Summer is coming to an end, and it’s time to take stock of the past month. We decided to include August as one of the busiest months for improvements and innovations in the history of Stripo’s development. We describe the juiciest changes in Stripo and unveil our plans for the near future.
Custom roles and permissions
One of our most anticipated features has gone live. Custom roles and permissions open up new opportunities to expand cooperation when creating emails and make Stripo more convenient for use by multiple colleagues.
How was it before?
Stripo has a list of predefined roles, each with its own access to features and permissions, which provided a somewhat rigid experience. Bear in mind that this feature still exists, and you can use it if you have a need.
How is it now?
Stripo now offers full customization of roles with custom name descriptions. This allows you to determine access to certain features and provides maximum flexibility in creating unique member roles to suit your needs.
New 2.0.0 plugin version with real-time co-editing
The plugin improvement process never ends, and we continue to work on the plugin to make its capabilities equal to those of our full-fledged email editor.
This month, we released a new version of the plugin, which is identical to our new editor. Along with this update, the plugin features our new real-time co-editing feature, opening new horizons of collaboration and productive email creation to plugin users.
Important: The new plugin is still in beta status, so it’s too early to use it live due to bugs and other things to fix. You can use it now, however, to create integrations and as a proof of concept (POC). We would greatly appreciate your honest feedback and bug reports to make it even better.
In a full-fledged article, we describe the co-editing feature in depth and review the benefits it can bring to your email creation process.
Plugin support for merge-tags and special links
If you imagine the plugin’s improvements end there, allow us to correct you. The plugin now offers support for merge-tags and special links, significantly improving the personalization and convenience of emails created in the plugin.
Merge-tags (variables for personalization) dynamically insert text templates into a text and represent a simply indispensable tool when creating personalized emails with the recipient’s name. Meanwhile, user-specified special links make it easier for members to choose and set frequently used links for their buttons or other parts of email templates.
Improved work with real-time co-editing
We constantly review members’ feedback about real-time co-editing and use it to make co-editing more intuitive when they work. We have added a frame that highlights the active elements currently being worked on, so you won’t get confused in the heat of creativity, and each colleague can comfortably create or edit their own part of the email.
Smart elements deactivation
This update brings functionality from the old editor to the new one. In the old editor, you could either create a smart container or exclude a smart feature, so that the container became a standard one. Meanwhile, smart containers in the new editor retained the functionality of smart elements without the option of making them standard. Now, you can easily make a smart container standard with a click in the new editor, enhancing convenience in working with product emails.
Banner block for our new editor
We continue expanding the arsenal of drag-and-drop blocks in the new editor, and our next addition is the Banner block, which was previously unavailable in the editor. All block functionality is now available, enabling members to create even more beautiful, impactful emails.
Future plans and updates
Now, we describe what we are actively working on and what you should expect in future updates.
Fixed product bugs and downtimes
You may have noticed that our product was somewhat capricious in August and throughout the summer. Sometimes, the plugin didn’t work. Then, the website didn’t work, and then our API or the editor itself stopped working, and so on.
During the summer, which we call the “quiet period,” the whole team made a vast number of improvements, which, unfortunately, did not always go smoothly, but the aim was that the service would be as stable and useful as possible at the beginning of the “season” of active work.
- We updated the plugin and website infrastructure by moving them to Kubernetes. This will add reliability and is a convenient foundation for future scaling in case of increased workloads. It also improves the download speed of applications for end users.
- We added stability to our Stripo API, including changing its entry point. Now, requests will be processed faster, and this functionality will be independent of the website.
- We improved tenfold the availability of images that members upload in the editor to create their own emails and templates. We have an improved CDN distributed worldwide, so it doesn’t matter whether the recipient is in Europe, America, or the Philippines; the images used in their emails will be loaded in milliseconds.
Our new editor remains in beta status, and there are still a few problems, unfortunately, that are not always obvious and sometimes completely unique. Thanks to our attentive and dedicated members, however, they are identified almost daily. The Stripo team with full responsibility, understanding that our members’ business depends on our service’s operation.
We are very grateful for your cooperation and understanding as we quickly solve all incoming issues. If you have problems, please contact our support wizards so that they can advise you on how to overcome them, refer your concerns to the development team, and help with urgent needs to switch to the old editor.
Timer block for our new editor
The Timer block is coming to the new editor, expanding your email design capabilities and allowing you to create FOMO (fear of missing out), thus adding some spice to your promotions. You will be able to use this block in our new editor in September.
Commenting
In addition to the existing real-time co-editing functionality on the ability to comment, we are expanding the scope of possible collaborations during the creation of emails. At its core, this feature will work just as in the familiar Google Docs. Users will be able to leave comments, reply to them, and resolve them using an intuitive visual interface.
We show what this feature will look like in our overview video of all real-time co-editing features.
We have not yet determined a specific release date, but the active development phase is scheduled for September.
New plugin API to support custom extensions
This plugin is an incredibly important part of Stripo, and we’re focusing on both improving and expanding its capabilities, which will provide greater freedom and flexibility in its use. We are actively working on a new API version that allows members to implement custom functionality in our plugin, creating the most flexible and unique experience for everyone.
The release of our new API is scheduled for September, so stay tuned for news.
AI Assistant
We continue to be on the cutting edge of GenAI technology and innovation, and we now have even more exciting features waiting for you.
Our developers are working on an AI Assistant, a convenient tool that will make it easier to create email campaigns. At its core, it will generate email designs based on prompts that you type using an intuitive interface.
With the AI Assistant, you have the ability to control every aspect of your email campaigns. Choose the number of emails to create, set subject lines, and customize content to suit your needs. The AI Assistant makes suggestions and automates the creation process, but you retain the final say, allowing you to edit and refine each email at any time.
You can learn more about the AI Assistant and how it will work in our dedicated article.
We can’t say with certainty when this feature will be released, so stay tuned for more updates and announcements. This will be a big innovation, so we will keep our members posted to try this feature.
Local prices for Brazil
We’re reworking our pricing to create regional prices for all plans in Brazil, making Stripo more accessible in the region.
Wrapping up
August was a fruitful month in terms of updates and introductions to Stripo. We’ve brought you a brand new custom roles feature, a big update for the plugin, improved real-time co-editing, and much more. We continue working on Stripo and listening to your feedback. Together, we’ll make Stripo even better.
Meanwhile, how about making some emails?
Create exceptional emails with Stripo
