If you’ve ever wasted hours fiddling with email formatting, copy-pasting layouts, or chasing down approvals for every little change—this is for you. B2B email campaigns are supposed to drive sales and nurture leads, but all too often, they turn into a mess of duplicate work and inconsistent branding. Templates can help, but only if they’re actually easy to use. That’s where Mailforge comes in: it lets you build and use templates that don’t get in your way.
This guide is for marketers, sales ops folks, or honestly anyone whose job depends on sending good emails that don’t look like they were made in 1998. I’ll walk you through how to actually set up and use Mailforge templates so you get better campaigns, less hassle, and maybe even your lunch break back.
Why bother with templates at all?
Let’s be real: “templates” aren’t a magic bullet. They save time, sure, but only if you’re not constantly fighting with them. The main reasons to use them:
- Consistency: Your brand looks the same every time. No more rogue fonts or mystery colors.
- Speed: No more reinventing the wheel for every campaign.
- Fewer mistakes: Standardized layouts mean fewer broken links or missing info.
But here’s what templates don’t do:
- They don’t fix bad copy.
- They won’t make people care about your offer.
- They won’t automatically get you out of spam folders.
So, use templates to get the basics right, then focus your energy on what actually moves the needle.
Step 1: Assess what you actually need (don’t skip this)
Before you jump into Mailforge, step back. What types of emails do you send most often? Think about:
- Cold outreach
- Newsletters
- Product updates
- Event invites
- Transactional/confirmation emails
Make a shortlist. There’s no point templating every possible email if you only send newsletters and the odd product update.
Pro tip: Look through your last 3 months of sent emails. What patterns do you see? That’s your starting point.
Step 2: Set up your core templates in Mailforge
Once you know what you need, it’s time to build. Mailforge’s template editor isn’t rocket science, but there are some quirks to keep in mind.
How to actually make a template that doesn’t suck
- Go to the Templates section: Self-explanatory, but you’d be surprised how many people start with “New Campaign” instead.
- Pick a starting layout: Mailforge has a bunch of prebuilt ones. Don’t get lost in the options—pick something close to what you want.
- Customize for your brand:
- Upload your logo.
- Set your brand colors (but don’t go overboard).
- Choose 1–2 fonts. More than that, and it starts looking amateur.
- Add your standard footer (unsubscribe links, contact info, etc.).
- Save as a new template: Give it a clear name. (“Q2 Product Update” is better than “New Template 4.”)
- Test your template: Send it to yourself and at least one picky coworker. How does it look on mobile? Any weird spacing?
What not to do: - Don’t cram every possible module into one “master” template. You’ll just confuse everyone later. - Don’t skip the mobile preview. Most B2B folks check email on their phones at least sometimes. - Don’t blindly trust the WYSIWYG. Sometimes things look fine in the editor but break in Outlook (yes, still).
Step 3: Build a simple workflow for your team
Templates are useless if nobody knows how (or when) to use them. Keep it simple:
- Document where templates live: In Mailforge, they’re under “Templates.” But if you’ve got shared folders or a wiki, link to them.
- Set naming conventions: Example: “Newsletter_[Month]_[Year]” or “Outreach_InitialContact.” It makes things easier to find.
- Decide who owns updates: Someone needs to be in charge of keeping templates up to date—ideally the same person who cares about branding.
Pro tip: Don’t make approvals a nightmare. Build the review process into your workflow, not as an afterthought.
Step 4: Create a campaign from a template (without making a mess)
Mailforge lets you start new campaigns from any of your saved templates. Here’s how to do it without introducing chaos:
- Choose the right template: Don’t just pick whatever’s at the top of the list. Make sure it matches the campaign type.
- Duplicate, then edit: Always duplicate the template before editing, so you don’t accidentally overwrite the original.
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Fill in your content:
- Swap out placeholder text for real copy.
- Update images and links.
- Double-check dynamic fields (like {{FirstName}}) work as expected.
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Preview and test: Always send yourself a test. Then send to a Gmail and an Outlook address if you can—those are the most common email clients in B2B.
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Get sign-off (if needed): If your team requires approvals, do it before you schedule or send. Don’t rely on “I’ll fix it later.”
What to ignore: Endless “personalization tokens” and gimmicks. Use what’s actually helpful—usually a name and maybe a company field. The rest just makes errors more likely.
Step 5: Iterate and improve (don’t just set and forget)
Templates aren’t “one and done.” What works for Q1 may flop in Q3. Build in a quick review process:
- Every quarter, revisit your templates. Are people actually using them? Are they still on-brand?
- Ask for feedback. Sales and CS folks usually have opinions—sometimes useful ones.
- Check your metrics. If a template is tanking open or click rates, figure out why.
Pro tip: Archive old templates. Don’t delete them (in case you need to roll back), but keep your main template list clean.
What Mailforge does well—and where it falls short
The good: - Intuitive editor. Not perfect, but better than most. - Solid mobile previews. - Easy cloning and management for teams.
The not-so-good: - Some advanced features (like conditional content blocks) are a bit fiddly. - Rendering in certain versions of Outlook can still be unpredictable. That’s an email industry problem, not just Mailforge, but worth mentioning. - If your branding is super custom, you might hit some limits in the visual editor.
Ignore the flashy features you don’t need. Stick to the basics: layouts, branding, personalization, and testing. The rest is nice-to-have, not must-have.
Wrapping up: Don’t overthink it
Templates should make your life easier, not harder. Get your core emails looking good, keep your workflow simple, and don’t be afraid to tweak things as you go. Remember: it’s better to have one or two solid templates everyone actually uses than a graveyard of “maybe someday” layouts.
Keep it simple, iterate often, and you’ll spend less time messing with formatting—and more time on work that actually matters.