How to create dynamic email templates in SFMC

Question

Currently, our emails are using content blocks where shared areas like header and footer are called in an email file.

The reason we use content blocks is because if anything changes in these content blocks, we do not have to refresh the emails using these blocks. The change can be published across all emails without needing to refresh.

We want to move to templates but hesitant to go that route since template will have dependent emails and if anything needs to be updated in email template, all dependent emails will need to be refreshed.

1) Is there any way to create dynamic templates where changes can be published to all emails without manual refresh?

2) Which approach is better - keeping content blocks that still needs to be coded each time and called in email files VERSUS template that can be coded once and emails will become WYSIWYG and save coding time?

Answer 1

I hope I understand you correctly. All emails in SFMC are using templates (unless you build it using pure HTML copy/paste).

You can use templates referencing content blocks (wither in Ampscript using e.g. ContentBlockByKey function) or by dragging ReferenceContent block into the email. Both of these cases will allow you to perform "central" updates which will reflect in all emails referencing that particular block.

But you will not be able to adapt that block in the specific email, as it will be read only. Content referenced by either using ReferenceContent block or ContentBlockByKey is fetched into the email at preview/sendtime, and the changes applied to that block are automatically reflected in all the emails using this block.

Your other option is dragging a content block directly into the email. This will create a copy of this content, allowing you to edit and adapt it in the context of the email. However by doing this, you will obviously miss out on the ability to have central edits of it reflecting in the emails using this content. As by dragging it, you "broke" that relationship.

So it is basically up to you to choose which approach for using content blocks is best for you. Based on experience, it will probably be a mix of both.