A quick walkthrough of the new Mailchimp Email Builder that is currently in Beta.
When you go to design a campaign email you will see two options – Stay with the Classic Builder, or try out the new Mailchimp Email Builder. You can opt-in at this point and try it out or make it your default editor it’s up to you. To opt-out of the new version, go to your Account, click Settings, then Details, and scroll down.
In the beta version of the email builder, you have a few basic templates to start. The biggest change between the two builders is there are no more drag and drop blocks. With the new version of the builder, you add blocks by clicking the plus button.
You’ll notice not all the blocks from the Classic email builder have been ported over in the beta. In particular the e-commerce blocks.
My Thoughts
I like the new look! It gives the email builder a more modern look. If you think about it, the new builder looks a lot like a typical web builder. Medium, LinkedIn, and even WordPress have these types of builders to add content. So in that regard, I think there is some familiarity.
There are no global email settings for the campaign email like you have in the classic builder. You’ll have to set the font style, size, line height, link color, per block. However, you can add colors to the background (backdrop in the beta) of the email and the body (called the Canvas in the beta). It does have a preview mode, however, to send a test email and social cards you have to click out the email builder.
I think the new Mailchimp email builder is off to a great start. Let me know in the comments what you think.