You can still create emails using the Legacy Email Composer if you want to.

Instructions

Start a New Legacy Email

There are three different methods for creating and sending a legacy email to your contacts. You can start from scratch and create a new email campaign, create an email template, or edit a draft of an existing email that you've used before. After deciding how to start, all you need to do is edit the content to your liking in the Legacy Email Composer.

Method 1: Create a New Email Message to Send

1. Go to Outbound > New Message.
   • Alternatively, navigate to Home (Start) > Quick Start > Email Campaigns > (top right) New Message.
2. At the bottom (Create a message with the legacy email composer), select a message to start with Blank message, Plain text email, or Upload HTML code.

Next, you can begin customizing your email in the Email Composer.

Method 2: Create an Email Template to Reuse

Creating a template to use in the future can save lots of time and effort as well as consistent branding. You can share these with your Sales team. Give it a try when you want to create robust content that you can use repeatedly. 

1. Go to Content > Email Templates.
2. At the top right, click Create Template.
3. At the bottom (Create a message with the legacy email composer), select a message to start with Blank message, Plain text email, or Upload HTML code.

Next, you can begin customizing your email in the Email Composer.

Method 3: Recycle an Existing Email Message 

1. Go to Outbound > Sent Messages.
   • Alternatively, navigate here from Home > Start > Quick Start > Email Campaigns
2. Sort by Date to see your most recently sent email messages.
3. Click the subject line of a legacy email to go directly to the message analytics for that campaign.
4. Click New Message to put a copy of your legacy email into Draft mode. 
5. You can now edit and save this template in the Legacy Email Composer.

Create and Send the Message

There are four stages to create an email with the Legacy Email Composer:

• Address – Select the individuals or groups of people you are sending the message to
• Design – Create the content of your message here
• Review – Check your message through a validation process to make sure it is ready to send.
• Send – Send your message immediately, or schedule a date and time in the future

Step 1: Enter Address information

See Message Address Overview for a more detailed explanation of the Address tab and its features.

1. Click the Address tab on the blue bar.
2. In the Message Title field, enter a descriptive name for your template.
3. Provide an inviting Subject Line that contacts will see when opening their inbox.
   
   • If you're curious, try out some of our Tips for Email Subject Lines
4. Include Preview Text to leave a positive first impression on your contacts.
5. Select a Sender email address to send your email message from.
6. Select a Reply-To email address to receive any responses to your email message.
7. Select your Recipients from the following options:
   • Choose Lists or Segments allows you to send to one or more lists or groups of contacts
   • Choose Specific People will enable you to only send to specific contacts
8. Specify any groups or contacts to Suppress Against so that they don't receive unwanted emails.
   • Act-On automatically suppresses all contacts in your Opt-Out, Hard Bounces, Spam Complaints, and Email Suppression Domains lists 
   • For more information, check out our article on Sending or Suppressing a List or Segment in an Email Message
   • If duplicate suppression is undesired, uncheck the Suppress Duplicates box
9. If you have Subscription Management enabled for your Act-On Account, you can use the Subscription Category dropdown to choose a category.
10. Click Save.

Step 2: Design Your Email

The Legacy Email Composer has a WYSIWYG editor so you can create an email message and see the design as you work.

1. Go to the Design tab.
2. On the right-hand side, expand Stationery:
   • Plain stationery is set as a default. Change the stationery any time by clicking the dropdown menu to view and select new stationery. To make your own custom Stationery, read more here.
   • Customize your options for Responsive Design, Align Logo, Message Width, Align Message, Background, and Border
3. In the Content section, drag and drop to add Blocks and Sections to your email message.
   
   • See our Email Composer User Guide for details on the available Blocks and Sections
4. In Message Styling, you can style your message body, header, and footer.
   • Learn how to create custom email headers and custom email footers.
5. Validate Clickthrough Links to make sure all your links are working (more info).
6. Click Check Spelling.
7. Click Save.

Step 3: Review & Test Your Email 

1. Go to the Review tab to preview your email message as it will appear in HTML, Text, and Mobile
2. Validate your message and make sure it meets all requirements.
3. Click Check Spam Score > Check Spam Score to evaluate your message against SpamAssassin's spam filter (more info).
4. Send yourself a test by clicking the Test button in the upper right corner.
   

Step 4: Send Your Email

You can send email messages immediately or schedule them to be sent sometime in the future. 

1. Click the Send tab.
2. Select from Send now, Send at the following time, Send in recipient's time zone, Send over time, or Use Adaptive Sending.
   • For more information on these options, see Choosing an Email Send Method
3. Once you have chosen your send method and scheduled a time (if applicable), click Submit Launch Request.