Email design & more

The arrival of fall not only brings a change in the weather but also opens a window of opportunity for email marketers to tap into the sales season.

Did you know that according to OptinMonster, a striking “47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone?” This makes your email subject lines a key player in your autumn marketing strategy. 

Let’s dive into a world where creativity meets strategy, exploring a variety of fall email subject lines designed to captivate your audience and boost your autumn sales.

Fall email subject line tips

Let’s explore some pivotal tips that will elevate your fall email subject lines and ensure they capture the essence of your message and the season.

1. Personalize with a touch of seasonal warmth

Utilizing data like past purchases, location, or browsing history allows you to craft subject lines that speak directly to the individual, enveloping them in a personalized experience that feels inviting.

2. Avoid the spam trap with thoughtful wording

Crafting a subject line that avoids the dreaded spam folder is akin to carefully stepping through a patch of crunchy fall leaves – it requires thoughtfulness and precision. Steer clear of using all caps, excessive exclamation points, and words that are commonly associated with spam, such as “free” or “buy now.” Instead, focus on creating a natural, conversational tone that gently guides your subscribers into your content.

3. Incorporate timeliness and urgency

Infusing your subject lines with a sense of timeliness and urgency, such as highlighting a limited-time offer or a flash sale, can encourage subscribers to open your email promptly. Ensure that the urgency is genuine and the offers are valuable to maintain trust and engagement with your audience.

4. Highlight your brand’s personality

Fall is a season that comes with its own array of playful language and puns. Whether it’s playing with phrases related to leaves, pumpkins, or cozy sweaters, a clever pun can add personality to your communication.

5. Embrace A/B testing for your subject lines

By testing two variations of your subject lines you can gain insights into which phrases, keywords, or emojis resonate best, enabling you to send the more effective subject line to your list. 

60 Best Fall Email Subject Lines 

From the allure of sales and the unveiling of new collections to the playful charm of puns and the festive joy of holidays, each of these subject lines is a pathway into the heart of your subscribers. 

Fall sale or discount subject lines

Incorporating the seasonal charm of fall into your sale subject lines not only enhances their appeal but also creates a timely and relevant context that can resonate with your subscribers, inviting them to explore your offerings and, ultimately, make a purchase.

Subject line examples:

• "🍂 Fall Into Savings: Up to 50% Off Starts Now!"
• "Harvest the Savings: Exclusive Fall Discount Inside!"
• "Sweater Weather, Sweeter Deals: 30% Off Fall Fashion!"
• "Unbe-leaf-able Deals: Your Exclusive Fall Sale is Here!"
• "Autumn Exclusives: Enjoy an Extra 20% Off Sale Items!"
• "Fall in Love with Our Autumn Sale: Up to 40% Off!"
• "🎃 Spooktacular Savings: Frighteningly Good Deals Inside!"
• "Cozy Up to Exclusive Fall Discounts – Limited Time Only!"
• "A Cornucopia of Savings: Shop Our Fall Sale Now!"
• "Rake in the Deals: Your Fall Discount Awaits Inside!"

Real-life example:‍‍

• ‍Brand Name: Hay‍
• Subject line: "Crisp, cozy, colorful (and 15% off)"‍
• Purpose of the email: Announce their “Autumn Sale.” 

Fall subject lines to introduce new collections or products

Introducing new collections with fall-centric subject lines seamlessly blends the anticipation of the new with the comforting familiarity of the season, crafting a delightful and enticing invitation to explore, discover, and shop.

Subject line examples:

• "🍁 Fresh Picks for Fall: Explore Our New Arrivals!"
• "New Season, New Styles: Shop the Fall Collection Now!"
• "Autumn Elegance: Discover Our New Fall Jewelry Line!"
• "Wrap Up in Style with Our New Fall Outerwear!"
• "Fall Flavors Have Arrived: New Seasonal Menu Inside!"
• "Step into Fall: New Boot Collection Just Dropped!"
• "Cozy Up with Our New Fall Home Decor!"
• "Sip into Autumn: New Fall Beverage Line Launched!"
• "Fall Beauty Unveiled: Explore Our New Makeup Line!"
• "Fresh Fall Reads: Discover Our New Book Releases!"

Real-life example:

• Brand Name: Juvee
• Subject Line: “Bringing You a Taste of Autumn” 
• Purpose of the email: Promote the launch of their Caramel Apple drink.

Subject lines with fall puns

Fall provides a fertile ground for playful wordplay that can bring a smile to your subscribers and create a lighthearted, engaging entry point to your email content.

Subject line examples:

• "Orange You Glad It’s Pumpkin Season? 🎃"
• "Nuts About Our New Fall Collection!"
• "Oh My Gourd, These Fall Deals Are Unbe-leaf-able!"
• "Squash Your FOMO: Fall Sale Now On!"
• "Leaf Your Worries Behind: Fall into Relaxation!"
• "Yam-tastic! Sweet Deals on Our New Fall Menu!"
• "Apple-y Ever After: Fall in Love with Our New Arrivals!"
• "A-maize-ing Deals Just for You This Fall!"
• "Harvest the Fun with Our Fall Festival Lineup!"
• "Spice Up Your Wardrobe with Our Fall Collection!"

Real-Life Example:

• Brand Name: FitVine Wines
• Subject Line: "No tricks, just treats 🎃🍷🦇”
• Purpose of the email: Promote their FitVine.

Holiday-specific fall subject lines

Crafting holiday-specific subject lines allows your brand to resonate with the festive spirit and sentiments that naturally permeate through the season. By aligning your messages with the holidays and celebrations that your audience holds dear, you create a bridge of relevance and shared joy, enhancing the connectivity and appeal of your emails during this festive fall period.

Halloween

• "No Tricks, Just Treats: Spooktacular Deals Inside!"
• "Unmask Frighteningly Good Offers This Halloween!"
• "Boo-tiful New Arrivals to Spook and Delight!"
• "Witching You a Happy Halloween: Special Treat Inside!"

Thanksgiving

• "Gobble Up the Savings: Thanksgiving Deals Inside!"
• "Grateful for You: A Thanksgiving Treat Inside 🦃"
• "Feast Your Eyes on Our Thanksgiving Specials!"
• "A Cornucopia of Thanks: Exclusive Offer Inside!"

Veterans Day

• "Honoring Heroes: Special Veterans Day Sale!"
• "A Salute to Savings: Veterans Day Exclusive!"
• "Celebrating Courage: Special Offer for Veterans Day!"
• "Thank You for Your Service: Exclusive Veterans Day Deal!"

Black Friday

• "Black Friday Bounty: Unbeatable Deals Inside!"
• "Sneak Peek: Black Friday Deals Unveiled!"
• "The Black Friday Sale You’ve Been Waiting For!"
• "Unlock Black Friday Savings Early: VIP Access Inside!"

Real-Life Example:

• Brand Name: Carhartt 
• Subject Line: "Black Friday: Early Access"
• Purpose of the email: Promote their Black Friday early access sale. 

Fall subject lines that reference fall weather

Subject lines that reference the weather crafts a narrative that is immediately recognizable and engaging to your subscribers, inviting them to explore your offerings with the comforting, familiar backdrop of the fall season.

Subject line examples:

• "Fall Breeze, Autumn Ease: Wind Down with Our Cozy Picks!"
• "Rainy Day Rescue: Stay Dry with Our Stylish Raincoats!"
• "Sweater Weather is Better Weather: New Arrivals Inside!"
• "Crisp Air, Don’t Care: Explore Our Fall Essentials!"
• "Stay Cozy in Our Must-Have Fall Layers!"
• "Chilly Days, Stylish Ways: Warm Up with Our Collection!"
• "Embrace the Chill: Hot Deals on Cool Styles Inside!"
• "Leaf the Cold Behind: Warm Up with Our Hot Picks!"
• "Autumn Showers, Stylish Hours: Waterproof Favorites Inside!"
• "Warm Hues, Cozy Shoes: Step into Fall Comfort!"

Real-life example:

• Brand Name: Hotel June
• Subject Line: "Feels Like Fall"
• Purpose of the email: Encourage travelers to book a stay at Hotel June by promoting new fall specials. 

Fall subject lines about autumn activities and events

From apple picking and leaf-peeping to festive gatherings and holiday preparations, these subject lines evoke anticipatation of these cherished moments. By aligning your messages with the activities that define the fall experience, your emails become a celebration of the season, intertwining your brand with the warmth and nostalgia.

Subject line examples:

• "Harvest Happiness with Our Fall Collection!"
• "Leaf-Peeping Essentials: Gear Up for Autumn Adventures!"
• "Apple-Picking Season is Here: Grab Your Fall Favorites!"
• "Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice: Fall Flavors Have Arrived!"
• "Get Festive: Everything You Need for Fall Gatherings!"
• "Fall Crafting: Create Your Cozy with Our DIY Kits!"
• "Bake Up a Storm: Autumn-Inspired Baking Essentials Inside!"
• "Cozy Campfires Await: S’mores, Stories, and Styles Inside!"
• "Haunted Happenings: Spooky Styles and Decor Inside!"
• "Thanksgiving Prep Starts Now: Get Ready to Feast!"

Real-Life Example:

• Brand Name: HomeAway
• Subject Line: "Get in the fall spirit with a cabin stay”
• Purpose of the email: Encourage customers to book a cabin stay. 

‍

Elevate your fall email campaigns to new heights

The harmony between a captivating subject line and a visually engaging email design is where the true magic happens.

With Beefree’s fall email templates, you gain access to a curated selection of designs that encapsulate the warmth and vibrancy of fall and perfectly compliment your captivating subject lines.

We’ve teamed up with Really Good Email’s Matt Helbig and a group of email experts for a roundup of the hottest email design trends.

How can you incorporate email design trends into your brand? 

“You have to know what's right for your audience, your brand, and your company. Don't just adopt a trend because it's the cool thing to do. 

Focus on the foundations, what makes a really good email is this email is customer-centric and solves a problem that someone might have. 

A lot of the time, company emails are very self-serving, but keep in mind that the person at the other end is not just a dollar sign; they are people as well. Use human language and not corporate gobbledy. 

Be clear about what you are making, why, and who it's for. Its really important to communicate your message clearly and tell people, you know, come to our site, come visit us. Send emails with a purpose and think about, “How can I make this person's day better?”

Accessibility is always a big thing. At Really Good Emails, we see a lot of all-image emails and that’s rarely ever accessible. You want to meet your readers where they are, whether it's on a mobile device or they have a disability and can't access your email. 

Beyond just including something like alt text, it's making sure your email is available on all devices that they might be reading on.

Lastly, just treat the inbox as a sacred, personal, and safe place. It is a safe place and you have some responsibility behind what you're sending to your audience. Your email should be a delight and a nice surprise in an inbox filled with annoyance and filtered spam emails. People should look forward to receiving your email in their inboxes.”

_{Matt Helbig, Integrated Manager at Beefree & Really Good Emails}

Email design trends for 2024 & beyond 

#1: Raw & unfiltered 

“As an amateur photographer myself,  I'm always excited to see that this trend continues to gain momentum. It's all about capturing images in their most natural state with minimal to no editing or retouching.

Unlike traditional stock photos or marketing images, which are often very produced, very stylized, very polished – raw and unfiltered embrace imperfection. This style, this trend, shows real people, real environments, and it captures genuine moments.

It's often characterized by natural lighting, minimal post-production editing, and authentic expressions and scenarios, which makes it feel very spontaneous and very candid. 

This trend is becoming popular largely due to social media. We're very used to seeing what at least appears to be authentic situations and with consumers demanding more transparency from brands we are kind of skeptical of overly polished images or images that we may feel are too photoshopped. 

Another plus of “raw and unfiltered” is that it can evoke a sense of nostalgia and help to strengthen the connection with your audience. 

Finally, and one of the most important, I think, is that it can be very cost-effective. You don't have to pay for the big production, the expensive photographer, or all the editing.”

_{Kristy McCarley, Founder & Managing Director of Pure Firefly.} 

#2: Chunky text

“This trend of oversized text is really dominating the visual space. If you're a design geek, this can be super fun to experiment with to add a sense of playfulness and grab a reader’s attention as soon as the email is open.

This trend is really popular because of the rise in appreciation for minimalism and the need to create quick digestible content. It allows you to convey that message in a really concise way. 

If you're trying to decide whether to experiment with this or if it's right for your brand, just keep in mind that you don't want it to be overwhelming. There should be a balance between the size of the text and its chunkiness so that it doesn't affect readability.” 

_{Kristy McCarley, Founder & Managing Director of Pure Firefly.} 

#3: Deep & dark

‘’This trend was sparked or spurred by the prevalence of dark mode, but think we've moved way beyond that now. 

I just love the spectrum of dark colors that I see brands bringing into the inbox to create this kind of mood instantly within their email. 

‍

My cautionary tale is to test the heck out of it beforehand. For a few email clients with some partial color inversion, darker tones turn into a salmon pink, which can strain the eyes. You obviously don't want to accidentally serve the audience that wants dark mode, something that's way outside of your brand guidelines.’’

_{Laura Sullivan, Head of Brand & Marketing at Inbox Monster}

#4: Color blocking

"These big, bold areas of color usually help you differentiate visual hierarchy in emails or make a section in an email stand out.

If you do a little bit of Googling on the history of color blocking, apparently this is a big fashion trend coming back from the 1960’s which is what gives color blocking a little bit of a retro feel."

_{Justin Jordan, Head of Strategy & Community at Beefree}

#5: Longing for Dial-up

"This trend combines old-school nostalgia with some of the new fun trends we’ve mentioned previously. This is all about the nineties being cool again. 

This summer, I have gone to so many concerts with 90s bands coming out and playing. For example, I saw a Green Day show, and they played the entirety of Dookie because it was Dookie's, I think, 25th or 30th anniversary of being released. That night, I felt like I was 18 again. The next morning, maybe not so much. But I was totally willing to relive 18 for an evening. 

If you've got that demographic, then take advantage of it. This is not for every brand; you really have to know your audience, know your style, and see if it works."

_{Justin Jordan, Head of Strategy & Community at Beefree}

#6: Ticker GIFs 

"Ticker GIF also known as the repeating text, usually at the top of the email, really grabs attention and makes the email feel lively and energetic. It can add playfulness similar to the chunky text, and it's eye-catching.

I’m kind of on the fence about ticker text because I'm affected by movement in email. So sometimes, if it's a little too fast or if it just feels like too much, I will look away, but I know there are other subscribers, the audience that loves it and really get into it.

I say be very thoughtful about the use of it. Make sure you have enough contrast. If you're using it to highlight a key message, it can be great. Or a sense of urgency for like a promotion or limited time offer. Just be aware that it can overwhelm some subscribers and it may be distracting and sometimes it's just not the right fit for the campaign."

_{Kristy McCarley, Founder & Managing Director of Pure Firefly.} 

#7: Styled letter 

"This trend is leading in popularity because it approaches email with a human voice instead of a product or brand. With the rise of AI, people’s spidey sense is up for things that aren't authentic and real and this approach helps tackle that. 

Style letter is a good balance between using plain text and brand elements like fonts and colors to make it feel a little bit more personalized.

In the example below, which is written by Justine, is all written in her voice, like when I read it, I could hear her reading it.

This trends is relatively low effort. You don't always need a designer to do something like this. You can make things stand out by using bullet points or adding a GIF. 

I like to think of email almost like as a tool belt, you know, you can use a plain text email or you can use a well-designed email. It doesn't have to be one or the other. 

You just know that your reader has this problem that they’re trying to solve, and you can use different types of content to make your email get the job to be done"

_{Laura Sullivan, Head of Brand & Marketing at Inbox Monster}

#8: Hover effects

We are seeing brands do some really cool, fun hover effects in email. It's a good way to tell people that something's clickable.

I think it's catching on because it's interactive. I think it catches your eye when you're scrolling, especially on like a desktop environment where it's supported. And some of these, especially hover effects, are little things you can add at the end of the email that may not change the whole design, but they show that you are spending the time and attention on your email designs and your marketing.

_{Matt Helbig, Integrated Manager at Beefree & Really Good Emails}

Honorable email design trend mentions: 

Typography: Weird fonts

Typography: 3D Text

Shapes: Waves

Imagery: Hand models

Interactivity: Choose your own adventure

Movement: 360 rotate

Messaging: Sustainability

Final hot take: 

"It’s important for me to share the disclaimer that trends are not going to save your business; however, they can help you better communicate your message. 

I've mostly been on the B2B side of things for my entire career. And so every time I look at what all the cool things that retail and e-commerce brands are doing, I'm reminded that B2B doesn't have to be boring.

While all of these trends may not not be totally a “hot” for your brand,it cool to at least be informed about what other brands are doing in the space and maybe one of them will work for you.

This is not an endorsement for any trend in particular. Choose your trends responsibility. Don't use it if it might not be for your brand. 

And finally make sure that whatever you do, you continue to be really good and make some really good looking emails."

_{Matt Helbig, Integrated Manager at Beefree & Really Good Emails}

‍You can watch the entire live event with Q&A here. 

‍

Marketo Engage is a powerful tool for marketing automation, but when it comes to email design flexibility, many users find its built-in editor limiting. Creating visually compelling, mobile-responsive emails often requires custom coding or workarounds, slowing down workflow and making it harder to execute high-quality campaigns efficiently.

That is where Beefree comes in. By integrating Beefree’s no-code, drag-and-drop email design platform with Marketo Engage’s advanced automation capabilities, teams can build professional, responsive emails without coding headaches and push them directly to Marketo in just a few clicks.

This article explores:

• The challenges of designing emails directly in Marketo
• How Beefree solves these pain points
• A step-by-step guide to integrating Beefree with Marketo Engage
• Common FAQs and troubleshooting tips

The challenges of designing emails directly in Marketo

Marketo’s built-in email editor is useful for basic templates but presents several limitations for marketers and designers.

• Limited design flexibility – Customizing layouts, fonts, or interactive elements can be difficult without custom HTML or Marketo’s proprietary syntax.
• Technical barriers – Advanced customizations often require HTML knowledge or an understanding of Marketo’s email template language, which may not be ideal for non-technical teams.
• Time-consuming manual processes – Without a centralized style kit, teams may struggle to stay on-brand and often have to manually recreate headers, footers, and other reusable content blocks for each email, adding extra steps and slowing down production.

Due to these challenges, many marketing teams turn to external email builders like Beefree, FeedOtter, or Knak to improve design efficiency and automation.

Why Beefree is the best email builder for Marketo Engage

While other external email builders like Knak and FeedOtter also integrate with Marketo, Beefree offers distinct advantages.

• No-code drag-and-drop builder – Enables teams to design professional emails without writing any code.
• Advanced design features – Provides more customization options beyond what Marketo’s built-in editor allows.
• Mobile-responsive templates – Ensures emails adjust automatically for both desktop and mobile devices.
• One-click export to Marketo – Simplifies the process of moving email designs directly into Marketo Engage.
• Ability to update existing templates – Allows quick updates without requiring manual re-imports of HTML files.
• Team collaboration – Enables teams to work together in real time, with built-in guardrails and approval controls to ensure error-free emails before exporting.

By integrating Beefree with Marketo, marketing teams eliminate design frustrations and manual email imports, allowing them to focus on high-performing email campaigns.

Learn more about Beefree's integration with Marketo Enagage [https://support.beefree.io/hc/en-us/articles/24837761625618-Export-Emails-to-Marketo]

How to update existing email templates in Marketo

Instead of manually editing HTML, Beefree allows users to edit emails in Beefree and update existing ones in Marketo Engage with one click.

1. Open the email design in Beefree.
2. Make changes and click “Export.”
3. Select “Update Existing” to overwrite the previous version in Marketo Engage.

This feature ensures that emails and templates remain up to date without requiring complex HTML edits or duplicates.

Frequently asked questions on using Beefree with Marketo Engage

Can I use Beefree with other ESPs besides Marketo Engage?

Yes! You can connect Beefree to any ESP, MAP, or CRM including Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and others. To learn more about how to integrate Beefree to your sending platform watch the video below: 

For a full list of our native integrations visit [https://beefree.io/integrations].

Are there any limitations when exporting Beefree emails to Marketo?

Yes, there are a few important limitations to be aware of:

• Charset emojis are not supported in Marketo. Including emojis in your email content may result in an error. To prevent this, Beefree automatically replaces unsupported emojis with a placeholder. For more details, refer to the [Marketo documentation on emoji support].
  
  

Preheader text is not a native field in Marketo. However, Beefree includes it by embedding the preheader directly in the email's HTML code during export.

Additional resources and links

• [https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/marketo/using/home] Official Marketo Engage email builder documentation
• [https://support.beefree.io/hc/en-us/articles/24837761625618-Export-Emails-to-Marketo] Beefree-Marketo integration guide

Why you should use Beefree with Marketo Engage

By integrating Beefree with Marketo Engage, marketing teams gain a faster, more flexible way to build high-converting, on-brand email campaigns—while leveraging Marketo’s powerful automation and analytics to track performance and optimize results.

• Design responsive, professional emails with ease.
• Maintain brand consistency across every message.
• Collaborate efficiently and gain insights to improve campaign performance.

Ready to elevate your Marketo email marketing? Try Beefree today and streamline your entire email creation process.

Start your 15-day free Business trial today!

Email is king when it comes to talking directly to your customers. Sure, we might send texts or share voice notes, but we all still check our emails. It’s how we keep in touch with work and the businesses we connect with. 

As an email marketer, this puts you in prime position to get your business’s brand right into the hands of your customers. The problem, however, is that you must first get past the metaphorical guard dog known as the secure email gateway (SEG). 

SEGs use sophisticated methods to identify and block spam and phishing emails from ever entering a person’s inbox. While your email newsletters should go through, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will. That’s why businesses need to know what a secure email gateway is and how it works. Know this key info, and you’ll be able to improve the chances of your emails reaching their destination. 

What are email security gateways? 

Protecting yourself from cyber threats is the basis of all cybersecurity risk assessment services. One of the biggest gaps in any security armor is phishing emails. If they get through and someone clicks a link they shouldn’t have, it’s almost impossible to stop the damage. 

The victim could be anyone. The link could lead to a ransomware virus that holds your data captive or be the start of a data breach. It could even lead to a traditional scam that has you input your credit card details so a thief can steal them. 

For all these reasons and more, email providers consistently invest in security features to help protect their customers. One such feature is an email security gateway. 

A secure email gateway uses AI and machine learning to screen incoming emails, identify spam, and stop it from entering. If there’s any doubt, the system quarantines the email in your spam box for review. 

Why are secure email gateways important?

While we are getting better at filtering out spam emails, an estimated 45.6% of emails sent in 2023 were still spam. This poses a massive security risk for consumers, businesses, and governments alike. 

According to IBM, businesses are hit the hardest, with the global average cost of each successful phishing attack increasing to $4.88M USD. The attacks don’t just hit businesses, either, with attacks targeting individuals and even charities.

Just as phishing and spam emails have become more sophisticated, so have the tools designed to protect against them. All providers, including big names like Gmail, use SEGs to secure communications and other features, such as Gmail’s unsubscribe feature. 

What do SEGs flag as spam? 

SEGs continually update their parameters. This means that what they check for is constantly in flux. What SEGs look for today, for example, could include: 

• Strange or suspicious subject lines
• Highly urgent capitalization or excessive exclamation points
• Strange URLs
• Poor grammar and/or spelling
• Generic greetings that don’t address the recipient 
• Suspicious email addresses
• The volume of emails sent at once
• Attachment types 
• Image-heavy content 

SEGs are far more advanced than just ticking boxes, but that doesn’t mean your emails can’t get blocked or sent to spam. After all, you might put together a great email campaign, but if your email is too image-heavy, it might get quarantined or sent to spam. 

The good news is that once you know what the SEGs look for, you can work to design better emails. Beefree can help you get started, with a range of templates for responsive email designs.

How to create newsletters with secure email gateways in mind 

The good news is that you can implement and send out most, if not all, of your newsletter ideas without issue. So long as the emails are well-made and are sent at a reasonable frequency, you’ll be golden. 

Start by first improving your security methods

In general, you should always look at ramping up the security measures in your business. You can use one of the top types of risk assessment matrix to understand your business's threats and how to resolve them. Then, since you already have that information, you can use it to create better newsletters and emails. 

Make sure the personalization feature works

One of the biggest red flags for an SEG is a generic greeting. Adding Dear Sir/Madam at the start isn’t going to fly in today’s world. Even if your email gets through, it’s unlikely the recipient will open it. 

That’s why you need personalization. Linking your email marketing tools to your customer relationship management system means you can offer easy personalization, like addressing your customers by name, or even offering personalized recommendations based on their order history. 

Avoid image-only emails 

Image-only emails are tempting for an email marketer. They’re striking, they look good, and you can fine-tune what they look like in Photoshop or another image editor. 

They can also be a red flag for SEGs.

Thankfully, the solution is simple: enrich your emails. The best part about this approach is that it also improves the accessibility. Improving email accessibility will help ensure that all your customers can engage with your emails on their terms. Those emails will also load faster, look great on all devices, and be more engaging. 

Align your emails with the landing pages 

SEGs look out for suspicious links. A link might be suspicious if there’s a misspelling or if the link doesn’t sound like the content in the email. So, how do you ensure that SEGs don’t see any of your links as suspicious? 

You make them predictable. 

An easy way to do this is to create a landing page from an email. On top of aligning the landing page with the content of the newsletter, you’ll want to: 

• Make a custom URL for every link that matches the content of the page 
• Ensure there’s no misspelling
• Don’t use urgent language around your link

Use 2FA to boost security

Do you need 2FA to get past SEGs? No, but it’s a great way to help protect you and your customers. 

You can protect sensitive data by adding user identity verification. For example, a customer may get an order confirmation email but wants to cancel or change the delivery details. Including a two-factor authentication step ensures only the customer can request changes. 

Building in extra security features puts your customers at ease. It also protects your endpoints and, in turn, your business. So, no, you don’t need 2FA to get past SEGs, but it’s worth looking into for you and your customers’ protection. 

Avoid urgency 

Urgency can be a flag for SEGs. So: 

• DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS
• Minimize the use of exclamation points

Think of the copy in your newsletter as a chance to win over your audience, not scare them into clicking the link. Doing this will improve your relationship with your customers since they’ve come to you on their terms. It’s also essential to get emails past the SEG.

Key takeaways 

Secure email gateways are a primary defense against spam and phishing attacks, but they can pose a problem for email marketers. By working to understand the security risks associated with email scams, you can then understand what your email needs to make it into inboxes. 

From there, you’ll want to make your emails more personable, accessible, and secure. Once you’ve found that sweet spot, your newsletters will be more likely to get past the secure email gateway and into your audience’s inboxes. 

Marketo Engage is a powerful tool for marketing automation, but when it comes to email design flexibility, many users find its built-in editor limiting. Creating visually compelling, mobile-responsive emails often requires custom coding or workarounds, slowing down workflow and making it harder to execute high-quality campaigns efficiently.

That is where Beefree comes in. By integrating Beefree’s no-code, drag-and-drop email design platform with Marketo Engage’s advanced automation capabilities, teams can build professional, responsive emails without coding headaches and push them directly to Marketo in just a few clicks.

This article explores:

• The challenges of designing emails directly in Marketo
• How Beefree solves these pain points
• A step-by-step guide to integrating Beefree with Marketo Engage
• Common FAQs and troubleshooting tips

The challenges of designing emails directly in Marketo

Marketo’s built-in email editor is useful for basic templates but presents several limitations for marketers and designers.

• Limited design flexibility – Customizing layouts, fonts, or interactive elements can be difficult without custom HTML or Marketo’s proprietary syntax.
• Technical barriers – Advanced customizations often require HTML knowledge or an understanding of Marketo’s email template language, which may not be ideal for non-technical teams.
• Time-consuming manual processes – Without a centralized style kit, teams may struggle to stay on-brand and often have to manually recreate headers, footers, and other reusable content blocks for each email, adding extra steps and slowing down production.

Due to these challenges, many marketing teams turn to external email builders like Beefree, FeedOtter, or Knak to improve design efficiency and automation.

Why Beefree is the best email builder for Marketo Engage

While other external email builders like Knak and FeedOtter also integrate with Marketo, Beefree offers distinct advantages.

• No-code drag-and-drop builder – Enables teams to design professional emails without writing any code.
• Advanced design features – Provides more customization options beyond what Marketo’s built-in editor allows.
• Mobile-responsive templates – Ensures emails adjust automatically for both desktop and mobile devices.
• One-click export to Marketo – Simplifies the process of moving email designs directly into Marketo Engage.
• Ability to update existing templates – Allows quick updates without requiring manual re-imports of HTML files.
• Team collaboration – Enables teams to work together in real time, with built-in guardrails and approval controls to ensure error-free emails before exporting.

By integrating Beefree with Marketo, marketing teams eliminate design frustrations and manual email imports, allowing them to focus on high-performing email campaigns.

Learn more about Beefree's integration with Marketo Enagage [https://support.beefree.io/hc/en-us/articles/24837761625618-Export-Emails-to-Marketo]

How to update existing email templates in Marketo

Instead of manually editing HTML, Beefree allows users to edit emails in Beefree and update existing ones in Marketo Engage with one click.

1. Open the email design in Beefree.
2. Make changes and click “Export.”
3. Select “Update Existing” to overwrite the previous version in Marketo Engage.

This feature ensures that emails and templates remain up to date without requiring complex HTML edits or duplicates.

Frequently asked questions on using Beefree with Marketo Engage

Can I use Beefree with other ESPs besides Marketo Engage?

Yes! You can connect Beefree to any ESP, MAP, or CRM including Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and others. To learn more about how to integrate Beefree to your sending platform watch the video below: 

For a full list of our native integrations visit [https://beefree.io/integrations].

Are there any limitations when exporting Beefree emails to Marketo?

Yes, there are a few important limitations to be aware of:

• Charset emojis are not supported in Marketo. Including emojis in your email content may result in an error. To prevent this, Beefree automatically replaces unsupported emojis with a placeholder. For more details, refer to the [Marketo documentation on emoji support].
  
  

Preheader text is not a native field in Marketo. However, Beefree includes it by embedding the preheader directly in the email's HTML code during export.

Additional resources and links

• [https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/marketo/using/home] Official Marketo Engage email builder documentation
• [https://support.beefree.io/hc/en-us/articles/24837761625618-Export-Emails-to-Marketo] Beefree-Marketo integration guide

Why you should use Beefree with Marketo Engage

By integrating Beefree with Marketo Engage, marketing teams gain a faster, more flexible way to build high-converting, on-brand email campaigns—while leveraging Marketo’s powerful automation and analytics to track performance and optimize results.

• Design responsive, professional emails with ease.
• Maintain brand consistency across every message.
• Collaborate efficiently and gain insights to improve campaign performance.

Ready to elevate your Marketo email marketing? Try Beefree today and streamline your entire email creation process.

Start your 15-day free Business trial today!

Email is king when it comes to talking directly to your customers. Sure, we might send texts or share voice notes, but we all still check our emails. It’s how we keep in touch with work and the businesses we connect with. 

As an email marketer, this puts you in prime position to get your business’s brand right into the hands of your customers. The problem, however, is that you must first get past the metaphorical guard dog known as the secure email gateway (SEG). 

SEGs use sophisticated methods to identify and block spam and phishing emails from ever entering a person’s inbox. While your email newsletters should go through, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will. That’s why businesses need to know what a secure email gateway is and how it works. Know this key info, and you’ll be able to improve the chances of your emails reaching their destination. 

What are email security gateways? 

Protecting yourself from cyber threats is the basis of all cybersecurity risk assessment services. One of the biggest gaps in any security armor is phishing emails. If they get through and someone clicks a link they shouldn’t have, it’s almost impossible to stop the damage. 

The victim could be anyone. The link could lead to a ransomware virus that holds your data captive or be the start of a data breach. It could even lead to a traditional scam that has you input your credit card details so a thief can steal them. 

For all these reasons and more, email providers consistently invest in security features to help protect their customers. One such feature is an email security gateway. 

A secure email gateway uses AI and machine learning to screen incoming emails, identify spam, and stop it from entering. If there’s any doubt, the system quarantines the email in your spam box for review. 

Why are secure email gateways important?

While we are getting better at filtering out spam emails, an estimated 45.6% of emails sent in 2023 were still spam. This poses a massive security risk for consumers, businesses, and governments alike. 

According to IBM, businesses are hit the hardest, with the global average cost of each successful phishing attack increasing to $4.88M USD. The attacks don’t just hit businesses, either, with attacks targeting individuals and even charities.

Just as phishing and spam emails have become more sophisticated, so have the tools designed to protect against them. All providers, including big names like Gmail, use SEGs to secure communications and other features, such as Gmail’s unsubscribe feature. 

What do SEGs flag as spam? 

SEGs continually update their parameters. This means that what they check for is constantly in flux. What SEGs look for today, for example, could include: 

• Strange or suspicious subject lines
• Highly urgent capitalization or excessive exclamation points
• Strange URLs
• Poor grammar and/or spelling
• Generic greetings that don’t address the recipient 
• Suspicious email addresses
• The volume of emails sent at once
• Attachment types 
• Image-heavy content 

SEGs are far more advanced than just ticking boxes, but that doesn’t mean your emails can’t get blocked or sent to spam. After all, you might put together a great email campaign, but if your email is too image-heavy, it might get quarantined or sent to spam. 

The good news is that once you know what the SEGs look for, you can work to design better emails. Beefree can help you get started, with a range of templates for responsive email designs.

How to create newsletters with secure email gateways in mind 

The good news is that you can implement and send out most, if not all, of your newsletter ideas without issue. So long as the emails are well-made and are sent at a reasonable frequency, you’ll be golden. 

Start by first improving your security methods

In general, you should always look at ramping up the security measures in your business. You can use one of the top types of risk assessment matrix to understand your business's threats and how to resolve them. Then, since you already have that information, you can use it to create better newsletters and emails. 

Make sure the personalization feature works

One of the biggest red flags for an SEG is a generic greeting. Adding Dear Sir/Madam at the start isn’t going to fly in today’s world. Even if your email gets through, it’s unlikely the recipient will open it. 

That’s why you need personalization. Linking your email marketing tools to your customer relationship management system means you can offer easy personalization, like addressing your customers by name, or even offering personalized recommendations based on their order history. 

Avoid image-only emails 

Image-only emails are tempting for an email marketer. They’re striking, they look good, and you can fine-tune what they look like in Photoshop or another image editor. 

They can also be a red flag for SEGs.

Thankfully, the solution is simple: enrich your emails. The best part about this approach is that it also improves the accessibility. Improving email accessibility will help ensure that all your customers can engage with your emails on their terms. Those emails will also load faster, look great on all devices, and be more engaging. 

Align your emails with the landing pages 

SEGs look out for suspicious links. A link might be suspicious if there’s a misspelling or if the link doesn’t sound like the content in the email. So, how do you ensure that SEGs don’t see any of your links as suspicious? 

You make them predictable. 

An easy way to do this is to create a landing page from an email. On top of aligning the landing page with the content of the newsletter, you’ll want to: 

• Make a custom URL for every link that matches the content of the page 
• Ensure there’s no misspelling
• Don’t use urgent language around your link

Use 2FA to boost security

Do you need 2FA to get past SEGs? No, but it’s a great way to help protect you and your customers. 

You can protect sensitive data by adding user identity verification. For example, a customer may get an order confirmation email but wants to cancel or change the delivery details. Including a two-factor authentication step ensures only the customer can request changes. 

Building in extra security features puts your customers at ease. It also protects your endpoints and, in turn, your business. So, no, you don’t need 2FA to get past SEGs, but it’s worth looking into for you and your customers’ protection. 

Avoid urgency 

Urgency can be a flag for SEGs. So: 

• DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS
• Minimize the use of exclamation points

Think of the copy in your newsletter as a chance to win over your audience, not scare them into clicking the link. Doing this will improve your relationship with your customers since they’ve come to you on their terms. It’s also essential to get emails past the SEG.

Key takeaways 

Secure email gateways are a primary defense against spam and phishing attacks, but they can pose a problem for email marketers. By working to understand the security risks associated with email scams, you can then understand what your email needs to make it into inboxes. 

From there, you’ll want to make your emails more personable, accessible, and secure. Once you’ve found that sweet spot, your newsletters will be more likely to get past the secure email gateway and into your audience’s inboxes.