Email Designer

DonorPoint provides two tools for designing email content, accessed via the Email Definition editor:

Drag-and-Drop Designer

The visual drag-and-drop designer (accessed via the Design tab in the email editor) allows staff to build rich email layouts without writing HTML. Drag content blocks — text, image, button, divider, columns, social links — into position and configure each block visually.

Features:

  • Pre-built content block templates for common email sections
  • Mobile preview toggle to see how the email renders on small screens
  • Merge tag picker to insert personalisation fields
  • A Switch to HTML button to reveal and edit the raw HTML

The designer saves its layout data alongside the HTML, so a designed email can always be reopened and edited visually.

Rich-Text Editor

The source editor (accessed via the Source tab) provides a code view for direct HTML editing. Use this for:

  • Fine-tuning layout details not accessible through the designer
  • Pasting in HTML from an external editor
  • Writing complex EL expressions inline

Email Content Tips

All content is HTML. DonorPoint evaluates merge tags and EL expressions at the time each individual email is generated. Write personalisation once in the template; it resolves to each recipient’s data at send time.

Avoid pasting from Word. Word processors generate complex HTML that may not render correctly in email clients. Paste plain text and reformat using the editor toolbar.

Images: Resize images before inserting. Email clients like Gmail ignore width/height attributes and display images at their full size.

Tables for layout: Use tables for multi-column email layouts rather than CSS floats or flexbox — email client CSS support is limited.

Email Settings

Each Email Definition has a Settings tab for:

  • Subject line
  • From name and email address
  • Reply-To address
  • BCC addresses for internal copies
  • Sender credentials (which account SES configuration to use)