A How-To Guide for the Email Template Builder tool


Creating New Templates

You have the ability to create a new Blank Template as well as choose from one of our preset templates (which you can alter as needed). In the same way you can copy an email in the platform, you can make a copy of an existing template and choose to edit it as well. If you have a template tied to upcoming scheduled emails or an automated series we suggest you create a copy and then edit the copy to prevent the possibility of sending out a template with incomplete, or possibly broken, code.

To create a new template, go to Template Builder and click the Create New Template button in the top-right. You can then choose from the options available. If you are planning to paste in your own code, you would likely ant to choose the Blank HTML option (just remember to keep your CAN-SPAM required elements within the final template including a physical address and emfluence's unsubscribe link).

 

 

You will notice in template builder your screen is split in half. This allows you to edit in the left panel while seeing your changes being approved on the right side. The panels are adjustable to both give you the space you need and to show you what your design looks like in multiple sized windows. To adjust the size of the preview pane, move the middle bar left or right. You will see the current size of the preview pane displayed on the upper right side just above the preview of your template.

 



In the top-left icon of the editor you can click the Source button to see the full source of the template. If you have pre-coded a template outside emfluence you can paste your code in here and make changes as necessary.

 

Copying a template

To copy an existing template, scroll to find the template you wish to copy in Template Builder and then click the copy icon. Confirm you wish to copy the template, and then you can edit as needed.


 

Options

Whether creating a new template, editing an existing template, or copying an existing template, you have access to the Options tab of a template (you will begin on this tab when creating a new template). Here you can do several things including title your template, add default values such as sender name, sender address, title, and subject (these can be edited on the individual emails), set default settings for link and view tracking, tie a specific group to a template by default, assign which users will have access to the template (client admins will be given access to the new template by default but you will need to share the template with any other users who need access), and deactivate the template.



You can also choose to enable three options. By default, the head section isn't editable on an individual email, only on the template. If you need the individual emails to have editable head sections you can enable this. You can disable the editor, so when this template is used the only edits that can be made must be done in the source view in code. And you can override approval (meaning if your account is using an approver, any emails made with this template bypass that approval process and can be sent without approval.


 

Non-editable areas

emfluence template content is divided into two types: editable and non-editable areas. Any template content that is not inside an Editable content slot will be the "static," unchangable part of that email design when creating an email from that template. Non-editable areas are any content that exists outside of a dotted box inside template builder. Changes in non-editable areas will be applied to new emails and any existing drafts that are reloaded in the Compose step after the template is saved (if currently on the Compose step, move forward to Preview and return to Compose to force the template to reload). If you don't reload the template in the Compose step, the email will go out with the older version of the template.
 

Editable areas

  • Editable areas are regions of the template that can be edited by users when composing an email.
  • Each editable area has an ID which is used internally.
  • Any content inside the editable area will be default content when composing an email.
  • You should give each editable area a friendly name to help identify it.  
  • Editable areas cannot be nested inside of each other.
  • If an editable area is deleted, any email draft using the template will lose the content for the editable area that was deleted.

 

Insert an editable area using the editor:

To insert an editable area, click the "Editable Area" button on the toolbar.  A dialog will display showing you the ID and the friendly name.  To modify an existing editable area, hover over it and double-click the title bar.

 

Insert an editable area using HTML:

To create an editable area in the HTML code, use an <emflcontent> tag.  Each emflcontent tag must have a body_slot attribute (this corresponds to the "ID" of the editable area).  The body_slot must be unique and it must be between 1 and 10.  An optional "name" attribute can be used to help identify the purpose of the editable area.  Any content between the opening and closing <emflcontent> tags will be the default content used when composing an email.

 

 

 

 

NOTE: Changes inside editable areas will not be updated in existing drafts (but will be applied in new drafts).

 

Dates

You can use an <emfldate> tag to automatically add a dynamic date to your template, without the need to change it with every email.  This tag will always represent the current date, unless you specify an "Add" value, to add days or months to the date. <emfldate> tags can only be added outside of editable areas in your templates and will not render in the Template Builder or in the Compose step.  To render the date tag, go to the Preview and Test tab.

 

Date tags have two options/attributes:

  • Format 
    • Defaults to m/d/yy
    • Defines how the date will be displayed using "m" for month, "d" for day, and "y" for year.  
    • A list of pre-defined formats is provided through the editor toolbar.
    • mmm: 3-letter month (Jan, Feb, etc...)
    • mmmm:  Fully month name (January, February, ec...)
    • ddd: 3-letter day (Sun, Mon, etc...)
    • dddd: Full day name (Sunday, Monday, etc...)
  • Add
    • Determines how many days to add to the current date.
    • Negative values are allowed. 
    • Numeric value followed by a date part where d=day, m=month, y=year.  
    • Examples:
      • 7d equals 7 days
      • 6m equals 6 months
      • -1d equals yesterday

 

Examples (assuming the current date is January 1, 2016):

 

  • <emfldate> 1/1/16

 

  • <emfldate format="mmmm"> January

 

  • <emfldate format="mmmm" add="1m"> February

 

  • <emfldate format="mm/dd/yyyy" add="14d"> 01/15/2016

 

Insert a date using the editor

To insert a date, click the "Date" button on the toolbar.  A dialog will appear with options for "format" and "add" (see above for a description of these).  To edit an existing date tag, just double click it in the editor.

 

Insert a date using HTML

To insert a date in the HTML code, use an <emfldate> tag.  Closing tag is optional.  The output displays inline with no markup.  Use CSS to style like any other HTML content.

 

 

Validation

HTML Code

  • Custom tags (<emflcontent>, <emfldate>) must be valid.
  • Must contain opening and closing <html> and <body> tags.

 

CAN-SPAM

CAN-SPAM law requires all marketing emails to contain an unsubscribe link and a physical address (address + city, state, zip).  To pass CAN-SPAM, your template must contain the corresponding variables for each of these items:

  • Unsubscribe link: $$url[unsubscribe]
  • Physical Address: $$account[address] $$account[city] $$account[state] $$account[zip]

 

If your template is active and does not contain the required CAN-SPAM variables, you will be prompted to correct the issues when saving.  If your template contains a hard-coded physical address or is exempt from CAN-SPAM requirements (i.e. used for transactional or non-promotional purposes), you will have the option to verify your template is compliant.

 

Variables

Variables can be used in templates just like they are in emails.  You can use variables to reference data for your client account, your user account, contact standard fields and custom fields, and system links.

 

     

 

It is strongly recommended that you use account variables in the footer of your email for your physical address. This will automatically use the address associated with your emfluence account. If you need to update that mailing address, contact support@emfluence.com. If you have other legitimate addresses, you can use User variables or simply type in your mailing address.

 

System Links

You can use the buttons on the toolbar or insert these straight into the HTML.  These variables represent the URL only, not the <a> tag.  

  • Unsubscribe - $$url[unsubscribe]; e.g. <a href="$$url[unsubscribe]">Unsubscribe</a>
  • View as Webpage - $$url[viewaswebpage]; e.g. <a href="$$url[viewaswebpage]">View email as a webpage</a>
  • Forward to a Friend - $$url[forwardtofriend]; e.g. <a href="$$url[forwardtofriend]">Forward to a friend</a>

 

Because these variables contain data that can only be known at send time, you will not be able to click on their links when previewing.

 

Miscellaneous

CSS + auto-inlining

To edit your template's CSS, go to the HTML Version tab and click on the "Source" button in the top-left of the toolbar.  The entire HTML document can be edited.  As with any other changes, CSS changes will be reflected in the preview pane in real-time.

 

Emails will automatically have their CSS inlined.  This means that CSS declarations from any <style> tag found in the html will be copied inline to each matching element.  This allows you to code your email CSS more like a web page.  Campaign Monitor provides a nice email CSS support guide.


Starting Layouts

When creating a new template, select a starting layout for your template. You can choose the Blank HTML or Text Only Default templates, or a "starter template."  You can make any changes to the template once a starting layout has been selected. All layouts (except Blank HTML and Text Only) are mobile responsive by default, so that they will render differently when viewed on a small screen.  

 

Templates with Automated Emails

If a template has an active automated email, it is important to know that any changes to the template will be reflected in each automated email that goes out.  Depending on the scope of the changes, it may be best to pause or deactivate the automated emails while making changes to the template.

 

Templates with active automated emails cannot be deactivated.

 

Defaults

Under the Options tab you can define default settings for your template.  These values will be applied to every email created from this template going forward.

 

Previewing

As you edit your template (both in design view and code view) changes will be updated in real-time in the preview pane on the right side of the page.  You can move the slider to see how the template will render at various screen sizes.  There are pre-sets for Desktop and Mobile that make it easy to size the preview pane.  

 

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