Sorry if this info is available but after a few years of using Klaviyo, we're struggling to gain control and consistency over typography in Klaviyo, and somehow end up with emails containing 100s of empty span tags with endless styles on them.
We have templates which we duplicate and reuse, we've set brand styles, template styles, block styles and use universal content, we paste content from plain text files etc. But when staff drag a block in, they still get endless design choices which inevitably ruins the template and seems to generate those empty spans.
Maybe once you have emails and templates that are built with flexibility in mind, you have an impossible mess moving forward because campaigns get duplicated and reused?
Or maybe we’re missing something basic?
e.g. How do we lock-out Klaviyo's design flexibility so that staff... - Never choose a font in a campaign or flow ever again? - Never choose block spacing in a campaign or flow ever again?
Yes, staff should have content flexibility. But once a template is locked-in, not design flexibility - right? Does that make sense?
And sorry if this kind of overall, design strategy info is available somewhere. Any help or pointers in the right direction much appreciated!
Cheers, Ben
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So after a lot of research, it doesn’t appear you can restrict design choices or apply design restrictions to existing templates.
It appears the only way forward, is to start again with a brand new template but staff will still be able to do whatever they want which over time, will create the same inconsistencies we have now.
Our main concern are the endless empty span tags that are somehow created (see attached) we still haven’t worked this out. I suspect that when you hit return, the RTE repeats all of the tags maybe? Not sure how we end-up with so many empty ones though?
The attached images are from one text block, not even the full email.
Empty spans with endless styles
Low content to code ratio
Hi there @Ben,
Thank you for sharing this with our Community!
To clarify, you’re looking to see if there’s a way to choose a pre-set styling for templates ie. automatic font and bock spacing for tempalte so you don’t have to create the same stying actions over and over when using universal blocks and cloning templates as this seems to add those empty span tags, correct? What specific action do you take that seems to result in those empty tags?
I want to ensure I’m understanding your query perfectly before I investigate further, thank you!
-Taylor
Thanks for the reply @Taylor Tarpley, much appreciated.
And sorry if we’re missing something basic here or have a mental block about this as it applies to Klaviyo.
To clarify, you’re looking to see if there’s a way to choose a pre-set styling for templates
Design lock-down
There’s obviously a lot of flexibility in all of the blocks so we’re trying to understand how to get basics like fonts and spacing more consistent. And then apply those defaults to emails moving forward.
As one example, can you remove all the fonts and limit the list to the 1 or 2 chosen fonts? Currently we see ‘Your fonts’ but the endless list of other options remain.
Or can we set default block spacing and apply to existing templates so that we don’t have to start again?
After re-reading the docs, it seems the only way forward is to draw a line in the sand and create a new template with all of the defaults set, and ensure nobody pastes styles when pasting from a previous campaign - is that right?
Applying a new template to flows
I’m confused at how to apply a new template to flows. It appears we’d have to completely re-make all of the flows - is that right?
Empty style spans
The empty span situation is really confusing. My experience with RTEs has been pretty bad but they’ve gotten a lot better over the years.
For example, the Campaign Monitor RTE never created endless empty spans with styles so we’re not 100% sure how they’re being created. I can see them when I switch to HTML but obviously the people writing the emails can’t see empty spans unless they do the same.
And a low content to code ratio hurts deliverability - right?
Moving forward, I’m experimenting with a new template to see if I can pin down issues and create a system that guarantees consistency but I was wondering how others achieve it and how they apply it to existing flows without re-making every single email in every flow.
I hope that makes more sense!
Cheers, Ben
Hi @Ben,
Want to close the loop here. Deepest apologies on this reply being dropped, but happy to finally share info!
Yes, as of right now we don’t have a native way to ‘save default’ styling in the editor, so the workaround of creating a new ‘base’ template with the default settings you want is the best way to go for now!
Unfortunately, there is not a way to update emails in bulk for flows yet within Klaviyo accounts - the only way to change them all would be individually. However, using this base tempalte method would make it certainly quicker. I have a made a feature request for these things on your behalf!
Yes, if you have a lot of hidden code, it can cause clipping in some inboxes as it adds to weight. We recommend ensuring clearing external styling when copying and pasting from others places outside of the editor, as mentioned in the thread below, and also switching out Header/Link Bar Blocks to image blocks as these can add additional weight as well.
Hope this helps!
-Taylor
@Taylor Tarpley All good! We’ve almost finished manually updating everything but still see random spans and tables with the rich text editor in Chrome (for Mac) for some reason.
Things are better if we paste text into a plain text file first, then copy from the plain text file into Klaviyo although not completely eliminated.
