Benchmark Product Update August 2026
This month is about control and clarity – bring your own HTML emails in exactly as they were designed, and find your way around the app faster with a reorganized settings area and a cleaner left nav.
Build fully custom HTML emails
What’s new
- A new Custom HTML option when you start an email – upload an HTML file, paste in your code, or start from scratch
- Full control over the entire email body, not just a block inside a drag-and-drop layout – no builder wrappers added around your code
- Bring in production-ready HTML from anywhere – your in-house designer, an AI tool, an agency, or another platform like Mailchimp
- A roomy code editor on the left with a live preview on the right, so you see each change as you make it
- Preview your email on desktop and mobile before you send
- Personalize the content with merge tags from the Personalize menu, or copy the merge tag syntax straight from Contact Fields in settings
- A compliant footer is added automatically – using the same footer settings as the drag-and-drop builder – so your sends stay in line with CAN-SPAM and other anti-spam rules
Why it matters
If you already have an email design you love in HTML, you shouldn’t have to rebuild it to send it. Last month we made merge tags easy to find for HTML emails – this month you can bring the whole email over, edit it in place, and send it as designed.
Every setting in one place
What’s new
- All settings now live in a single Settings area, instead of being split between Account settings and Email settings in the profile drop-down
- A dedicated left nav gives you one-click access to any settings page
- Settings are grouped into three sections – Personal (settings just for you), Account (settings for the whole account), and Email (settings that affect the emails you send)
- Personal and account-level settings are no longer mixed together, so it’s clear what each change affects
Why it matters
Finding the right setting used to mean guessing which of two menus it lived under. Now there’s one place to look, and the grouping tells you at a glance whether a change affects only you, your entire account, or your sends.
A streamlined left navigation
What’s new
- Integrations moved out of the profile drop-down and into the left nav, where they’re much easier to find
- Sub-pages under Contacts and Reports stay hidden until you’re in that section, so they don’t add clutter when you’re working elsewhere
Why it matters
Fewer items competing for your attention, and the areas people hunted for most are now right where you’d expect to look.
Search your uploaded images again
What’s new
- Search your image library by file name or file type instead of scrolling to find the one you need
- Restores image search, which was unavailable during the move to a more secure storage system
Why it matters
When your library runs to hundreds of files, scrolling isn’t a search strategy. Type a few characters and get to the right image.
Other improvements and fixes
- A guided start for new accounts. Accounts created after August 25 now see a checklist on the dashboard covering the first three steps – create an email, import contacts, and connect your tools. It checks items off automatically and disappears once all three are done.
- The Heading and Button tools stay put. Fixed an issue that switched these tools back to the old text editor.
- A clearer error message when you upload a file type the email builder doesn’t support.
- Updated inline text editing for the Table tool in the email builder.
- Fixed extra spacing from Send Test Mail. Test sends no longer add vertical space between paragraphs.
- Fixed inconsistent line heights in Outlook Desktop.
- A heads-up before you map fields. During contact import, if your file would push you past your active contact limit, you’ll now see that on the Map step – before you spend time mapping.
- Fixed a contact import error that failed with a duplicate-name message when two tag values differed only by leading or trailing spaces.
- A clearer Import Contacts dialog. Importing a file is now the more prominent option, and importing from Benchmark Classic is clearly labeled with the Classic logo.
- A helpful error in domain authentication when you enter a free or public email domain – like gmail.com, yahoo.com, or outlook.com – instead of a domain you own.
- See the full email address when switching accounts. If you have access to more than one account, the profile drop-down now shows a tooltip with the complete email address.
- Cancel from a Past Due status. Accounts in Past Due can now cancel directly, and the status updates to Canceled.
- Fixed the Add Contact modal so adding a single contact no longer drops that email address into the contact list’s search filter.