Benchmark Product Update September 2026
This month is about creating on-brand emails faster – a new AI Assistant that writes and designs with you, a Brand Kit that keeps your logo, colors, and fonts one click away, and new ways to share your emails on the web.
Design faster with the new AI Assistant
What's new
- A new AI Assistant in the drag-and-drop builders for emails and sign-up forms – just describe what you want in a chat window, and it creates it for you
- Generate copy from scratch, or rewrite existing copy to make it more compelling
- Generate new images from scratch, or edit images you already have
- Works on most block types – heading, text, image, table, divider, social, and menu
- Works on entire sections, too – ask it to change columns or background colors
- Open it by clicking the AI icon on any block's toolbar
- Replaces the previous AI tools that were built into the heading, paragraph, and image blocks
- Powered by AI credits that refresh each month with your billing cycle – Free plans get 150 credits and paid plans get 1,000 credits. Bigger, more detailed requests use more credits than short ones.
Why it matters
Staring at a blank block is the slowest part of building an email. Now you can ask for a first draft, a punchier headline, or a new image right inside the builder – and keep going without switching tools.
Stay on brand with the Brand Kit
What's new
- A new Brand Kit in Settings to store your logo, brand colors, and fonts in one place
- Upload one logo (JPG, PNG, GIF, or WebP, up to 10 MB), add up to 10 brand colors, and choose default fonts for headings and body text
- Your default fonts are applied automatically when you add Heading and Text blocks
- A new Brand Kit Colors option in the color picker shows your brand colors first, so you don't have to hunt for hex codes
- Your Brand Kit logo always appears first in your image uploads
- Works in the drag-and-drop builders for both emails and sign-up forms
- New accounts now see Set up your Brand Kit as the first step in the dashboard checklist
Why it matters
Set up your brand once and every email and form starts on brand – no re-entering colors, re-picking fonts, or digging for your logo each time you build.
Share your emails on the web
What's new
- A View in Browser link is now added to your email footer by default, so recipients can open your email as a web page
- Change the link text or turn it off in Footer Settings, under the new Display Options tab
- After an email is sent, get a shareable link to its web version – click Share on the email card, or choose Copy Email Link from the menu in the email report
- Post the link on social media, your website, or anywhere else you want people to see your email
- Personalized content in the web version uses the fallback values you've set for your merge tags
Why it matters
Your best emails deserve a bigger audience than your list. Share them anywhere with one link, and give recipients an easy way to view your email if it doesn't display well in their inbox.
Smoother domain setup
What's new
- Switch to adding individual DNS records at any point during domain setup – helpful if we didn't detect your DNS provider correctly, or you simply prefer that method
- We still recommend the simpler single-record method when your provider supports it
- Domain status emails – verified, failed, and delayed – are now clearer about what happened and what to do next, with a direct path back to the app to fix errors or start sending
Why it matters
Domain setup shouldn't leave you stuck. If one method doesn't fit your setup, switch to the other and keep going. And when something needs your attention, the email tells you exactly what to do.
Note: if you switch to individual records and later want to go back to the single-record method, you'll need to delete the domain and add it again.
Other improvements and fixes
- A clearer Send Test Email dialog. It now explains that test emails can go to your reply-to addresses or users in your account, with a link to learn how to add more.
- A "Powered by Benchmark" logo now appears in email footers and at the bottom of sign-up forms. Paid plans can turn it off in Footer Settings.
- An easier-to-compare upgrade page. Free and paid plan features now line up side by side – including AI credits, API keys, and the option to remove the Benchmark logo – with the upgrade button right at the top.
- Free list verification on paid plans. Paid accounts can now have a list the size of their plan verified at no extra cost – contact our support team to get started.
- Better search in Settings. Common search terms now return more results.
- Fixed an issue that stopped some campaigns from sending when inactive contacts were counted toward your plan's send limit. Inactive contacts no longer count, since emails aren't sent to them.
- See all your templates. Fixed an issue that limited the templates gallery to 50 templates.
- Fixed email thumbnails that sometimes showed a placeholder instead of your email.
- Fixed special characters in the email footer that didn't display correctly in recipients' inboxes.
- Consistent Last Modified dates across the app.
- Fixed various translation issues.