow up if needed.
📌 Important: Canva allows you to design and generate certificates, but it does not provide built-in tools to distribute them by email or SMS. To send certificates automatically in bulk, you’ll need a tool that integrates with Canva, such as Activity Messenger.
Certificates carry more meaning when they include a personal note from the instructor. Rather than sending a generic completion certificate, Activity Messenger lets instructors fill out a customizable assessment form for each participant.
Their comments and evaluations are then pulled in as dynamic fields, appearing directly on the certificate and in the accompanying email or SMS. It’s a small addition that makes a big impression, particularly for youth programs where parents value knowing how their child is progressing.
To do this, you’ll need to create an evaluation form.
Once filled out by the instructor, Activity Messenger will generate the certificate and evaluation form and send both in a single email/SMS to the participant.
Certificates can serve a more strategic purpose than simply recognizing an achievement. Sending out mass certificates with your logo is not only great for customer retention, but it’s also an effective marketing tool.
Certificates are especially effective for youth programs like dance studios, swim schools, martial arts academies, and music lessons. Parents often display them at home or share them online, helping reinforce your brand and encourage re-registration.
They’ll serve as a visible reminder to sign up for the next session and spark conversations with friends and family. This can also serve as a physical reminder in the home for busy parents who may forget to re-register for the next session.
Every time a participant completes a course, learns a new skill, or advances to a new level, it’s an opportunity for you to extend your brand’s reach. Give them a personalized certificate that they’ll be proud to display. Encourage them to share their certificates online and tag your club or studio with a contest (win a free session by sharing on social media).
This serves as a powerful testimonial and word-of-mouth marketing tool. When friends and family see it on their favourite social media platform, it plants a seed that can potentially attract new customers.
Manually creating and distributing certificates one by one is a thing of the past. By combining Canva’s design flexibility with Activity Messenger’s automation, you can issue hundreds of personalized, on-brand certificates in the time it used to take to make one.
Whether you’re running a swim school, martial arts academy, or corporate training program, automating your certificate process means less admin work and a better experience for your participants.
| Feature | Canva | Activity Messenger |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate design | ✔ | ✔ (via Canva integration) |
| Mail merge | ✔ | ✔ |
| Bulk certificate generation | ✔ | ✔ |
| Email distribution | ❌ | ✔ |
| SMS certificate delivery | ❌ | ✔ |
| Delivery tracking | ❌ | ✔ |
👉 Want to automate certificates for your classes or programs? Book a demo to see how Activity Messenger can generate and send personalized certificates in seconds.
