If you’re wrangling email campaigns, you know the pain: broken layouts, missing images, or emails that look fine in your editor but fall apart in Outlook 2013. Enter Emailonacid—a tool meant to catch those embarrassing mistakes before your customers do. But let’s be real: toggling between your email service provider (ESP) and Emailonacid is a time sink. If you want a smoother, more reliable process, it’s time to connect the two and let automation handle the boring bits.
This guide is for anyone who wants to plug Emailonacid into their email workflow, whether you’re using Mailchimp, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, SendGrid, or something a little more niche. I’ll walk you through what’s possible, where the headaches are, and how to set up the kind of integration that actually saves you time.
Step 1: Get Clear on What You’re Actually Automating
Let’s not overcomplicate things. Automation isn’t about adding fancy steps—it’s about cutting out manual drudgery. Here’s what most folks want to automate:
- Testing emails for rendering issues across devices and clients before sending
- Sharing previews with non-technical folks or getting approvals
- Catching mistakes early (broken links, missing images, typos)
- Logging results for compliance or review
If you’re just looking to send email newsletters, you may not need much automation. But if you’re sending critical campaigns, or have a team that needs to “sign off” on every send, connecting your ESP to Emailonacid is a no-brainer.
Pro tip: Before you start wiring things together, write down what you want to automate. “I want every draft in Mailchimp to be tested in Emailonacid before it’s approved.” That kind of thing.
Step 2: Check Your ESP for Direct Integrations
Before diving into custom workflows, see if your ESP already plays nicely with Emailonacid. Here’s the honest rundown:
- Popular ESPs (Mailchimp, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Campaign Monitor, HubSpot): Some have direct integrations. Usually, it means you can send your draft straight to Emailonacid for testing.
- Lesser-known or in-house ESPs: Odds are you’ll need to use copy-paste, an API, or a middleware tool like Zapier.
Head to your ESP’s integrations page and search for “Emailonacid.” If it’s there, great. If not, don’t panic—there are workarounds.
What works: Direct integrations save time and are the least likely to break.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time on plugins or browser extensions that just automate copy-pasting. They’re band-aids, not solutions.
Step 3: Set Up Your Emailonacid Account for Integration
You’ll need an Emailonacid account with API access or integration rights. Here’s what to do:
- Admin rights: Make sure you can generate API keys or connect third-party services.
- API documentation: Emailonacid offers a developer portal. Even if you’re not a coder, glance through their docs so you know what’s possible.
- Team setup: Decide who needs to see the results—marketers, designers, legal, etc.—so you can set up notifications or result sharing.
Heads up: Some Emailonacid plans limit the number of tests or users. Check your plan so you don’t hit a wall mid-campaign.
Step 4: Connect Your ESP to Emailonacid
How you do this depends on your ESP and comfort with tech. Here are the main options:
A. Use a Native Integration (If Available)
- Find the “Send to Emailonacid” button: In ESPs like Mailchimp, there’s often a direct export option.
- Authenticate: You’ll be asked for your Emailonacid credentials or an API key.
- Test a sample campaign: Send a draft email to Emailonacid and check if the rendering results come back.
B. Use a Connector Tool (Zapier, Make, Workato)
- Set up a Zap (or equivalent): Trigger: “New Draft Email in ESP.” Action: “Create Test in Emailonacid.”
- Map fields: Make sure your email HTML, subject, and metadata get passed along.
- Set notifications: Choose who gets pinged when a test finishes.
What works: Middleware tools are reliable for mainstream ESPs. You don’t need to code.
What doesn’t: They can be slow, and sometimes the formatting gets wonky. Always test with real email content.
C. Manual API Integration
If you’re technical or have an IT team, you can automate via Emailonacid’s API:
- Generate API keys in your Emailonacid account.
- Use your ESP’s export function (or build a script) to send email HTML to the Emailonacid API endpoint.
- Handle responses: Pull test results or screenshots back into your ESP or a shared folder.
- Set up alerts: Use Slack, email, or whatever your team uses.
Pro tip: Unless you’re sending hundreds of campaigns a week, don’t overengineer it. Middleware is usually good enough.
Step 5: Automate the Rest of Your Workflow
Integration doesn’t stop with sending an email to Emailonacid. Think about what happens next:
- Approval loops: Automatically notify reviewers when a test is ready.
- Result sharing: Send test results to Slack, Teams, or as a PDF to your boss.
- Flag issues: If Emailonacid spots a broken link or failed rendering, create a ticket in Jira or Asana.
How to set this up:
- Zapier/Make workflows: These tools can take Emailonacid results and do almost anything—send a message, update a spreadsheet, whatever you need.
- Custom scripting: If you’re technical, use webhooks to tie things together.
Don’t try to automate every edge case right away. Start with the steps you do every time—like “test, approve, send”—and add more as you go.
Step 6: Test the Full Workflow (and Break It on Purpose)
You don’t want to realize something’s broken when you’re about to launch a big campaign. Run through the process with a throwaway email:
- Send a test draft from your ESP.
- Check if it shows up in Emailonacid.
- Review the results—are screenshots and error reports accurate?
- Does your team get notified?
- Try sending a broken email (bad HTML, missing images) to see if issues get flagged.
What works: Testing with bad data is the only way to spot gaps.
What to ignore: Don’t assume a “success” message means everything’s actually working. Open the emails and check.
Step 7: Train Your Team and Set Expectations
Even the slickest automation falls down if people ignore the alerts or skip steps. Keep it simple:
- Show your team how to trigger tests.
- Make it clear who reviews what.
- Decide what happens if an email fails a test—does it go back to design, or just get flagged?
Pro tip: Document the process somewhere easy to find. A Google Doc beats a fancy diagram no one reads.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Skip
What Works
- Direct integrations: Fast, reliable, and don’t require much upkeep.
- Middleware tools: Great for most teams. Easy to change as your workflow evolves.
- Simple automations: Testing, notifications, and approval flows save hours.
What Doesn’t
- Manual copy-paste “integrations”: They’re just busywork in disguise.
- Overcomplicating with dozens of triggers and filters: You’ll forget how it all works.
- Ignoring the human side: Automation helps, but someone still needs to review the final product.
What to Skip
- Integrations that only export screenshots: If you can’t automate feedback or approval, you’re just moving the bottleneck.
- Expensive custom builds unless you really need them: Use out-of-the-box solutions first.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Integrating Emailonacid with your ESP doesn’t have to be a months-long project. Start by automating the most painful manual steps, test with your actual emails, and tweak as you go. The best workflow is the one your team actually uses—so keep it straightforward, document what matters, and don’t be afraid to change things up as your needs evolve.
Get the basics right, and you’ll spend less time fixing emails—and more time sending campaigns that land.