Export to ActiveCampaign

Design in Figma, export with Sendra, paste into ActiveCampaign’s HTML builder. ActiveCampaign’s pricing lists HTML emails on every plan.

Before you start

• Put your images online: turn on Host images online in Sendra, or upload them to ActiveCampaign’s Content Manager (Campaigns, then Content, then Add File) and paste each file’s address into Image URL in Sendra. The gear icon on a file gives Get URL.
• Set your preview text in Properties. It travels in the file.
• Add your mailing address under Settings, then Addresses. Without one, ActiveCampaign keeps your emails as drafts.
• Look at Settings, then Appearance. A header or footer set there is added to every campaign, around your design.

What ActiveCampaign needs in every email

ActiveCampaign adds its own footer, with an unsubscribe link and your address, unless your email carries both tags below. Typing the word “Unsubscribe” or the address yourself does not count; only the tags do.

Unsubscribe link. Type “Unsubscribe” in your footer, select it, and put this in its Link field: %UNSUBSCRIBELINK%. Give it its own text layer, since Figma’s link box will not accept a tag.

Mailing address. Put %SENDER-INFO% in your footer text. ActiveCampaign fills it from the address in your settings. %SENDER-INFO-SINGLELINE% gives the same on one line.

Note: type the tags exactly as shown, in capitals, with the percent signs. See Merge tags for how Sendra treats them.

Tags you will use most

Type these in Figma exactly as shown. Text tags go in a text layer, link tags go in a Link field.

What it does	Tag	Where
First name	%FIRSTNAME%	text
Your name and mailing address	%SENDER-INFO%	text
Unsubscribe	%UNSUBSCRIBELINK%	Link
Update subscription	%UPDATELINK%	Link
View in browser	%WEBCOPY%	Link

The first name tag has no fallback of its own. ActiveCampaign fills a missing value from a field’s default, set under Contacts, then Fields; its help does not say whether the standard First Name field takes one, so check that it offers a default before you count on it.

Preview text

Leave ActiveCampaign’s Preheader text empty, in the campaign settings or under the builder’s gear icon. Your preview text is already in the file.

Paste it in

1. In ActiveCampaign, go to Email and click Start from scratch instead. Name the campaign, choose its type, and click Next.
2. Click the arrow beside Create with email designer, choose HTML builder, then Start from Scratch.
3. In Sendra, click Copy HTML. Paste it into the code area on the left.
4. Continue to the summary and finish the campaign’s settings.

To keep it as a template, go to Email, then Campaign Templates, and click Create a Template. Choose Start From Scratch, then Custom HTML, then Continue, paste the same HTML, name it, and click Save and exit.

Check it

On the campaign’s summary, click Test and preview, then Send Test Email. Enter up to five addresses, separated by a comma and a space, and click Send. Your sending domain has to be verified first, and during a trial ActiveCampaign sends tests only to your own address. Tags are not filled in this test.

Then open the test on a phone. ActiveCampaign’s guide warns that code placed before the email’s body may be removed, and Sendra keeps the email’s phone layout there. Compare the test with Sendra’s phone preview; if they differ, write to support@hellosendra.com.

Compare it with the test you sent from Sendra too. They should match; ActiveCampaign adds tracking to your links, which is normal, and you can switch it off for a campaign under its options.

Changing it later

Keep Figma as the source: change the design, export again, and paste again. A campaign can be edited until it is sent; once sent, it cannot be changed.

Dynamic content

ActiveCampaign fills contact details and your sender information at send time. Merge tags shows how to use tags in text, links and image URLs.