Email Designer: Use the Products Block with your campaigns

With ActiveCampaign, you can use the Products Block to display your ecommerce products in direct and automated campaigns. Doing so lets you send different product recommendations to your segments to increase your upsell and cross-sell opportunities.

Take note

• This article refers to the new Email Designer with ActiveCampaign
• The Products block is available with the Shopify and WooCommerce integrations
• You need to have Collections configured in Shopify or Categories configured in WooCommerce before using this block
• You can add multiple Product blocks to a single email

How the “Products Block” works

Once you add the “Products Block” to your campaign layout, we’ll present a placeholder display containing eight sample products. This placeholder will include an image, product name, product price, description, and view button for each sample product. You can configure the look and feel of this block from the right pane of the campaign designer.

Once you send the campaign, we’ll pull product information and images from your connected ecommerce store to display to your contacts. If a contact clicks a “View” button for a product, we will direct them to your store, where they can make a purchase.

Test email sends and previews will also display the product information and images in your email so you can see what the communication will look like before sending it out to contacts.

Note that the images and information displayed in the Products Block come directly from your store. If you need to change a product's name, description, price, or image, you need to do so in your connected ecommerce store.

Add the “Products Block” to your email

Direct campaigns

1. Click “Campaigns” on the left menu.
2. Click “Create a Campaign.”
3. Provide a name for your campaign and click the “Standard” campaign type.
4. Select the list that should receive the campaign, then click the “Next” button.
   
   Note that once you select a list, you can choose or create a segment of contacts that should receive the email.
5. Click the “Email Designer” option, then click “Continue.”
   
   
   
   
6. Hover your mouse over the template you want to use, then click “Select.” Note that you can also use the “Start from Scratch” option.
7. A “Sender Details” modal will appear. Complete the information in the modal, then click “Continue.”
8. Drag the "Products Block" to the campaign builder.

The “Products Block” will display placeholder product information that you can then configure.

Automated campaigns

1. Click “Automations” on the left menu.
2. Create or edit an automation.
3. Drag the “Send an email” action to your automation. This action is located under “Sending Options.”
4. A modal window will appear. Click “Create an email.”
5. Provide a name for your email, then click “Create.”
6. A modal window will appear. Click the “Email Designer” option, then click “Continue.”
   
   
   
7. Hover your mouse over the template you want to use, then click “Select.” Note that you can also use the “Start from Scratch” option.
8. Drag the "Products Block" to the campaign builder.

The “Products Block” will display placeholder product information that you can then configure.

Configure the “Products Block” in your campaign

These instructions are for both direct and automated campaigns.

The “Product Block” configuration options are located on the right pane of the email designer. Once the block is added to your campaign layout: 

1. Click the “Products Block” in your campaign layout.
2. Select your ecommerce store:
   • Click the “Select a store” dropdown
   • Click the store from which you would like to pull products
3. WooCommerce customers:
   • A “Select category” dropdown will appear
   • Click the dropdown and click the product category. Note that we will show all categories from your connected ecommerce store, and you can search for a product category
   • Once you select a category, the "Products Block" will display placeholder sample products with the following details: image, product name, price, description, and view button
4. Shopify customers:
   • A “Select collection” dropdown will appear
   • Click the dropdown and click the product collection. Note that we will show all collections from your connected ecommerce store, and you can search for a product collection
   • Once a collection, the “Products Block” will display placeholder sample products. The block will contain the following product details: image, product name, price, description, and a view button
5. Shopify only: Sort the products displayed by clicking the “Sort by” dropdown. The sort option default is “Price: High to Low.” You can also choose the following:
   • Price: Low to High
   • Best Selling
   • Recently added
6. Choose how many items to display in the block by using the - and + options located on the right pane under “Total items.” You can display up to 15 items in the product block.
7. Select the product card layout you want to use. You can choose from vertical or horizontal.
8. We will default display the following product details: product image, name, price, description, and “View” button. To remove any of these items from your layout, click the toggle to set it to the “Off” position.
9. Change font and styling for product details by clicking the pencil icon for the item you wish to modify. You can use the following font and style options:
   • Change text color
   • Change alignment
   • Optimize for mobile
   • Adjust the text style (font type, font size, add bold, add italics)
   • Adjust line spacing
   • Adjust padding

When configuring the “Products Block,” make any other modifications to your email. Then click “Save & Exit” or “Next” to go to the Campaign Summary page.

Make sure to preview and test your email before sending it.

Refresh product categories or collections

If you have updated categories, items, or products, you can easily update your campaign to display that information. To do so:

1. Open your campaign.
2. Click the “Products Block” in your campaign layout.
3. Click the refresh button. This button is located next to the “Select category” dropdown.

Note that it’s impossible to refresh categories, collections, or products for emails with a “Sent” status.