It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that low-code/no-code tools are no longer optional for organizations—they’re essential. And the numbers are there to back this up, too, as 84% of organizations in the US heavily rely on such tools.
Therefore, the need for embeddable editors becomes profound because they offer a seamless way for SaaS platforms to integrate email and page building capabilities without developing an editor from scratch.
This article explores everything you need to know about such editors, like what they are, why they matter, and how they can give SaaS companies a competitive edge.
What Are Embeddable Editors?
Embeddable editors are pre-built, customizable, drag and drop editors that can easily integrate into any SaaS application.
While being highly customizable for developers, they also empower the end-users, such as the marketing or communications team, to create visually appealing content, such as emails, landing pages, and other marketing campaigns, without coding expertise.
Embeddable Editors vs. Building Custom Editors: What’s the Difference
Factor | Embeddable Editors | Custom-Built Editors |
Development Time | Ready to integrate, significantly reducing time-to-market. | Requires months of development, delaying feature rollout. |
Cost | Lower upfront costs with predictable pricing. | High development and maintenance costs. |
Customization | Offers flexibility with APIs, custom tools, and white-label options. | Customizable but requires extensive engineering. |
Maintenance & Updates | Managed by the provider, ensuring continuous improvements. | Requires ongoing internal maintenance and bug fixes. |
Scalability | Easily scales with business growth. | Can be scaled but requires additional resources. |
User Experience | Optimized UX with proven design patterns. | UX must be built from scratch, requiring extensive testing. |
Why Do SaaS Platforms Need Embeddable Editors?
After seeing the above comparison, you must have had clarity as to why SaaS platforms need embeddable editors. But let’s go into the nitty-gritty of all this.
1. Enhanced user experience
A seamless, no-code builder improves overall usability, allowing non-technical users such as marketers, or designers to create engaging email and landing pages effortlessly.
Furthermore, the intuitive drag and drop interfaces are easy to navigate, reducing the learning curve for end-users and allowing them to create and edit content within their existing environment.
2. Faster time-to-market
Building a custom editor is time-consuming and requires extensive engineering and financial resources. As a SaaS business, you must look for options that align with your email marketing costs.
Embeddable editors are something which are pocket-friendly, and accelerate development process, helping you to launch on-brand content and features faster.
3. Increased customer retention
The user-friendly interface of an embeddable editor is key to keeping customers/users engaged. For example, a cluttered editor interface packed with too many features or tabs can overwhelm users, increasing mental fatigue and making it harder for your teams to complete tasks efficiently.
The solution?
Embeddable editors that give you the option to
Personalize the UI by adding shortcuts to the most relevant features and templates, making navigation more intuitive.
Uncluttered editor interface in which each tab provides access to unique functions of the builder and is also customizable with the help of custom tools (just like Unlayer 😉).
4. Scalability and customization
If you are a SaaS company that believes in continuous growth and needs tools that can scale with you–embeddable editors should be your pick.
Because they offer built-in scalability, allowing you to expand your application’s features without overhauling your existing infrastructure. They usually come with all the features you're looking for, which we will discuss later in the blog.
And one of the major advantages of such tools is white-labeling, which lets you fully customize the editor’s UI, branding, and functionality to match your platform’s identity.
This, in turn, ensures a seamless experience for end-users while maintaining your brand identity.
Key Features You Should Look for in an Embeddable Editor
Whenever you’re looking to integrate an embeddable editor into your SaaS platform, it’s essential to pick one that improves user experience, streamlines content creation, and scales with your business goals.
Below are some of the must-have features for an effective email and page builder you should consider.
1. Ready-to-use code for installation
A top-notch embeddable editor should offer a straightforward installation process, allowing you to integrate it into your SaaS platform with minimal development effort.
Instead of spending months or years building a custom editor, developers can embed a pre-built solution with just a few lines of code.
💡 Example: Unlayer provides a simple JavaScript snippet that can be integrated into any application, instantly enabling a full-featured email and page editor without backend complexities.
2. Advanced customization options
Every business has unique branding and workflow requirements. An embeddable editor of your choice should allow customization of UI elements, fonts, toolbar options, and themes to match your brand’s identity.
💡 Example: A marketing automation platform might disable unnecessary components like social media widgets in the editor while enabling advanced email personalization options for better campaign performance.
3. API flexibility and third-party integrations
A robust builder should seamlessly integrate with other tools, such as CRMs, ESPs, email automation platforms, and analytics software. APIs help businesses extend functionality by fetching and sending data between systems.
💡 Example: An email marketing platform can use an embeddable editor’s API to sync customer data from HubSpot, ensuring that end-users can insert personalized customer details directly into their email campaigns.
4. Localization
Products or SaaS platforms catering to global audiences or end-users need an editor that supports multiple languages and region-specific formatting.
💡 Example: An embeddable page builder for e-commerce stores can automatically adjust currency, date formats, and language settings based on the user’s location, ensuring a localized shopping experience.
5. Dynamic content support
Personalization plays a vital role in increasing email engagement. A no-code editor should allow end-users to insert dynamic content like customer names, product recommendations, or time-sensitive offers to create highly engaging emails and landing pages.
💡 Example: An email automation tool can use dynamic placeholders like {{First Name}} to personalize subject lines and email content via merge tags, increasing click-through and conversion rates.
6. Drag and drop functionality
An intuitive drag and drop editor empowers your end-users to build responsive emails and landing pages effortlessly.
This feature simplifies content creation because all you have to do is move elements like text, images, and buttons from the tools panel without needing HTML or CSS expertise.
💡 Example: A SaaS platform offering event registration pages can enable users to quickly design landing pages with drag and drop RSVP buttons, speaker profiles, and event schedules.
7. Pre-built templates
High-quality templates save time and ensure design consistency across marketing campaigns. A good embeddable editor should include ready-made email templates for different use cases, such as newsletters, promotional emails, product launch emails, etc.
💡 Example: Unlayer provides a library of professionally designed 1800+ email templates that you can customize to match your brand, reducing the time needed to create email marketing campaigns from scratch.
8. Mobile responsiveness
50 to 60% of emails are viewed on mobile devices. Therefore, an embeddable editor should ensure that all email and landing page designs are fully responsive, meaning they automatically adjust to different screen sizes.
💡 Example: Unlayer’s builder ensures that all your marketing content looks perfect on desktops, tablets, and smartphones without requiring manual adjustments. The editor also has a preview mode to help you test how your emails/pages look on different devices.
9. Collaboration and commenting
Teams working on different marketing campaigns need real-time collaboration tools to streamline feedback and approvals. An embeddable editor with built-in commenting capabilities allows you to leave suggestions, tag teammates, and track changes within the editor.
💡 Example: Unlayer’s built-in collaboration feature enables your marketing teams to review and approve email designs directly within the editor before rolling them out, eliminating lengthy email or Slack threads for feedback.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Embeddable editors are transforming the way SaaS platforms are empowering end-users to create content without needing to leave the host application.
By integrating such a solution, businesses can enhance user experience, save development time and cost, and stand out amongst competitors.
If your SaaS platform needs a powerful content editor, now is the time to explore Unlayer’s embeddable solution.
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