Are you already working with MailBlue's latest Email Designer? Then this article is not for you. If you are still using MailBlue's Classic Email Designer, please read on! You may have intentionally not switched over yet for a good reason, or you may not be aware that a new Email Designer has been available within MailBlue for some time. In this article, I will tell you more about the differences between the two Email Designers that MailBlue offers and why we recommend you to switch to the latest version of the Email Designer as soon as possible.
From May to October 2022, the latest version of the Email Designer was gradually rolled out within MailBlue accounts. If you started with MailBlue after October 2022, you can only use the (new) Email Designer in your account.
As of October 2022, the Classic Email Designer has not been updated anymore and support for it has been completely discontinued, both from us and the technical team. However, we still notice that many of our customers continue to use the Classic Email Designer. The main reason to switch from the Classic Email Designer to the new Email Designer is simple; if there is a technical issue causing your campaigns not to be sent correctly, or if the layout is incorrect, we cannot resolve this because we no longer offer support for it. Continuing to use the Classic Email Designer is entirely at your own risk. For the new Email Designer, we provide the desired support you are accustomed to from us, and new features are regularly added to make the new Email Designer even better. But that's not all...
There is a reason why a new version of the Email Designer has been built. The Classic Email Designer caused various issues for our customers, so it was high time to address these problems; a completely new Email Designer was built, which was also given a modern touch.
Some examples of issues our customers encounter when working in the Classic Email Designer:
- Progress made in the Classic Email Designer is not saved, despite saving via the 'Save and Close' button. There goes all your hard work...
- Adding objects in the Classic Designer and placing them is very confusing, causing objects to disappear in some cases, when they should have been added in another section to be displayed.
- Adding images that are visible in the preview and upon receipt, but not visible when editing the email. These images cannot be removed within the Classic Email Designer without making adjustments to the HTML/CSS code.
- Displaying an incorrect image in the Classic Email Designer, when no image has been added to the email campaign.
- Texts (without hidden formatting) that the Classic Email Designer changes to a different font than initially set.
- Email campaigns created in the Classic Email Designer are sometimes not adapted to display in dark mode, causing the email campaign not to appear as desired.
- Links may not work after sending an email campaign created in the Classic Designer. This can prevent contacts from clicking on them and clicks will not be recorded within MailBlue. Subsequently, this may affect the functioning of your automations.
- In some cases, the Classic Email Designer adds unwanted spaces to personalisation tags, resulting in seeing 'Dear MailBlue ,' for example.
In addition to the various issues that the Classic Email Designer may bring, the new Email Designer has also been enhanced with several new features that the Classic Email Designer does not have:
- The new Email Designer allows you to optimize the mobile view of your email campaign, unlike the Classic Email Designer. Within the new Email Designer, you have control over font sizes, padding, and alignment on mobile devices. This allows you to make your email campaign look different on mobile compared to the desktop view.
- The new Email Designer features the ability to divide email campaigns into different 'Structures' and 'Lines', such as 'Headers', 'Content', and 'Footers'. This makes formatting your email campaign more organized and easier to edit different parts of your email campaign, allowing you to make your email campaigns more unique.
- A recent addition to the text block in the MailBlue Email Designer is the AI content generator. Get inspired by AI and effortlessly add powerful and effective content to your campaigns, optimized for your target audience. Receive ready-made texts in no time and use various buttons to make your text longer or shorter. It is also possible to change the tone of voice to align with your brand and message. The AI content generator is available from Plus and Professional subscriptions.
- The new Email Designer allows you to add a banner to your campaign. A banner can be used as a striking header or footer, such as a promotional banner or brand logo. You can adjust the orientation, height, and add a link, among other options.
- In the new Email Designer, you can add a timer to your email campaign. A timer can be used in a campaign to count down to a customer event, such as a launch or sale. You can set the end date and exact time in the settings. You can also set the time zone, background color, timer size, font/type size, and more.
- Within the new Email Designer, you can add a menu to your email campaign. For example, you can use the block to link to different product pages and name the menu items with product categories. You can customize many different elements of the menu, such as menu names, URL links, font type, image, background color, and more.
- With the addition of the product catalog, you can display your Shopify or WooCommerce shop in your email campaign. The product catalog allows Shopify and WooCommerce users to generate more conversions and build brand loyalty. By adding products to your campaign, contacts will see an image, name, price, description, and view button for each unique product. You can customize the layout for each product in the block settings. This feature is available from a Plus subscription.
- The latest addition to the Email Designer is the 'Coupon' block. With the 'Coupon' block in the new Email Designer, available with integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce, you can add new and existing discount codes to both direct and automated email campaigns. The block generates one coupon code per campaign, without individual coupon codes for each contact. When used, the block opens the configuration of your Shopify or WooCommerce discount coupon in ActiveCampaign, where you can select existing coupons or create new codes. It is important to note that Shopify discount codes are case-sensitive, while WooCommerce discount codes are not. Different supported types of discounts are available depending on your integration.
- All blocks that were already present in the Classic Email Designer have been optimized and expanded to enhance your email campaigns with the new Email Designer. You have more control over the blocks and their settings.
- Modules have also been updated within the new Email Designer. You now have more control over how you want to save them, making it easier to find them again if you use modules frequently.
- The new Email Designer features a completely new layout, leaving the gray and dull Classic Email Designer behind as colorless and cluttered.
Display in Classic (old) Email Designer:
Display in new Email Designer:
We have received many questions related to the transition from the Classic Email Designer to the new Email Designer. Therefore, we have compiled the 'most frequently asked questions' for you:
If I switch from the Classic Email Designer to the new Email Designer, will I lose my campaign templates?
Yes, the campaign templates will not be automatically converted to the new Email Designer. Since the new Email Designer offers more features than the Classic Email Designer, our advice is to create a new campaign template in the new Email Designer. You can also submit a ticket via info@mailblue.nl, requesting to convert a campaign template to the new Email Designer. It is important to include the link to the campaign template.
From when will the Classic Email Designer no longer be available?
At this moment, there is no certainty about whether the Classic Email Designer will remain available indefinitely. We cannot provide clarity on this matter. Therefore, we recommend switching to the new Email Designer as soon as possible.
I would like to switch to the new Email Designer, but I don't know where to start. Are there any instructions available?
We understand that transitioning to the new Email Designer may be challenging. That's why we have written a comprehensive article on all the possibilities within the new Email Designer. You can find that article here.
We hope this gives you enough reasons to switch to the new Email Designer. If you have deliberately not switched to the new Email Designer yet and have a good reason for it, but still have an interest in transitioning to the new Email Designer, please let us know by sending an email to info@mailblue.nl. We will assist you so you can switch to the new Email Designer as soon as possible.
Encountering any issues with using the new Email Designer? In that case, you can inform us by sending an email to info@mailblue.nl. Our support team is happy to help you further!