The visual email builder lets you design polished, on-brand emails—newsletters, announcements, and promotions—using drag-and-drop blocks, with no coding required. This guide walks through building one from scratch and getting it ready to send.
Before you start
Visual email templates live in Message Templates, alongside your simple email and text templates. Once built, a template can be made available for bulk communications, one-to-one communications, and automations—so you can reuse the same branded design across many different sends.
GOOD TO KNOW
Building a visual email is the same as creating any other template: you design it once, then choose where it can be used. Nothing is sent until you select the template inside a communication, campaign, or automation.
Step 1 — Open Message Templates
From Global Setup, search for and open Message Templates. This is where all of your email and text templates are managed.
From Global Setup, search for “Message Templates” and click into it.
Step 2 — Add a new visual email template
On the Message Templates page, click New Message Template in the top-right corner. You’ll see two options:
- Add Visual Email Template — polished, branded emails for newsletters, announcements, and promotions.
- Add Simple Email or Text Template — quick, flexible messages for email or SMS updates and reminders.
Choose Add Visual Email Template.
Click New Message Template, then choose the visual email option.
Step 3 — Choose how to build it
A window titled Build Your Visual Email Template opens with two paths:
Create Your Own (Recommended)
Begin with a blank template and design your email visually using drag-and-drop blocks.
Import HTML (Advanced)
For users with their own custom HTML. Drag-and-drop builder tools are not supported in this mode.
For most users, select Create Your Own.
Create Your Own is the recommended path; Import HTML is for teams with custom-coded emails.
Step 4 — Name your template
Enter a Title for the template, then click Next. Pick something you’ll recognize later—for example, Fall Open House Invite or Monthly Newsletter—since this is how the template appears in your template list.
Give the template a clear, descriptive name so it’s easy to find later.
Step 5 — Design in the builder
You’ll land in the visual builder. The large area in the center is your canvas (the email itself), and the panel on the right is where you control styling.
The builder canvas with the Styles panel. Global settings control the look of the whole email.
The right-hand panel: Styles vs. Inspect
- Styles controls the look of the whole email—the backdrop color (behind the email), the canvas color (the email background), canvas border color and radius, the font family, and default text color. Set these to match your brand.
- Inspect controls whichever individual block you have selected (covered in Step 6).
Desktop and Mobile preview
At the top of the builder, use the Desktop and Mobile toggle to see how your design looks on each screen size as you go. Recipients open emails on both, so it’s worth checking both views.
Step 6 — Add and arrange content blocks
Click the + button on the canvas to open the block picker. Every part of your email is a block that you can add, drag to reorder, and style individually.
The block picker. Each block type serves a different purpose in your layout.
- Heading: Large title text—great for a subject line or section header. Supports merge fields.
- Text: Body paragraphs. Supports merge fields for personalization (see below).
- Button: A clickable call-to-action, such as “RSVP” or “Schedule a Tour,” linked to any URL.
- Image: Add a branded or personalized image by uploading a file or pasting an image URL.
- Avatar: A circular, square, or rounded profile image—useful for a sales counselor headshot.
- Divider: A horizontal line to visually separate sections.
- Spacer: Adds vertical breathing room between blocks.
- Columns: Splits a row into side-by-side columns—for example, image next to text.
- Container: Groups blocks together so they can be styled and moved as one unit.
- HTML: Drops in a snippet of custom HTML for anything the standard blocks don’t cover.
Styling a block with Inspect
Select any block on the canvas and the right panel switches to Inspect, showing the settings for that block. For example, an Avatar block lets you set the shape (Circle, Square, or Rounded), the image URL, alt text, alignment, and padding. Each block type has its own relevant options.
With a block selected, the Inspect panel shows settings specific to that block—here, an Avatar block.
Personalizing with merge fields
In Heading and Text blocks, you can insert merge fields to personalize each email automatically. Use the Insert Merge Field button, or type {{ to trigger the autocomplete, then choose a field such as the recipient’s first name. When the email sends, each merge field is replaced with that recipient’s actual information.
MARKETING FEATURES AT A GLANCE
The visual builder gives you: drag-and-drop blocks you can add and rearrange freely; global brand styling (colors and fonts applied across the whole email); images and avatars for branded or personal touches; call-to-action buttons linked to any URL; merge fields for per-recipient personalization; and a live desktop & mobile preview as you build.
Step 7 — Finalize and set availability
When your design is ready, finalize the template. You’ll return to the template’s edit page, where you set a few final details:
- Subject — the email’s subject line (under Email Template).
- Availability — check where this template can be used: bulk communications, one-to-one communications, and/or automations.
- Community Access — choose which communities can use the template, and whether to auto-add it to new communities.
Use Preview Email to see the finished result in Desktop or Mobile view, and Edit Design to jump back into the builder for changes. Click Update Message Template to save.
The edit page: set the subject, choose where the template is available, and manage community access.
TIP
Before using a template widely, send yourself a Test Email from the Message Templates list to confirm images, buttons, and merge fields render the way you expect in a real inbox.
Questions about a specific behavior or something that doesn’t match what you see in your account? Post in your team’s Slack channel first so it can be routed appropriately.