Email marketing is a powerful tool for delivering personalised, branded messages to your audience. With Spectre Email Marketing, you can create professional Email Templates to engage leads, build relationships, and drive business growth. This guide will walk you through the builder options.
How to Design an Email Template
To begin, navigate to the ‘Templates’ section, where you can:
- Click ‘Start from Scratch’ to create a new template.
- Use a pre-set template from our Template Library, next to the template of choice, click the three dots > 'Replicate to edit'.
Once you've selected and named your template, you'll enter the design window to begin building your template. You can switch between desktop and mobile view at the top to ensure your email appears correctly on different devices.
On the right-hand side of the builder, you'll find six key sections to help you structure your template effectively:
1. Content
The Content tab lets you build your email template by dragging and dropping elements. After adding an element you can:
- Reorder: Click the arrow icon next to specific block and drag the element to a new position on the builder.
- Edit: Customise the block using the options displayed on the right side of the builder when selected.
- Delete: Select the element and click the bin icon.
- Duplicate: Select the element and use the copy icon.
- Save: Save the element as a custom Content Block for future use by selecting the element and clicking the save icon.
These blocks help structure your email and offer the following personalisation options for your templates:
Columns - Help structure your content for better readability and engagement. Drag and drop a column option based on how you want your content displayed:
- Single-column layout – Ideal for short, focused emails with a single message.
- Two-column layout – Balances text and images or highlights key points alongside supporting information.
- Three-plus column layout – Suitable for showcasing multiple properties or creating dynamic, visually appealing emails.
Property - Showcase properties directly from Street CRM:
- Choose a layout to display property information.
- Filter properties by status, type, and number of bedrooms, then select the property to showcase.
- Customise text placement, button styles, and images by clicking 'Edit Content' and selecting the element you want to modify. To change the property, click 'Change Property'.
Button - Encourage recipients to take action:
- Use Spectre AI to generate button text.
- Link to a website, email, or phone number.
- Customise text, size, colour, shape, and spacing.
Divider - Use dividers to visually separate sections:
- Adjust width, thickness, alignment, and padding for better structure.
Heading & Text - Structure your content with headings and text:
- Generate text using Spectre AI.
- Customise font, size, colour, and spacing.
- Apply 'Mergefields' to automatically pull through contact information, unsubscribe or view in browser action.
Image - Enhance your email with visuals:
- Upload your own image or select from stock images.
- Generate an image using Spectre AI.
- Add clickable actions to images.
Logo - quickly insert the logo you've uploaded in your Brand settings:
- Ensure consistent branding across all emails.
- Streamlines the template creation process, making it faster and more efficient.
Video - Embed videos for engaging content:
- Insert a YouTube or Vimeo link, which will generate a preview image.
- Customise the play icon size, colour, and type.
Social - Encourage recipients to connect with you online:
- Select social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
- Customise the icon inclusion, size, colour, and alignment.
Menu - Create a navigation menu:
- Add links to property searches, contact forms, or booking pages.
- Customise the style, font, and alignment.
HTML - For advanced customisation:
- Insert custom HTML code for unique email elements. (Recommend for users with inhouse design team or coding experience)
Timer - Create urgency for promotions or events:
- Set an end time and time zone.
- Customise colours, fonts, and actions.
2. Blocks
This tab contains:
- A library of pre-built content blocks.
- Any custom blocks you’ve created.
Scroll or search to find the one you need. For more details on creating reusable content blocks, refer to our Help Centre guide on content blocks here.
3. Body
This tab serves as the default setting for your email design:
- Set a background colour to frame your content blocks.
- Choose a default font style and colour.
While you can define font settings here, each content block can be customised individually. If you select 'Global Font' as the Font Family for a content block, it will inherit the font style and colour from the Body tab. However, selecting a different font or colour will override the default settings for that specific block.
4. Images
This tab allows you to:
- Upload an image or generate one with Spectre AI.
- Edit images by resizing, cropping, adding filters, text, stickers, and frames (restore changes with available icons where preferred).
5. Uploads
This tab stores all previously uploaded images, allowing easy reuse. You can also:
- Upload new images for future campaigns.
- Apply clickable actions to images for linking purposes.
6. Audit
This tab helps ensure your email is error-free before sending. It flags issues such as:
- Broken links – Ensure all buttons and images link correctly.
- Missing alt text – Add descriptions to images for accessibility.
Be sure to review and resolve flagged issues before including the template in any campaigns for a seamless user experience.
Before sending, preview your design using the eye icon to ensure it looks correct on desktop, mobile, and in dark mode. You can also preview how your email will appear at different pixel densities. Use the exit button in the right hand corner to go back to the builder. When you're happy, click "Save Content" in the top right corner.
To learn more about including your template in your marketing emails, refer to our Help Centre article here.