Modular Mail is an email CMS. Your templates are configured with locked modules and editable content fields. Marketers (yours or your client's) build campaigns by filling in those fields. No mktoModule syntax, no broken layouts. Export clean HTML to Marketo in one click.
Marketo is great for automation, deliverability, and reporting. Building email content in it is the hard part. Here's what teams actually deal with day-to-day.
Adobe's new Email Designer is rolling out and migration is forced. The new editor has gaps: limited brand guardrails, no custom webfont support without manual CSS injection, content locking that doesn't fully prevent style changes. Most teams are unsure what the right path forward is.
mktoModule, mktoText, mktoImg, and variable syntax all need a developer
who knows them. Every module change means a dev ticket. Developers fluent in HTML email and Marketo
syntax are rare; the bottleneck is real.
Storing and managing templates in Design Studio is clunky. No visual preview of modules, no drag-and-drop at the template level in classic, manual version control. Teams accumulate dozens of variations with no clean way to manage them.
Even with modules, the editor gives users enough rope to break layouts. Rich-text fields let people change fonts, colours, and spacing in ways that drift from the brand. The more campaigns you ship, the worse the drift.
Templates built with Marketo syntax only work in Marketo. Migrate ESPs and you start from scratch. An ESP-agnostic approach avoids this entirely.
Upload clean HTML to the new Email Designer and it runs through an undocumented conversion: inline styles change, structure shifts, rendering breaks. There's no documentation explaining what the converter does. Teams end up reverse-engineering the editor instead of building emails.
Set up the template system once. Your team manages the content from there. Marketo handles the sending.
We configure the template structure for you, or your own developer or agency can do it. Modules are locked. Marketers can't break the layout, change fonts, or mess with spacing. Content fields are defined: text, images, links, CTAs.
Marketers pick modules, fill in fields, reorder, preview on desktop and mobile. They see content fields, not code. Content management, not code editing.
One click, clean HTML, ready to upload to Marketo Design Studio. Add tokens and dynamic content there, then send. The same HTML works with any other ESP, too.
Figma, brand guidelines, or existing Marketo templates
Developer defines modules and content fields. One-time setup.
Marketer fills in text, images, links. Drag-and-drop modules.
One-click export. Clean, standards-compliant HTML.
Upload to Design Studio. Add tokens, dynamic content. Send.
From in-house teams trying to escape the new Email Designer to agencies handing off to clients without teaching them Marketo.
Adobe is rolling out the new Email Designer. Rather than rebuild everything for it, teams move template management to Modular Mail and export HTML to Marketo for sending.
Every new module or template tweak needs a developer who knows Marketo syntax. With Modular Mail, setup happens once and marketers handle everything after that.
Marketo's content locking is incomplete. In Modular Mail, the editor literally cannot reach the HTML. Only content fields. No broken layouts, no off-brand styling.
Templates built in Modular Mail are clean, portable HTML. Use the same templates in Marketo, HubSpot, Salesforce, anywhere. One template system, no platform-specific syntax.
If you're an agency setting up templates for a client's marketing team, Modular Mail gives you a clean handoff. Lock the structure, hand them an editor they can't break, no Marketo syntax required.
Modules and tokens are the only options, so buttons, headings and spacing all stay on-brand. Marketing volume goes up without quality going down.
A factual comparison. Marketo handles automation and sending. Modular Mail handles template management and campaign building.
| Feature | Marketo Email Editor | Marketo + Modular Mail Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Template setup | Marketo template syntax (mktoModule, mktoText, etc.) | Standard HTML with mm-editable tags |
| HTML import behaviour | New editor rewrites uploaded HTML in undocumented ways | Export clean HTML; Marketo accepts it without conversion issues |
| Who can build campaigns | Anyone, but risk of breaking layouts | Anyone. Structure is locked, content is editable |
| Brand guardrails | Limited content locking, incomplete in new editor | Full lockdown. Marketers only see content fields |
| Module management | Inside Design Studio or the new editor | Visual module library with drag-and-drop |
| ESP portability | Marketo-only syntax | Export clean HTML to any ESP |
| Custom fonts | Manual CSS injection in new editor | Defined in template setup, applied automatically |
| AI assistance | Not available in the email editor | AI Copy Assistant and AI Alt Text built in |
| Preview and testing | Basic preview; need Litmus or EoA for real testing | Built-in desktop and mobile preview, plus Litmus / EoA integration |
We used to wait three to five days for dev to update our email templates. Now my team builds campaigns in an afternoon. Same custom designs, zero technical dependency.
mm-editable tags. We also offer professional template conversion as a service.mm-editable attributes. The exported HTML is clean, with no platform-specific syntax. Works in Marketo and any other ESP.