Why effective communication is the key to productive teamwork in email production

Creating an email is rarely a one-person job. Alongside copywriters, designers, and email marketers, you often have executives, legal teams, translators, and proofreaders involved in the review process. In an ideal world, everyone would sit together, discuss changes in real time, and finalize emails quickly. However, in reality, most teams work remotely, and collaboration happens across different tools and channels.

Some team members prefer calls, others rely on email, and some use Slack or messengers. Tracking comments and responding on time become challenging with feedback scattered across multiple platforms. Even built-in commenting features, like the ones in Stripo, don’t automatically guarantee smoother collaboration, and they need to be used effectively.

What truly impacts communication efficiency is how team members interact during the process — what they write, how they respond to comments, and how they handle revisions. Are the comments they leave for colleagues always clear? Is it obvious what they refer to? Can everyone easily track how the email has changed after edits?

After analyzing how teams communicate during email production, I noticed some common patterns and recurring issues that directly affect workflow efficiency. Today, we’ll explore exactly that.

Types of conversations in email production

As I mentioned earlier, each team structures its email production workflow differently. Communication — including revisions and final approval before exporting the email to an ESP or CDP — is integrated tightly into this process.

A common approach among teams is for the email marketer to gather all materials from colleagues (e.g., copywriters or designers) or prepare them independently and build the email layout in an editor. They then grant access to the task owner, executives, proofreaders, translators, et al. for questions, additions, and final approval.

I analyzed the types of conversations that different email production team members leave and identified several key categories.

Marketing-related communication

This discussion typically comes from stakeholders responsible for the email's content. They often suggest strengthening offers, adding product categories, or replacing certain content blocks completely. Such feedback is necessary when important details aren’t included in the initial brief or approved before the email was created.

These comments are usually direct and specific, such as:

• “Change the discount to 20%”;
• “Add products from the new collection.”

Clarifying questions about the project

With this type, project discussions move from external messengers directly into one place, the email editor. The team builds the email while resolving marketing questions about its content.

Examples include:

• “What exact discount are we offering?”
• “Which phone number should we display?”
• “Do we have all the necessary assets for this offer?”

Design-related communication

This is one of the most diverse categories. Statements can cover technical image specifications — such as file size, resolution, background changes, or entirely replacing an image — as well as button placement, color usage, font corrections, brand identity consistency, and mobile responsiveness.

The most effective design feedback is specific: “This banner is 1.2MB due to its large size. Resize it to 600x600 pixels.”

Conversations about email copy 

There are three interesting approaches to how people communicate about email copy:

1. Using comments on the email layout as a brief: These outline the tone of voice and key messaging that should be included in each email block. 
2. Providing copy options: The copywriter suggests three to five headline variations or other text elements, allowing the team to choose the best fit. These are more like recommendations to optimize the email for conversions or other goals. The email marketer can accept or reject them, but the commenter doesn’t have the authority to make changes directly in the email.
3. Rewriting existing copy with comments: Sometimes, a placeholder text (from a previous email or AI-generated content) is already in the layout, and team members rewrite it directly in the comments for each block. This approach functions like an in-editor workflow, eliminating the need for external Google Docs.

   However, it would be more efficient if copywriters worked directly in the email blocks, where they could immediately see how the text looks within the design.

Using discussions for proofreading

In this case, comments can be used to highlight incorrect words or phrases and to request corrections. However, co-editing is a much more efficient approach in a collaborative workflow, allowing team members to make direct edits rather than waiting for someone else to implement suggested changes.

Technical discussion

These typically flag broken links, outdated URLs that need updating, or issues with interactive elements, such as gamification, that are not functioning correctly.

Personal notes

Sometimes, email marketers leave personal notes within the layout to remind themselves to add a link, update a section, or insert visuals once they receive them from the designer. This is particularly useful when multiple team members work on the project simultaneously. Essentially, these notes track the email's progress, helping the marketer stay organized while waiting for final assets.

Consultant feedback

Email marketing consultants may leave comments aimed at improving the email from multiple angles, e.g., copy, design, and technical aspects. These comments are typically actionable, providing concrete suggestions that the email marketer can implement or discuss further.

How teams handle feedback status 

In email production communication, reaction speed during the discussion is essential. When several participants are involved in the process simultaneously, they’re in context and can react immediately. 

You can use any communication method when creating emails and responding to discussions. The main goal to strive for is the fastest possible response because when changes aren’t made to the project for a long time or aren’t approved, the team loses context.

So, how teams process feedback and suggestions also impacts efficiency. For example, they can use Stripo’s commenting functionality to streamline communication and make resolution status clear:

1. Reply to comments to indicate task completion or ask follow-up questions.
2. Use emojis for quick responses, such as a ✅ checkmark to convey that changes have been made.
3. Mark comment statuses (Open, Resolved): The person who created the task can close it after approval, or the team member who made the edit can do so immediately.
4. Tag colleagues to notify them instantly or invite them into the discussion. These colleagues get email notifications.

These features speed up workflows, but there’s still room for improvement.

Challenges in commenting efficiency

While Stripo’s commenting functionality significantly reduces chaos from using multiple tools and minimizes extra steps to highlight necessary changes, we’ve identified some new challenges:

• comment numbers sometimes obscure the text that needs editing. This forces users to switch between comment and editing modes, thereby slowing down the process;
• changes overwrite previous versions, making comparisons difficult. While Version History allows users to track edits, accessing it isn’t always intuitive. One workaround is to take screenshots of changes, but this adds extra steps;
• simultaneous edits and comments can be confusing. For example, someone may comment on a section while another person is editing it, leading to potential miscommunication;
• unresolved comments might get overlooked. It's frustrating when minor fixes remain unaddressed for days. So, did the assignee miss the notification, or are they intentionally delaying the update?

These are just a few of the ongoing challenges. Stay tuned — Stripo is working actively on solutions, and we’ll share updates soon!

Wrapping up

Communication is a crucial part of effective teamwork in email production. When done right, it streamlines workflow, minimizes misunderstandings, and helps teams work faster while maintaining high-quality email content.

By improving how we leave, respond to, and track comments, teams can reduce revisions, avoid bottlenecks, and create a more efficient workflow. Whether using clear and actionable feedback, leveraging status updates, or reducing back-and-forth messaging, every slight improvement makes a big difference in collaboration.

Have you encountered challenges with communication in email production? What strategies or tools have helped your team improve the process? Let us know — we’d love to hear your insights!