Is It Out of Scope? — Web design
Is creating additional email templates out of scope for a web design project?
Yes, if email templates weren't in the original deliverables — email design has its own constraints (client rendering quirks, inline CSS) distinct from web page design and is typically scoped and priced separately.
The project scoped website design — pages, not email. Sometimes the contract does include a welcome-email template or two as part of onboarding flows; more often, a request for "a few email templates for our newsletter" comes in separately, on the assumption that design is design regardless of medium. Email design has real constraints web design doesn't — inline CSS (many email clients strip <style> tags), a much narrower and less consistent rendering environment across Gmail/Outlook/Apple Mail, and different layout patterns entirely.
Is it out of scope?
Yes, if not explicitly listed in the original deliverables. Email templates are commonly treated by agencies as their own scoped item — sometimes even priced per template — precisely because the underlying skill set (email-safe HTML/CSS) is distinct enough from web design to warrant separate scoping.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Deliverables clause→ — Web page templates and email templates are typically itemized separately in a deliverables list given the different production constraints.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Our scope covers the website pages — email templates weren't part of that list. Email design has different constraints (rendering across email clients, inline CSS) from web design, so we typically scope it separately: [$X] per template, or [$X] for a set of [N]. Want me to put together a quote?
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow checks whether email templates are named in the contract's extracted deliverables — if they aren't, the request is flagged outside_scope, with the explanation noting the different production skill set involved, which is useful framing for the account manager since it's a legitimate reason for separate pricing, not just a scope-boundary technicality.