Introduction

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) is great marketing automation software that helps brands engage with customers through customized, data-driven campaigns. For every online conversation through email, SMS, social media, or the web, SFMC ensures that the right message is given to the right person at the right time.

 The differentiating factor is this:

• AMPscript & Personalization – All different readers are able to see another greeting, contents, or calls to action as subscriber data.
• Dynamic Content Blocks – Rather than sending a single message out to all audiences, one can customize portions for each aspect through SFMC.
• Data Extensions (DEs) –  This is where the information is really fed to emails as it gathers real-time information- down to their name, place of origin, and previous acquisitions.
• Integration with Journeys – Typically, e-mails are part of automated customer journeys and not a one-off broadcast.
• Testing & Preview – It is possible to pretest an email with the actual details of users before sending it.

Core Elements of Email Development in SFMC

 Email Studio Overview

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Email Studio comprises composing, managing, and sending email campaigns. Provide everything that developers and marketers need to develop personalized data-driven e-mails and simple newsletters.

 Some major functions of Email Studio:

• Email Creation – directly create an email either by drag-and-drop construction with content builder or through custom HTML.

1. 1. Audience Targeting – target-audience criterion used in lists or data extensions meant for segmentation.
   2. Personalization – utilize AMPScript, dynamic content and data for personalized communications to individuals.
   3. Delivery Options – either send now or schedule for later delivery.
   4. Tracking and Reporting – up-to-date results with accurate counts of opens, clicks, bounces, and conversions.

Ways to Build Emails in SFMC

• Content Builder – Use our drag-and-drop builder or code your own custom HTML if you prefer full control.
• Templates & Reusable Blocks – Add dynamic content and deploy personalized campaigns using subscriber data for increased engagement.
• Content Builder – Save time and maintain consistency with pre-designated layouts and reusable information blocks.

• • AMPscript & Personalization – Add dynamic content and deploy personalized campaigns leveraging subscriber data for increased engagement.

Key Considerations for SFMC Email Development

Developer Features That Unlock More in SFMC

• AMPscript for Subject Lines – AMPscript would subject line personalization for the use of subscriber data for personalization in a subject line, such as “first name” or “product interest.”
• Conditional Greetings – Conditional wishes are otherwise than that which would be available according to available data, as, for example, “Hi John” or “Hello Customer.”
• Dynamic URLs & CTAs – Dynamic links and CTAs generate unique links or call-to-action clicks for each subscriber, thereby increasing the relevance of every one of them.
• SSJS (Server-Side JavaScript) – Side JavaScript for advanced logic, data lookups, or automatically operational procedures out of AMPscript.
• Data Binding with Data Extensions – Live subscriber real-time information in Data Extensions for individualizing email contents.
  Journey Builder Integration – Connect emails with automated customer journeys for lifecycle-driven campaigns.

Email Development Do’s and Don’ts in SFMC

Use Inline CSS for Compatibility

• All email clients do not support embedded or external styles equally, especially Outlook. Inline CSS guarantees that text and other layout elements will always be displayed perfectly, depending on the platform being used.
• New mail won’t provide CSS support like that of web pages. Standard mail clients (Outlook, for example) don’t use style tags or will simply ignore advanced CSS. So, inline styling should always be used for the sake of consistency in rendering.
  Example – Without Inline CSS (may break in Outlook):
  <p class=”headline”>Welcome to Our Newsletter</p>

<style> .headline { font-size: 20px; color: #E41937; font-weight: bold; } </style>

     Correct – With Inline CSS (safe across clients):

<p style=”font-size:20px; color:#E41937; font-weight:bold;”> Welcome to Our Newsletter </p>

Test Across Devices and Clients

Emails may work well on one client, and utterly fail on another. It will do test campaigns to ensure that they work within Gmail, Apple Mail, and other devices using testing programs like Email on Acid or Litmus.

 Optimize File Size

Heavy emails are slow, may get truncated at Gmail, or go off to the wrong folder by mistake. Lighten the load by compressing images, cleaning up unnecessary code, and removing heavy scripts or large background images. You make an email light by optimizing and it works faster at the user’s end.

Leverage Preheader Text

Preheaders are generally the first thing a recipient sees after the subject line. Thoughtfully engineered, they might increase open rates by providing context or some rationale for why the recipient is supposed to be opening the email. Do not ignore it or use boilerplate text such as “View this email in your browser.”

Maintain Naming Conventions

Standard names for templates, images, and content blocks, emails, etc. make assets easier to find, reuse, and maintain. It is especially useful on larger projects or with larger teams where several marketing members and developers are involved.

Version Control and Documentation

Versioning is for emails. Working with version numbers, change history, and hosting in repositories avoid inconsistencies and lost work, and allow for easy rollbacks when necessary. Good documentation will help to seamlessly transition work among varying teams.

CSS Best Practices for Email Development

Use Tables for Layout

• Various mail clients don’t understand HTML tables or the modern CSS technologies of flexbox or grid layout.
  Keep Styles Inline
• To enhance compatibility, keep all CSS in inline formats (style=””). Oftentimes, embedded styles and external styles are wiped away.

Avoid Unsupported Properties

• Outlook doesn’t handle well properties such as position, float, z-index, or min-height. It’s better to just keep it basic and use very well-supported CSS instead.
  Use Max-Width Carefully
• Max-width works great with responsive images, but be sure to provide fallbacks like a fixed width for clients that don’t support it.
  Example:
  <img src=”banner.jpg” style=”width:100%; max-width:600px; height:auto;” alt=”Promo Banner”>

Background Images

Certain email clients, like Outlook, do not support CSS background images. Include a VML fallback when you are targeting Outlook.

Font Choices

Try to use web-safe fonts (Arial, Georgia, Verdana) or a font stack with fallbacks. Most email clients do not support custom fonts.

Test Before Sending

Always run tests and previews in services such as Litmus or Email on Acid to ensure your CSS is cross-compatible.

Overcoming Challenges in SFMC Email Development

Rendering Trouble with Outlook

• Issue: Microsoft’s Word is the rendering engine that Outlook uses, and it doesn’t handle today CSS so well. Background image, flexbox, and many advanced properties can break.
• Solution: For background pictures, fallback to VML (Vector Markup Language).

Dynamic Content Not Filling in.

• Problem: Dynamic content rules sometimes do not show this variation at the time of send or preview.
  Solution:
  1. Make sure all data extension fields are correctly mapped.
  2. Provide default content in case conditions aren’t met.
  3. Use Subscriber Preview & Test Send to confirm that personalization is functional.

Personalization Errors with AMPscript

• Problem: AMPscript code fails or the raw script is shown when there is a syntax problem or missing data.
  Solution: Always wrap lookups and personalization in AttributeValue() to avoid null errors.
  Example:

%%[ SET @firstName = AttributeValue(“FirstName”) ]%%

<p>Hello %%=v(@firstName)=%%, welcome back!</p>

  Handling Special Characters & UTF-8 Encoding

• Problem: Some email clients may render information incorrectly, like displays of characters such as é, &,or any emoji.
  Solution:
  1. Declare charset for email.
  2. <meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=UTF-8″ />
  3. Encode reserved characters: & → &, < → <.
  4. Utilize UTF-8 fields for subscriber info in SFMC to avoid broken characters.

How SFMC Email Development is Evolving?

AI-Powered Personalization

Through Einstein, SFMC can recommend better subject lines, send times, and content, thereby enabling brands to develop smarter emails that feel highly personalized for each customer.

Interactive Emails

• AMP for Email puts all the captivating features in an email, such as carousels, forms, and live content. Customers can engage through action without leaving their inbox.
  Stronger Salesforce Integration.
• SFMC will continue to grow its interconnectedness with Salesforce products such as Sales Cloud and Service Cloud.

Conclusion

Email development in Salesforce Marketing Cloud is more than just coding HTML; it’s about creating personalized, data-driven experiences for every customer. Through tools such as Content Builder, AMPscript, and Data Extensions, the developer can now create responsive, dynamic, and effective email blasts.

At ToTheNew, we help businesses unlock the full potential of SFMC by building scalable, personalized, and future-ready email programs. Our expertise spans custom email development, journey automation, dynamic content strategy, and advanced integrations—ensuring that your marketing efforts are not only visually engaging but also data-driven and customer-first.