Beefree blog

An Email Marketer's Take on Writing Inclusive Emails

Emily Santos
Emily Santos
May 12, 2023
An Email Marketer's Take on Writing Inclusive Emails
An Email Marketer's Take on Writing Inclusive Emails

For this month's spotlight, we're featuring BEE's very own Shivangani "Shiv" Bedi. In our search for an Email Marketing Consultant, Shiv came highly recommended, and immediately, we knew she was the right fit for our team.With 13 years of email marketing experience, Shiv has the important job of communicating with our 350,000 email subscribers across all our solutions and newsletters. Her extensive experience keeps us in check when creating inclusive emails and helps us communicate with our diverse audiences. And, of course, recommends the best tools in the market to get things done efficiently (BEE Pro being one of them, of course).Thank you, Shiv, for being such a great part of our team! Here's a little about her story: 

Can you walk us through your journey as a marketer? 

My passion for email marketing started far back during my college years. During class, we were assigned a task to “build our own websites,” and I fell in love with both the technical and non-technical aspects of this project. The rest is history.My career path has been like a waterfall, moving in one direction, sometimes very steady and other times full of motion.During this 13-year-long journey, I've had the opportunity of working across three different continents - India, The United Kingdom, and Canada. I've been part of many start-ups and multi-billion dollar companies, both in-house and in agency environments. Each role helping me gain more knowledge and experience in digital marketing than the last.My first title was Assistant Manager in a start-up organization. My specialty? Generating leads for Insurance products. To be truthful, it was a very challenging job, but it was during this time I got an opportunity to wear my email marketer hat. A hat that I have never taken off. After that, I worked as a Business Analyst at Tesco HSC India. It was here that I learned all the ins and outs of email marketing operations. This role was heavy on coordination with data, creatives, stakeholders, and content teams to strategize and deploy email campaigns.In pursuit of more, I began working with “Mapp Digital.” This is the largest independent digital marketing technology organization in the world, with corporate offices in the U.S. and The UK, so the stakes were high. For five years, I worked in a fast-paced agency and managed a team of 6. Our goal was to deliver error-free and on-brand campaigns. I was awarded “MappStar” & PS Person of the Year” for two consecutive years.Finally, I began my journey with MRM Mccan group, a global direct and digital marketing agency. I worked with a leading automobile brand and assisted in auditing their programs/build journeys on the Responsys ESP platform. This role allowed me to explore the technical parts of the programs, as I helped identify the right tools and technologies to improve and build the best-in-class automation.And in between all of that, I worked for some big brands in the food industry, such as Skipthedishes and Goodfood. Managing end-to-end email/mobile marketing channels with esp like Braze and Emarsys. As I said, my career path in the last 13 years has been nothing short of fulfilling ;).

What makes you unique within the space? How do you infuse your different identities into your work?

Over the past 13 years, I've worked with so many different ESP platforms that I like to say I am an "ESP agnostic resource."I have also witnessed digital transformation. When I graduated, everything was done manually, now, there are hundreds of tools to help us automate campaigns within a few minutes. I've had to constantly incorporate evolving technologies into the strategies I pitch.Due to this, I like to think I am a well-versed email marketer that can manage the 360 spectrum of email/mobile channels, as well as the technical and non-technical aspects of the job.I have a multitude of identities and experiences that make me unique. This includes my race, ethnicity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background.Infusing my identity into my work has allowed me to build strong authentic connections with colleagues and clients. As well as bring unique and valuable perspectives to the table.

As someone representative of many different cultures and identities, what are your best email marketing tips for creating inclusive emails?

Creating inclusive marketing campaigns requires a thoughtful and intentional approach. An approach that prioritizes respect for diverse cultures and identities. By keeping these tips in mind, you can create marketing materials that resonate with a wide range of people and promote a more inclusive society.

1. Know your audience

Before creating a marketing campaign, research and understand the demographics of your target audience, including their cultural backgrounds, values, and beliefs. This will help you create messaging that resonates with them and avoids stereotypes or offensive language.

2. Use inclusive language

Avoid language that could be considered offensive or exclusionary to any particular group. Use gender-neutral language where possible, and avoid using slang or regional dialects that may be unfamiliar to some audiences.Read more: 3 Tips for More Diverse and Inclusive Emails 

3. Incorporate diverse imagery

Include images and visuals that represent a diverse range of cultures, races, ages, and abilities. This can help make your marketing materials more relatable and inclusive.

4. Seek feedback

Consider seeking feedback from members of diverse communities to ensure your're writing inclusive emails that are culturally sensitive and appropriate. This can help you avoid unintentionally offending or excluding certain groups.

5. Emphasize shared values

Focus on the values that your product or service can offer to a diverse range of people rather than solely emphasizing one particular cultural or identity group. This can help you appeal to a wider audience while still acknowledging and celebrating diversity.

6. Be authentic

Ensure that your marketing materials accurately represent your brand's values and mission, and avoid cultural appropriation or tokenism. Be honest and transparent in your messaging, and demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion through your actions as well as your words.

In what ways do you think the email marketing space can better support and elevate diverse voices?

1. Prioritize diversity and inclusion in hiring:

The marketing industry should actively seek out and hire individuals from diverse backgrounds, including people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and individuals with disabilities. This will help ensure that diverse perspectives are represented throughout the marketing process. These individuals should be part of the process of developing something as big as your mission statement to something small like sending out inclusive emails.

2. Provide training and education

The marketing industry should invest in training and education programs that help individuals understand and address issues related to diversity and inclusion. This includes providing education on topics like cultural competency, implicit bias, and intersectionality.

3. Foster an inclusive culture

I can’t emphasize how important this point is. Companies should create a culture that values and celebrates diversity and inclusion. This includes promoting open communication, providing opportunities for feedback, and encouraging employees to bring their whole selves to work.

4. Amplify diverse voices in marketing campaigns:

Finally, the marketing industry can help craft inclusive emails by elevating diverse voices. My recommendation is to actively seek out individuals with different backgrounds and experiences and make it a priority to amplify the voices that are so often ignored. This can include working with diverse influencers, featuring diverse individuals in advertisements, and creating content that celebrates diverse cultures and identities.Overall, the marketing industry has a responsibility to prioritize diversity and inclusion and ensure that diverse voices are represented and elevated in all aspects of the marketing process. By taking these actions, we can create a more equitable and inclusive society.

Where do you see email marketing in 5 years?

Email marketing has been around for several decades and has proven to be an effective marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. However, the way that people use and interact with email has changed significantly in recent years. Here are some potential developments that we may see in the next five years:

1. Greater personalization (1-to-1 marketing)

Personalization has become increasingly important in email marketing, and this trend is likely to continue in the years to come. Businesses may use advanced data analytics and machine learning algorithms to tailor their email campaigns to individual customers' interests and behaviors.

2. More automation

Email marketing automation has become more widespread in recent years, and this trend is likely to continue. Automation can help businesses save time and resources by automatically sending personalized emails based on triggers such as customer behavior or purchase history.

3. More interactive emails

Interactive emails that include embedded videos, animations, and other multimedia elements are becoming more common. As email clients and devices become more advanced, we may see even more interactive email experiences that help businesses engage with their audiences in new and exciting ways.

4. Better email accessibility

Email accessibility has become increasingly important, with more businesses working to make their emails accessible to people with disabilities. In the next 5 years, we may see more email clients and marketing platforms provide built-in accessibility features to help businesses reach a wider audience.

5. Continued integration with other marketing channels

Email marketing is just one piece of the larger marketing puzzle, and businesses are likely to continue integrating their email campaigns with other marketing channels, such as social media and content marketing. This can help create a more cohesive and effective marketing strategy.To conclude, email marketing is likely to continue evolving in the years to come, with new technologies and trends shaping the way that businesses engage with their audiences through email. By staying up-to-date with these developments, businesses can continue to leverage email as a powerful marketing tool in the years to come.

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If you’re using Salesforce Account Engagement (formerly Pardot), you’ve likely hit a wall with its native email editor. Whether you’re a nonprofit, a growing SaaS company, or an enterprise with multiple brands, the common complaint is the same:

"Pardot is just way too restrictive for our needs."

"The collaboration part just isn’t happening smoothly. It is too hard to involve writers and designers effectively."

 "It isn’t like we were doing anything overly creative—it just doesn’t give us the flexibility we needed."

Let’s face it: as powerful as Pardot is on the automation side, its design capabilities often fall short. And Salesforce doesn’t seem in a rush to improve them. If you’ve been trying to get more from your marketing emails—faster, better, more on-brand—it’s time to consider a better way.

Beefree isn’t a replacement. It’s the perfect addition to your workflow

The good news is that you don’t have to abandon Pardot. It is excellent at what it’s built for—automation, CRM integration, lead scoring, and financial compliance. 

But when it comes to design and collaboration, the limitations start to pile up. Whether it’s because of its clunky editor, lack of customization, or the time spent fixing buttons and web fonts (insert eye roll). 

Pairing Beefree with Pardot doesn’t just improve how your emails look, it transforms how your team works. This pair is especially perfect for: 

  • Healthcare & Financial Services: where compliance and approvals are non-negotiable.
  • SaaS, Consumer Brands, and Professional Services: where keeping brand consistency across touchpoints is critical.
  • Higher Ed, Manufacturing, Real Estate: where teams juggle multiple departments, audiences, and localizations.
  • Nonprofits: where lean teams need to move fast 

Teams from all walks of life all come to Beefree looking for the same thing: a fast and flexible email design solution that seamlessly integrates with their tech stack (without slowing their team down).

(source)

From chaos to control: Why teams choose Beefree

Now that you know what Beefree is, it’s time to talk about how it can help. 

When email production feels scattered (we’re talking files everywhere, last-minute edits, branding inconsistencies), it’s not just frustrating, it’s risky. It opens the door to real mistakes: off-brand messaging, broken layouts, missed approvals, or worse, emails that get flagged for non-compliance.   

1. Keeps your team organized with Workspaces

Instead of one cluttered space where everyone shares the same templates and folders, Workspaces allows you to manage email assets across brands, departments, and regions in unique environments. 

  • Create separation without silos: Marketing ops can manage everything in one platform, while individual teams work independently within their own workspace. It’s the best of both worlds.
  • Prevent cross-team mixups: With workspace-specific templates and permissions, there’s no risk of someone accidentally launching a healthcare email from the real estate workspace.

2. Allows you to move faster without sacrificing brand integrity

Beefree empowers teams to scale production while keeping every email perfectly on-brand.

  • Style Kits: Automatically apply your brand’s fonts, colors, and design settings to every email in a workspace
  • Saved Rows: Save your most-used content blocks (like hero sections, testimonials, or product features) and reuse them across campaigns.
  • Synced Rows: Make a global update, like changing your holiday promo footer or legal disclaimer, and Beefree automatically applies it to every email using that row. 

3. Helps you catch mistakes before they go live

Beefree helps your team build error-resistant emails with features designed to catch issues before they go live. 

  • Smart check: Beefree’s Smart Check automatically checks your designs and alerts you of any red flags, such as missing links, heavy images, and large HTML files, so you can fix them before they cost you. 
  • Built-in approval flows: Ensure the right eyes are on every email. No more chasing approvals in Slack or email threads.

Learn more about sending error-free emails with Beefree: https://beefree.io/blog/error-free-emails-beefree

4. One click export from Beefree to Pardot

With Beefree’s native Pardot integration, your team can export emails with confidence. What you see in Beefree is exactly what your audience gets in Pardot. No weird spacing. No layout issues. No surprises.

Real results: How USC Marshall scaled campaign production with Beefree

In 2020, Dwayne Rice, Senior Associate Director of CRM Management at USC Marshall, was juggling comms for 11 graduate programs. Each had its own drip campaigns, deadlines, and unique audiences.

“I needed an efficient process to crank out emails,” he said.“But Pardot’s editor was slowing us down.”

By switching to Beefree, Dwayne’s team was able to build reusable templates and modular elements—cutting production time and removing the need for third-party vendors.

“Beefree has enabled us to create content efficiently enough to bring multiple processes in-house and discontinue relationships with several vendors, saving time and money.”— Dwayne Rice, USC Marshall

Read the full case study

Stop letting Pardot’s email builder hold you back

From higher ed to healthcare, SaaS to nonprofits—teams across industries are making the switch to Beefree not to replace Pardot, but to complete it. With Beefree you can:

  • Design polished, responsive emails in minutes
  • Collaborate seamlessly with writers, designers, and stakeholders
  • Export to Pardot with full confidence

Start building better emails for Pardot today — Try Beefree for free

Or if you're a non-profit, apply for a $1,000 annual credit!

(source)

Frequently asked questions about using Beefree with Pardot

1. How does Beefree integrate with Pardot?

Beefree serves as an external email design tool that integrates seamlessly with Pardot. Users can design emails in Beefree and export them directly to Pardot as new templates or update existing ones. This integration streamlines the email creation process by allowing for more flexible and visually appealing designs than Pardot's native editor.

2. Does Beefree provide analytics for email performance?

Beefree focuses primarily on email design and does not offer built-in analytics. However, once emails are exported to Pardot, users can leverage Pardot's robust analytics and reporting tools to track performance metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.

3. How does Beefree enhance email design capabilities for Pardot users?

Beefree offers a no-code, drag-and-drop email builder that allows users to create visually appealing emails without HTML knowledge. It integrates seamlessly with Pardot, enabling users to export their designs directly into the platform, thereby overcoming Pardot's design limitations .​

4. What collaboration features does Beefree offer compared to Pardot?

Beefree offers robust collaboration features that surpass those in Pardot, including:

  • real-time design-specific comments
  • role-based permissions
  • approval workflows

all available directly within the email design environment. These tools make it easier for teams to co-create and review content without switching platforms. In contrast, Pardot’s collaboration tools are more limited and typically rely on Salesforce’s broader ecosystem for team coordination.

5. Does Beefree support features like AI copywriting or mobile optimization?

​Yes, Beefree supports both AI-driven copywriting and mobile optimization features. Its AI Writing Assistant enables users to:

  • generate email and landing page content or revise existing copy
  • create alt text for images
  • translate content to different languages

Additionally, Beefree's Mobile Design Mode allows for editing of mobile-specific styles, such as:

  • text alignment
  • padding
  • font size
  • and more

to ensure responsive and user-friendly designs across devices.

6. Can Beefree help maintain brand consistency better than Pardot?

Yes, Beefree helps maintain brand consistency more effectively than Pardot through its Brand Style Guidelines feature, which lets teams lock in brand colors, fonts, and content blocks across all email designs.

Users can also create reusable templates and design systems that ensure uniformity, even across multiple teams or clients. While Pardot offers some branding controls, it lacks the same level of built-in visual governance and flexibility found in Beefree’s design-focused environment.

Send Error-Free Emails with Confidence Using Beefree

Learn about the Beefree features that can help you and your team catch mistakes, streamline collaboration, and send with confidence every time.
Beefree team
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We’ve all been there: You craft the perfect email, hit “send”, and just as you settle into the satisfaction of a job well done, someone slacks you: “Hey, something doesn’t look right with that campaign.” 

If this sounds familiar, you should know that you’re not alone: According to the 2025 Really Good Email Survey “90% of email marketers say they have a history of noticing mistakes in their emails after they’ve hit the send button.

This becomes especially common when your team constantly juggles multiple campaigns or makes edits until the last minute. Sadly, even the smallest mistakes don’t just slip through the cracks; they cost you.

Luckily for us all, mistakes can be avoided. And no, not by lighting a Pre-Send Protection Candles™ and hoping for the best. But rather by equipping your team with the right tools that work with your team – not slow them down. Let’s talk about it!

Building your team’s safety net for mistake-free emails with Beefree 

When everyone involved in the email creation process is aligned and supported by smart systems, executing mistake-free emails becomes second nature. Instead of scrambling to do damage control, you’ll want to set up the tools and processes that help your team focus on what they do best: creating emails that connect, convert, and confidently represent the brand.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can use Beefree to: 

  • Reduce human errors 
  • Implement systems of checks and balances 
  • Establish guardrails & frameworks for on-brand email design

1. Catch mistakes before they happen with Smart Check

Missing links that lead nowhere? Forgotten subject lines? HTML emails that get clipped in Gmail? It’s easy to make little mistakes that derail your campaign’s performance. 

Learn more about Smart Check → 

Beefree’s Smart Check automatically checks your designs and alerts you of any red flags so you can fix them before they cost you opens, clicks, or conversions. Think of Smart Check as your built-in QA partner who will catch:

  • Missing links
  • Heavy images that could slow down email load times
  • Missing subjects & preheaders that impact engagement
  • Missing alt text on images that hurt your email’s accessibility
  • Large HTML files that might affect deliverability (or get clipped in Gmail)

2. Keep every email on-brand with built-in guardrails 

Most of us don’t nail the perfect campaign on the first try. Great emails are a team effort. However, when multiple teams are involved in the email creation process, branding can quickly go off the rails. 

A misused font, clashing colors, or buttons that are too small to click don’t just make emails look disjointed—they can damage your brand’s credibility.

With Beefree’s Advanced Style Kit, you can set clear, predefined guidelines for fonts, colors, spacing, and more—so every design starts on the right foot. Once configured, all new emails automatically inherit your brand styles, reducing the need for constant oversight and minimizing errors.

Advanced user permissions let you lock down specific design elements, giving you full control over what can (and can’t) be edited. That means anyone on your team—regardless of design expertise—can confidently create emails that look and feel like your brand.

3. Empower your team to create with confidence with reusable content

When your team isn’t bogged down by the cumbersome process of creating content from scratch (or fear of going off-brand), they can move faster—and with far more confidence.

With Saved and Synced Rows, you can provide your team with pre-approved content blocks—like headers, footers, and other commonly used design elements—that they can use in their designs without creating them from scratch. That ensures design consistency, eliminates redundant work, and makes email creation a lot faster.

Learn more about Saved Rows → 

4. Ensure your team is aligned with centralized reviews and approvals:

Creating the perfect email often takes a team of designers, copywriters, marketers, and other team members working together. But when multiple people are involved, endless back-and-forth and feedback scattered across multiple conversations and channels can slow things down, lead to miscommunication, and ultimately cause mistakes. 

With Beefree’s built-in commenting, your team can collaborate and share feedback where the work is actually happening—right inside the builder. And if you’d like to involve external reviewers into the review process, you can do that as well. 

Learn more about commenting → 

Plus, with Beefree’s built-in Approval flow, you can ensure your designs are reviewed and approved by the right stakeholders. Stay aligned with real-time notifications on design changes, lock edits on approved content, and get a clear view of project status for smoother team collaboration and high-quality results.

Learn more about Approvals →

5. Need an additional pair of eyes? Use the power of AI to support your team

Take some weight off your team's shoulders and use AI to support them in the final stretch. Whether it’s catching typos, flagging inconsistencies, or suggesting optimization, AI can be a saving grace when deadlines are creeping in.

For those times when you can’t remember the difference between “there, their, and they’re,  Beefree’s  AI Writing Assistant is there to help. This eager-to-learn helper can  review your copy for grammatical errors, tone of voice, and even share suggestions for making it just a bit more compelling. Our AI Writing Assistant can also seamlessly translate content or automatically generate ALT text for images to enhance the accessibility of your emails. 

Learn more about AI-powered content creation in Beefree →

The tangible cost of email mistakes

Mistakes don’t just impact performance; they slowly erode credibility. What starts as a small oversight can be a massive inconvenience for your readers, sending them straight to the unsubscribe button. As for your team, mistakes chip away at their confidence. Instead of brainstorming for the next campaign, they’re scrambling trying to figure out how to do damage control.   

When done right, email is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience. But a single mistake can unravel that connection and undermine trust.

  • A missing or broken links can interrupt your subscribers’ journey to conversion, negatively impacting campaign performance.
  • A missing subject lines means your emails won't stand out in the inbox, hurting your open rate
  • An awkward typo might signal a lack of attention to detail
  • An off-brand design can make your brand look disorganized
  • An email that gets clipped in Gmail because it’s too big means some subscribers might never see the full email content.

Design error-free emails and send with confidence with Beefree 

Beefree helps teams of all sizes create polished, on-brand emails—without the risk of costly errors. With built-in safeguards, streamlined approval flows, and collaboration tools that keep everyone aligned, Beefree acts as your team’s system of checks and balances. From first draft to final sign-off, you’ll have everything you need to send with confidence, build trust, and get results.

Try Beefree's Business for free for 15 days and get access to all of Beefree’s tools that help you catch mistakes, streamline collaboration, and send with confidence every time. Or schedule a call with one of our experts to discover everything Beefree can support your team.

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