Getting Started 8: Email Composer

Last but not least, we’re at the eighth video in BombBomb’s Getting Started series! 
 
Your emails will be the vehicle of your message delivery, so it’s obvious that you want them to look nice. Luckily, BombBomb lets you create and customize your emails for this purpose.
 
In this video, we’ll spend a little time in the email composer covering the basics of creating a clean, customized email. We’ll go over how to build a top-notch message so you can maintain brand image, drive traffic to your pages, and just look awesome.
 
We’ll discuss composing a new email, adding videos and linking forms, media elements, the use of variables, and sending and saving emails for future use.
 
Play the video above to start learning how to make your emails look snazzy.
 

MORE VIDEOS:
Click here for Getting Started Mobile: Apple
Click here for Getting Started Mobile: Android

If you'd prefer to read, here's a step by step:





The email composer is an awesome way to create your very own customized emails from scratch. To start creating a new email, go to the Emails tab and click "New Email" in the top left. This will bring up a very basic email template.




You can change the layout of the template by clicking the "Layout" tab on the left. Under this tab, you'll see various layout elements you can add to your template. To add an element, click and drag whatever element you'd like over to your email. When a placeholder changes to a blue color while hovering over it with your mouse, you can successfully drop the element in that spot.




To delete an element, hover over the element and click on its respective gear icon. Scroll down and click the "Delete" button.




You can also move elements around and reposition them in your email. To do this, hover over the element and click and drag the element by the four-way arrow icon on the left. This works the same as adding an element to the email, and you can drop it anywhere a placeholder turns blue. 




Creating your own email design can be useful in a variety of situations, but BombBomb designers have made it very easy for you to choose from pre-designed email templates so you don't need to do any work if you don't want to. To choose from these templates, click on the "Design" tab and click the "Change Template" option at the top.




From here, you'll see a wide variety of email template designs you can choose from, which are categorized by situations in which they'd be useful on the right side of the screen. Also, BombBomb has what are called "Jump Start" templates, which are pre-created template formats. These are great to use if you'd like to choose a pre-formatted template where you can insert your own colors and branding. To choose a template, hover over the template and click the "Choose' button.




Some templates include a signature block that has already been filled out with variables. These variables pull from your profile information, which is why it's important to fill out your profile. 




The most popular element you'll probably interact with is the media element. With the media element, you can fill the space with either a video or an image. If you click on the media element, which is a gray box with a photo in the middle, you will have some media settings appear on the left side of the screen. To change the media type, click the dropdown next to "Media Type" and select your preference. 




There are a couple different ways you can insert a video. From the options on the left, you can record a video on the fly, upload a video from your computer, or choose a video from your BombBomb video library. To select a video from your BombBomb video library, click the "Choose" icon and then click the "Choose" button after hovering over whatever video you'd like to insert.




You can also insert images using the media element. To do this, you can click and drag a media element to your email was described above. Click on the media element and then select "Image" from the "Media Type" dropdown on the left. From here, you can choose to upload an image from your computer or choose an image you have already uploaded in your BombBomb account. For either option, you'll be able to select the image you want and insert it into the email.




There are a couple different ways you can change the colors on your email. Click on the "Design" tab and you'll see where you can change the colors individually by different format settings. However, there are also different color themes you can choose from. Click on "Change" next to the "Theme" field on the bottom left of the Design tab. You'll see many different color themes you can choose from. Hover over whichever theme you like and click "Choose."




If you've built an email theme you like and want to use in the future, you can save what you have so you can choose the theme next time you create an email. To do this, navigate to the field next to "Theme" and type in a name for your theme. Once you're finished, click the "Save Theme" button at the bottom. Now on your next email, you can click "Change" next to the Theme field and your new theme will be available as an option to select.




To edit the text, click inside of the text box and you can insert your own text. You also have the option of hyperlinking websites to text in your email or adding attachments to your email. To do either of these, you can select the link icon or the paperclip icon in the text toolbox.




If you'd like to save your email and work on it later, you can do so. At the top of the screen, you have a "Save As" line, and this is where you can name your email so you know exactly what or who the email is intended for. You can click the "Save" button to save everything you've done up until this point. 




If you'd like to save your email as a template, you can do that, too. To do this, click the dropdown arrow next to the "Save" button and select the "Save As Template" option. If you select the "Save As QuickSend" option, this will save the template so you can easily use it using our Quick Send function or on your mobile device in our mobile app. 




You can also send your email from this point if you'd like. To do this, click the "Send" button in the upper right corner of your screen. You can choose to send to individual email addresses or a list you already have in your Contacts tab. Additionally, you can choose to send the email immediately or you can schedule a date and time for it to send. 




Another useful option is to preview your email to see your email as your recipient would see it. Click the "Preview" option directly to the left of the "Save" button and you will be able to see what your email will look like once it's sent.