How useful are editors and newsletter builders?
26. March 2019
Noticed instead of drowned
11. April 2019
A comparison of four email builders with a drag-and-drop interface
Web-based, drag-and-drop email builders make an attractive proposition: the ability to create a responsive HTML newsletter with point-and-click ease – with any sending platform and with no need for programing skills. We put four of the most popular module-based tools through their paces to establish whether and how they streamline the process of making professional HTML emails.
These are the tools we tested:
Stripo put to the test
Usability
Stripo offers more than 300 modules for tailor-made responsive email newsletters. Users can leverage these to create a template in line with their corporate identity. Stripo makes a positive impression in terms of look-and-feel and user-friendliness. However, Stripo does not offer the option to upload a separate template for display on mobile devices. Instead, images are rescaled or reorganized depending on their position.
The first step is to create the layout with Stripo’s drag-and-drop editor. Then the font, color, and size of each individual module must be specified. Customization is therefore required for a large number of elements. As a result, the amount of effort required increases in line with the template’s length and complexity.
Once this is complete, all future email newsletters can be created based on the customized template and its individual elements. The Stripo drag-and-drop editor is simple to use and does not require HTML skills. The version history is particularly helpful as it allows users to recover the last-saved version of an email.
If the next newsletter uses modules taken from a different template, it is possible that these elements will no longer match the user’s defined design. In this case, the user has to begin customization anew.
Quality of results
While testing Stripo templates, we discovered multiple issues with how content is displayed. For example, Outlook is known to have problems with background images. However, there is a workaround, which we would embed directly into the email code for our customers. Stripo does not support its users in this respect. How buttons and spacing are displayed also varies according to the email client. Stripo does not meet our expectations in full with regard to consistent email presentation. That said, there may be marketing professionals that are not bothered by such details. To them, the reduction in effort is more important than the content display issues.
Export to and integration with sending tools
The customized newsletter’s HTML code can be exported from Stripo and downloaded. The Business package includes an option to export to various email sending solutions, including MailChimp, GetResponse, Campaign Monitor, UniSender, eSputnik and Gmail.
The HTML code can be transferred to the user’s own sending tool via the export function. To do so, Stripo requires permission to access the user’s email service provider (ESP) account. However, the newsletter’s images and graphics remain on Stripo’s image server. For many users this might not be a problem. Be that as it may, we prefer uploading images to the image database of the corresponding email solution, which can generally cope well with the peaks in load cause by images after they are sent.
In our opinion, it is better to directly download the HTML code in its entirety, and to use the email marketing software’s content import function. This eliminates the need to grant Stripo access to the user’s account, which might contain sensitive information.
When using their own email platform, the user must, among other things, adjust settings for link tracking, click profiling, personalization and version testing. And addressing any problems identified during testing the email within the sending tool requires a significant amount of additional effort. This is also true should there be any last-minute changes – and who has not experienced that? The user must then either make adjustments directly in the email’s source code or return to Stripo, carry out the necessary changes there, and then exporting and optimizing everything again.
Costs
Stripo can be easily tested using a free subscription. This allows two templates per project. The Business package for professional users starts at around 8.50 euros a month, and includes 15 templates per project, 50 test emails – and 100,000 views of an animated countdown timer – per month.
Taxi for Email under the microscope
Usability
Taxi for Email is less user-friendly and intuitive than Stripo. Like all drag-and-drop programs, it requires a significant number of clicks to create an email.
We feel the editor is not particularly ergonomic. During email creation, each individual module must be selected from a drop-down menu on the right-hand side and then inserted into the initially empty email. Once the email has been filled in this manner, content can be added in the live preview or using the menu. We find the drop-down menu to be confusing for emails that have multiple modules.
Eighteen modules are available for actual content. The module sequence can be flexibly structured and they can be duplicated, but they cannot be fully edited. For example, it is not possible to adjust the size and font in many modules. A link cannot be included in the preheader without editing the HTML code. In some modules, it is possible to upload a separate image for the mobile version.It is not possible to copy modules which are already styled and populated or to move elements within a multi-column section. Blank modules only can be added and modified individual. In in some fields, HTML commands can be entered for greater design flexibility. This requires the corresponding expertise in HTML for emails.
We tested Taxi for Email’s free account. Therefore, we cannot offer an opinion on its Plus features. However, the extended functionality described could potentially reduce the workload of marketing teams. In particular, the larger packages enable tighter integration with sending tools. Taxi for Email presents these packages as end-to-end tools for all aspects of creating emails. In addition, the packages offer testing, customization, versioning and approval management. Integration of personalization and segmentation logic, and tracking syntax for email sending tools are also named as features.
Quality of results
The results of the display test did not completely win us over. As with the previous solution, many users may find that the added convenience outweighs the inconsistencies in presentation. For example, call-to-action buttons are not uniform in appearance. One particularly unattractive issue is that Outlook 365 shows “http://” in all calls-to-action. And on mobile devices, the spacing between elements organized underneath one another is inconsistent and, at times, very small. The template code has been improved so that background images are shown in Outlook – allowing more complex email designs.
Export to and integration with sending tools
The HTML code of the created emails can be transferred to a sending platform or downloaded. Screenshots and web addresses, which are valid for 24 hours, can be generated for email approval purposes or for documentation. Taxi for Email offers its own content network for image hosting. This would imply that peak access loads directly after distribution should not cause problems. The Pro Plan includes 3,750,000 downloads per month. For a one-time fee, Taxi for Email offers the option of integrating the user’s own sending tool. This allows emails to be transferred using one-click export.
Costs
Taxi for Email does not publish pricing information on its website. To the best of our knowledge, the least-expensive Pro Plan costs around 7,000 euros per year (approximately 580 euros per month). It is possible that this price is negotiable. However, the truly attractive Taxi for Email features, the ones we believe will result in an actual workload reduction, are only available in the Scale Plus Plan. This costs 3.5 times that of the Pro Plan. And is the only option that would make users completely independent of their email service provider. It enables customization variables in the ESP syntax, link tacking, content segmentation, versioning, integration of dynamic content and approval management.
Test report: BEE
BEE Free, as the name implies, is an editor from BEE that can be used at no charge. Emails can be created directly on the website using templates or drag-and-drop. It is possible to initially test it without creating an account. Afterwards, the HTML code can be downloaded and imported to an email marketing application. We recommend using the BEE Pro or BEE Plugin versions when working with BEE on a regular basis. These allow templates to be saved, copied and organized.
Usability
Over 200 templates are available. There are three filter criteria to simplify searches: by frequency of use, by industry, and by keyword. A conventional keyword search is offered as well. There are a variety of templates available, some with traditional layouts, three that include elements with dynamic countdowns and 20 that have animated graphics.
BEE is a clearly structured and intuitive-to-use editor. Email creation begins with selecting a template. In addition, there are predefined elements called rows that contain one to four columns. These can be placed in the desired position via drag and drop. The individual content elements can then be inserted into this structure. Both rows and individual elements can be flexibly arranged, deleted and duplicated.
Individual elements can be edited in many ways and can be hidden for the mobile view or locked for editing by other users. Using the special link function, the user can add links from MailChimp, MailUp, Autopilot, HubSpot and SendGrid for unsubscribing and online versions. BEE Free allows various templates from MailChimp, HubSpot and SendGrid, with existing personalization variables, to be incorporated into the footer.
Email width can be varied in BEE. Unfortunately, it is not apparent what size images should be when being embedded, and image size can only be adjusted in percentages. If the automatic width option has been selected, it is no longer possible to choose to display images across the entire width in the mobile version only.
Quality of results
Unfortunately, our test indicates that emails are barely legible when displayed in Lotus Notes 8 and Outlook 2013. Background images are not shown in newer versions of Outlook, even though this is possible with freestyle emails. Moreover, spacing is not consistent on mobile devices.
Export to and integration with sending tools
The HTML code can be downloaded with or without images, or it can be transferred directly to another application. There is also the option to export emails as PDFs.
Background images were not automatically included in the download during our tests. We had to manually extract and replace the URL in the source code. With the pay-to-use BEE accounts, images can be hosted. The costs for data transfer via the CloudFront content delivery network (CDN) are 0.1 US dollars per GB, and the first 10 GBs a month are available at no charge.
Costs
The smallest pay-to-use account (BEE Pro Freelancer) costs around 13 euros per month and allows management of three projects per month. Larger teams will need BEE Pro Team, at approximately 21 euros monthly. This version offers unlimited projects and additional features for workflow and approvals. It also includes the option to save personalizations, merge tags, and links in a central location.
A closer look at: Chamaileon
Usability
Chamaileon is EMDesigner’s successor. Users are automatically forwarded to the Chamaileon website when registering for a free trial account for EMDesigner. It appears that both newsletter builder systems are at present being operated concurrently. We tested the free version of Chamaileon.
Usability
This editor supports multiple ways of creating emails. Mailings can be made from scratch using a blank template, a template from Chamaileon, or by importing existing HTML code.
We felt the drag-and-drop editor was very confusing. Given the many parameters, a large number of clicks are necessary to achieve any kind of result. Font, size and color cannot be applied universally. Instead they must be defined for each module. The individual blocks can then be duplicated, deleted or moved around with ease. New elements can be added via drag and drop. Placement options are clearly displayed. Individual blocks can be saved for use in other emails. It is also possible to decide exactly which blocks are shown in the mobile view, and the order of blocks can be edited specifically for display on mobile devices. However, we struggled to activate the corresponding function. Chamaileon does not offer the option of uploading images optimized for mobile viewing. Nor is it possible to add an empty block as a structure for a new module.
Emails can be saved in Chamaileon as new templates for future mailings. The editor has a preview function for desktop and mobile clients, and it is possible to send test mails.
Chamaileon distinguishes between project types. For standard projects, it is possible to create standalone templates and campaigns. With marketing automation projects it is possible to link individual mailings to a master template. Any changes made to the master template will be propagated across all corresponding mailings.
In our tests, the editor proved to be quite unstable. It produced errors and froze on multiple occasions.
Quality of results
The results of our display test were satisfactory in comparison to the other tools reviewed. However, images in three-column layouts appear heavily pixilated, as they are scaled to fit the entire width.
Export to and integration with sending tools
The HTML code can be downloaded with or without images, or transferred directly to another application, including emarsys, Mailchimp, SendGrid, Hubspot, and many more.
Costs
Chamaileon has three products: Free, Premium and Teams 4+. The Chamaileon Free account is a good way of testing the editor at no charge. However, the user has a monthly limit on the number of test mails, exports and volume of available storage. The Chamaileon Premium account offers unlimited test mails, exports, and storage space for about 17 euros per month.
Final verdict: Which email builder is worthwhile and for whom?
A web-based email builder with a drag-and-drop interface may be useful for marketing teams without the time or skills to code responsive email HTML, and who do not want to use their sending tool’s content management system (CMS). We particularly liked BEE and Stripo on account of their intuitiveness and usability. The monthly costs for both are low and they are worth trying out.
However, users have to accept weaknesses in how emails are displayed on various clients. And the time saved creating the email is subsequently lost when importing into the user’s own sending tool – a process that is promoted as effortless. For this step, the user must reset parameters for tracking and personalization, potentially repeatedly, before the actually sending. Taxi for Email claims to minimize this effort by means of optional seamless integration into the user’s own sending tool. But this email builder costs nearly as much a sending tool. At best, this would be suitable for marketing teams that send their emails using a marketing solution or sending service that does not offer an email template system.