Email newsletter message template
From the previous article, you learned that the same template can be used to send an email, an SMS message, and a push notification. Just add the necessary communication channels and configure the template for each of them.
In this article, we will learn how to set up a template for email newsletters.
Step 1: Configure the email sender and subject
Enter the message subject, that is, the email's title. Recipients primarily notice the subject when they check their inbox. If the subject doesn't pique the subscriber's interest, they may not open the email.
Here are some tips on how to improve the open rate with your subject line:
Personalize the email. The simplest way is to address the subscriber by their name.
Use emojis. This will make your email stand out among the others.
Avoid using Capslock and an excessive number of question marks or exclamation points. Email providers often flag such emails as spam.
Keep the subject line reasonably short. For example, on mobile devices, users see only the first 40 characters of the subject line.
Specify the sender's name and email. You should provide the recipient's name and email if you want responses to the email to go to a different address.
If you recall, you provided the same information when creating the resource and the profile database. So, which sender will your subscriber see? The logic is as follows: the data in the resource overwrites the data in the database, and the data in the template overwrites the data in the resource.
Currently, while configuring the template, you can leave the fields blank. In that case, the data you specified in the resource will automatically be used. If you want to change the name and email that recipients of this specific template will see, then fill in the fields - and the data will be overwritten.
Step 2: Enter text and add styling
You can create an email template in two ways:
- HTML Editor
- Visual Editor
1. HTML Version of the Email
This method requires special knowledge or an additional specialist who is proficient in HTML email formatting. The advantage of this approach is the ability to create complex layouts and adapt the template for any screen size.
Paste the code into the "HTML version of the email" window:
The editor is convenient to work with. The buttons in the top panel make it easy to format text and add necessary elements with just a few clicks.
Formatting:
- bold text;
- italic;
- strikethrough text;
- bulleted list;
- numbered list;
- insert table.
Utility functions:
- add tracking pixels to monitor email opens and reads;
- add external HTML content;
- add or edit links;
- configure UTM tags;
- add or edit images;
- add "Share on social media" buttons;
- variable and editor function menu.
Click on the </> icon to open the variable and editor function menu. Use variables to personalize the email. Include customer profile data (such as name, city, age, etc.), send subscribers personalized promo codes. Utilize loops, logical expressions, dynamic content, and system links.
2. Visual editor
To open the visual editor, in the HTML editor's toolbar, specifically on its right side, click the "Visual editor" button:
The visual editor is easier to work with because it requires minimal HTML knowledge. All you need to do is select the necessary elements and drag them into your template.
For more details on how to work in the visual editor, please refer to the documentation.
Step 3: Don't forget about the text version of the email
Why is a text version of the email necessary?
Some subscribers may use email clients that don't support HTML.
Without a text version, your email may end up in the "Spam" folder.
The text version of the email doesn't necessarily have to match the HTML version. However, if you don't want to make any changes, you can automatically generate text based on the HTML version. To do this, click on the icon:
You can also add lists, UTM tags, links, and variables to the text version.
Step 4: Attach a file
Perhaps you want to send a customer a gift coupon or a white paper in PDF format. You can attach a file to the message in two ways:
Upload the file from your computer to the platform.
Add a file using a local path. To do this, select the directory where the file is stored on the server where the platform is installed. When specifying the path, you can use customer profile variables.
Step 5: Review the message before using in the campaign
Previewing the message allows you to not only check the HTML formatting but also see if the variables and dynamic content used in the email display correctly.
Click the button at the top of the page to activate the preview:
In the preview window, you can choose the desired channel for which you want to preview the content. For the Email channel, both HTML and text versions are available for preview.
At the bottom of the window, there are buttons to switch between desktop and mobile display modes.
You can also check how the email will look for a specific recipient. To do this, click on the "Test profile" field and select a subscriber from the dropdown list in your database. Use this check if your email contains variables to ensure they are functioning correctly. This way, you can verify that they work as intended.
If the email appears as you intended, close the window. Don't forget to save your changes by clicking the "Apply" button at the top of the page.
With that, the template setup for the email is complete. You can continue configuring templates for other channels using this guide.