Figma Email Template to HTML Plugin: How Postcards Streamlines Email Design

Email ToolsAndrian Valeanu • December 08, 2023 • 10 minutes READ

In the fast-paced digital era, where email marketing stands as a cornerstone of business communication, the efficiency and aesthetics of email templates have become more crucial than ever. With over 306 billion emails sent daily, standing out in the inbox is crucial.

The Figma to HTML Email Template Plugin by Postcards emerges as a key player in this space. It simplifies the transition from design to functional email templates, allowing users to convert their Figma designs into HTML with ease. This plugin is particularly significant in an era where email marketing boasts a high ROI, offering a blend of user-friendliness and effectiveness to a diverse range of users.

In this review, we will explore how the Postcards email builder revolutionizes the creation of email templates, combining creativity with practicality.

The Postcards Figma Plugin: An Overview

The Figma Email Template to HTML plugin stands at the forefront of email template design and functionality, revolutionizing how designers and marketers approach email creation:

• Primary Function: The plugin’s primary role is to facilitate a seamless transition of email designs from Figma to HTML. It enables users to export their Figma designs directly into Postcards, transforming them into responsive HTML email templates with ease.

• Design Freedom and Flexibility: Figma, celebrated for its advanced design capabilities, allows for the creation of intricate and visually appealing email templates. Users can leverage Figma’s comprehensive toolset to design emails that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also align with their brand’s identity.

• Bridging Design and Code: Traditionally, converting a design into a functional email format has been a complex task, often requiring specialized coding skills. The Postcards Figma Plugin simplifies this process, eliminating the need for in-depth HTML knowledge. This is particularly crucial considering that, as of 2021, 81% of SMBs rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel, and 80% for retention.

• Significance in Email Marketing: With email marketing offering an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, the importance of efficient and compelling email design is paramount. This plugin ensures that high-quality designs are easily translated into effective marketing tools.

• Streamlined Workflow: By integrating Figma with Postcards, the plugin streamlines the workflow, significantly reducing the time and effort required to create and deploy email campaigns. This efficiency is vital in a landscape where marketers are often pressed for time and resources.

How Figma Email Template to HTML Plugin Works

The process of installing and setting up the Postcards Figma Plugin is designed to be user-friendly and straightforward, ensuring a smooth transition from design to email deployment:

Install the Plugin:

• Start by opening Figma and navigate to the ‘Plugins’ section.
• Search for the “Export Figma Email Template to HTML” plugin and proceed to install it. This will integrate the plugin with your Figma workspace.

Prepare Your Design

• In Figma, select the artboard that contains your email design. Ensure that your design is final and ready for export.

Exporting

• With your email design ready, go to the ‘Plugins’ menu in Figma.
• Choose “Export Figma Email Template to HTML” from the list of installed plugins.
• Follow the prompts to pair your Figma design with Postcards. This step is crucial for a seamless transition of your design from Figma to the Postcards platform.

Finalizing the Template

• Once exported to Postcards, utilize its drag-and-drop interface to further customize your email template. Here, you can adjust text, imagery, styles, and configurations to refine your design.
• Ensure your design is responsive for mobile devices, making use of Postcards’ features to define these settings easily.
• Preview your HTML email within Postcards to check how it looks across various devices.

Download and Integration

• Easily share an email preview with your team for feedback or approval, ensuring everything is perfect before finalizing.
• After final approval, download your email template as a ready-to-send .zip file, complete with all necessary HTML and CSS files for easy deployment.
• The plugin also supports integration with various email marketing platforms, including MailChimp, Klaviyo, SendGrid, and others, allowing for a smooth workflow from design to deployment.

Key Features of the Figma Email Template to HTML Plugin

The Postcards Figma Plugin is equipped with a suite of features designed to streamline and enhance the email design process.

Let’s delve into these features and how they contribute to the ease and effectiveness of converting designs to HTML.

Drag-and-Drop Interface

• At the heart of the plugin is its intuitive drag-and-drop interface. This feature allows users to effortlessly assemble and rearrange components of their email designs.
• The simplicity of dragging elements into place makes it accessible for users of all skill levels, from professional designers to business owners with minimal design experience.

Array of Pre-Included Components

• The plugin offers a wide variety of pre-included components, enabling users to craft diverse and dynamic email templates.
• These components range from basic text and image blocks to more complex elements like buttons and social media links, providing the flexibility to create tailored and visually engaging emails.

Responsive Design Capabilities

• Recognizing the importance of mobile-friendly designs, the plugin includes tools to define responsive layouts.
• Users can easily adjust and tailor their emails to ensure optimal display across various device sizes, a crucial feature considering the increasing prevalence of mobile email interactions.

Compatibility with Google Fonts

• The plugin supports Google Fonts, allowing users to incorporate a vast selection of typefaces into their designs.
• This feature is particularly valuable for maintaining brand consistency and enhancing the visual appeal of emails. Moreover, it includes web-safe fallback options, ensuring that fonts display correctly even in email clients that do not support Google Fonts.

Seamless Design-to-HTML Conversion

• One of the plugin’s standout features is its ability to convert Figma designs into ready-for-production HTML with a single click.
• This functionality not only saves time but also ensures that the final HTML output retains the integrity and aesthetic of the original design.

Preview and Export Options

• Users can generate a preview page featuring all their HTML emails, giving them an opportunity to review and make final adjustments before sending.
• The plugin allows for the direct download of the email template as a .zip file, simplifying the process of getting the design ready for deployment.

Extensive Integration Options

• It supports integrations with various email marketing platforms, including but not limited to MailChimp, Klaviyo, SendGrid, and HubSpot. This feature ensures that users can easily export their designs to their preferred email marketing service for quick campaign deployment.

The Plugin’s Design Customization and Responsiveness

The Postcards Figma Plugin excels not only in simplifying the design process but also in providing extensive customization and responsiveness features. Let’s explore these aspects in detail, highlighting relevant statistics and facts that underscore their importance.

Customization Options Post-Import

Once a design is imported from Figma into Postcards, users have access to a myriad of customization options. This flexibility is crucial considering that 72% of people prefer to receive promotional content through email, making the need for unique and personalized email designs more important than ever.

Customization in Postcards ranges from modifying text, images, and color schemes to adjusting layouts and styles. This allows users to fine-tune their email templates to align precisely with their brand guidelines and marketing goals.

Responsive Design Capabilities

In today’s mobile-first world, where approximately 53% of emails are opened on mobile devices, ensuring your email design is responsive is non-negotiable. The Postcards plugin addresses this by enabling designs to automatically adjust to different screen sizes and device types.

Users can define responsive settings for mobile devices within Postcards, ensuring that the email looks great not only on desktops but also on smartphones and tablets. This adaptability is crucial for enhancing the user experience and increasing the effectiveness of email campaigns.

Device and Client Compatibility

The challenge of email design lies in ensuring compatibility across a wide range of email clients and devices. Postcards tackles this by testing designs with tools like Litmus and Email on Acid, confirming that emails render perfectly across various platforms.

With the diversity of email clients in use, where even a single client like Apple Mail holds a market share of around 52% in the email client ecosystem, it’s imperative that email templates function flawlessly across different environments.

The Plugin’s Collaboration Features for Teams

The Postcards Figma Plugin offers several features that facilitate collaboration, making it an ideal tool for team-based projects:

Shared Design Environment

Teams can work together in a shared Figma environment, allowing multiple designers to contribute to and edit the same email template in real-time. This collaborative feature is crucial in today’s work culture where 75% of employers rate teamwork and collaboration as ‘very important’.

Feedback and Review Process

The plugin simplifies the feedback loop. Team members can quickly share a preview of the email design for review and comments, streamlining the process of obtaining approvals and making necessary adjustments.

Version Control

With multiple people working on the same project, tracking changes is essential. The Postcards environment supports version control, allowing teams to manage edits efficiently and revert to previous versions if needed.

Ease of Access and Transferability

Projects can be easily accessed by team members within the Postcards platform, ensuring that everyone is working on the latest version of the design. This transferability is especially beneficial for teams distributed across different locations.

Integration with Project Management Tools

The plugin can be integrated with various project management tools, enhancing the overall efficiency of team collaboration and ensuring that email design tasks align with broader project timelines and objectives.

The Postcards Email Builder Plugin User Experience: For Designers and Marketers

The Postcards Figma Plugin is designed to cater to a diverse user base, particularly focusing on two primary groups: designers and marketers. Understanding the user experience for these distinct but often overlapping roles is crucial, as each group has unique needs and objectives.

User Experience for Designers

For designers, especially those accustomed to Figma’s interface, the Postcards plugin offers a familiar and intuitive environment. This familiarity reduces the learning curve, enabling designers to leverage their existing skills and workflows.

The plugin supports creative freedom, allowing designers to experiment with various layouts and aesthetic elements without worrying about the technical constraints of HTML and CSS.

With features like drag-and-drop and responsive design settings, designers can quickly produce high-quality email templates. This efficiency is vital in a profession where time is often a critical factor – considering that the average designer spends approximately 5-6 hours on a single email template design.

User Experience for Marketers

For marketers, especially those with limited design experience, the Postcards plugin offers a straightforward and user-friendly interface. The learning curve is relatively gentle, thanks to its no-code approach and intuitive design tools.

The plugin enables marketers to swiftly create email campaigns that align with their marketing strategies. With the rising importance of email marketing, where it’s estimated that for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI, this aspect is particularly crucial.

Marketers benefit from the plugin’s seamless integration with various email marketing platforms, which simplifies the process of launching and managing email campaigns. This integration is essential, considering that an efficient email marketing strategy can contribute to a 760% increase in revenue from segmented campaigns.

Pros and Cons of the Figma Email Template to HTML Plugin

An objective analysis of the Postcards Figma Plugin reveals both its strengths and limitations. Understanding these aspects provides valuable insights, especially when comparing it to other similar tools in the market.

Pros:

• Seamless Figma Integration: Direct integration with Figma streamlines the design-to-email process.
• Intuitive Interface: User-friendly drag-and-drop functionality makes it accessible for all skill levels.
• Responsive Design: Essential for today’s mobile-dominated email opens, ensuring compatibility across devices.
• Ready-to-Use Components: Variety of pre-designed components for quick, professional email template assembly.
• No Coding Required: Ideal for users without technical expertise in coding.

Cons:

• Figma Dependency: Reliance on Figma could limit accessibility for non-Figma users.
• Focus on Email Design: Specialization in email design may necessitate additional tools for broader marketing needs.
• Learning Curve for Non-Designers: Some users might face initial challenges in mastering the plugin’s capabilities.

Comparison with Other Tools

When compared to other email design tools in the market, the Figma email template to HTML Plugin stands out for its direct integration with Figma, making it a preferred choice for users who already work within the Figma ecosystem.

However, tools like Mailchimp’s built-in designer or Adobe XD’s email design capabilities might offer more holistic solutions for users looking for an all-in-one marketing platform or those more familiar with Adobe’s suite of tools.

Final Verdict and Recommendations

The Figma email template to HTML Plugin is a powerful tool for anyone looking to streamline their email design process. It combines the design capabilities of Figma with the simplicity of creating responsive email templates, making it especially valuable for users without extensive coding knowledge.

Who Should Use It

For Designers: This plugin is ideal for designers who are already familiar with Figma and looking to streamline their workflow for email template design. It allows them to leverage their design skills directly in email marketing campaigns, ensuring that their creative vision is accurately translated into the final product.

For Marketers and Business Owners: Marketers and business owners with limited coding skills will find this tool particularly beneficial. It offers them the ability to craft customized and responsive emails that align with their marketing goals, without the need for deep technical knowledge or reliance on a design team.

For Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Given its ease of use and efficiency, SMEs looking to enhance their email marketing efforts with limited resources will find this plugin extremely valuable. It allows for quick creation and iteration of email campaigns, which is vital in the fast-paced business environments that many SMEs operate in.

Give the Postcards Figma Plugin a Try!

Crafting effective email designs can be challenging, but the Figma Email Template to HTML Plugin simplifies this process. It blends Figma’s design prowess with the ease of Postcards’ email building, perfect for both skilled designers and marketing novices. This tool stands out for its user-friendly interface, enabling the creation of professional, responsive emails without deep coding knowledge.

In the vast array of email design tools, the Postcards Figma Email Template to HTML Plugin is noteworthy for its efficiency and quality output. It’s an excellent choice for those seeking to enhance their email marketing while saving time.

Experience the benefits of this plugin in your email marketing strategy. Try it out and discover how it can elevate your email campaigns with minimal effort.