Creating a message using the Drag & Drop functionality is very simple as you just need to drag the desired elements into your message, where you want them to show. Once a message element is dropped in your message, all that is left to do is to insert the desired text and/or image.
 Prerequisite | To create a Drag & Drop message, you absolutely need to create the message using a Drag & Drop message template. |
_24x24.png) Access Path |  > Messages > EMail |
How to
Choose a message template
- In the message listing page, click on Create a message
- In the message creation window, indicate how you want to create your message, either from a template, another message or from scratch. There are many template categories to choose from:
- My templates - These are you own templates, which are messages that you saved as templates.
- Dialog Insight template - These are the default messages provided with the application. Note that if you use a Dialog Insight template, you will always benefit from updates and improvements made to the template in time. However, if you make changes to a template message and want to keep these changes and use the message later again, you're better to same this template in your templates.
- Blank message - This is an empty message, with no predefined content.
- My existing messages - To use any of your existing messages as a basis for your new message. This option is quite useful to quickly create a message that is similar to one you have already created; as it can be quicker to make a few changes than to create a completely new message.
- Web page - To use a message that is on a Web page. This type of message lets you create a message from the URL of a web page. This type of message lets you create a message by providing the URL of a web page. This option is offered to create a message from a web page hosted on a server. The destination link (http://) is the inserted and the application makes a copy of the HTML content of this page. This option is however not recommended , as web pages are not optimized for message delivery.
- Then select among the proposed choices, the specific template or message to use for your message and then click Select.
To help you make your choice, hover over the image and click the + sign to see exactly how the message looks like on both a desktop and a mobile.
- Then select the related communication type and click on Continue. The communication type can be used to categorize your messages, or if you have implemented a consent center, allow you to define opt-ins and implied consents required to make contacts eligible to receive messages.
- Then message editor opens up in full screen mode, and hides the left menu, the right pane, as well as the application header, to provide you with more space to work.
*To go back to the list of messages, and to the standard application display, with menus, just click on the
icon shown in the editor's toolbar.
Define the subject and the sender
- Once the message editor is opened, start by specifying the subject of your message.
- Identify the sender by providing its name and email address, as well as the reply email address if different from the one already provided.
If the Authorized sender option has been enabled in the project, you will make your choice in a list of valid senders and/or reply-to emails. See How to enable and configure the use of authorized senders. - If needed, you can personalize elements in the subject line, or in any field, adding variables, which are selected by clicking on the related
icon. Variables are created from data shown in the contact profile, company information or system information. Variables used to name the recipient are very common. For example, Hello [[=Contact.f_FirstName;]].
See how to add personalization elements in your message: - By default, only the subject and sender's name are shown. Just click anywhere in this section to show the other options.
Create the content of the message
In a Drag & Drop message, adding content to a message is very simple; you just need to choose any of the elements from the left and drag them to the desired location in the message.
The areas where you can add content are shown when you drag an element in the message.
- Start by adding a layout block, either on 1, 2 or 3 columns.
- In this layout block, add any content block, depending on whether you want text, images, buttons, videos, social media links, HTML code to be copied, a countdown timer, a bar code, etc. All these elements can be configured by clicking on the edit icon
shown in this area once the block is inserted in the message.
To view a description of each content blocks, refer to the list of default message elements.
Pre-header always displayed
All blocks can be edited and deleted, except for the pre-header, which is always included. The pre-header contains elements that are the first to be shown and are displayed in mobile previews. They are also visible when the display of images is not supported. The content of the pre-header can also display before a message is opened, in the subject line. It is therefore a good idea to use the pre-header to attrack the reader's attention. Good preheaders improve open and click rates!
Additional edit options
To facilitate edits and only put up front the most used features, many options were grouped and placed in a window that is not shown by default, but easily accessed if needed.
To view these other options, just click on the 
icon in the editor's tool
For more information, see Description of additional edit options.
Validate the message
It is important to make sure that your message is valid and that it has no errors before sending it.
You can check the validity of a message by looking at the editor's toolbar. If you see an error indicator, click on it to view the details about the errors and/or warnings.
- To be able to send a message, you must at least correct the errors. As for warnings, correction is optional but suggested.
- If comments or notes were added about the message, you can see them, or add notes, by clicking on the additional option icon shown on the editor's toolbar, and then selecting Reviews section.
What's Next?
Send a test message to verify email readability (see Sending a Test Message).