How collaboration tools can simplify email campaign management

Introduction

Email collaboration tools are software solutions that enable your team to create systemic interactions between colleagues, collect and analyze data, and make organization process and task distribution easier. 

But here’s what often happens without them: the copywriter is working from an outdated brief, the designer sends files through email instead of a shared tool, and the email marketer spends half a day tracking down approvals in three different chats. Tasks get duplicated, feedback gets lost, and a campaign that should take a week stretches into two or more.

In this article, we examine the key stages of email production, explain how tasks are distributed in teams, and demonstrate how you can use collaboration tools for email campaign management.

The key stages of email production

Every email campaign starts with a bright idea, which leads to a meticulous process of approvals, layout tweaks, rounds of improvements, and testing. Before we examine collaboration tools’ benefits, the key stages of email production should be discussed to understand the workflow and define which specialists you’ll require:

1. Generate a campaign idea to set and distribute tasks.

This stage involves brainstorming your future campaign ideas, outlining tasks, and choosing suitable specialists to perform their roles, in which defining the email marketing campaign’s goal, contribution, and target audience is important. 

2. Create and approve copy and a design in Figma.

Teams often work with tools like Figma to draft copy, create the layout, make revisions, and get approval. When specialists use different tools (e.g., the copywriter may create content in Google Docs and the designer may create visuals in Adobe Illustrator), it can be challenging to align content, obtain quick feedback, and transfer materials between tools. 

3. Work on the layout in email builders.

When the copy and design are revised and approved, the email marketer moves everything to the preferred email template builder or ESP/CDP editor to work on the layout and ensure that the email looks visually appealing.

4. Improve extra aspects — gamification, personalization, and interactivity.

This stage includes moving on to the more challenging aspects of the email creation process — games, personalized experiences, and interactive elements. For instance, for a re-engagement email, it could be a scratch card with a special discount, product recommendations based on the recipient’s past purchases, or a quick survey about subscribers’ preferences. 

5. Localize the email to communicate with subscribers in their native languages.

About 40% of customers refuse to make a purchase if you can’t offer your products or services in their native languages. However, localization goes much further than just translating your emails into your recipients’ languages. Communicating in the same language as your subscribers and understanding their cultural backgrounds are essential to building strong relationships and making your email content as relevant as possible. 

6. Test your email and fix errors.

At this stage, your email is almost ready to fill inboxes, but meticulous testing is crucial to spot and fix errors, ensure that accessibility standards are met, and that everything is displayed correctly across different email clients, devices, and in dark mode.

Using collaboration tools for email campaign management

Now that you know more about the key stages of email production and how tasks are distributed, it’s time to examine the next important step in team management — using collaboration tools. These tools help email marketing teams plan workloads, set tasks, synchronize communication, optimize email production, and gather data. 

1. Task management software.

Even though email building is a creative process, it still needs some structure and organization skills to understand your team’s workload and plan campaigns in advance. Here are some tools you can use to distribute tasks efficiently and plan workflow:

• Teamwork — estimate, set, prioritize, and monitor tasks; view your colleagues’ availability; plan resources; keep track of clients’ comments and approvals; use detailed dashboards and reports; and track time and budget expenses. 
• Jira + Google Calendar — set tasks and monitor comments; keep meetings and deadlines visible; facilitate collaboration with comments and attachments; and align teammates with product roadmaps.
• Teams — schedule meetings; benefit from AI-powered meeting notes and PowerPoint Live to control your content; use voicemail and call transfers; and synchronize everyone with shared lists and collaborative applications. 
• Miro — visualize your team’s processes with 2 000-plus diagram shapes; plan with tables and timelines; keep all project data in one place; use AI for interactive prototypes; turn ideas into structured documents; and collaborate with colleagues by using comments.
• Smartsheet — plan and execute events; gather insights from information with AI; collaborate with stakeholders, providing access to various resources; monitor version control and feedback history; attach up to 100 files simultaneously; and share items with people within or outside of your company by controlling access levels.
• Asana — align work with company goals to view progress; control editorial calendars; manage onboarding and offboarding processes; connect a product roadmap with a strategy; and use AI to analyze workload and avoid burnout.  

2. Marketing automation systems.

These tools will assist in automating routine tasks like managing data in bulk and funneling the leads into sales so that you may focus on making strategic decisions. Furthermore, automation tools will enable you to analyze the behavior of the recipients to create emails based on their interests, schedule campaigns, and monitor key metrics, to improve your email marketing initiatives.

The capabilities that should be present in your marketing automation software include the following:

• Segmentation and personalization — creation of campaigns that target different groups of audiences depending on their interests, behaviors, or purchasing history.
• Subscriber data and consent management — handling the subscriber information and consent data using one system only.
• Analytics and reporting — tracking the performance of campaigns using key metrics.
• Integrations with CRM and e-commerce software — incorporation of your email software with the rest of the systems in use.
• Trigger-based workflow — setting up actions to be performed when a recipient performs a certain action at a specific moment.

3. Email production tools.

Your email marketers, copywriters, and designers should have access to user-friendly email production tools to ensure simultaneous collaboration, such as co-editing and commenting. Everyone must be able to perform tasks, leave comments, obtain feedback, and track version history. 

Here are some email production tools to choose from:

• Figma — create numerous layouts and email designs; edit with teammates in real time; work in a browser or desktop app; use plugins for customizable experience; generate prototypes with AI; create designs that adjust to layout size;
• Stripo — drag-and-drop and HTML email template builder; code and no-code email design; export to 90-plus ESPs; interactive module generator to build games, surveys, and more; smart AI Assistant (generate an entire email campaign or a subject line only); 1,550-plus email templates; and modular email design to save any email element as a module for further use.
• Canva — AI-driven tools to create copy with a chosen tone of voice; invite teammates to design together; brand kits and templates with your logos and colors to speed up the creation process; convenient approval flows to collaborate effectively; and integration with tools like Slack and Google Drive. 

4. Communication tools.

Managing all work chats concerning different tasks, departments, and clients can be overwhelming, so you must select the right working messenger to communicate with colleagues effectively. Make sure you use a single messenger for work communication so that you need not juggle your email inbox, Slack, and Jira to find a necessary file to share or a comment to revise. 

Here are some communication tools your email marketing team can use:

• Slack — message and file history; huddles for calls (1:1 and group calls, depending on the subscription plan); audio and video clips to share updates; customizable templates and lists; integration with about 2,600 apps.
• Google Meet when calls are necessary — cloud-encrypted meetings (instant and scheduled); whiteboard for your brainstorming sessions; polls to make decisions; breakout rooms; attendance tracking; and on-the-go mode to stay connected while driving or otherwise on-the-go.

Wrapping up

Collaboration tools are a great way to speed up the email production process, synchronize communication between colleagues, and distribute tasks. It’s essential to find tools in which team members can work simultaneously, leave comments, track the version history, and receive feedback to revise content. 

Here are the top tips on managing your email marketing collaboration tools:

1. Don’t use too many tools to avoid losing time while searching for files or the latest email version. Less is more.
2. Use task management software to plan your campaigns and monitor your team’s workload — you can always highlight top-priority tasks and check progress.
3. Reduce communication time by clearly describing all task-related communication and specifying who’s responsible for each step. For example, you can ask your email marketer to review the copy, the designer to revise the visuals, and the PM to approve the final email version before testing.
4. Use a single tool to communicate with colleagues so that you need not juggle incoming emails, Slack messages, and Jira comments.
5. Choose tools that allow team members to work on emails simultaneously, leave comments, and view the version history.