Use the email designer to create a template, campaign email or journey message. Arrange blocks, edit text directly in the design and preview desktop and mobile layouts before sending a test.
Start a new email
- Go to Templates and choose New template.
- On Choose where to start, pick one of:
- Start from a sample: finished emails for common jobs. Change the words, colours and images to make them yours.
- Plain letter: text only, like a personal email.
- Blank: only the required footer.
- Draft with Kiro AI: describe the email and review a draft before editing. See Kiro AI.
- A copy of one of your existing templates.
- The designer opens. Nothing is saved until you choose Save.
When you write a campaign or a journey email, the same designer opens inside the campaign or journey. There the main button reads Use in campaign or Use in journey, and you’re editing a copy that belongs to that message only.
Find your way around
- The bar at the top holds the email’s name, its save state, the Design, Preview and Plain text views, the desktop and mobile width switch, undo and redo, Send test and Save.
- The sidebar has three tabs when nothing is selected: Add (the block library), Styles (your email theme: colours, fonts and spacing) and Settings. Select a block and the sidebar shows that block’s Content and Style instead.
- The canvas shows the email at its real width. Hover to see each block’s name; click to select it.
Add and arrange blocks
The block library is grouped like this:
| Group | Blocks |
|---|---|
| Basic | Heading, Text, Image, Button, Divider, Spacer |
| Layout | 2 columns, 3 columns, Image + text, Image group, Repeating list |
| Content | Logo, Boxed text, Quote, List, Product, Video, Social |
| Advanced | Custom HTML (transactional templates only) |
- Click a block to add it below the selected one, or drag it onto the canvas. You can drop blocks inside a column, too.
- Use the + under a selected block to add the next block right there.
- Drag a block by its grip to move it, or use the toolbar’s move up, move down, duplicate and delete buttons.
- Images can be PNG, JPEG or GIF, up to 2 MB each. Uploaded images are kept in the Media library.
To change the words, select a block and then click its text to type straight on the email. Links, images, colours and alignment are set in the sidebar.
Show a block only to some contacts
Select a block and set Show this block to to Only contacts who match, then add the conditions. Everyone else gets the email without that block. Use Preview as (below) to check both versions.
The footer
Every email ends in a locked footer with your postal address and an unsubscribe link. You can’t move or remove it. By default it shows the address from Settings › Workspace › General; an email that uses that address can’t send until it’s filled in. Kirora adds the unsubscribe link for you.
Preview on desktop and mobile
- Switch to Preview to see the email exactly as it will be sent. The sidebar shows its size and a list of Client checks.
- Use the device switch for Mobile width (375px). Columns stack on small screens, and you can set a separate mobile font size in a block’s Style tab.
- Choose Preview as to fill in the merge tags for a real contact, or leave it on the fallback values.
- Switch to Plain text to check the text-only version that goes with every email.
Send a test
Choose Send test. Tests go to you or to teammates who have joined the workspace, either one at a time or to a saved test list. Tests don’t count as real sends and don’t appear in your reports. For campaigns, see Test and preview.
Press Escape to clear the selection, Cmd/Ctrl + Z to undo and Cmd/Ctrl + D to duplicate the selected block. The toolbar tooltips name the other shortcuts.