Once you understand the type of email campaigns and decide what kind of email campaign you want to send, you can start creating the content for your email. You can either upload a template or use the editor to create one yourself.


This is a step-by-step guide to creating responsive and personalized email campaigns using our drag-and-drop editor. The Drag & Drop Editor can build one-time emails, journey emails, and API-triggered transactional emails. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

How to access the editor

Select the type of email campaign from the left navigation bar and click on the 'Create campaign' button.

Doing so will open the email template library.


You can access the drag-and-drop editor either by

  1. Selecting one of the templates from the template library
    The pre-built library offers 100+ stylized templates to make your messages visually engaging. Select a template and customize text, colors, fonts, images, buttons, and links to match your needs!


2. Click 'Create from scratch' and select a layout.
We offer three elementary HTML structures that can be easily edited and built upon to create your ideal layout.
Select a template, add text, video, images, buttons, and you're good to go! You can access the drag-and-drop editor in all the layouts except the 'Simple text' 


3. Saved Templates

Browse through the custom layouts saved in your account, perfect for reusing email templates and building similar campaigns designed by your teammates.


Using the drag-and-drop editor

Let's start with the basics - rows, columns, and content blocks. Rows and columns are the foundation of email templates. 

  • Rows can contain multiple columns, each containing content blocks like text, images, links, buttons, and more.
  • Content Blocks are easily draggable into specific columns of a row, as demonstrated below.

Additionally, you can add multiple row blocks to your email template to suit your messaging requirements. While there is no upper limit on the number of rows you can add, each row can accommodate a maximum of 6 columns.

Each email template functions like a table, allowing you to arrange Content Blocks in various configurations within rows and columns. This user-friendly system empowers you to create personalized templates quickly and effortlessly. And don't worry about designing separate layouts for mobile and laptops – the email editor takes care of that aspect seamlessly.


Now, let's walk you through all the features of the Drag & Drop Editor:


Customizing a Template

You can delete, duplicate, and shift all content blocks and rows within a template to meet your specific design requirements.

Deleting: Select the desired block and click on the Bin icon under the block or in the Right Panel.

Duplicating: Select the block and click on the Duplicate icon visible either under the block or in the Right Panel. This will create a duplicate of the selected block below it.

Shifting: Select the block, click on the drag icon, and drag it to a new position within the template. This allows you to shift the block to the desired location effortlessly.


Further, you can customize the appearance of each row (and its columns) through the Right Panel. For example, in the below visual, we have:

  • Added a border to the column containing the product images.
  • Added background color to the same column

You also have the option to configure the overall appearance of the entire template using the Settings section found under the Right Panel. In the example visual below, we have:

  1. Customized the background color of the layout.
  2. Increased the width of the content.
  3. Customized the color of hyperlinked text.

Personalize Message

You can easily personalize your messages with each user's personal details, preferences, and behavioral history by utilizing the data from Contact Properties & Custom Events tracked for your account. Let's walk through a short use case to demonstrate how it works:


Use-Case: E-commerce - Out for Delivery Update

Consider an e-commerce business that sends shipping updates to users for their purchases through Emails 

To enhance personalized user experiences, the marketing team created a dynamically personalized shipping notice email with the properties below.

  • User's first name
  • Order ID

Here's how to personalize the First name in the email template


Step 1: Click on the Personalization icon. In doing so, you can access the Contact properties and Custom events being tracked for your account.

Step 2: Select Contact properties from the dropdown. In doing so, the Placeholder menu lists all the contact properties.

Step 3: Select 'First name' from the placeholder list and enter a default value, which acts like a fallback value if in case the First name is empty.

This will add {{contact::first_name=<default value>}} to the template as shown below.

Similarly here's how to personalize the Order ID in the template

Step 1: Click on the Personalization icon. In doing so, you can access the Contact properties and Custom events being tracked for your account.

Step 2: Select Shopify events from the dropdown (if you have integrated your Shopify store with Freshmarketer., select the respective type). In doing so, the Placeholder menu will list down all the events.

Step 3: Select 'Order placed' from the event list and order_id from the placeholder list. Enter a default value that acts like a fallback value if in case the order ID is empty.

This will add {{shopify::placed_order::order_id=<default value>}} to the template as shown below.

Once the email is sent to a user, the placeholders for the first name and order ID will be automatically filled with the individual values obtained for each user.

This ensures that every recipient receives a tailored and personalized email based on their specific details, enhancing their overall experience with the communication.


Buttons (CTAs) & Customization

Strategically placing buttons in your email is a powerful method to capture users' attention and encourage them to take the desired action or achieve the campaign's end goal. These buttons can prompt users to purchase, avail a special offer, read a new article on your blog, renew a subscription, watch a new video, listen to a podcast, and much more. Buttons are pivotal in driving engagement and conversions, making them an essential element of effective email marketing.


Now, let's show you how you can add customized buttons to your template:


Step 1: Add a row to the template. (Skip if an appropriate placeholder already exists)

Step 2: Select the Button content block and drop it into a row or a column.

Step 3: Select the button added to the template to add text and customize its appearance.

  • For example, in the below visual, we have altered the button's colors, padding, and width through the Content Properties menu in the right panel.

Step 4: Add a link to the button

You can easily link the button to open a webpage, make a call, send an SMS, download a file, or send an email whenever a user clicks on it. Here's how you can set up each call-to-action:

Open Web Page: 

As highlighted below, simply add the link you'd like to direct users, in the right panel.


Open Dynamic Page Link: 

Assume you want to link the button to the 'Order Status' page URL, which will change based on each contact and the order placed event. In this case, instead of adding the exact URL, you can add the placeholder from the Order Placed event.

Unfortunately, you cannot select this placeholder directly from the URL box. You need to add this placeholder to any of your Text content blocks, copy it from there, and paste it into the button URL box.


Download File:

Prompt users to download attached images, documents, or audio/video clips when they click the button.

For example, in the visual below, we have linked a PDF document containing the design firm's service and consultation charges.

Click the 'Link file' option below the URL box. Doing so will open the file manager, where you can upload a new file or use the existing file to link to the button.

Send Email/ Make a Call / Send SMS:

Other than just adding a link, CTA buttons can also be used to send an email, make a call, or send an SMS as shown in the below image.


Note: Call and SMS option will not work if the recipient is opening the email from a laptop

Images & Personalization

Effortlessly include an image or GIF in your email template. You can replace an existing image in a pre-built template by uploading a new one. Alternatively, add the Image Block to a blank Row and customize its appearance to match your preferences. For added personalization, use dynamic images to tailor the content based on each user's preferences or behavioral history. This enables you to create a more engaging and personalized email experience.


Add a Static Image

To create a placeholder for your image:

  1. Select the Image Content Block from the right panel.
  2. Add it to a Row to create a placeholder. Click 'Browse' and select the image.
    OR
  3. Add the image directly to an existing Image Block.



Add a Dynamic Image

Let's consider an example of an e-commerce platform that specializes in footwear.

They recently launched a Summer Sale and aimed to re-engage existing users.

For this, they created a targeted email campaign directed at users who added products to their wishlist but hadn't purchased yet.

To boost engagement, the campaign's banner image was personalized for each recipient based on the product they have to wishlist

  • The Custom Event "Wishlist - Added" tracks when users add items to their wishlist.
  • Additional product details are tracked as Custom Event Attributes, including Product Category, Product Price, Product Quantity, and more.


To add the dynamic image, first, add the placeholder text for the Wishlist product URL into any of the text blocks.

Now copy the placeholder and turn on the dynamic image option in the image block, and paste it into the dynamic image URL box as shown below.


Linking Images to Open a Web Page, Make a Call, Send an Email/SMS


Linking images, alongside adding buttons, is an effective method to boost click-through rates.

You can encourage users to visit a page, watch a video, download a file, send an email/SMS, or make a call by configuring a call-to-action through the menu in the right panel.

For detailed instructions on adding these actions, refer to the CTA button section, where the process is explained in detail.

Video

To embed a video in your email template, follow these steps:

Step 1: If a placeholder doesn't already exist, add a Row block to the template.

Step 2: Select the Video Content Block and drop it into the Row.

Step 3: Click on the block to add a YouTube or Vimeo link via the right panel, adding a thumbnail with a Play icon to the template.

Step 4: Customize the Play icon's appearance to match your template's theme through the right panel.

Step 5 (optional): Use the Block Options section in the right panel for further customization.


A thumbnail will be automatically created for YouTube and Vimeo videos.


HTML

The Content Blocks in the Drag & Drop Editor enable you to create impressive campaigns quickly.

However, you can add custom HTML code snippets to your template for more customization.

This allows you to include additional sections like custom headers, countdown tickers, personalized offers, surveys, and collect ratings, providing endless possibilities for your email campaigns.


Here's how we added a countdown ticker in the email

Step 1: Copy the count-down ticker HTML code. (This is freely available on the internet)

Step 2: Drag and drop the HTML block into the template

Step 3: Paste the HTML code into the block.

Divider

Dividers are space blocks that divide sections in your template.

Modify their appearance easily using the Content Properties section in the right panel.

For instance, the visual below added dividers between the image and the offer.

Adding an unsubscribe link to your email is a critical step in email campaign creation.

This helps prevent your domain from being blacklisted by the user's email provider and ensures your emails aren't in the spam folder.

,An Unsubscribe link is automatically added to the template and Freshmarketer does not allow you to send email campaigns without an unsubscribe link.


There are two unsubscribe options available in Freshmarketer.

  1. Unsubscribe: When the recipient clicks on this link, she will be unsubscribed from all emails
  2. Manage Preference: When the recipient clicks on this link, she will be redirected to the subscription preference page where she can opt-out from specific subscription types


To include the auto-generated unsubscribe link in your email template, follow these steps:

Step 1: In your template, find a prominent area, such as the footer, to add text that indicates the option for users to opt out of your mailing list.

Step 2: Click on Special Links in the formatting toolbar and select Unsubscribe Link to add the auto-generated link. This ensures users can easily opt out of your mailing list with just a click.


View in Browser

The "view in browser" link directs recipients to the web-hosted version of your email, stored on our servers.

This feature benefits users who cannot view HTML emails or have image downloading disabled, as they can access the complete version of your email through their web browser.


To include the auto-generated 'view in browser' link in your email template, follow these steps:

Step 1: In your template, find a prominent area, such as the footer, to add text that clearly indicates the option to view in the browser.

Step 2: Click on Special Links in the formatting toolbar and select View In Browser Link.


Change History and Undo/Redo

You can undo/ redo the changes and check the change history from the change icons on the lower left side of the editor as shown below.

Email Preview

To preview the template on both Desktop and Mobile devices, simply click the Preview icon located at the top right corner, as illustrated below.

For instance, in the Mobile Preview, you'll observe that the images have shifted below the text in each Row, highlighting its high responsiveness.

Save as a Template

To save the layout to 'Saved' section, click the arrow on 'Save and next' button located at the top right, as demonstrated below. Add a name that helps you identify its purpose and click 'Save template' on the pop-up to complete the process.

If you want to use this template later, go to the saved section of the template list page.


Once you finish the content, click 'Save and next' to set up the configurations.


Next:  Configure your email campaign  <add link>