Transforming Transactional Email Workflows for Scalability.

Redesigned a fragmented email system into a scalable, modular solution using Maizzle and Postmark. Improved email quality.

Challenge

Transactional emails are a vital part of any SaaS product, shaping user perceptions and ensuring smooth communication. At Leeto, the email system was a persistent source of inefficiency and frustration:

  • Developer Burden: The email stack was managed in the back-end codebase using Ruby and static HTML templates. Back-end developers, lacking the expertise in email design, faced significant challenges in building pixel-perfect, cross-client-compatible emails. The reliance on
    -based layouts for email compatibility further complicated their workflow.
  • Quality Issues: Clients frequently complained about broken assets, inconsistent formatting, and poor overall quality, damaging user trust.
  • Scalability Concerns: With the growing number of features and clients, maintaining and updating email templates became increasingly complex and time-consuming.
  • Designer Frustration: The design team’s vision often went unmet due to the technical limitations of the workflow, creating misalignment between design and execution.

The need for a scalable, maintainable, and efficient email system was clear. The goal was to deliver a robust solution that enhanced email quality, improved developer efficiency, and met user expectations.

Solution

To address these challenges, I led the transition to a modern, modular, and scalable email stack:

  1. Research and Tool Selection:

    • Benchmarked existing email development tools and frameworks.
    • Selected Maizzle for its TailwindCSS integration and modular design, enabling rapid development and reuse of components.

  2. Dedicated Email Stack:

    • Decoupled the email stack from the back-end and created a dedicated repository for email templates.
    • Introduced Postmark as the intermediary for template management and email delivery.

  3. Optimized Asset Management:

    • Collaborated with the back-end and infrastructure teams to integrate AWS for secure and reliable asset storage.

  4. Custom CI/CD Pipeline:

    • Designed and implemented a CI/CD pipeline to automate the testing, staging, and deployment of email templates. This ensured smooth updates and seamless integration with the back-end.

  5. Streamlined Workflow:

    • Inventoried existing templates and created detailed documentation for better traceability.
    • Worked closely with designers to align template implementation with design specifications, ensuring pixel-perfect results.

Results

The revamped email system delivered impactful results across key areas:

  • Improved Quality: Emails became pixel-perfect, fully functional, and compatible with major email clients like Gmail and Outlook, significantly enhancing the user experience.
  • Developer Efficiency: By removing the back-end dependency and introducing modular components, developers could build and update templates faster, freeing time for other critical tasks.
  • Scalability and Maintainability: The modular system allowed for rapid creation of new templates and seamless updates during major initiatives like Leeto’s rebranding.
  • Streamlined Deployment: The CI/CD pipeline automated QA and deployment processes, reducing errors and ensuring smooth production rollouts.
  • Higher User Satisfaction: Clients reported a dramatic improvement in email quality, with assets loading correctly and designs meeting expectations.

This project not only addressed immediate challenges but also future-proofed Leeto’s email system, enabling the team to scale efficiently as the platform grew.