Create an email template

Create an email template

Email templates are design layouts that you customize and save for reuse. The purpose of email templates is to save you time in the campaign building process because you begin with a design that has many of your common elements pre-built.

Our customers have found that it's helpful to build a library of email templates—one for e-news, another for marketing messages, and yet another for product updates, for instance. 

You will build email templates in the Assets dashboard of your account. To get started, navigate to Assets then click "Email Templates" on the left. We'll cover the rest of the process below. 

Setup

In the Setup tab of the workflow you will configure a few settings for the email template like providing a template name and setting your From & Subject lines.

Step 1

Click the "Create Template" button at the top-right of the page.


Step 2

In the Template Details box, enter the file name (required).

Optionally, choose to store the template in an existing folder or create a new folder.

Step 3

In the Design box, choose how to start the design: from an existing template, from blank, or upload an HTML file.

  • If starting from a template, mark the radio button for the listed template file.
  • If uploading HTML, click "Browse Files" to select the file on your computer.

Step 4

In the Email Setup box, select a From line to save with the template, a subject line, etc.

These settings are optional for email templates.


Once these basics are set up, click “Save and Next” to move to the next step, Design.

 

Design

Moving into the next step, you’re dropped into our drag-and-drop email editor.

On the left you will find Layout, Content and Action elements that you can add into your design.
  • From Layout, drag in new rows, add spacers or divider lines.
  • From Content, drag in new text or image blocks.
  • And from Actions, drag in a call-to-action button.

In the middle of the page you click on an element to edit it. This opens edit tools on the right side of the page. Design tools will vary based on the type of element: text, button, image, etc.

Visit this lesson to dive deeper into the drag-and-drop editor.



Once your email design is complete, click “Save and Next” to move to the next step, Preview.

 

Preview

In the Preview step of the workflow you can see a browser preview of the template design.

The Preview step includes:

  • From & Subject line
  • Contact merge: enter an email address to merge data into the preview
  • File size indicator
  • Link to the online version


When you’re done using the Preview tools, click “Save and Next” to move to the next step, Test.

 

Test

The Test step allows you to send copies of the email template to yourself for review to ensure that the design generally renders as expected, all images display, and all text/image links & buttons are working.

Here you will configure these options:

  • Send test to: the email(s) of people to receive a copy of the template for review.
  • Send this many test copies: the # of copies to be sent to each person indicated.
  • Send the following parts: choose if the HTML or the TEXT version of the campaign should be sent.


At this step you can click "Exit", or "Test and Next" to continue to the last step, Complete.

 

Complete

If/when your email template design is finalized & ready to be used in campaigns, one last step must be taken to change the template status.

Mark the "Complete" radio button to change the template's status.

Optionally, choose to store the template in an existing folder or create a new folder. 



 After marking the template to Complete, click "Save and Exit".

 

Notes

  1. Be sure to change the status of your email template to complete when the design is final. Only templates in the complete status will be available for choosing when you create a campaign.

  2. An email template must be tested at least once before it can be changed to the complete status. If the template has not been tested, the Complete radio button will not be visible.

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