How to Use the New Block-Based Email Editor (Alpha)

MailPoet includes a new email editor built on the WordPress block editor. This alpha version lets you design newsletters using the same block-based workflow you already know from creating WordPress posts and pages. Because the feature is still in alpha, it may change as development continues.

Note: This feature is currently in alpha. It is functional and available for testing, but you may encounter occasional issues. Emails created with the new block editor cannot be edited in the classic MailPoet editor, and vice versa.

Prerequisites

MailPoet plugin version 5.6.1 or later
WordPress 6.x or later

In your WordPress dashboard, go to MailPoet > Emails.
Click Add new email.
In the Newsletter section, click the small downward arrow next to the Create button.
Select Create using the new email editor (Alpha).

Choose an email pattern to start with. Patterns are pre-designed email layouts organized into categories. The following categories are available:

Newsletter — general-purpose email layouts
Sales Announcements — promote sales, discounts, and special offers
Educational Campaign — share tips, tutorials, or educational content with subscribers
Events — announce upcoming events, webinars, or meetups
Welcome — greet new subscribers when they join your list
Post-Purchase — follow up with customers after they complete an order (requires WooCommerce)
Abandoned Cart — remind customers about items left in their cart (requires WooCommerce)

You can also start from a blank template. For a detailed list of individual patterns and their requirements, see Email Patterns below.

Design your email using blocks. Click the + icon to open the block library and browse the available blocks in the left sidebar. See the Available Blocks section below for a full list.

When your design is ready, configure your sending options directly in the editor sidebar. See Sending Options below for details on setting the subject, recipients, schedule, and tracking.
Click the Review and send button in the top-right corner to send your email immediately, or click Review and schedule if you have set a scheduled date. See Sending Options for more about the send button.

Sending Options

In the block-based email editor, all sending options are available directly in the editor sidebar. You do not need to leave the editor to configure the subject line, recipients, schedule, or tracking. To access the sending options, click the Settings tab in the right sidebar, then look under the Email tab.

The sidebar contains four panels:

Status

The Status panel appears at the top of the sidebar and contains two rows:

Send — controls when your email is sent. By default, the email is set to send Immediately. Click the Immediately button to open a date and time picker where you can schedule the email for a future date. To switch back to immediate sending, click Now in the date picker header.
Recipients — controls who receives your email. Click Select recipients to open the recipient selector. You have two options:
- Send to all customers — sends the email to all WooCommerce customers (requires WooCommerce).Send to a segment — lets you choose one or more segments. Use the search field to find and add segments. The total recipient count is displayed below the segment selector.

Content Settings

The Content Settings panel is where you set the subject line and preview text for your email.

Subject — the subject line your subscribers will see in their inbox. A character counter displays next to the field, with a recommended maximum of 60 characters. You can personalize the subject using tags such as [site-title], [customer-firstname], [customer-lastname], and [customer-email].
Preview text — a short summary that appears next to or below the subject line in the inbox. The character counter turns yellow when you exceed 80 characters and red when you exceed the 150-character maximum. Keeping preview text concise helps ensure it displays fully across email clients.

Inbox Preview

The Inbox Preview panel shows a live preview of how your email will appear in a subscriber’s inbox. It displays three pieces of information:

The sender name and email address (pulled from your site settings)
The subject line
The preview text

This preview updates automatically as you type in the Content Settings panel, allowing you to see the result in real time without sending a test email.

Tracking

The Tracking panel contains a single field:

utm_campaign — add a tracking code to use with Google Analytics. When a subscriber clicks a link in your email, this value is appended as the utm_campaign parameter in the URL. This helps you track newsletter performance in your analytics reports.

For more details about tracking newsletters with Google Analytics, see Track Newsletter Subscribers in Google Analytics.

The Send Button

The send button in the top-right corner of the editor changes its label depending on your settings:

Review and send — appears when no schedule is set (the email will be sent immediately).
Review and schedule — appears when you have selected a scheduled date in the Status panel.
Save and continue — appears when editing an automation email (see How to Use the Block Editor for Automation Emails).

How to Use the Block Editor for Automation Emails

You can also use the new block editor to create and edit emails within MailPoet automations.

Go to MailPoet > Settings > Advanced.
Scroll down to Use block email editor for automation emails.
Select Yes and click Save settings.

Once enabled, any new automation emails you create will open in the block editor instead of the classic editor.

Important: Automation emails created with the block editor will not be visible or editable in the classic editor. If you switch this setting back to No, previously created block-based automation emails will still use the block editor when opened for editing.

Email Patterns

Email patterns are pre-designed starting layouts you can choose when creating a new email. Each pattern includes placeholder content, images, and structure tailored to a specific use case. You can customize any pattern after selecting it.

The patterns available to you depend on whether WooCommerce is active on your site. Some patterns also require WooCommerce version 10.5.0 or later because they use the Coupon Code block.

General Patterns

These patterns are always available, regardless of whether WooCommerce is installed.

Pattern	Description
Newsletter	A general-purpose newsletter layout.
Product Restock Notification	Notify subscribers when a product is back in stock.
Sale Announcement	Promote a sale or discount offer.
New Products Announcement	Showcase newly added products.
New Arrivals Announcement	Highlight your latest arrivals with product imagery.
Educational Campaign	Share tips, tutorials, or educational content.
Event Invitation	Announce an upcoming event, webinar, or meetup.
Welcome Email	Greet new subscribers when they join your list.

WooCommerce Patterns

These patterns appear only when WooCommerce is active on your site. They are designed for post-purchase follow-ups and cart recovery, and several include dynamic product blocks that automatically display relevant products in the sent email.

Pattern	Description
First Purchase Thank You	Thank a customer after their first order and suggest related products.
Post Purchase Thank You	Thank a customer after any order and recommend additional items.
Product Purchase Follow-Up	Follow up after a specific product purchase with tips or related products.
Abandoned Cart	Remind customers about items left in their cart. Uses the Product Collection Cart Contents variant to automatically display each customer’s actual cart items.

WooCommerce Patterns with Coupon Code

These patterns include the Coupon Code block and require WooCommerce version 10.5.0 or later. If your WooCommerce version is older, these patterns will not appear in the pattern selector.

Pattern	Description
Welcome with Discount	Welcome new subscribers with a discount coupon to encourage their first purchase.
Win Back Customer	Re-engage inactive customers with a discount offer and product suggestions.
Abandoned Cart with Discount	Recover abandoned carts by offering a discount coupon. Uses the Product Collection Cart Contents variant to automatically display each customer’s actual cart items.

Tip: Patterns that include product blocks (such as the Post-Purchase and Abandoned Cart patterns) show placeholder images in the editor preview. When the email is sent, the placeholders are automatically replaced with real product data from your WooCommerce store.

Available Blocks

The block editor for emails supports a curated set of blocks that render reliably across email clients. Click the + icon in the editor to open the block inserter and browse the categories below.

Text

Paragraph — add and format text content such as body copy, introductions, or announcements.
Heading — add headings (H1 through H6) to structure your email and guide readers through sections.
List — add bulleted or numbered lists to organize information.
Table — insert a table to display data in rows and columns.
Quote — add a styled blockquote to highlight a testimonial, review, or notable excerpt.

Media

Image — insert, resize, and link images. You can upload from your Media Library or paste a URL.

Design

Spacer — add adjustable vertical space between blocks to control the layout.
Columns — create multi-column layouts (for example, two or three columns side by side).
Group — wrap multiple blocks together and apply shared background colors, padding, or borders.
Buttons — add one or more call-to-action buttons with customizable text, link, color, and style.

Widgets

Social Icons — add a row of social media icons linking to your profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and others.

Theme

Site Logo — display your site’s logo as set in WordPress > Appearance > Customize.
Site Title — display your site’s name as configured in WordPress > Settings > General.

WooCommerce

These blocks are available when WooCommerce is active on your site. They let you showcase products directly inside your emails.

Coupon Code — insert a WooCommerce coupon code that subscribers can use at checkout.
Product Collection — display a dynamic collection of products based on custom filters and sorting rules. Includes a Cart Contents variant that automatically shows the products a customer left in their cart, designed for use in abandoned cart emails.
Featured Products — highlight one or more featured products with images, prices, and a link to the product page.
New Arrivals — showcase your most recently added products.
On Sale Products — display products that currently have an active sale price.
Best Sellers — show your top-selling products.
Top Rated Products — display the highest-rated products based on customer reviews.
Hand-Picked Products — manually select specific products to display in your email.
Products by Category — show products from one or more WooCommerce categories.
Products by Tag — show products that match specific WooCommerce tags.
Products by Brand — display products filtered by brand.
Related Products — show products related to a specific item.
Upsells — display upsell product suggestions.
Cross-Sells — display cross-sell product recommendations.

Note: Not all standard WordPress blocks are available in the email editor. Only blocks that render reliably across email clients are included. If you paste content from a WordPress post or page that contains unsupported blocks (such as Gallery, Media and Text, Cover, Video, Audio, or Embed), they may still render in the sent email, but they cannot be added directly from the block inserter.

Differences from the Classic Editor

Feature	Classic Editor	Block Editor (Alpha)
Editing approach	Drag and drop from sidebar	WordPress block inserter
Layout building	Pre-built column layouts	Columns block with flexible configuration
Text editing	Inline text editor	Full block editor with rich formatting
Template system	MailPoet-specific templates	Block-based email patterns
WooCommerce products	Limited product widgets	Full suite of WooCommerce product blocks
Sending options	Configured on a separate page after the editor	Configured in sidebar panels within the editor
Compatibility	Classic emails only	Block emails only

Known Limitations

Because this feature is in alpha, keep the following in mind:

No cross-editor compatibility. Emails created in the block editor cannot be opened or edited in the classic editor, and classic emails cannot be opened in the block editor.
Block support is limited. Not all WordPress blocks are available in the email editor. Only blocks that render reliably across email clients are enabled.
Rendering differences. Some email clients (particularly older versions of Outlook) may display certain block styles differently than what you see in the editor preview.
Feature parity. Some features available in the classic editor (such as the Automatic Latest Content widget or the Posts widget) may not yet be available in the block editor.

Tips

Preview your email before sending. Use the preview option to check how your email looks, especially if you are using images or multi-column layouts.
Test across email clients. Since email rendering varies by client, consider sending test emails and checking them in multiple email applications.
Start simple. If you are new to the block editor, begin with a pre-built template and modify it to suit your needs.
WooCommerce product blocks require WooCommerce to be installed and active. If you do not see the WooCommerce category in the block inserter, confirm that WooCommerce is enabled on your site.