Benchmark Product Update - April 2026
This month is all about connection – connecting Benchmark Email to the rest of your stack with our new API, giving you a more flexible way to pay, opening the door to more of our global customers, and clearing up the small things that slow you down.
Connect Benchmark Email to your other tools with the new API
What’s new
- Create up to 2 API keys on Free plans and up to 10 on Pro plans – enough to scope a separate key for each integration.
- A brand-new Benchmark Email API connects us to the other tools you use every day.
- Automatically add and update contacts from your CRM, e-commerce platform, booking tool, or any other system that holds customer data – no more manual imports.
- Pull campaign performance into your own dashboards and reporting tools.
- Search contacts and manage lists from another system when that’s where your data lives.
- Create and manage your own API keys in Account Settings > API Keys, with control over what each key can access.
- A brand-new developer documentation site at https://developers.benchmarkemail.io/introduction has scenario guides and full reference for every endpoint.
Why it matters
If you’re comfortable with APIs – or you have a developer or AI tool to lean on – the API eliminates the manual work of moving data between systems and keeps your contact database current automatically.
Save when you pay annually
What’s new
- Every paid plan now offers a choice between monthly and annual billing.
- Annual plans save you about 15% compared to paying monthly.
- Switch from monthly to annual any time from the Change Plan page – no upgrade or downgrade required.
Why it matters
If Benchmark Email is part of your long-term plan, paying annually saves you about 15% – without losing the flexibility to upgrade as your list grows.
Simpler billing for additional users
What’s new
- We’ve simplified how additional users are billed. You’re charged for the most users on your account during a billing cycle, with prorated charges if you add someone mid-cycle.
- No seats to buy, no assignments to manage – just add a user and you’re done.
Why it matters
Adding teammates is easier and the math is more predictable, whether you’re billed monthly or annually.
Benchmark Email now supports Traditional Chinese
What’s new
- Traditional Chinese is now an option in the language selector.
- New customers whose browser is set to Traditional Chinese will see Benchmark Email in Traditional Chinese by default.
- Help Center articles, system emails (like email verification), and the pages your contacts see (unsubscribe and form confirmations) are all translated.
Why it matters
If you, your team, or your subscribers are more comfortable in Traditional Chinese, every touchpoint now speaks their language.
A faster way to find the right email template
What’s new
- The template gallery now leads with two cleaner tabs: Templates and Layouts.
- My Emails has moved to the end and only shows up if you actually have emails to display.
- Layout thumbnails now show the actual layout instead of a generic illustration.
Why it matters
You spend less time hunting for the right starting point and more time building the email itself.
Clearer answers when an email doesn’t send
What’s new
- When a campaign doesn’t go out, you’ll see a specific reason in plain language – not just a generic “Failed.”
- Each message tells you the next step, whether that’s reviewing your content, checking your bounce rate, upgrading your plan, or contacting Support.
Why it matters
You’ll know right away why a send didn’t happen – and what to do next – without having to open a Support ticket to find out.
A friendlier domain setup flow
What’s new
- We added a warning if you try to move on without copying the values you need to paste into your DNS provider.
- Verification now waits 5 minutes between retries, since DNS changes take time to register.
- A clearer “View records” button on each domain card makes it easier to find your DNS details.
Why it matters
Setting up a sending domain is one of the most important – and most error-prone – steps in getting great deliverability. These changes give you a better shot at getting it right the first time.
Other improvements and fixes
- Preview Form templates before you pick one, so you can see the design instead of guessing from the name.
- Importing at your contact limit now works – if you’re exactly at your limit, you can still update existing contacts (adding net-new contacts above your limit still requires an upgrade).
- Reupgrading after a cancellation correctly refreshes your account status.
- Squarespace domain setup now shows the complete set of DNS values.
- Reply-to email dropdown now shows all of your reply-to addresses (up to 20) instead of capping at 10.
- Custom HTML footer blocks no longer cause sends to fail when their merge tags overlap with the default footer fields.
- Image search is temporarily unavailable in the file library while we move image storage to a new system. Everything else works as before – we’ll bring search back in a future release.