Taronga Zoo Salesforce EDM

Overview

Taronga Zoo engaged Code and Visual to create a new EDM template system for communications to members and the broader public. The system needed to reflect the Zoo’s updated visual identity while providing a flexible, reliable framework that its communications team could use within Salesforce.

Challenge

Email is a particularly constrained design environment. Templates must render consistently across a wide range of devices and email clients, including legacy platforms that remain common in corporate environments.

Taronga Zoo needed a system that could:

• Accommodate several communication types and audiences

• Apply subtly different visual treatments where required

• Align with its updated style guide

• Be easy for internal team members to use regularly

• Deliver dependable results without requiring custom development and compatibility testing for every campaign

Approach

We built the system using Salesforce’s native drag-and-drop email builder, supplemented by a suite of reusable graphical templates.

Using the platform’s native builder allowed us to take advantage of Salesforce’s existing work around responsive behaviour, email-client compatibility and content management. It also created a straightforward workflow for the Zoo’s team, who needed to produce and update emails as part of their day-to-day communications work.

We developed a master template containing a flexible library of reusable content rows. Rather than requiring users to construct each email from scratch, the template provided a complete set of building blocks that could be removed, rearranged and adapted for each campaign.

To extend the creative possibilities beyond the limitations of HTML email, we also created graphical templates that could be edited using accessible tools such as Canva, Adobe Express or Photoshop. These allowed the team to introduce:

• Branded image treatments and decorative elements

• More expressive typography

• Custom borders and visual framing devices

• Simple animated GIFs and motion-based messaging

Used strategically within the broader email structure, these assets created greater visual impact without compromising the robustness of the underlying template.

Outcome

The finished system gave Taronga Zoo a flexible and practical foundation for producing communications across multiple audiences and use cases.

The team could begin with a comprehensive master template, remove any unnecessary modules and tailor the remaining content to each campaign. This subtractive approach created a fast, consistent and relatively foolproof production workflow.

The result balanced three important requirements: creative flexibility, ease of use and dependable performance across email clients and devices.

Our Role

Code and Visual was responsible for translating Taronga Zoo’s updated visual identity into a functional EDM design system.

Our role included defining the template architecture, designing the reusable content modules, creating the supporting graphical templates and ensuring the overall system worked effectively within Salesforce’s native email-building environment.

Balancing Creativity and Reliability

The project demonstrates how strong email design does not always require a completely custom-coded solution.

By combining a CRM platform’s tested native components with a restrained layer of custom graphical assets, it is possible to create communications that feel distinctive and engaging while remaining reliable, maintainable and easy for internal teams to produce.

We greatly enjoyed working with Taronga Zoo, a much-loved Sydney and Australian institution, and collaborating with its team to create a system that could support its ongoing communications.

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