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Email marketing is about more than just putting some words in an email and clicking send. You'll get better results when you take the time to use a template that captures your brand's personality, makes your email easier to read, and makes it impossible for your subscribers to look away. HTML email templates are a great way to build a custom email marketing template that is perfect for your brand - or at least draws the attention of your readers long enough to get your marketing message across.
But as anyone who's ever tried to create HTML email templates for their brand can tell you, it's rarely easy—especially if you're not already experienced with HTML. And a lot of the ready-made HTML email templates out there are, well, just plain ugly. A lot, but not all.
Here are 15 beautiful, customizable HTML email templates that can fast-track your path to beautiful marketing emails that look like they were designed just for you.
15 HTML Email Templates You'll Love
Email marketing is important for most, if not all, businesses. Emails offer brands and influencers a great way to connect with the people who want to hear from them, building strong relationships. But if your emails are ugly or don’t match your brand’s personality, your subscribers are going to stop reading them. And that means fewer eyes on your marketing campaigns.
The HTML email templates we’re sharing here will help you keep that from happening. You can use these gorgeous email marketing templates as-is (just change up the content and images) or, flex your coding skills and customize the HTML templates to meet your specific needs. These templates give you a great starting point for creating a completely custom marketing email that gets noticed.
1. Subscribe Confirmation by grapestheme
Cost: $18
This fully responsive subscribe confirmation HTML email template is part of the Notify template series available on Themeforest that includes 40+ adaptable email templates. It’s compatible with all major email marketing services, has unlimited color options, and uses inline CSS and optimized code.
2. Pook by Litmus
Cost: Free (you have to sign up for a Litmus account)
Pook is a modern set of templates from Litmus that include HTML email templates for everything from email newsletters to account management. It’s a marketing-specific theme you can use to grow your business and connect with your audience. The templates have all been tested with Litmus and you can use the Email Previews section in the Litmus builder to see how your email will look in different email clients.
3. Restaurant by Colorlib
Cost: Free
If you’re a restaurant marketer, food influencers, or have another food-related business, you’ll love this Restaurant HTML email template from Colorlib. The template is responsive, adaptable, and flexible.
4. Green Village by Pixelbuddha
Cost: Free with email
Green Village is a minimalist email template from Pixelbuddha that can be adapted and customized for different needs. It works well with mobile devices, desktop browsers, and many email clients. The template download includes HTML and PSD sources.
5. Kara by ThemesCode
Cost: $24
Kara is a fully responsive theme with theme builder access available through Themeforest. It’s Litmus-tested, uses optimized HTML, and has a three-column layout that’s ready to use with Campaign Monitor and Mailchimp.
6. Sonata by Web Canopy Studio
Cost: Free
Sonata is an HTML email template built by Web Canopy Studio and available to HubSpot users for free. The template is sleek and clean and, most importantly, fully customizable.
7. Corporate by Colorlib
Cost: Free
Corporate is a versatile HTML email template that can be used as part of your email welcome series or later on in your marketing funnel to promote your products and services. You can even link different parts of the email to different parts of your website or landing page so readers can get exactly where they want to go.
8. Responsive by Email on Acid
Cost: Free
This HTML email template includes three different layouts that trigger based on the width of the reader’s screen. It supports up to three columns and converts to a single column layout on mobile devices.
9. Miley by grapestheme
Cost: $16
Miley is another of the minimalist, responsive HTML email templates on our list. It’s compatible with all major email marketing services and supports multiple grid layouts, as well as allowing for modification of typography and colors. It includes 30+ layout options and specially designed elements.
10. Hero by ZURB
Cost: Free
ZURB offers five responsive HTML email templates for free, including the Hero template we show here. All of the templates have a fluid, customizable layout so you can change up the images, copy, and colors easily. The templates include separate CSS and HTML files to make the email editing process easy. The templates are optimized for most email clients.
11. Portfolio by Colorlib
Cost: Free
The Portfolio template by Colorlib is a great HTML email template that works for digital agencies, web development agencies, freelancers, and more. The template is ready to use as it is but you can always customize it based on your branding needs and it works great on all devices.
12. Space by Envato Elements
Cost: Requires an Envato Elements subscription starting at $16.50/month
Space is a fully responsive email template set from Envato Elements. It’s Litmus-tested and compatible with CastelLab Builder, Mailchimp, and Campaign Monitor. The HTML files also work with Constant Contact, iContact, and AWeber.
13. BlauMail by webtunes
Cost: $20
BlauMail includes multipurpose HTML email templates for everything from robust email marketing campaigns to transactional emails. The template set includes 42 templates and 170 reusable modules. It uses hybrid fallback to ensure compatibility with more than 70 apps and devices including popular clients like Apple iPhone, Gmail, Apple iPad, Outlooks, Apple Mail, Samsung Mail, Google Andoirce, Yahoo! Mail, and Windows Live Mail.
14. Webinar Invite by WorkCast
Cost: Free
The Webinar Invite HTML email template from WorkCast is available on HubSpot and offers a simple template to promote whatever you want from blog content to your newest products and services. As the name suggests, though, it’s a great template to use if you’re promoting a webinar and are trying to bring in registrations.
15. Blog by Colorlib
Cost: Free
The Blog template by Colorlib is a fully responsive HTML email template that works best for online magazines or to share blog content. You can also customize the template to suit your needs for other purposes.
Why Use an Email Template?
Now that we’ve covered some of the best HTML email templates we’ve found, let’s take a moment to talk about why you might want to use an email template in the first place.
Perhaps the two biggest reasons HTML email templates are worth a look is that they save you time and money. You can use the templates here to create your email marketing campaigns quickly and adapt them whenever the situation calls for it, without losing your brand’s personality and voice. Since HTML email templates are reusable and customizable you can add images, effects, links copy, and more to meet the needs of your business’s branding, goals, personality, and purpose. This consistency is something that subscribers and customers seek. Not only does it look professional but it’s reassuring and inspires trust.
No doubt about it, the right HTML email template can mean success for your email marketing campaigns. And email is important. For every $1 spent on email marketing, you have the potential to earn $42 in return (a mind-blowing 4200% return). Plus, 60% of consumers say they’ve made a purchase as the result of a marketing email they received (Constant Contact). Having a decent HTML email template at your disposal makes it easier and faster for your email marketing to turn a profit.
While we’ve included 15 great HTML email templates for you, you may want to go off and look for your own. Or maybe you even want to design and code your own! Either way, there are a few key features you should be looking for before choosing a template.
Design Features to Look for in HTML Email Templates
HTML emails are emails that include text, colors, images, animations, and more. They help brands create a seamless design experience across landing pages and website pages. This is a simple thing that goes a long way with website visitors and subscribers because it makes your brand seem more professional and sophisticated.
But not all email designs are created equal. In this section, we’re going to cover five things to look for when searching for that perfect HTML email template or to include in your own HTML email design.
What Goes Into Email Design?
A great email design includes five components:
- Layout
- Typography
- Color
- Images and other visual media
- Call to action
Let’s take a closer look at each of these components and how to use them to create or choose the best HTML email templates possible.
Email Layout
An email’s layout takes into account where different elements of your email will appear in the email and helps you establish a hierarchy for your content. Subscribers tend to scan content rather than reading it, so the best email layout will be set up in a way that makes it easy to scan or skim and still get the most important details of your email’s content.
The most popular layouts for email are single and two-column layouts. A single-column layout shows the email content and elements in a stacked format and is largely preferred for mobile versions of emails since the content fits into a smaller screen much easier while still allowing mobile readers to use tapping and scrolling motions. Here’s an example of a single column layout:
Source: reallygoodemails.com
Two-column layouts show content in two columns. The content is typically shown in an F pattern or zig-zag pattern that’s conducive to scanning or skimming. Whitespace is important for emails using a two-column layout and helps keep the email from feeling cluttered and makes it much easier for readers to understand where they’re supposed to be looking. Here’s what a two-column layout looks like:
Source: reallygoodemails.com
In addition to your main content, your email templates should also include a header and footer section. These sections likely won’t change across your email marketing campaigns.
Colors
Colors are typically used in marketing to inspire different emotions in consumers. That makes them an important part of your HTML email templates. If you already have brand colors, choosing colors for your email templates will be easy—just use your brand colors (if you don’t have brand colors, you need to work on that). In addition to your brand colors, your emails will likely include accent colors on elements like buttons, hyperlinks, and more.
Typography
Choosing the right font is vital to the success of your email marketing. It can mean the difference between subscribers reading your content or not. If your font isn’t easy to read and appealing to the eye, readers are going to stop reading. Here’s an example of typography put to good use:
Source: reallygoodemails.com
You’ll notice that the email is about a program for kids and the fonts chosen throughout are playful.
Images and Other Visual Media
Most of the time, a wall of text is a sure-fire way to get subscribers to delete your email without reading it. While you can get away with text-only for certain email marketing campaigns, you’ll want to include images and other visual media more often than not. Images and GIFs encourage engagement and interaction and break up the text in your email copy to give readers a break. If you don’t want your emails to be too image heavy (and risk slow loading), you can also use text formatting like bold text and bullet points to keep readers’ eyes moving. If you run an eCommerce business or have a niche in a highly visual industry, pick your images wisely and compress them to reduce the size of your email.
Call to Action
Every email you send should include a call to action. That means all of the HTML email templates you create should include a place for your call to action. Your call to action (CTA) is what you want readers to do after they’ve read your email. Typography and colors are going to come into play in your call to action. You’ll want to use a color that stands out from the rest of your design so it draws attention. Here’s an example of a call to action that draws attention while still fitting in with the overall look and feel of the email:
Source: reallygoodemails.com
Jump Start Your Marketing With HTML Email Templates
HTML email templates are an important part of any email marketing strategy. When you know what goes into creating and designing an email template, you have a better idea of what to look for when choosing one. And, if you create your own, you’re not going to leave anything important out. Remember, your emails are a reflection of your brand’s values, voice, and personality. If they’re not well designed, your subscribers won’t read them. Any of the HTML email templates we’ve included here are beautifully designed and ready to be customized for your email marketing needs.
