Articles
In-depth, evergreen guides to building better email.
Reference articles from the Temway team on designing responsive email, improving deliverability, and getting the most out of your email service provider — written to stay relevant for the people who actually build and ship the emails.
Email Development and Fundamentals
Bulletproof Email Backgrounds: VML and Fallbacks for Outlook
Background colors and images often vanish in Outlook because it renders email through Word, not a browser — here's why it happens and how bulletproof backgrounds keep your design intact.
CSS Inlining in Email: Why It Matters and How to Get It Right
Many email clients strip out your <style> block, so email CSS has to be inlined onto each element. Here's why inlining matters and how to handle it reliably.
Email Buttons That Work Everywhere: Bulletproof CTA Buttons
Buttons are the most important clickable element in your email, but they're also the hardest to render consistently. Here's how to build email buttons that work across every client.
Email Countdown Timers: Live Urgency That Renders in Every Client
A countdown timer is one of the highest-converting elements you can put in an email — and one of the hardest to get right. Here's how live timers actually work in email and how to design one that renders everywhere.
Email Fonts: Web-Safe, Web Fonts, and Fallback Stacks
Fonts shape how your email feels, but email client support is inconsistent. Here's how to choose fonts that look right in every inbox.
Email Merge Tags: What They Are and How They Work Across ESPs
Merge tags are the placeholders that turn one email into a personalized message for every recipient. Here's what they are, why every ESP spells them differently, and how to use them well.
Email Progressive Enhancement: Fallbacks for Outlook and Older Clients
Not every email client renders the same way. Here's how progressive enhancement keeps your emails looking right everywhere, from Gmail to Outlook to older clients.
How to Test Emails: Preview, Litmus, and Email on Acid Alternatives
An email that looks great in your editor can break in a dozen different clients. Here's how to test emails before you send — and catch the problems that previews miss.
HTML Email vs. Plain Text: When to Use Each
Should you send HTML email or plain text? Here's how they differ, when each wins, and why the best emails combine both in a single message.
Responsive Email Design: Media Queries, Fluid Layouts, and Mobile-First
Most emails are opened on phones, but most are still built on desktop. Here's what responsive email design is, why it matters, and how to get it right.
Standard Email Size: Width, Height & Image Dimensions
The standard email width is 600px. Here are the email dimensions that render correctly everywhere — container width, image sizes, height limits, and the file-size ceiling that clips your email in Gmail.
What Is MJML? A Practical Guide to Responsive Email
MJML is a markup language that makes responsive, cross-client email HTML far easier to produce. Here's what it is, why it exists, and how it works under the hood.
Why HTML Emails Still Use Tables for Layout
Modern web pages abandoned table layouts years ago, but email still relies on them. Here's why tables persist in email — and how MJML lets you skip writing them.
AI and MCP
AI Email Builder vs. Manual Drag-and-Drop: When to Use Each
AI authoring and visual drag-and-drop aren't rivals — they're different tools for different jobs. Here's what each is good at, and how to combine them.
AI Email Writing Best Practices: Getting Reliable, On-Brand Results
AI can draft a branded email in seconds — or produce generic filler. The difference is how you ask. These best practices separate a great AI-authored email from a forgettable one.
An Assistant That Draws, Not Just Writes: Visual Email Design with MCP
Most AI email tools stop at copywriting and leave the design to you. Temway's MCP goes further: the assistant composes the visual layer, drawing editable hero artwork, gradients, and shapes, not just words.
How to Proofread AI-Generated Emails Before You Send
AI drafts emails fast — but it leaves placeholder links, generic alt text, and missing subject lines. A deterministic pre-send check catches the same mistakes a human would, every time.
Is It Safe to Let AI Access Your Email Templates?
Connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your email builder gives it access to your drafts, templates, and branding. Here's exactly what it can read, what it can change, what it can never touch, and the access controls that keep that scope under your control.
Should Your AI Product Build Its Own Email Design Engine?
If your AI product emails hundreds of customers, a bad template is a brand problem multiplied by every account — here's the real build-vs-connect trade-off.
The In-Editor AI Assistant: Build Emails by Chatting
Temway's built-in assistant writes and refines your email inside the editor — works immediately on every plan, with your own AI key as an optional upgrade.
What Is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
MCP is an open standard that gives AI assistants a universal way to connect to external tools and data. Here's what it is, how it works, and why it matters.
Why MCP Matters for Email Creation
Email builders have always been mouse-first. MCP flips that: you describe the email and an assistant builds it. Here's why that changes how email gets made.
Email Design and Accessibility
Dark Mode Email Design: A Practical Guide
More readers open email in dark mode, and clients handle it unpredictably. Here's how dark mode affects your email design and how to keep it looking right.
Email Accessibility: Alt Text, Contrast, and Readable Structure
Accessible email reaches more readers and renders better everywhere. Here's a practical guide to alt text, color contrast, structure, and font sizing in email.
Email Color and Contrast: Accessibility That Looks Good
Color and contrast aren't just aesthetic choices — they determine whether readers can actually see your text. Here's how to get both right.
Email Design Best Practices: Headers, Footers, CTAs, and Hierarchy
Great emails follow a handful of proven layout patterns. Here's a practical guide to headers, footers, calls to action, and visual hierarchy that convert.
Email Footer Design: Layout, Legal Links, and Best Practices
The email footer carries legal requirements, unsubscribe links, and brand identity. Here's how to design a footer that's both compliant and useful.
Email Images: Optimization, Alt Text, Formats, and Performance
Images can make or break your email, but they're also the most fragile part. Here's how to optimize, label, and format images that load fast and look right.
Email Typography: Font Size, Line Height, and Readability
Typography is most of what your reader sees. Here's how to choose sizes, line heights, and hierarchy that keep emails readable on every screen.
Send Your Canva Design as a Real HTML Email
Canva designs can arrive in the inbox as a single flat image — pretty, but bad for accessibility, tracking, and dark mode. Here's how to turn a Canva design into real, clickable, ESP-ready HTML.
Deliverability and Rendering
Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP): What Email Marketers Need to Know
Apple's Mail Privacy Protection hides whether recipients opened your emails, breaking open rate as a reliable signal. Here's what changed, what still works, and how to adapt.
Email List Hygiene: Cleaning, Bounces, and Engagement
A smaller engaged list beats a larger disengaged one. Here's how to keep your email list clean, healthy, and delivering.
Email Preheader Text: What It Is and How to Write It
The preheader is the preview snippet shown next to your subject line in the inbox. Here's what it is, why it drives opens, and how to write and control it.
Email Proofreading Checklist: What to Check Before You Send
The send button is the moment small mistakes turn into real problems — broken links, missing alt text, spam triggers, no unsubscribe. Here's what to proofread before you send.
Email Sender Reputation: What It Is and How to Improve It
Sender reputation is the score email providers use to decide whether your emails reach the inbox or the spam folder. Here's what drives it and how to keep it healthy.
Email Spam Filters: How They Work and How to Avoid the Spam Folder
If your email lands in spam, nothing else matters. Here's how spam filters work, what they look for, and how to keep your emails in the inbox.
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Explained: Email Authentication in Plain Language
Email authentication proves you are who you say you are. Here's what SPF, DKIM, and DMARC do, why they matter, and how to set them up.
Subject Line Best Practices: Writing Lines That Earn Opens
The subject line is the gatekeeper — if it doesn't earn the open, nothing else matters. Here's how to write subject lines that work.
Why Gmail Clips Your Emails (and How to Stay Under 102KB)
Gmail cuts off emails larger than about 102KB, hiding your content and tracking behind a "View entire message" link. Here's why it happens and how to avoid it.
Why Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail Render the Same Email Differently
The same email HTML can look broken in Outlook, fine in Gmail, and pixel-perfect in Apple Mail. Here's why email clients disagree — and how to design around it.
Email Marketing and Strategy
Cart Abandonment Emails: Examples, Timing, and Templates
A cart abandonment email reminds shoppers who left without buying. Here's how to time the sequence, write copy that converts, and design it in Temway.
Countdown Emails That Convert Without Burning Your List
A countdown timer is the most powerful urgency tool in email — and the easiest one to misuse. Here's how to design countdown campaigns that earn the urgency, convert readers, and keep their trust.
Email A/B Testing: How to Test Subject Lines, Content, and Send Time
Stop guessing what works — test it. Here's how to run email A/B tests that produce real, actionable results.
Email Automation Workflows: Welcome Series, Drips, and Triggered Emails
The best email is the one that sends itself at the right moment. Here's how to build email automation workflows that work while you sleep.
Email Copywriting: Writing Body Copy That Gets Clicks
Good email design gets you opened. Good email copy gets you clicked. Here's how to write body copy that earns attention, builds trust, and drives action.
Email Marketing Metrics: Opens, Clicks, CTR, and What Actually Matters
You can't improve what you don't measure. Here's what email metrics mean, which ones matter, and how to use them to make better decisions.
Email Personalization Beyond First Name: Dynamic Content Strategies
Putting a first name in the subject line is the minimum. Real personalization uses behavior, preferences, and data to send emails that feel individually relevant. Here's how.
Email Segmentation: Targeting the Right Readers with the Right Message
One-size-fits-all email fits nobody. Here's how to segment your list and send relevant emails that get opened, clicked, and acted on.
Email Send Frequency: How Often to Send Without Burning Your List
Send too often and they unsubscribe; send too rarely and they forget you. Here's how to find the right email frequency for your audience.
Transactional Email Best Practices: Receipts, Resets, and Notifications
Transactional emails get the highest open rates of any message type. Here's how to design and write receipts, password resets, and notifications that serve the reader.
Welcome Email Series: Examples, Timing, and Templates
A welcome email is the single most-opened message you'll ever send. Here's how to build a welcome series that turns new subscribers into engaged readers.
Comparisons and Alternatives
A BEE Pro Alternative Built for Email Teams
BEE Pro is an easy, popular email builder with a generous free tier. But teams hit walls in collaboration, rendering control, and copy iteration. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
A Constant Contact Alternative Built for Email Design Teams
Constant Contact is a solid all-in-one ESP. But teams who need a dedicated, collaborative email builder often look further. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
A Mailchimp Alternative for Email Design Teams
Mailchimp is the default ESP for many senders. But teams who need a dedicated, collaborative email builder often look further. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
A Modern Alternative to Postcards for Email Design
Postcards (by Designmodo) is a modular, developer-friendly email builder. But teams wanting live collaboration, faster iteration, and AI authoring often look further. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
Best Email Builder for Teams in 2026: A Practical Comparison
Compared: the email builders that actually support multi-person workflows — shared workspaces, real-time collaboration, version history, and pricing that doesn't punish you for adding seats.
Best Free Email Template Builder in 2026
Compared: the free email template builders actually worth your time in 2026 — what each one gives you for $0, where each one earns its place, and which one fits how you work.
Best MJML Editor in 2026: A Practical Comparison
Compared: the editors that genuinely produce or compile MJML — from the official online editor to visual builders that handle the markup for you, plus pricing and where each one fits.
Beyond Unlayer: A Standalone Email Builder for Teams
Unlayer is the leader in embeddable email editors. But teams who need a full workspace — collaboration, branding, and AI authoring — often outgrow the standalone product. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
Canva Email Alternative: How Temway Compares
Canva Email exports real HTML and is a brilliant general design tool. But teams outgrow it when ESP reach, review workflows, and email-specific rendering start to matter. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
Looking for a Klaviyo Alternative for Email Design? How Temway Compares
Klaviyo is a powerful ESP with deep ecommerce data, but its built-in editor hits walls at higher cadence — here's an honest look at where Temway fits as a separate design layer.
Looking for a Stripo Alternative? How Temway Compares
Stripo is a mature, feature-rich email builder. But teams outgrow it when collaboration and fast iteration matter. Here's an honest comparison with Temway.
Temway vs BEE Pro: Which Email Builder Is Right for Your Team?
BEE Pro is easy and familiar. Temway is built for teams that need collaboration, AI authoring, and consistent branding at scale. This head-to-head compares them category by category.
Temway vs Canva Email: Which Should You Use to Ship Emails?
Canva Email exports real HTML and is a brilliant general design tool. Temway is a dedicated email-production platform for teams. This head-to-head compares ESP push, collaboration, AI, and pricing so you can pick on substance.
Temway vs Stripo: Which Email Builder Should You Pick?
Temway and Stripo are both capable email builders, but they're built for different workflows. This head-to-head compares collaboration, pricing, templates, AI, and export — so you can pick on substance.
Temway vs Unlayer: Which Email Builder Fits Your Team?
Unlayer is the leader in embeddable email editors. Temway is a full team workspace. This head-to-head compares what each is built for — so you pick the right tool for your actual workflow.
The Team-Focused Chamaileon Alternative
Chamaileon and Temway both put team collaboration first. But they differ on price, speed, and AI authoring. Here's an honest comparison to help you choose.
Compliance and Privacy
CAN-SPAM Act Explained: US Email Law in Plain Language
If you send commercial email to US recipients, CAN-SPAM applies to you. Here's what the law requires and how to stay compliant.
CASL Compliance for Email: Canada's Anti-Spam Law Explained
If you send commercial email to recipients in Canada, CASL applies to you — and it's stricter than CAN-SPAM. Here's what the law requires and how to stay compliant.
Email Unsubscribe Best Practices: Links, Headers, and One-Click Opt-Out
Making it hard to unsubscribe hurts you more than losing a subscriber. Here's how to build an unsubscribe experience that protects your deliverability.
GDPR for Email: Consent, Lawful Basis, and Data Subject Rights
If you have European subscribers, GDPR applies to you. Here's what email marketers need to know about consent, data rights, and compliance.