Email Builder Guide

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Overview

Email Builder is a flexible drag-and-drop email design tool that allows for easy creation of personalized email campaigns that stay true to your brand. Let’s take a look at how to use Email Builder for your next project.

How do I get started?

1. Log into the PXS Merchant Portal

2. In the left hand menu, select Marketing Tools, and then Email Tool . Note: If you do not see Email Tool, please confirm you have permissions to view/use this tool. You may need to be added to the appropriate permission group.

On the next screen, you will see lists of all emails, and all master templates you have ever created.

3. To create a new email, click the Create New Email button.

This will open up the Email Builder.

How do I build a new email?

Initial Settings

To begin a new email, you’ll first need to populate the required fields at the top of the page (see below), including:

Email Name: Give your email a name that quickly and clearly communicates what the message contains. This is what will appear on the main list of emails, and is for your reference only.
Sender Name: – This is what guests will see in the “From” field in the email.
From (Email Address): This will display with the Sender Name in the 'From” field in the email
Reply to (Email Address) – This is where replies to your email will be directed.
Subject: This what will appear in the subject line of your email when guests receive it in their inboxes. Learn more about personalizing your subject line by reading these two articles: How can I Personalize My E-mails? and How can I add emojis to my email subject line?
Save this email as a template: This saves your email as a template that can be re-used to create new emails that have the same layout. NOTE: It’s recommended that you do NOT save your email as a template until you have finished all testing. It is not possible to revert a template back to a draft once it’s been created.

Now you’re ready to design your email!

Add Content

The design tool has several components including your open space, or Preview Pane, to build out the email and options for customizing the look and feel. Let’s start with the Content tab.

The content tab contains buttons that show different Content types that you can drag and drop into the Preview Pane.

To use each Content type, simply drag it over the Preview Pane and then add your desired content accordingly.

If you click into the Content type that you’ve added, you’ll see a Content Properties panel open that will allow you to further customize your content.

For example:

Images: Upload your own images, link to a URL or access our library of royalty-free content. You can change the image size, orientation, alt (descriptive) text, opacity, etc. You can also control what happens when someone clicks on the image:
Text: Edit font sizes, styles and colors or insert dynamic text elements, edit your text and control what happens when someone clicks on the text.
Buttons: Set size, color, text and text attributes of the buttons, what happens when someone clicks on them.

See the Appendix: All Available Content Properties for Each Content Component at the bottom of this article for more information on the options for each component.

Personalize your Email

To personalize your message for each guest, click on the Text Block that you’ve dragged into the Preview Pane then select Parameters from the menu that will appear.

There are many parameters you can use to customize an email. When you click on Parameters, you’ll see a pop-up window. The complete list of parameters is broken down into four groups; click on the icon that most closely matches your parameters type to see the list of available options.

Demographics: Includes parameters related to who guests are, e.g. guest first name, favorite store, tier level, date of birth, etc.
Links: These parameters allow you to insert links that are used in almost every email, e.g. unsubscribe, privacy policy, view email in browser NOTE: These links will only be generated when the email is sent through Campaign Builder. They will not work when sending as a test draft.
Wallets: Includes parameters related to a guest’s activity, e.g. how many points or rewards they have accrued, how many points or rewards they have remaining, when points and rewards will expire, etc.
Survey: If you created a survey using Survey Center, you can select it from the list to make it appear in the email. Learn more about Surveys here: Survey Best Practices .
Order Info: Choose from available items associated with the guests' order(s). NOTE: Order Info only works for transactional emails, not campaigns. It’s recommended to skip this step and reach out to your PX Contact for assistance with any transactional email needs.

Choose from the dropdown under each tab to choose what you’d like to replace along with a Default Text or Value if the guests' specific information is not available.

Build your Layout

It’s easy to create your own layout, using the Content types you’ve added, by selecting how your rows are displayed. Begin by clicking into the second tab on the right side your screen: Rows.

Drag any of the available row configurations into the Preview Pane or select from the pull down menu to use existing templates that you have previously created like Body, Header or Footer.

Click into any row to show the Row Properties on the left side of your screen. Here you can further customize how your rows appear by changing the background color, adding borders or by adjusting how the row’s borders are displayed.

You can easily go back and forth between Content and Rows to build out your email. Not sure if you know where you want Content to go? Just start by laying out your Rows first. Know how you want it all to look? Great! Go ahead and drag your Content in first. If at any time you don’t like what you’ve created, simply click on the Shield icon within the Row or Content Block.

You can easily copy or delete your work by clicking on the Copy or Delete icons. Interested in having someone else review and comment on your draft? Just add a Comment to the block and they’ll see it when they log in to view the draft.

Once you’re Content types and Rows are in place, make sure you’ve uploaded your content in the appropriate blocks.

Settings

Finalize how your email displays by clicking on the Settings tab on the left side of your screen. Within the Settings tab you can further customize how your email will display by choosing the background color, overall alignment, default fonts, etc. You can alternatively choose these Settings as your first step and all your content will default to your chosen Settings.

Preview and Save

To preview how your email will look, click on the Desktop and Mobile icons at any time in the upper left corner of the Preview Pane or choose Preview from the Actions menu in the upper left corner of the Preview Pane. After you’ve previewed, and made all necessary edits, you can send yourself a test email. To do this, select Send Test from the Actions menu dropdown.

NOTE: The Test email will only populate with the test information. If the name displayed is ‘John Guestuser’, then this means the parameter is in the correct format and should render as expected.

When you’re satisfied with your email, click Approve in the upper right corner of the screen, above the Name Your Email field.

NOTE: Make sure to click the Approve button anytime you make an edit to the email., If you do not save, it will revert to the older version of the email and will not show in Campaign Builder.

When you’ve finalized all of your edits, click Save in the upper right corner of the Preview pane, just above the Settings tab.

Once you’ve saved your email, you’ll be able to see it in the Email Tool screen.

You’ll see 4 icons in the left column:

View/Edit : This allows you to open your draft, make changes, and save your changes.

Copy: Need to create a very similar email? No need to start from scratch. Click to copy an existing email, open the copy, make your edits, and save as a new email. Hide from

List: Over time, your list may contain many emails. If you want to declutter your view, you can hide emails you no longer need to see.

Delete: This permanently deletes your draft emails only. You cannot delete any emails in any other stage. Instead, it is recommended that you hide them instead.

Email Status

The Status column in Email Builder will show you the status of every email you’ve saved. Please refer to the table below for more information on what each status means.

What if I am using the older version of Email Builder (Email Tool)?

Important Note: If you are still using Email Tool to build your emails, we recommend switching over the Email Builder.

Here are a few considerations when doing so:

If you have created emails previously using Email Tool, you will still have access to these emails via the PXS Merchant Portal. If the email was created using Email Tool, it will open in the Email Tool editor, and you will need to make any modifications using the Email Tool editor.
While you can edit and copy existing Email Tool emails, you will not be able to create new Email Tool emails.
When you create emails in Email Builder, they will open in Email Builder, and you will need to make any modifications using Email Builder.
At any time, you can re-create an email originally built in Email Tool with Email Builder. This will allow you to make modifications in Email Builder, and use all of Email Builder’s enhanced features.

If you have previously created Master Templates in Email Tool, you can convert them to templates that can be used in Email Builder by following the steps below.

Do not click Create New Master Template
Click folder icon to open
Click on Advanced HTML tab
Copy all HTML
Create New Email (Email Builder)
Add HTML Content Block
Paste HTML is as it is .... if you want to change it you have to edit HTML, can't paste and then also use the WYSIWYG editor ... we recommend re-making it in Email Builder

Appendix: All Available Content Properties for Each Content Component

PRO TIP: Many types of content can redirect a guest to a specific URL when they click on the content (e.g. links, buttons, images). All redirect links, etc. must include the http:// (or https://) part of the URL. If it is missing, your links will not work.