If newsletters are a key element of your business, or you provide a newsletter service, then you absolutely need a tool for creating emails. However, there is one caveat to all this.
To serve their clients effectively, many popular ESPs and other email marketing tools aim to optimize deliverability, analytics, and data management. As a result, email-building features may not be their first priority. Meanwhile, creating your own solution requires both time and money, which you may be lacking. That’s where plugins come into play.
Plugins offer businesses a powerful way to expand their services and work capabilities without reinventing the wheel. Instead of diverting resources to build every feature from scratch, companies can integrate specialized solutions that enhance their platforms while maintaining a focus on their core offerings. And Stripo plugin is the spotlight hero of this article in which we tell you what this plugin is all about as well as why you should turn to its benefits.
What is a Stripo plugin?
Our plugin is a full-fledged version of the Stripo editor that works as a JavaScript-embedded component that can be implemented in your application. Under the hood, it receives HTML + CSS and returns HTML + CSS after modifying the code. In simple words, Stripo is a software component, and we do not process your data or emails — just your code.
Two versions of the plugin
We have two versions of the plugin that correspond to two versions of our editor: old and new. Both versions of the plugin are actively updated. The old plugin receives minor bug fixes while the new plugin is being refined and receives features in parallel with our new editor.
The old plugin
The old plugin is a full-fledged version of our editor, with all of its features that were in Stripo through the years. It has proven itself to be a reliable solution for the quick and easy creation of emails of any complexity. It contains everything required for design: many basic blocks and their deep customization, modules, interactivity, and much more.
We update our old plugin regularly by adding new features and fixing imperfections that can hinder the user experience.
Important note: Support for the old editor as well as the old editor plugin will be discontinued in the future. As a result, only the new editor and the plugin for the new editor will remain. We can’t name the exact dates for the support discontinuation; as a result, we recommend sticking with our new plugin. For those who still use the old plugin, we will provide switching offers to a new version in advance. Discontinuation of an old plugin will not be unexpected or abrupt.
The new plugin
The new plugin is a huge step forward and matches the version of our new editor. Like the plugin, the new editor was created by taking into account user feedback, expanding its existing editor features, adding comprehensive collaboration and interface customization, and eliminating technical limitations that slowed down the processing of large amounts of data.
The main new “killer features” and changes are as follows:
- email co-editing;
- commenting (soon);
- the ability to edit both desktop and mobile versions of email at the same time;
- all emails are stored on our side (a necessary measure that ensures the co-editing feature works properly, yet you still access them in our storage to save them on your side);
- out-of-the-box autosave features (the old plugin requires deploying and setting it up separately);
- better UI, more controls, faster work, and much more.
As a result, the new editor is an upgraded version of the old one. Faster, more convenient, and scalable for new additions in the future. We are actively developing our new editor and a new plugin along with it. We regularly release updates with new features and bug fixes, improving the experience of using the new plugin every day. As we said above, one of our big plans is to add a full-fledged commenting feature to a plugin that is now present in our editor. It will work like commenting on Google Docs, leveling up collaboration processes and joint email creation. Stay tuned for updates.
How do you figure out if you need a plugin?
A plugin looks like a great solution for a business. But how do you know that you are looking for exactly this? There are usually four scenarios in which a business should pay attention to a plugin:
- You need a software development kit (or SDK) to create an email marketing solution quickly with as little code as possible.
- Your business is looking for a white-label solution that can be embedded into a custom solution while maintaining brand identity by removing the logos of the white-label tool, tweaking its appearance and features to your needs, and more.
- Your needs for expanding functionality can be met by an embedded third-party tool that has a wide range of capabilities in various areas.
- You are looking for an opportunity to add specific functionality to your existing solution through a software component, namely a plugin.
All of these are possible scenarios where a plugin can come to the rescue because it can combine the traits of several solutions (for example, it can be white-label and cover several areas at the same time). But before diving into plugin capabilities, it is worth mentioning the types of businesses that can gain an advantage from plugin adoption.
Who is our plugin for?
Now it’s time to discuss who can benefit from adopting the Stripo plugin and how.
Startups
Startups are the first to benefit greatly from having a ready-made solution. Creating your own editor from scratch is a long process of ideation, prototyping, development, and testing. Not every large business has such resources, let alone startups.
Using the Stripo plugin, all you need is to implement a ready-made solution into your product or processes, and you are good to go.
For example, a bulk email tool called Maildroppa implemented the Stripo plugin inside its platform, as its user base began to feel an urgent need to create emails inside Maildroppa. Although Maildroppa initially contained simple tools for designing text emails, users needed something more advanced with a wider range of email design options. Adding such complex features went against Maildroppa’s philosophy of ease of use.
Enterprises
New audience needs can come like a bolt from the blue, and they need to be addressed if you don’t want to lose your customers. Even if you have the resources to create your own solution, spinning the flywheel to create custom functionality is time that you may not have.
Creating your own solution is long and expensive, during which time the demanding audience will find what they want in competitors’ solutions. That’s where the Stripo plugin comes into play. Octeth urgently needed a ready-made solution with seamless integration and, at the same time, scalable enough for the growing needs of its audience. The Stripo plugin provided this in full.
Businesses
We decided to use this broad term to describe all other options for those who could get an edge using the Stripo plugin. After all, this category can include businesses of many industries of any size. They can not only provide services, part of which should be an email editor but also implement it in their own solutions for creating their emails (internal communication, marketing, and much more). They are generally united by the need for simple and fast email creation.
The ones who benefit from using the plugin are:
- SaaS businesses include various platforms for customer retention, patient management, hotel management, lead generation, and many others;
- retail businesses such as stores and platforms for buying and selling;
- technological businesses providing consulting services and technical support;
- marketing agencies that help promote other businesses, and email marketing is one of their working fields.
As you can see, the list is not short, and everyone can find their own benefit in using the plugin in their email processes.
Why use the Stripo plugin?
We’ve figured out who can benefit from adopting the Stripo plugin. Now it’s about time to see what benefits our plugin brings to the table and what features can level up your email marketing game.
Advanced customization
Our plugin provides a great degree of customization in terms of its different aspects, such as interface design. You can design your editor interface according to your brand design styles as well as remove Stripo branding from it. This helps ensure that our editor will fit perfectly into your own solution.
Basic blocks and custom controls
You choose which basic blocks, including AMP blocks, you want to be present in the editor. In addition, you can enable advanced controls for the basic blocks, making them more customizable and flexible. You can also create custom blocks, such as product cards and more, to support your email design needs.
Support for AMP components and interactivity in emails
These are advanced elements for creating stunning interactive emails with our editor. It’s all optional, but you can enable all of them if your email marketing requires interactive emails with elements such as carousels, NPS questionnaires, and quizzes. In the new plugin, some blocks are not yet available, but we are actively expanding the number of blocks available to you.
Stock images
You can provide your users with plenty of beautiful, free images by simply inserting access keys into the image providers’ APIs.
Display conditions
To make emails more personalized, display conditions are the way to go. These allow marketers to change the content of the email or template displayed to recipients dynamically after sending it, depending on whether or not the specified condition is met.
Smart elements
To automate the email production process, our plugin has a smart element feature. It’s a time-saving tool for pulling data from different sources into email in a few clicks.
Modules, aka modular email design
This feature is essential for the automation of email creation. Users create modules, like footers and menus, just once, and then simply insert them into emails. With modular email design, marketers can build emails twice as quickly. Create a module library, store them in folders, categorize them, and make your email creation process as smooth as butter.
Merge tags
Merge tags, also known as data tags, are the ultimate tool for personalizing emails. Merge tags help you dynamically insert text templates into your emails and are very easy to use. You can add custom merge tags in your email marketing campaigns, or add ESP-specific ones for your users to automatically add them to their emails during the editing process.
Unlimited number of users
Unlike most email editors, we do not limit the number of users. You only need to consider how many emails your customers create or edit per month. This is very convenient, as some users may send only one or two emails per month.
Real-time co-editing
We are actively developing collaboration tools, and co-editing is one of them. You and other colleagues can work on one email simultaneously in the editor, making the necessary edits and additions without waiting for others to exit the editor.
Commenting (soon)
Commenting is a new feature in the new editor and is on its way to our new plugin. It allows marketers to leave comments on any part of the email, enhancing collaboration and making the work of several designers much easier. It functions just like commenting in Google Docs, where you can leave comments, reply to them (both with text and emojis), and resolve them.
Version history
Version history is an extension of our collaboration tools and serves as a clear way to see which colleague, when, and what change was made to the template. In addition, you can download the required version of the email in a couple of clicks and continue working on it.
Stability and reliability
We are a high-quality control system that guarantees constant service availability and stability. The Stripo plugin guarantees 99.99% uptime, as we’re constantly working on improving our platform and are on alert to prevent possible imperfections that could hinder the smoothness of your email design process. You can always check the detailed status of all our components here.
To learn more about Stripo plugin secrets and what’s hiding under the hood, read the full Stripo plugin API documentation.
Support and ease of deployment
We also have extensive support to make both your deployment and plugin usage processes smooth.
Introduction demos
Our plugin was created, taking into account the criterion of the simplest possible familiarization with its deployment. Our support department provides detailed demos of the plugin, where you can see all the features of the plugin in action, obtain the necessary answers to questions, and consider the plugin from the angle you need.
Detailed documentation
In addition, our plugin has detailed documentation, which describes everything regarding its features and the necessary steps for deployment. We also provide all the code required for deployment.
All-around support
Our team is always nearby, and in addition to the support department ready to solve any issue, we provide assistance from our developers if you encounter difficulties during the process of deploying the plugin to your solution.
Security features
Stripo puts the security of user data at the forefront; therefore, the plugin has several important features, thanks to which you can be sure about the safety of your data.
Single Sign-On
A single sign-on (or simply SSO) is an authentication technology that allows a user to access multiple applications and services with a single set of login credentials. The main goals of SSO are to reduce the number of times a user has to enter their credentials, and to make it easier to access all the resources they need without having to log in multiple times.
Custom image storage
You can set up custom image storage to store all your images under your own secured roof. This option may be the best choice for you if you’re using another storage type or want to build a more custom and flexible solution to host your images.
Your own server-side deployment
We also provide you with the choice to set up all server operations on your side if you want to keep an eye on the security aspect by yourself and process data securely within your own infrastructure.
Important note: This feature is available on the Enterprise plan only.
How long does it take to deploy the Stripo plugin?
As much as we would like to simply say, “It depends,” it really does. The integration of the Stripo plugin can take from 1 hour to several months or more, as the process can be extended by additional customer requirements, company size, service complexity, and technical integration nuances that our team may encounter and has to overcome.
If you are a large company, you will probably want to thoroughly test all the functionality and how the integration works with your solution. As a result, the plugin installation will take longer. The speed of deployment is also affected by the skill levels of you and your team. If you have experience working with integrations and plugins, then deploying the Stripo plugin will take you a couple of hours. Meanwhile, for beginners, this process may take longer.
For example, the implementation of the Stripo plugin in the Octeth enterprise solution took only 3 weeks. This is because all that needed to be done were the necessary changes to the user interface, an update to the backend code to support the integration, and testing everything to ensure a flawless user experience.
Meanwhile, Maildroppa, which we mentioned, integrated our plugin in about 2-3 months. In addition to integrating the technical part, the whole process required creating responsive templates for Maildroppa’s requirements and migrating all existing emails to the new Stripo format. All this was necessary to ensure that Maildroppa users had a smooth start using the plugin.
Every plugin deployment is unique, and the estimated time it will take can only be confirmed once the scope of future work has been approved. However, Stripo is always ready to help make your plugin deployment process smooth. We provide you with all the necessary code, and our plugin documentation contains all the ins and outs of how our plugin works. In addition, we conduct plugin demos to show you all the features and nuances as well as provide developers if you need help in solving technical questions during the deployment process.
Wrapping up
The Stripo plugin is an affordable solution for businesses that want an advanced, ready-made email design functionality to add to their own solution, fully tailored to their needs and the needs of the audience. This is a flexible tool that allows you to expand your existing functionality in the shortest possible time and serves as a short bridge between “We want an email editor in our tool” and “Now we have an editor in our tool.”
