Send the same kind of email every month without rebuilding it
If you send a monthly newsletter, a seasonal offer, or a note that goes out every time you publish something, you are probably rebuilding the same email each time - same layout, same sign-off, same shape - and changing three sentences.
Save it once instead.
How to ask
When you've made an email you're happy with, ask for it to be kept:
Save this as a template I can reuse. The headline, the main paragraph and the picture are the parts I'll change each month.
You describe which bits vary. Everything else - the layout, the standing wording, the sign-off - is fixed and comes back identical every time.
Bernard shows you a real one first
He never saves a template on your say-so alone. He fills it with example content and renders it exactly as it would arrive, so you're approving a real email rather than a description of one. Read it, then approve it.
The same holds for changing a template or retiring one: you see precisely which version is affected before anything happens.
Using it
Next time, ask for a campaign from that template and give it the month's content. You're writing the three things that changed, not rebuilding the email. It then goes through the normal campaign steps - who it goes to, a preview, a test to yourself if you want one, and your approval before anybody receives it (Send an email to everyone on my list covers that side).
Templates themselves never send anything. They are a starting point, nothing more.
Retiring one
Ask to retire a template you've stopped using. It stops being offered for new campaigns, and every email you already made from it stays exactly as it was - including ones scheduled but not yet sent. Nothing is deleted, so if you want it back later, ask.
When a template isn't the answer
If each email is genuinely different - a real letter to your list about something that happened - write it as a one-off. A template earns its place when the shape repeats. Sounding like yourself matters more than saving ten minutes (How do I use AI to write without sounding like a robot?).
The prompt
“Save this month's newsletter as a template I can reuse, with the headline, the main text and the picture as the parts I fill in each time.”
Press Copy, then paste it into your AI and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard first - a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI.
Questions people ask
- What is a template, in plain terms?
- The design and the wording that stay the same every time, with holes left for the bits that change - this month's headline, this month's news, this month's picture. You fill the holes; the rest is already right.
- Will Bernard build one without showing me?
- No. He always renders a real example first, filled in with sample content, and writes nothing until you've seen it and approved it. The same applies to changing one or retiring one.
- Does saving a template send anything?
- No. Templates never send. They're a starting point for a campaign, and a campaign still goes through its own preview and your approval before anyone receives it.
- What if I retire a template I still used?
- Retiring one leaves every email you already made from it exactly as it was. It only stops it being offered for new ones, and it isn't deleted - ask and it comes back.
- Can I change a template later?
- Yes. Ask for the change, read the example Bernard renders, and approve it. Emails already sent are untouched - they went out as they were.