Squarespace expands its website-building platform with email marketing

Squarespace is launching its first email marketing product today.

CEO Anthony Casalena and Director of Product Natalie Gibralter both told me that the Squarespace platform has been gradually expanding beyond a simple website builder by adding things like e-commerce and analytics.

Gibralter said the goal is to turn Squarespace into an “all-in-one platform” for businesses, with email as “the first segue into a broader suite of marketing tools.”

There’s no shortage of email marketing products out there — not just standalone tools, but also email marketing options added to competing website builders like Weebly. But for Casalena and Gibralter, one of the main advantages is how Squarespace has integrated email marketing into the larger platform.

“We already have a lot of information about who’s been buying things from your site, we know if you have a blog … we can build all those touchpoints substantially better,” Casalena said. “It can be both simpler to use, easier to use and, you know, more on-point.”

It also seems that Squarespace has used what it learned on the website side to a straightforward email builder that nonetheless results in a slick, professional-looking message — which is what Gibralter ended up with after a few minutes of demoing the product for me.

The email builder includes customizable templates to start from, the ability to import content from your website or blog, and responsive layouts so that the emails will look good on desktop or mobile (not to mention a responsive design that allows you to compose or edit messages from your phone). It’s all managed from a central dashboard where you can see all your past campaigns, check their performance and reuse old layouts.

Plus, it’s integrated with the broader Squarespace analytics product, which means that you don’t just see which emails got opened, but which ones actually drove traffic and purchases on your site.

Gibralter said Squarespace is also helping businesses less obvious — but still important —ways like dropping in reminders about needed disclosures and options to ensure the emails are legally compliant, and saving colors for future use so that your emails reflect a consistent brand. (In fact, Gibralter said this feature is so useful that it will be added it to the website builder, too.)

At the same time, Gibralter described this as “really the beginning,” with additional features like customer segmentation and drip campaigns on the roadmap.

Squarespace says it’s starting to roll out email marketing to its existing customers at no cost. Starting in the fall, the company plans to begin selling this as an add-on to any subscription, with pricing starting at an additional $8 per month.