An email template is a reusable design with a name and subject line. Start from a ready-made library design or build your own, then use it in a Blast or campaign message.
This guide covers the desktop/browser email editor. Editing words inside a Blast is different from editing the reusable template's images and layout.
Open the Editor
- Open Resources > Email Templates.
- Select Create template to start a new design, or open Browse library and select a design's pencil icon.
- In Name your template, review Template name and Subject line.
- Select Continue to open the editor.
Email Templates is its own Resources item, separate from Message Templates.
Template name helps you find the design. Subject line is shown to recipients in their inbox.
Build or Customize the Email
Use the Blocks panel to add content and layout elements. Common starting blocks include Text, Image, Button, column rows, Spacer, and Footer. Select an element to edit its wording, links, or styling.
The canvas is on the left and reusable blocks are on the right. Use the full-screen image viewer to inspect the controls.
When editing text, the toolbar offers formatting, links, lists, and Insert personalized data. Replace bracketed instructions before using the design, including optional offers or opening-hour notes that do not apply to your business.
When the design is ready, select Create. Reopen Resources > Email Templates > My templates and confirm that the intended name, subject, and design are present before using it in a message. If you leave without saving, review Discard unsaved changes? before deciding whether to abandon the work.
Insert Personalized Data
In the template editor, place the cursor in the text and select the curly-brackets Insert personalized data button. Choose the field you want Wave to fill in for each recipient.
The dialog is inside the email editor. Its visible list is scrollable; the reference below includes all nine fields shown in the walkthrough.
| Field | Exact tag |
|---|---|
| Contact's first name | {{firstName}} |
| Contact's last name | {{lastName}} |
| Contact's company | {{company}} |
| Contact's email | {{email}} |
| Contact's phone number | {{phoneNumber}} |
| Sender's full name | {{senderFullName}} |
| Sender's first name | {{senderFirstName}} |
| Sender's last name | {{senderLastName}} |
| Sender's email | {{senderEmail}} |
Library designs already include personalized fields. For example, Hi {{firstName}}, uses the contact's first name; a sign-off containing {{senderFullName}} uses sender data.
The {{senderEmail}} tag inserts sender data into email content. It does not tell you which actual From address or Reply-To Wave uses. Confirm your sending identity and reply destination separately before a live send.
Fill in the required contact fields and verify the exact tags. Do not assume a blank field will receive a fallback. The email editor's Insert personalized data is separate from Select Dynamic Field in a text-message composer. Once email is inserted into a message, add further email fields in the template editor, not through the disabled text-composer controls.
Subject, Preheader, and Email Settings
| Control | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Subject line | The inbox subject, set when naming or reviewing the template. |
| Preheader | The short line some inboxes show after the subject, under Email settings. |
| HTML Title | The title of the sent HTML, not text shown inside the email. It is not the inbox subject. |
| Email width | The design width; the walkthrough showed a 600px default. |
| Mobile breakpoint | The width below which columns stack; the walkthrough showed a 480px default. |
| Email background, Text defaults, Button defaults | Shared appearance settings for the design. |
Open Email settings from the editor toolbar, review your values, and select Save for those settings. The displayed width and breakpoint are editable defaults, not documented maximums.
Preview Before Use
Use Preview in the editor when reviewing your work. In the template list, the eye icon opens a preview with Desktop and Mobile views.
This shows the email at a phone-sized width. It does not show the Phound mobile app.
Before using a template, check:
- the subject and preheader make sense together
- all bracketed instructions have been replaced or removed
- personalized fields have the intended contact or sender data
- images, buttons, links, and spacing look appropriate at both sizes
- the email selected inside the final Blast or campaign message is the intended version
Advanced Editor Controls
The toolbar also includes View components, View code, Import MJML, Undo, Redo, Style Manager, Settings, Layer Manager, and Blocks. These support more detailed design work; they are not required to use a library design.
Available layout/content blocks also include 30/70 row, Grouped columns, Extra column, Divider, Group Social, Social Element, Navbar, Navbar Link, Hero, Wrapper, Text section, Image and text, and Call to action.