How to switch to a newly created template for an existing landing page or email

[Francis_Vanderb]

So, Marketo's recommendation is to have a maximum of 500 emails or landing pages linked to the same template:

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/marketo/using/product-docs/email-marketing/general/email-edi...

It says: CAUTION

While there is no hard limit, once an email template is used by over 500 emails, re-approving that template after an update could result in performance issues. We recommend that once an email template has 500 emails associated to it, to create a new template.

I'm having that performance issue now, when I want to reapprove an edited template that is linked to hundreds of landing pages or emails. This takes ages and it also creates a draft for all those hundreds, making a mess and confusion of the existing landing pages or emails that my team made. 

So Marketo suggest to create new templates, so that the counter restarts at zero. We have some very complex structures for webinars for example. Many emails, many landing  pages, many flows. So what we mostly do is make a clone of an existing program and change the details of it referring to the new webinar.

But how can we link that cloned webinar to the new LP or email templates?
The template is guided, so there is not way to select another template when cloning.

Marketo can not expect us to remake the whole program again from scratch, do they?

It seems they do not have a solution for their own recommendations.

Are there any solutions or workarounds for this?

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

We can't switch templates on existing guided landing pages and emails or even while cloning them. I think the only way out here would be to re-create email and LP assets with the new template and delete the old ones from your template program as you'd not need them moving forward (if you feel otherwise, you can always clone the template program, and recreate LP and email assets tied to the new template there).

[Francis_Vanderb]

It's a pity that we should call this the accepted solution.😎

Could we perhaps have at least, when changing the template have to option to NOT create a draft for all emails and landing pages that were based on the changed template?

[mavlers]

Module-Based Changes
   1    Module Separation: Any changes made within a module in the template will not carry through to individual emails. There is a clear separation between the modules available in the module bay on the right side of the editor (which will get updated) and the actual modules that have been drag-and-dropped into the canvas to create an email layout (which will not get updated).
Hard-Coded Changes
   2    Template-Level Changes: Any changes that are not part of a module and are instead hard-coded into the template will change once the template and email asset are reapproved.
For instance, if you updated a social icon at the template level that didn't reflect in the emails after re-approval, it indicates the social image is being edited within a module context.
A Handy Trick for Image Updates
Let's say you need to replace the old Twitter bird logo with the new X icon. This situation has become more common recently. Typically, you might have an image in your design studio named something like:
icon-twitter.png
Traditional Approach
One way to handle this change is to replace the image with a new file named "icon-social-x.png". However, this approach requires you to update each email asset individually by removing the old module from the canvas (which doesn’t update automatically) and adding the new module from the module bay (which does update).
Efficient Approach: Replace File/Image Feature
Instead, you can use the "Replace File/Image" feature to streamline this process. Here’s how:
   1    Upload the New Image: Ensure your new X icon has the same file name as the old one, in this case, "icon-social-twitter.png". Also, ensure it has the same dimensions (height/width) as the existing image.
   2    Replace the Existing Image: Go to your Images/Files folder, find the existing file named "icon-social-twitter.png", and use the "Replace Image/File" feature to load the new X icon in place of the old bird icon.
By keeping the file name the same, all the emails and templates that call to this file will now display the new image without needing further updates. This method also avoids the overhead of manually updating each email asset, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition.
Understanding these criteria and using the "Replace File/Image" feature effectively can save you time and effort, making your Marketo email template updates seamless and hassle-free.