How to use Draftship with Pipedrive
Pipedrive's email templates accept pasted HTML in source mode. Wire merge fields against deals or contacts and send through the Sales Inbox without leaving the CRM.
Pipedrive built its product around the deal pipeline, and email is a feature attached to that pipeline rather than a standalone surface. Reps compose from a deal or contact record, the email gets logged automatically, and templates make repetitive outbound faster. Drop a Draftship export into a template and reuse across every deal.
Where Pipedrive accepts pasted HTML
From the dashboard: Settings (gear icon) → Templates or directly from a deal's email tab via Templates → New Template. Inside the template editor, click the <> HTML button to switch to source mode. Paste your full Draftship export.
Merge field syntax
Pipedrive uses square-bracket merge fields with object names.
| Draftship | Pipedrive |
|---|---|
{{ first_name }} | [Contact.first_name] |
{{ last_name }} | [Contact.last_name] |
{{ email }} | [Contact.email] |
{{ company }} | [Organization.name] |
| Deal title | [Deal.title] |
| Deal value | [Deal.value] |
| Sender (rep) | [Sender.first_name] |
Pipedrive doesn't have inline defaults. If a field is empty, the substitution renders as empty. Pre-populate fields via Pipedrive's Required Fields setting if missing values would break the email tone.
Sales Inbox vs Email Sync
Pipedrive splits email handling:
- Email Sync: bidirectional sync with Gmail or Outlook. The rep's mailbox is the source of truth.
- Sales Inbox: Pipedrive-hosted inbox alternative. Send and receive inside the CRM without a separate mailbox.
Templates work in both. Sales Inbox is on Advanced and higher plans; Email Sync is more broadly available.
What Pipedrive does to your HTML
The source-mode editor preserves pasted HTML. A few quirks:
- Pipedrive adds a tracking pixel for opens if tracking is on per template.
- The composer can wrap signature blocks in their own div. If your Draftship export includes a signature, drop the rep signature setting to avoid duplication.
- Email-to-deal linking can attach pasted HTML emails to multiple deals if the contact is on more than one. Confirm linkage on send.
Test send checklist
- Send to yourself from a real deal to validate merge resolution.
- Run the size checker on the rendered output.
- Open in Gmail and Outlook to confirm rendering through the rep's mailbox.
- Verify the email logs to the deal timeline correctly.
When to use Pipedrive's drag-drop builder
Pipedrive's template editor is light. For complex layouts, the source-mode path with Draftship is cleaner. For quick edits to existing templates, drag-drop is fine.
For Outlook-specific button rendering, see Outlook-safe email buttons.