Email Templates
After reading this page, you'll be able to build an email template from blocks on a visual canvas, upload an image into it, grab the finished HTML to reuse elsewhere, convert an older raw-HTML template to canvas mode without losing anything, and assign a template to the event that should send it.
Navigation label — Email Templates / Email Events: EN: Email Templates / Email Events · IT: Modelli email / Eventi email · FR: Modèles d'e-mail / Événements e-mail · DE: E-Mail-Vorlagen / E-Mail-Ereignisse · ES: Plantillas de correo / Eventos de correo · PT: Modelos de e-mail / Eventos de e-mail · NL: E-mailsjablonen / E-mailgebeurtenissen
Before you start
Email Templates and Email Events are manager-only — there's no mobile app screen for either. Clients never see the editor or the event list; they only receive the finished email, the same as any other message from your studio.
A template on its own doesn't send anything. To actually go out, it needs to be attached to something that triggers a send — an Email Event (see below) or a step in a Marketing Automation. This page covers building the template itself and assigning it to an event; see Marketing Automations for the automation-step case.
Overview: canvas mode vs. HTML mode
Every email template is in exactly one of two modes, never a mix of both:
- Canvas mode — you build the email visually, by adding and arranging blocks (text, image, button, divider, spacer) top to bottom, the way you'd lay out a page. This is the default for a new template and is the right choice for almost everyone.
- HTML mode — you write the email's HTML directly, in a plain text box, the same editor Agon has always had. Use this only if you need something the block editor can't do — a layout the available blocks don't support, or HTML you're pasting in from somewhere else.
The canvas shows the email exactly as it will render, live, as you add or edit blocks — there's no separate "preview" step to click through.
Building an email from blocks
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Go to Email Templates in the left sidebar, under the Marketing section.
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Click New Template. A new template opens in canvas mode with an empty canvas.
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Enter a Template Name (for your own reference — clients never see it) and a Subject line.
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Add blocks from the palette above the canvas: Text, Image, Button, Divider, Spacer, or HTML. Each click adds that block to the bottom of the canvas and selects it.
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Click any block in the canvas to select it. Its controls appear in the Block properties panel on the right:
Block Controls Text Content, Bold, Italic, Alignment, Font size, Text color Image Upload image, Alt text, Width, Alignment, Link (optional) Button Button text, Button link, Alignment, Background color, Text color Divider Divider color Spacer Height (px) HTML Raw HTML content, for a block you want full manual control over -
Reorder blocks by dragging one to a new position, or by hovering over a block and clicking the ↑ / ↓ arrows that appear. Remove a block with the × button in the same hover controls.
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For a Text block, click any of the variable chips under the content box (for example
{{client_name}}) to insert it at the end of your text — it's replaced with the client's actual value when the email sends. -
Click Save when you're done. The template is ready to attach to an Email Event or a Marketing Automation step.
Uploading an image into an Image block
- Add an Image block from the palette, or select an existing one.
- In the Block properties panel, click Upload image and choose a file from your computer.
- Wait for the upload to finish — the block shows an "Uploading..." overlay while it's in progress. Once it completes, the image appears in the canvas.
- Optionally set Alt text (shown if the image fails to load in the recipient's email client, and used for accessibility), Width, Alignment, and a Link if you want the image itself to be clickable.
There is no shared media library — each image you upload belongs to that one Image block. If you want the same picture in two blocks, upload it twice (once per block).
Using the View / Copy HTML panel
Click View / Copy HTML at the top of the editor at any time to see the exact HTML your canvas currently produces. Click Copy HTML to copy it to your clipboard — useful if you want to reuse the same styled email somewhere else, like pasting it into another tool. Click Back to canvas to return to the block editor; nothing you copy or view here changes the template.
Converting a raw-HTML template to canvas mode
A template built before this feature — or one you deliberately created in HTML mode — has no blocks yet. Opening it for editing shows an Convert to canvas link next to the HTML editor.
Clicking it wraps your existing HTML as a single starting HTML block on the canvas — nothing is lost. From there you can:
- Leave that one block as-is and add new blocks (text, image, button, etc.) above or below it, or
- Edit the wrapped block's raw HTML directly (it's still an HTML block, just now on the canvas), or
- Delete it and rebuild the email from scratch using ordinary blocks.
Converting only happens when you click the link — a template never switches modes automatically, and if you close the editor without saving, the original HTML-mode template is untouched.
When to use HTML mode instead
Canvas mode covers the layouts most studios need, but you can start a new template directly in HTML mode (click or start from raw HTML instead on a brand-new, still-empty canvas) or keep an existing HTML-mode template as-is. Reasons to stay in HTML mode:
- You're pasting in a complete email you designed or exported elsewhere, and don't want to rebuild it block by block.
- You need a layout or styling technique the block editor's six block types don't support.
- You want to hand-tune the HTML precisely and don't need the drag-and-drop workflow.
A template is always in one mode or the other — switching from HTML into canvas mode is always the explicit Convert to canvas action above, never automatic.
Email Events
An Email Event is what actually triggers a template to send. Assigning a template to an event is what turns a template you built above into a real, automatic email.
- Go to Email Events in the left sidebar, under the Marketing section.
- For each event type in the list, choose the template that should send when that event occurs, or leave it as Default template to use Agon's own built-in wording for that event instead of a custom one.
The event types are:
| Event | Sends when |
|---|---|
| Client invitation | A new client account is created |
| Password reset | A client requests a password reset |
| Booking confirmed | A client books a class |
| Booking cancelled | A booking is cancelled (by the client, a manager, or a class cancellation) |
| Class reminder | Shortly before a class the client is booked into |
| Membership expiring | A client's membership is about to expire |
| Promoted from waitlist | A client moves off the waitlist into a confirmed spot |
Unlike SMS Events (see SMS Messaging), every event type here is fully wired up — assigning a template to any of them takes effect immediately, not just the two flows SMS currently supports.
A template that's currently assigned to an event cannot be deleted from Email Templates — unassign it here first.
What if something goes wrong?
My image upload failed or is stuck on "Uploading..." Try again — a failed upload shows an error message under the properties panel and the block simply keeps its previous (or empty) image, nothing is lost. If it keeps failing, check the file is an actual image file and not unusually large.
I converted an HTML template to canvas and want to go back There's no direct "convert back" action, but nothing was lost in the conversion — your original HTML is preserved intact inside the single HTML block the conversion created. Delete every other block you've added since, and you're back to the original HTML wrapped in one block. If you haven't saved since converting, closing the editor without saving discards the conversion entirely.
I can't tell if my template is in canvas mode or HTML mode Canvas mode shows the block palette, the drag-and-drop canvas, and a Block properties panel. HTML mode shows a single large text box and a list of insertable variable chips above it. If you're editing an older template and see the plain text box, that template is still in HTML mode — use Convert to canvas if you want to switch it.
I deleted a template by mistake There's no undo. If the template was assigned to an Email Event or used in a Marketing Automation step, Agon blocks the deletion and tells you which event or automation is still using it — reassign or remove that reference first if you actually want to delete it.
The email doesn't look right when it arrives The canvas shows a live, accurate preview of the HTML you're producing, but different email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.) can render HTML email slightly differently from each other — this is a general property of HTML email, not specific to Agon. Use View / Copy HTML and send yourself a test via an assigned Email Event if you want to confirm exactly how it looks in your own inbox before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have some blocks and some raw HTML in the same template?
Yes — an HTML block is one of the six block types. You can mix ordinary blocks (text, image, button, divider, spacer) with one or more HTML blocks on the same canvas; what you can't do is have a template that's partly canvas-structured and partly a separate raw html_body outside that structure. It's either fully canvas mode (built from blocks, HTML blocks included) or fully HTML mode (one text box, no blocks at all).
Does the image I upload count against anything, or expire? No. An uploaded image is stored on your studio's own server and stays available indefinitely, the same as any other file Agon stores for you.
Can clients see the canvas or the block editor? No. Email Templates, including the canvas editor, is manager-only. Clients only ever see the finished, rendered email in their inbox.
Why is there no "preview" button? The canvas itself is always a live, exact preview — every block edit updates it immediately, so there's nothing extra to click through.