Duplicate email templates

Nic
Nic Member Posts: 12 VERIFIED MEMBER
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edited August 2023 in Ideas and Product Feedback #1

I'd love to be able to duplicate email templates. Often I have a number of templates which are very similar but worded a bit differently for different purposes / lead types etc.

Currently I have to copy and paste the whole thing into a new one... to be able to quickly duplicate a template would be amazing.

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  • VoIPman
    VoIPman Member Posts: 3 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    This may have already been raised, but it would be a huge timesaver to be able to duplicate and edit email templates.

    At the moment you have to copy and paste text then manually recreate all the inserted fields.

  • Meher
    Meher Posts: 15 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Hi @Nic I'm the Product Manager for the Email team at Pipedrive, and we're currently exploring ways to enhance the template experience. We'd greatly appreciate the chance to talk with you to delve deeper into this idea. Your insights would invaluable making sure the solutions meets your needs. Would you be open to discussing this idea further with us over a call?

  • Meher
    Meher Posts: 15 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    edited November 2023 #4

    Hi @VoIPman I'm the Product Manager for the Email team at Pipedrive, and we're currently exploring ways to enhance the template experience. We'd greatly appreciate the chance to talk with you to delve deeper into this idea. Your insights would invaluable in making sure the solutions meets your needs. Would you be open to discussing this idea further with us over a call?

  • Nic
    Nic Member Posts: 12 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    edited September 2023 #5

    We use a lot of email templates in our business, many of them are extremely similar (but with key differences depending on the client, product etc).

    I hate the fact that you can't duplicate a template and then modify the copy, you have to copy and paste the entire email repeatedly, and then re-add in all the MERGE tags.

    PLEASE can you add duplication of templates to the shortlist of ideas for development!

  • foneranger
    foneranger Member Posts: 2 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    does anyone know how we create duplicate templates for different clients, so the headers and logos etc...are different but the content and merge fields remain the same?

  • foneranger
    foneranger Member Posts: 2 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    edited November 2023 #7

    does anyone know how we create duplicate templates for different clients, so the headers and logos etc...are different but the content and merge fields remain the same?

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    @Meher we really want this ability too. See this annotated screenshot for my suggestion on implementing it: https://app.screencast.com/ukXfCHygH9PXT

    Like @Nic we have a lot of templates that are slightly different (e.g. the same basic email but one version is worded for the company director to receive, and another version is worded for their accountant to receive — the content is 90% the same, so duplicating email templates would save a lot of time when creating variations.

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    P.S. @Meher I see there are multiple requests for this feature. These posts need to be merged. See duplicate template - Pipedrive Community

  • Manuel Oliveira
    Manuel Oliveira Admin Posts: 1,323 COMMUNITY MANAGER
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    Hi @MC thanks for the heads up; the feedback regarding duplicating email templates has been merged.

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    You rock @Manuel Oliveira. You know it. Own it. 🙌🏼 😃

  • Xavier Framis
    Xavier Framis Member Posts: 37 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Hi community! Hi @Meher!

    It would be very nice if the template creation and configuration environment were not in the same email editor. I think moving all its management to a specific configuration environment would make the tool more understandable.

    Thanks!

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    edited December 2023 #13

    @Meher and @Manuel Oliveira as another example of why Duplicate Email Template is needed, I am about to create the following email templates, and each is a slight (but important) variation:

    • E-01a Post-INA- Director - Web Meeting Booked
    • E-01b Post-INA - Director - Web Meeting NOT Booked
    • E-01c Post-INA - Referrer - Web Meeting Booked
    • E-01d Post-INA - Referrer - Web Meeting NOT Booked
    • E-01e Post-INA - by Advisor - Director - Web Meeting Booked
    • E-01f Post-INA by Advisor - Director - Web Meeting NOT Booked
    • E-01g Post-INA by Advisor - Referrer - Web Meeting Booked
    • E-01h Post-INA - by Advisor - Referrer - Web Meeting NOT Booked

    With the Duplicate Email Template feature that @Nic has requested, this would be a 20-minute task for me (because all the fields would be retained), but instead, it's going to be a frustrating 2-hour-plus exercise because:

    • I have to copy the subject and content from one email template,
    • paste these into a new blank email template,
    • sigh when all the fields do not appear,
    • painstakingly cross-reference the original email to check the name of each field to insert into the new template,
    • insert the fields one by one,
    • worry that there will be human error along the way, etc.
    • reattach any attachments (e.g. PDFs) that were attached to the previous email variation

    It is just painful. Please address this. I would imagine it's not that complex to implement. Duplicate an email template's code, rename the new template, save.

  • Edie Mew
    Edie Mew Member Posts: 167 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Hey, it would be really handy if there was an option to duplicate an email template.

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    My boss (the owner of the company) just replied to me with, "You have got to be freaking kidding me," when I explained that, no, it's not possible to duplicate an email template in Pipedrive. This lack of an obvious and basic feature wastes so much time for users / administrators of Pipedrive. Please fix. Thanks.

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Holy cow. I have been asked to create a different variation of each of our many Pipedrive email templates so that different team members here can have their personal Calendly** link in the template. The lack of a Duplicate Email Template feature in Pipedrive means this task will take me a day or more to do, rather than half an hour.

    **And the reason we're not using Pipedrive's native scheduling function is because it's not of any use (as documented here).

    There are so many quick wins available to the Pipedrive team by implementing simple feature improvements like this 'Duplicate Email Template' that it confounds me as to what criteria are being used for prioritising feature development. — fyi @Manuel Oliveira

  • Alyssa Earngey
    Alyssa Earngey Member Posts: 2 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    I agree with all of this commentary - a direct way to duplicate templates within pipedrive is a necessary update.

    However, in the interim, I have found a work-around. I will share here if this is helpful for others;

    1. Go into your cloud storage (in my case, I use Google Drive) I then go to where my templates are saved. I can duplicate the template directly in Google Drive.
    2. Then I go to Pipedrive and go back to my templates,
    3. press create new
    4. Select from cloud storage *at the bottom of the drop down*
    5. I search the duplicate I just made in the Google Drive
    6. Then I can make any small changes as necessary in Pipedrive.

    Not ideal for sure as I have to go back and forth across tabs. But is helpful when it comes to not having to recreate each and every merge field. @MC I hope this is helpful for now? It has saved me some time. :)

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Thanks @Alyssa Earngey but are you referring to document templates? I am referring to email templates. These are—as I understand it—saved inside Pipedrive, not out in the cloud storage. Yes, duplicating document templates is not problem. It's the emails that are—without having a Duplicate Email template function—so very inefficient to create when you need a slight variation.

  • Alyssa Earngey
    Alyssa Earngey Member Posts: 2 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    @MC oh yes - I see that now. My apologies! I totally thought I had found a work around but I see that my issue is different! :(

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    All good @Alyssa Earngey, just thought I'd clarify that for each other, and others in this thread. No worries! Thanks anyway.

  • IanW
    IanW Member Posts: 2 VERIFIED MEMBER
    First Comment

    Adding my name to the requests for email template duplication including all the merge feilds. We are our trial with Pipedrive and this is one of the first things we tried to do, but can't!

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    edited April 4 #22

    Hey @Manuel Oliveira just some feedback for the product managers at Pipedrive…

    Recently I've had communication with Pipedrive team members about coming features such as improved reporting and analytics and some other impressive stuff, which is great, on one hand.

    BUT… what the user community is crying out for is for the long list of "little things" and "quick wins" to be implemented. These are, to use a basketball analogy, like shots from the free throw line for Pipedrive — easy, sure things; whereas these advanced new features are way harder to implement, like a shot from mid-court.

    It would be soooooooo easy to work out a list of ten (or more!) Quick Wins that Pipedrive could build out within one sprint cycle, as they are trivial from a development perspective.

    Like this feature! It wastes so much of our time, having to recreate email templates due to the lack of a Duplicate Email Template feature. Incredibly frustrating, as when the contents of an email is copied and pasted into a new blank template, all the merge fields are lost. I could send Pipedrive an invoice for thousands of dollars of my wasted time due to this missing feature.

    And "missing" really is the apt term here. Just like how @IanW commented above, "this is one of the first things we tried to do, but can't!".

    The product managers and senior management really need to change their focus to fixing these current issues, not adding new features. Please.

  • Aleix s
    Aleix s Member Posts: 15 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    I agree that template features must improve a lot. Besides the duplicate feature exposed here:

    1. A folder system to organize the templates (we currently have more than 50 templates.
    2. An easy way to modify the template of an automated campaign. For instance, we have a program with an Early Bird offer. Once the EB is over, we must modify the price on the template. With the actual system, we must create a new campaign. Its really annoying to have to create a new campaign just because of a little modification of the template.

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    +1 from me too @Aleix s re having folders for Email Templates. That would be really useful.

    Re your point #2, I agree. In other marketing automation platforms I have used (e.g. Keap) they have variables (which are not fields in the CRM, which is good as it doesn't use up fields) that can be used in a campaign/automation. Then when you need to change that variable (e.g. your price), you change it in one place and it changes in all emails etc. That would be great in Pipedrive.

  • MattGy
    MattGy Member Posts: 2 NEW MEMBER
    First Comment

    This was first raised as an issue more than a year ago. Are there any plans to address the duplication issue? This waists a lot of time for our team and creates a poor experience.

  • MC
    MC Member Posts: 82 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Hey @MattGy I recently discovered this workaround for the issue. When you want to create a slight variation of an email template, create a new email using the existing template, then select the Choose template dropdown again and select Save draft as a template…. Then enter a new Template name, select the appropriate Visibility and click Save. This way all the merge fields and placeholders remain intact, which saves a LOT of time (and frustration). While we're all waiting for the Duplicate Email Template feature to be released……………… the above is a quick fix.