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Email Template

What Is An Email Template?

An email template is an HTML file that is used to create and build an email campaign. A template that works well will enable you to copy and paste content straight into the file and will work equally effective on desktop, mobile, and across numerous email service providers. The same template can be used as many times as you like for numerous campaigns using different content.

These effective, time saving benefits are gained by using just a basic email template but if you want to achieve even greater benefits, you can step up a gear and use a live email template.

By using a live email template you can save even more time as it will automatically populate content such as; current sales, product listings or live score results directly from your website into the template. In doing so, it means that your template is constantly being updated and providing your subscribers with fresh up to date information, requiring no extra work on your part.

The way you produce your emails can be completely transformed by simply using an email template and providing you with many benefits such as:

  • Saving Time – Campaigns that are more detailed and need testing and approval etc, require even more time to be spent on them. An email template enables you to quickly place your content into an already existing template giving you more time to focus on creating content and spend less time on design.
  • Consistency – Having a brand that is consistent gives subscribers a much better experience overall, enabling them to recognise your brand and keeping them interested. Using an email template provides you with the tools to implement your brand live into the template itself by using your own logo, design and colours. This will result in your subscribers receiving a brand experience that is consistent, positive and recognizable, making them want to engage with you time after time.
  • Provide a personalized experience – Can a reusable email template create personalization? Yes it can. Just plug your content straight in with the personalization that is either basic like names etc, or more detailed personalization such as, location and weather conditions etc. Using a branded template alongside this personalization gives your marketing campaign strength and power to make an amazing impact on your subscribers.

Making A Start On Your Email Template

Let’s start at the beginning. Think of your email template as an outfit you are choosing for a particular occasion and the impact you would like to make. A welcome email is usually short and more attractive, whereas lead nurture emails are more descriptive in content and have individual CTA buttons. Transactional emails have purchase receipts together with cross selling.

The first step is to decide what type of email it will be and the goals you hope to achieve from it.

The buying process for an email subscriber has a minimum of 5 types of email you need to send, if it is an e-commerce brand there a 6 types.

  • Welcome email – This email thanks the person for becoming a subscriber and is the first opportunity to introduce your individual brand. It should have a call to action prompt where your new subscriber can fill in their details and choose their preferences.
  • Newsletter email – This is sent periodically and provides your subscribers with information about your brand’s products and services with the goal of keeping them informed and interested in purchasing from you.
  • Sale/Promotion/Announcement email – The purpose of this email is to convert your subscriber into your customer. It’s aim is to market your product or service to entice your subscriber into purchasing from you and believing in your brand.
  • Order receipt email – Once a purchase has been made by a subscriber an order receipt email is triggered and it can be used to promote further products of relevance, however there has to be a ratio within the email that is 80% transactional and 20% promotional.
  • Re-engagement email – There are a number of subscribers that will stop engaging and will leave your emails unopened. A re-engagement email can be sent to these inactive subscribers and hopefully prompt them to become part of your sales cycle again.
  • Cart Abandonment email (E-Commerce) – This type of email is used to try to reunite a customer back with their abandoned cart. There may be numerous reasons as to why a customer may leave the product in their cart and not go on to buy. Many of these customers can become reconnected and carry on to complete the purchasing process after receiving this email from you, therefore, making this a very effective and valuable way of continuing sales.

The Prerequisites Needed For The Design Of A Template Email

After deciding what type of email it is, your next step is to design it. The design is obviously very important as this is where your brand and it’s personality become visible. With this in mind you must consider:

  • The guidelines of your brand.
  • Your product images.
  • Your target audience/ buyer persona
  • Will it be A/B tested?
  • Mobile layout
  • Email content copy
  • Landing page hyperlinks
  • Interactivity

The visual design of your email will be the instant attraction but the email content will contain the important message you want to communicate to your audience. Even before an email is actually opened your content copy can begin to tempt the customers by using subject lines.

Email Copy And It’s Key Elements.

  • Pre-headers and Subject Lines – A pre-header or subject line will be the first bit of information your subscribers are going to see. It is essential that your subject line gives an instant taste of what your email copy will be about and you must ensure that it is in no way misleading.
  • Body Copy – This is where the important information you want to communicate will be, in the body of your email. It is a continuation of your subject line and needs to give key information that will push the subscriber to the landing page where they can see further information. The body therefore needs to be precise and to the point.
  • CTA Copy – This is where you will see how effective your body copy actually is. The CTA button also requires an effective body with the CTA copy needing to be actionable by having things such as, ‘Start a Free Trial’ or ‘Download my copy’.
  • Footer Copy – Signing off with your email signature can be considerably effective but it is much less utilized in the marketing process. Using this as another marketing opportunity before you sign off can give that bit of extra power.
  • Format and Alignment of Text – Helping to give your subscribers an easier and more effective way of quickly scanning over your email is always going to be beneficial.

Have the Vision?

Now you need a place to build your templates. Do you normally rely on your marketing automation tool or other email service provider for building email templates? These aren’t bad tools to use, but there are more robust options out there with drag and drop builders making it 10x easier and faster to build email templates. We built Dyspatch because we know how difficult it is to build email templates, which normally require developer resources and a lot of troubleshooting to make them render perfectly. With Dyspatch, all you do is drag pre-coded blocks in the order you want them, change up the copy and/or image and your email is done in minutes. If you would like to give it a try, sign up for a free trial here.