Mar 21, 2024
While MailChimp is primarily used for email marketing campaigns, MailChimp also offers an email API product for one-to-one 'transactional emails'. This email API service, originally called Mandrill, was introduced in 2012 and turned into an add-on service in 2016. Although this add-on service is integrated in many ways, many have found it challenging to build and collaborate around transactional email templates on MailChimp.
Problem
While MailChimp has a no-code builder for campaign emails, it does not offer a similar one for their API product.
This can provide a disjointed experience as it forces teams to have to hand-code HTML email templates. Which, if you are reading this article, you probably already know that HTML emails are filled with quirks and 90s style HTML tables in order for them to render well across clients and devices.
Solution
Enter EmailBuilder.js – a free and completely open-source block-based email template builder.
Free and open-source EmailBuilder.js playground.
Sample templates on the playground:
By using EmailBuilder.js (either self-hosted or on the playground), teams can build email templates and output to them to clean JSON or HTML that can be copy and pasted into MailChimp's transactional email template.
Raw HTML output that can be copy and pasted into MailChimp's transactional email template.
Additionally, all blocks automatically look great across clients and devices as they are tested and supported by modern email clients (on both desktop and mobile) including: Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, HEY and Superhuman.
Looking for a more collaborative solution?
EmailBuilder.js is the free community version of our much-loved no-code template builder on Waypoint. If you are looking for a more integrated and collaborative experience for your team, check out Waypoint's email API (an alternative to MailChimp's email API) with a hosted template builder with dynamic LiquidJS variables, drag and drop, Markdown formatting, reusable layouts, loops, and additional blocks.
Waypoint's collaborative 'pro builder' that is tightly integrated with Waypoint's email API.
Wrap up
If you need a no-code builder for your HTML emails, take advantage of our free and open-source community builder: EmailBuilder.js.
Further reading: