The Easy Information to Creating an HTML E mail [+ Free Templates]

While you create an electronic mail utilizing a drag-and-drop or module-based software, you are truly producing an HTML electronic mail.

There are two essential kinds of electronic mail you possibly can ship and obtain: plain textual content emails (these are precisely what they sound like — any electronic mail that incorporates simply plain outdated textual content with no formatting) and HTML emails, that are formatted and styled utilizing HTML and inline CSS.

HTML emails are simple to identify — a lot of the styled, multimedia advertising and marketing emails in your inbox are HTML emails.

As a marketer, you’ve got in all probability in contrast HTML emails versus plain-text emails and realized that there are completely different advantages to every kind. HTML emails aren’t inherently higher than plain textual content emails, and in several conditions, each sorts will be a part of a profitable email marketing program.

Right here’s what an HTML appears to be like like on the front-end. Click on on the HTML button to see the code behind it.

See the Pen HTML Email Template from HubSpot by Christina Perricone (@hubspot) on CodePen.

On this article, we’ll cowl how one can get began creating HTML emails, no matter your expertise degree and luxury with coding, and share some free templates you need to use. Let’s dive in.

Create an HTML E mail

Excellent news: You truly don’t must know methods to code to create an HTML electronic mail.

Most instruments that create and ship electronic mail (like HubSpot) will provide pre-formatted, ready-to-go HTML templates that allow you to design emails with out ever needing to entry the precise code on the back-end.

As you make adjustments within the electronic mail editor, these adjustments will likely be robotically coded into the ultimate product. E mail constructing instruments like this are a really perfect choice if you do not have an electronic mail designer in your group, however you continue to need to ship professional-looking advertising and marketing emails.

Professional tip: Need assistance with the content material of your electronic mail? HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant can create a custom-made first draft in just some clicks— so you will get again to the enjoyable half.

Nonetheless need to create an HTML electronic mail from scratch?

For those who’re snug with HTML and need extra direct management over the code of your emails, most electronic mail instruments will mean you can import HTML files directly to be used as customized electronic mail templates.

There are all kinds of free HTML electronic mail templates out there on the internet (a few of which we’ll share beneath), and if you recognize your means round an HTML file, it is often fairly easy to adapt the template to the e-mail constructing software of your selection.

To create an HTML electronic mail utterly from scratch, you will must have a complicated data of HTML (or work with a developer who does). This guide provides a stable overview of coding a fundamental HTML electronic mail. As a result of the method of making an HTML electronic mail from scratch will be fairly concerned, we advocate working with a developer or utilizing a pre-made HTML electronic mail template as an alternative.

Growing an HTML electronic mail particularly for HubSpot?

For those who’re creating an HTML electronic mail template particularly to be used in HubSpot, you will need to ensure you embrace the required HubL tokens (these guarantee your emails will be custom-made and are compliant with CAN-SPAM legal guidelines). You could find a whole guide to coding HubSpot-specific HTML email templates here. Or alternatively, simply use our easy what-you-see-is-what-you-get email editor.

Now that you just perceive the fundamentals of what goes into creating an HTML electronic mail, let’s go over just a few vital greatest practices you need to bear in mind. It doesn’t matter what methodology you intend to make use of to create HTML emails, these greatest practices will assist enhance the design, consumer expertise, and deliverability of your emails.

1. Be certain your HTML electronic mail is responsive for various display screen sizes and units.

The way in which your electronic mail appears to be like in a consumer’s inbox depends upon all kinds of various components.

One of many largest and most evident components is the display screen dimension of the machine it is being considered on. An electronic mail that appears superb and well-formatted on a desktop can simply devolve right into a tangle of illegible, overlapping textual content and pictures when considered on a smartphone display screen.

To make sure your HTML emails look the best way you supposed throughout a large spectrum of display screen sizes, the very best factor you are able to do is maintain your format easy and simple. While you begin including extra advanced components like a number of columns and floated photos, it turns into harder to translate the format of your electronic mail for various display screen sizes.

For those who do resolve to develop a extra advanced format, ensure you’re actively fixing for the way the weather will likely be rearranged to go well with completely different display screen sizes. For instance, in case your electronic mail shows as multi-column on desktop, that very same construction will not fly on cell — you will want to make use of media queries to outline how components will likely be displayed on completely different display screen sizes.

Keep in mind, creating actually responsive HTML emails goes past the construction and format of your message. Take into consideration how the general consumer expertise of your electronic mail will likely be perceived on completely different units. Be certain your font selections are simply as legible on cell as they’re on desktop, and use mobile-friendly buttons or CTAs rather than hyperlinked textual content (have you ever ever tried to faucet just a little line of hyperlinked textual content on cell? It is not very simple).

You could find our extra in-depth guide to mobile email best practices right here.

2. Be certain your styling works in several electronic mail purchasers.

One other huge issue that closely impacts the best way your HTML emails seem in your subscribers’ inboxes is the e-mail shopper they’re utilizing to open the message. Each electronic mail shopper masses emails barely otherwise, so an electronic mail that appears a sure means in Gmail will seemingly look completely different in Outlook.

Fortunately, if you understand how hottest electronic mail purchasers load explicit HTML and CSS components, you possibly can create a reasonably constant expertise throughout completely different customers’ inboxes. It is all about figuring out which unsupported tags to keep away from and adapting accordingly. This comprehensive guide explains how the preferred electronic mail purchasers (together with Gmail and a number of variations of Outlook) assist and render completely different styling components.

You may also take a look at an article we wrote on optimizing emails for different email clients.

3. Take heed to how lengthy your HTML emails take to load.

How lengthy your electronic mail takes to load might very nicely be the distinction between gaining a brand new buyer and dropping a pissed off subscriber. Whereas it may be tempting to benefit from all of the completely different styling choices and alternatives to include visuals that HTML emails provide, none of that issues in case your electronic mail takes too lengthy to load.

As you design your HTML electronic mail, stay acutely aware of how lengthy your electronic mail will take to load — particularly if somebody is, say, opening your message on their morning subway commute with a weak information connection. Listed below are just a few little steps you possibly can take that may go a great distance in direction of bettering load time.

Use photos sparingly.

That means, you’ll bolster the message you need to get throughout to subscribers. At all times use a picture compressor (like Compressor.io) to scale back the file dimension as a lot as potential. Most picture compressors can considerably scale back the file dimension of a picture with out compromising on high quality, so taking this additional step will not harm the visible integrity of your electronic mail.

Use commonplace net fonts.

Customized fonts are nice for spicing up a touchdown web page, however they’ll add an extraneous layer of complexity when added to an electronic mail. As we talked about above, all electronic mail purchasers deal with fashion components otherwise, and this particularly extends to fonts. To be secure, use standard web fonts and check to make sure the e-mail shopper most of your subscribers use helps a specific font.

Strive an HTML minifier.

An HTML minifier (like minifycode.com and smallseotools.com) robotically removes code that is not wanted in an HTML file. Repetitive, additional components will likely be stripped out, however the precise rendering of your electronic mail ought to stay the identical (all the time check it out!). Every line of code impacts how lengthy an electronic mail takes to load, so taking the time to take away junk code can have a constructive impact on load time.

Maintain your message targeted on a single goal.

The easiest way to scale back electronic mail load time is to scale back how a lot content material you add to every of your electronic mail sends. It may appear apparent, however too many entrepreneurs attempt to stuff an excessive amount of content material into their emails. Not solely does that result in an off-putting consumer expertise (no person desires to learn a novel in electronic mail type), however it may well ship your load time without work the charts and trigger customers to desert your electronic mail. Maintain it easy, and your customers will thanks.

4. Plan (as a lot as you possibly can) for end-user inconsistencies.

The display screen dimension and electronic mail shopper aren’t the one components that may alter the best way your HTML electronic mail renders in your subscribers’ inboxes. Parts just like the model of their electronic mail shopper, their working system, their distinctive consumer settings, their safety software program, and whether or not or not they’re robotically loading photos can all influence how your electronic mail masses.

As you possibly can in all probability guess by that hefty record of things, attempting to unravel for all of them (each single time you ship an electronic mail) would in all probability be sufficient to make you throw your pc throughout the room.

However you do not have to be utterly helpless within the face of those variables — you simply must perform a little pre-planning.

Think about making a webpage model of your electronic mail.

That is type of like giving your electronic mail a fail-safe button. If for some cause — because of one of many many components mentioned above — your lovingly designed electronic mail renders like an absolute mess when a subscriber opens it, they are going to a minimum of have the choice to click on “view as net web page” and see the e-mail as you supposed it to be.

Since fashion components render rather more persistently throughout net browsers versus electronic mail purchasers, you can have far more management over the online web page model of your message. In HubSpot, there’s an option you possibly can activate that may generate an internet web page model robotically.

Create a plain textual content model of your electronic mail.

A plain textual content model is precisely what it seems like — an alternate model of your HTML electronic mail that renders in utterly plain textual content. Including a plain textual content model of your HTML electronic mail is vital as a result of some electronic mail purchasers and consumer settings cannot (or select to not) load HTML.

If that is so, the shopper will search for a plain textual content various model of your HTML electronic mail to load for the consumer. If one does not exist, it might sign to the recipient’s electronic mail server that your message is spam — or doubtlessly harmful.

Most electronic mail instruments like HubSpot will robotically present a plain textual content model that shows if a recipient’s electronic mail server requires it, however in case you’re coding an HTML electronic mail from scratch, you will must create one thing known as a multipart MIME message.

A multipart MIME message is an electronic mail that incorporates each a plain textual content and HTML model of the identical electronic mail. If a recipient’s electronic mail shopper or safety system does not enable HTML electronic mail, the plain textual content model will likely be displayed. It is a course of that requires a complicated data of coding, so we advocate working with a developer.

Be certain your electronic mail nonetheless is sensible if the pictures do not load.

Some customers have computerized image-loading turned off, which implies they will see your electronic mail with out photos after they open it. Because of this, do not rely fully on photos to get the which means of your message throughout, and all the time add alt-text to the pictures you do embrace. Alt-text will load even when photos do not, so your subscribers can get the overall concept of what the visuals embrace.

5. Conduct thorough testing.

Lastly, you will want to check your HTML electronic mail at each stage of growth to make sure it really works throughout completely different electronic mail purchasers, working methods, and machine sorts. Do not wait till the very finish of the method to check out your electronic mail — testing as you’re employed is the easiest way to identify inconsistencies between completely different electronic mail purchasers and make sure you’re creating probably the most constant expertise potential on your recipients.

Some electronic mail instruments (like HubSpot) provide in-app testing inside their electronic mail builders to make the method simpler. For those who’re working from scratch, you need to use a software like HTML Email Check or PreviewMyEmail to get a greater concept of how your electronic mail will look in several electronic mail purchasers and units.

Easy and Free HTML E mail Templates

There are an awesome quantity of HTML electronic mail templates out there on the internet, and so they fluctuate in high quality, responsiveness, and value. We have pulled collectively a choice of free HTML electronic mail templates that present a responsive consumer expertise. Make sure to learn the phrases and situations on every particular person template earlier than use.

1. Product Promotion HTML Email Template by HubSpot

Whether or not you are launching a brand new product or just promoting your present choices, this electronic mail template is a superb place to begin. Included within the free model of Marketing Hub’s email tool, this template provides loads of room for personalisation. You may simply add photos, textual content, and buttons in an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. You may also be assured that the templates you design will likely be absolutely responsive on any machine.

The primary advantage of utilizing this template is that it is bundled with all different Marketing Hub tools. Plus, you could have different templates to select from — you do not have to remain confined to this feature. The drag-and-drop electronic mail editor is one other incredible plus.

2. Company News HTML Email Template by Campaign Monitor

For those who’re planning to ship firm information to your prospects, this can be a nice template to make use of. It is image-heavy, making it a fantastic match for trend or up to date manufacturers. Plus, it is linked to Marketing campaign Monitor’s electronic mail software, which begins at 10 euros per thirty days (there is a free trial, too).

I personally love that this contemporary template is so subtle and minimal. The refined coloration palette and easy design make it a flexible choice for a lot of industries and functions, and it has been examined on completely different electronic mail purchasers and units to make sure a constant consumer expertise throughout platforms.

3. Welcome HTML Email Template by Unlayer

Unlayer is an electronic mail advertising and marketing software that primarily focuses on electronic mail design. Its drag and drop editor makes modifying its templates a breeze. I like the template above due to its construction and customizability.

Although this template was designed for a health firm, you possibly can simply adapt it on your personal use. This clear, muted template is an effective way to show content material your group has created and join subscribers together with your most up-to-date merchandise or weblog posts. The design options two absolutely responsive columns with a number of coloration scheme choices, and room on the high to focus on a call-to-action.

4. Minimalist Welcome HTML Email Template by MailBakery

Proof that typically much less actually is extra, this simple, absolutely responsive design makes probably the most of whitespace and retains the main target firmly in your phrases and visible components. With out design distractions, your content material can actually shine — on any machine.

This template is out there on the MailBakery electronic mail template retailer. I like it as a result of you possibly can merely obtain it and add it to your most well-liked software, whereas different templates require you to make use of their software program to entry their templates. I’d advocate it in case you’re snug dealing with HTML information and in case you’re aware of the add course of on your software.

5. Free HTML Email Templates from Bee Free

I could not resolve on a template to function from the Bee Free market, so I’ve determined to advocate its whole library as an alternative. This assortment of free, open-source templates are utterly responsive and examined throughout well-liked electronic mail purchasers. You may edit and construct on them on the Bee Free platform, then export the HTML file to your native drive and add it to your most well-liked email marketing tool.

These are a really perfect choice if you need a extra styled, polished beginning place, however you continue to need to have the ability to customise the design to suit your firm’s wants. Every template is out there in a number of codecs for various advertising and marketing functions, like transactional emails, NPS assortment, and electronic mail subscriber re-engagement.

6. Store Sale HTML Email Template by Campaign Monitor

This smooth, responsive design from Marketing campaign Monitor can be excellent for sending out a reduction code — nevertheless it might additionally function a classy approach to showcase your newest merchandise to electronic mail subscribers. I like its clear and attention-grabbing CTA, in addition to its house to incorporate extra info.

This template is free to make use of, as long as you enroll on the Marketing campaign Monitor platform. It’s additionally value testing Marketing campaign Monitor’s full library of responsive email templates.

7. Stylish HTML Email Template by ActiveCampaign

This electronic mail template from ActiveCampaign is trendy and optimized — excellent for introducing your organization or your merchandise. Its hero part consists of ample house for a picture and a call-to-action, and additional down, you possibly can immediate your readers to take a look at extra merchandise, supplying you with a second likelihood at changing them.

To make use of this free HTML electronic mail template, you will want to join an ActiveCampaign free trial. Its electronic mail software begins at $49/month and consists of 3 seats, making this template a fantastic match in case your electronic mail advertising and marketing group consists of a number of individuals.

8. Apology HTML Email Template by Stripo Email

It is by no means enjoyable to fail to satisfy a buyer’s expectation, nevertheless it’s even much less enjoyable to go away them at nighttime. This free HTML electronic mail template from Stripo, an electronic mail software, means that you can succinctly apologize. The lovable cartoon is a plus, however you possibly can all the time exchange the picture.

I particularly like that this template means that you can ask for suggestions proper within the electronic mail. That makes it simple and easy for the recipient to inform you how they really feel about their interplay together with your firm up to now.

To make use of this template, you solely must sign up on Stripo’s free tier, which permits you 4 electronic mail exports.

9. Hero Image Free HTML Email Template by ZURB

ZURB is an electronic mail template supplier that has created a collection of free electronic mail templates for anybody to obtain. This one features a clear heading, a hero picture, and a call-to-action highlighted in blue. I like that it has a sidebar to incorporate further hyperlinks. It is a good match for newsletter-dependent manufacturers.

You may need to closely customise this template together with your model colours and fonts to make it really feel extra like “you.” In any other case, it is a incredible tool-agnostic choice. Merely obtain the template and add it into your most well-liked electronic mail advertising and marketing software program.

10. Password Reset HTML Email Template by Foundation Framework

A password reset electronic mail does not should be elaborate, and this HTML electronic mail template from Basis Framework (additionally is aware of as ZURB) checks all of the containers. It leaves an area so that you can both embrace your brand or a cute graphic, and placeholder textual content you could go away as is if you would like.

I particularly like this template as a result of it already appears to be like so good with out customizing it. All you want is to vary the button’s coloration to considered one of your model colours, and you will be all set. Plus, you need to use it with any software.

Create HTML Emails to Improve Your Subscriber Depend

HTML emails are an enticing approach to share what’s taking place in your enterprise and maintain subscribers coming again for extra. With the information and templates we’ve shared, you’re nicely in your approach to creating lovely HTML emails with out writing a single line of code.

Editor’s notice: This publish was initially revealed in June 2019 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.