Email creation is plagued by manual processes, disconnected, single-purpose tools, and convoluted approval steps.

There is an evolution underway in how brands approach email creation. At its center is the Email Creation Platform, a system that connects everyone involved in the creation process. It allows for real-time collaboration, a compressed approval process, and moving to an email service provider (ESP) or marketing automation platform (MAP) in hours, not days.

The inefficient approaches that emerged in the 1990s continue to dominate the way emails are created today. Here are five inefficiencies that might be making the email creation process at your organization too slow, too complicated and too costly.

1. Local teams can’t customize assets. Do your distributed teams want to localize and customize emails, but lack the resources to create their own? Local teams shouldn’t be limited to using generic emails. They should be able to customize for their region, target audience, or local-specific offers. An Email Creation Platform allows local users to generate custom emails easily with drag-and-drop modules.

2. Lack of resources or budget. Trying to grow your email program but don’t have enough people or budget? More than half of marketers believe their email programs are understaffed or very understaffed. An Email Creation Platform can help you create a greater volume of better emails faster and improve ROI. Check out a few of our tips here.

3. QA takes forever. Is QA taking too long, or do you feel like you don’t QA enough? If mistakes are slipping through QA that damage your brand, it’s time to take stock. A lengthy, complex QA process can hurt email creation and lead to errors. End the QA chaos and take a more-streamlined approach, including instantaneous feedback from stakeholders in a platform that all users can access.

4. Spending is too high on outsourcing. Are you frequently turning to outside creative or ESP experts for assistance? If you are, their bills can add up quickly. Consider whether you’re getting the most value from them, and whether they could be working on more strategic projects for you. Our article, An Inside Look at the Pros and Cons of Using Agencies for Email Marketing, can help you decide what’s best.

5. No time to test. Does your current creation process limit your time testing and analyzing results? Chances are that the answer is YES. That’s because most of your available time is consumed by email creation, not strategy. A/B tests can increase conversion rates by 49%, so it’s a worthy time investment if you’re looking to drive conversions.

If you’re wrestling with any of these five issues, your organization may be at a competitive disadvantage. Take action, starting with a demonstration of an Email Creation Platform.