Creating & Editing Email Templates

An Email Template is the visual element of what recipients receive. How it looks and how it functions are vitally important in terms of deliverability and response.

With more than 50% of people using mobile devices considering responsive email design and thorough testing (to ensure everything looks good in all popular email apps and devices) has never been more important.

Upload Content (HTML, text, images)

Uploaded designs can still be edited within the control panel using our full-page editor. Web browser variations mean that some types of edits performed using the full-page editor can produce unpredictable results.

We recommend that you edit your own designs offline using Coda, Sublime Text, Dreamweaver or another similar application. Alternatively, try using the drag & drop responsive Email Designer.

  1. Click "Templates" in the sidebar then click the "New Template" button in the top right.
  2. Fill in the Template's Subject, Description and choose an Email Profile.
  3. In the "Template Source" panel make sure "Upload" is the selected option.
  4. Add the HTML, CSS, Image and text files that make up your Template, either individually or as a single Zip file.
  5. Finally, using the checkboxes at the bottom of the page you can choose to Create text-only Version from your HTML or run HTML Tidy on your HTML file.
  6. Click "Save Changes".

Drag & Drop Responsive Email Designer

Design from scratch using wireframes are choose a design from the Template Library. This feature requires you to be using a modern web browser i.e. IE10+, FF, Chrome or Safari.

  1. Click "Templates" in the sidebar then click the "New Template" button in the top right.
  2. Fill in the Template's Subject, Description and choose an Email Profile.
  3. In the "Template Source" panel make sure "Email Designer" is the selected option.
  4. Select the base Template to be used for the email or select blank canvas to create from scratch.
  5. Click "Save Changes".

To find out more about the benefits of using the Email Designer click here.

Visual Editor

Uploaded templates can also be edited within the solution using the built-in Visual Editor. The Visual Editor allows for editing content without needing to touch the underlying HTML code.

Due to the complexity of HTML Templates, any changes made using the Visual Editor should always be thoroughly tested.

  1. Click "Templates" in the sidebar then click the desired template to view it's details.
  2. Click the dropdown button menu and select "Visual Editor" in the top right.
  3. Use the Visual Editor to make any Template updates.
  4. Click "Save Changes".

Code Editor

Uploaded templates can also be edited within the solution using the built-in Code Editor. The preview pane live updates as you edit, so you can immediately see the result of any amends.

  1. Click "Templates" in the sidebar then click the desired template to view it's details.
  2. Click the "Code Editor" button in the top right.
  3. Use the Code Editor pane to make any Template updates and changes will show up in the Preview pane.
  4. Click "Save Changes".

Code Paste & Pull from URL

This is a great option for email experts that want to paste code or if for when the HTML has been hosted by a 3rd party designer and you want to retrieve it without having to download first.

  1. Click "Templates" in the sidebar then click the "New Template" button in the top right.
  2. Fill in the Template's Subject, Description and choose an Email Profile.
  3. In the "Template Source" panel make sure "Code Paste" is the selected option.
  4. Paste the HTML code into the "HTML" field.
  5. Finally, using the checkboxes at the bottom of the page you can choose to Create text-only Version from your HTML or run HTML Tidy on your HTML file.
  6. Click "Save Changes".

Take a Copy of a Recent Email Template

Templates can be re-used as many times as needed so this is a great option for creating a new Email Template that's similar to one that's been previously used.

  1. Click "Templates" in the sidebar then click the "New Template" button in the top right.
  2. Fill in the Template's Subject, Description and choose an Email Profile.
  3. In the "Template Source" panel make sure "Recent Templates" is the selected option.
  4. Search for and select the Template to be copied.
  5. Click "Save Changes".

Library Designs

A Library Design is essentially an HTML file that has been marked up in such a way to make it compatible with the drag & drop Email Designer feature.

To find out more about the benefits of using Library Designs click here.

Importance of Testing

Testing is vitally important when it comes to Email Templates. There are many different email applications, mobile devices and web browsers being used and each one may display the contents of an HTML email differently.

Click here to read more about checking and testing Email Templates.

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