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Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋
Welcome to Issue #215 of All About Email!
Last week we were back on track! We had an open discussion about the cost of running a newsletter and why you need to know your costs! It was my most popular email of the last ten weeks! 🥳
This week, I’m taking a look at Canva’s latest addition to their Design Suite, the Email Designer!
Let’s go! 👇
The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it.
That’s what this newsletter delivers.
The Marketing Millennials is a look inside what’s working right now for other marketers. No theory. No fluff. Just real insights and ideas you can actually use—from marketers who’ve been there, done that, and are sharing the playbook.
Every newsletter is written by Daniel Murray, a marketer obsessed with what goes into great marketing. Expect fresh takes, hot topics, and the kind of stuff you’ll want to steal for your next campaign.
Because marketing shouldn’t feel like guesswork. And you shouldn’t have to dig for the good stuff.
“Design Emails Worth Opening”
Canva’s latest introduction to Visual Suite is the new “Email Builder”.
🤣 Let’s say the keynote was hilarious. Canva’s keynotes are known for their OTT and humorous presentations, and this year was no different. 👇
The “Email Designer” - What Do We Know?
If you didn’t watch the video, here are the essential bits:
It aims to modernise email design, moving away from outdated, clunky builders - using the same drag-and-drop simplicity that Canva users already know.
The focus is to make email design easier, faster, on-brand, and visually consistent with the rest of your marketing materials.
Enables mobile and desktop previews to ensure consistent rendering across devices (ummm…🤔).
Design using headers, icons, buttons, images, and videos directly from Canva’s content library.
Use the Brand Kit to lock in brand fonts, colours, and logos for visual consistency.
Canva’s email designs can be exported as HTML, allowing users to:
Import into platforms like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, HubSpot, or custom ESPs.
Review and tweak code for performance, accessibility, or dark mode compatibility (more on that later). 🤦♂️
Canva currently has direct integrations with Gmail and Mailchimp.
Canva does not yet support ESP-specific merge tags.
Any unsubscribe link you see in Canva is placeholder text only. Canva does not currently support unsubscribe links or merge tags.
Like anything in Canva, your Canva plan will depend on what access you have to features that are used in some of the templates, and features (like AI), but there are lots of free templates to get you started.
You Can’t Use Canva Emails in Production
Now, this may not come as a surprise to you, {{first_name|friend}}, but you can’t use Canva emails without a lot of work.
There are currently 164 templates to choose from, and in my testing, I picked the Education & Training in Purple, which looks nice, but I then ran the HTML through Parcel. 🫣
8 HTML warnings (although no errors).
6 Critical, 106 Serious, and 1 Mild accessibility issue - lack of attributes, colour contrast, missing alt text, dark mode issues and semantic issues.
You name the accessibility issues, and this email had them. 😬
Some of the email designs are terrible, and others are pretty good, but you can’t use an email generated in Canva in production unless you know how to code and fix all the problems.
💡 This isn’t just a Canva problem (other “Drag & Drop” builders have similar issues).
🚨 Still, given Canva’s user base (240 million active users) and how the new “Email Designer” has been marketed, it concerns me that users will think these emails are suitable for real campaigns (even though Canva knows they are not).
Final Thoughts
I’m not hating on Canva here, {{first_name|friend}}; they have had an “Email Marketing Guide” for 5 years (which would have been used for SEO, since Canva didn’t offer an email design system until now).
🤔 However, I am surprised they’ve not updated the page since the keynote announcement (you can view the page history).
I could say a lot more, but then my email will clip. 🤣
Instead, you can read the links below and read some of Beth O'Malley’s thoughts and the comments in her post.
Further reading:
Detailed guide to Canva Email features.
Design your email in Canva (remember, the FAQs are worth reading on their own).
Two new Canva Design School lessons for “Email Made Easy”.
Sending your Canva emails to Gmail.
Sending your Canva emails to Mailchimp.
Before You Go
My friend Samar Owais is running the latest cohort of her famous eCommerce Email Bootcamp. Samar is incredibly well-respected, not just by me, but by many in the email community.
This special admission will automatically get you 20% off the bootcamp:
One-time Payment: $2394 ($600 off the full price of $2994)
Payment Plan: $399/month for 6 months ($100 off the $499/month plan)
That’s it for this week. 👋
Curiosity Corner
Welcome to Curiosity Corner! Each week, I throw one question your way… not always about email marketing, but always worth a reply.
This week’s question. 👇
Do you currently use Canva?
In last week’s poll, I asked if you knew the costs of your newsletter/email marketing. “Nope - never thought about it.” led the way with 45.45% of the vote! 👇
How much does your newsletter/campaign cost?
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Yes - I'm all over this! (4) 🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Sorta...maybe. 🤷♂️ (2) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nope - never thought about it. (5) 11 Votes
All About Email - Playlist 🎧
Want to know what I'm listening to while I write?
Every week, when the newsletter drops, I'll share the track of the moment to create an unbelievably eclectic playlist just for your inbox.
Your boss will think you’re a genius
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Sponsorship Opportunities
🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc.
Email Marketing News & Tips
This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:
Congratulations! - Email Weekly wins two awards at the 2025 Lovie Awards. (Action Rocket)
🤣 Brilliant! - Senders getting ready to reignite their mailing lists. (Alison Goottee)
Design meets Strategy - Introducing the EmailBoutique YouTube Channel. (Annett Forcier)
Sort of - Google’s Postmaster Tools v2 API is live. (Brian Sisolak)
Gmail Ramping Up! - What does it mean for anyone sending email to the universe of Gmail inboxes? (Al Iverson & Valimail)
🔥 Send It Right - Wear It Proud. Because Good Deliverability Deserves Good Merch. (Lauren Meyer)
It’s now free! 😱 - Email Love Pro has been discontinued, and all of the features are now available for FREE. (Email Love)
First Guest Alert! - From In-House to Agency with Megan Boshuyzen. (Let’s Talk Email)
Some Gems - Gmail Updates Sender Requirements and Bounce Codes. (Email Karma)
Industry Dive - Building a $100M Newsletter Empire with Sean Griffey. (Growth in Reverse)
2025 Guide - Email Welcome Series Best Practices. (emailtooltester)
Top Designs - October 2025. (Action Rocket)
If you have any questions about this email or email marketing, please reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.
I hope you have a great week! 👋
This screenshot of the Canva Email Templates dashboard is used for illustrative and educational purposes only. All design templates, interface elements, and trademarks shown are the property of Canva Pty Ltd. No affiliation or endorsement is implied.