SuperOffice reveals that more than 30% of recipients are influenced to open an email because of convincing subject lines. But a persuasive subject line isn’t enough to achieve your marketing and sales goals. If you want to grab their attention, drive more traffic to your site, and increase sales, you must create an eye-catching email design.
Improve your email designs with free email templates! But where can you download or redesign them? We gathered the 12 best sites to get these email templates. But before that, let’s see how email templates can boost email marketing campaigns.
Boost Your Email Marketing with Effective Templates
Whether it’s a customer email or a B2B newsletter, the aim is the same. You want readers to open, read, and engage with you further. You can achieve this by following these best practices in email design. These best practices will help you customize your downloaded free email templates or create your own with the help of a professional graphic design agency like Penji.
1. Establish a clear design hierarchy.
First, you must focus on your message and keep your email design straightforward. The best way to do this is to plan all the elements for your email campaign accordingly, putting the most essential information and CTAs above the fold for readers to scan.
2. Make it simple
With email newsletters, less is more. Your goal should be an easy-to-read, easy-to-digest email design. Avoid overloading your email with too much information or graphics—focus on a simple layout with clear headlines, concise information, and a compelling call to action.
3. Experiment with different email formats
There are various email formats you can use to keep your customers engaged. You can try different layouts, like a traditional newsletter-type email or a grid format. Free email templates are a good starting point when designing your email campaigns.
4. Use eye-catching visuals
Avoid boring text-heavy design by adding visually appealing images to your email. However, use visual elements sparingly and avoid adding images that have a large file size. Instead, use a few high-quality, filesize photos that complement the content of your email.
Use eye-catching visuals for your email marketing campaigns
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6. Avoid too many colors
Color also plays a significant role in email marketing, but you must use it wisely. Too much color can make your email difficult to read. Use four colors or less to prevent visual clutter in your emails. In addition, using colors that contrast with one another makes your email more engaging.
7. Choose fonts wisely
Like color, fonts also add visual appeal to your email. However, you should stick to one font throughout your email. Using more than one font or different font sizes can make email look unprofessional and difficult to read.
8. Don’t forget to add clear call-to-actions
An email would not be complete without a clear call to action. It is one of the most essential elements of an email campaign. That said, ensure your CTA is clear and placed strategically within the email.
9. Make your email mobile-friendly
Mobile optimization is crucial, as so many people check their email on their phones. Ignoring mobile optimization means risking your emails being deleted unread. So, design your email to be readable and engaging even on small screens.
12 Best Sites to Get Free Email Templates
1. Beefree.io
Do you need vibrant and bright email templates for your marketing campaigns? Check out what Beefree.io has to offer. You can find 1000+ compelling and killer email templates for any occasion or purpose. Professional designers produced these emails. You can be sure that they designed responsive emails, too. Plus, you can edit a free template without signing up.
2. Unlayer
Find other email template options at Unlayer. They organize their email templates with the following categories:
- Holidays
- Purpose
- Industry
Expect engaging and responsive email templates free of charge, from Unlayer too. Most emails enable you to add more images than the copy. Even without signing up to Unlayer, their email builder has nifty features, such as content additions (video, image, and social buttons), blocks, and royalty-free image access.
3. Stripo
Stripo is another reliable email template creator for small businesses and marketers. On Stripo, you can find over 1100+ email designs for promotional purposes, holidays, new subscribers, and more! On top of that, you can create interactive emails here because of their countdown timer, GIF animation, and carousel features. Plus, you can integrate these email templates into some CRM and marketing platforms like:
- Hubspot
- AWeber
- ClickSend
- Constant Contact
- Mailchimp
4. Campaign Monitor
As an email marketing platform, you can expect and depend on Campaign Monitor for responsive and high-quality templates. You can test the email design with their builder and preview the email layout before downloading it. Most email designs from Campaign Monitor use a text-heavy header. However, you can transform it with their email template builder. Here are the email types you can find on Campaign Monitor:
- Announcements
- Newsletters
- Promotional
- Welcome
- Transactional
- Feedback
- Events
- Holiday
- Reengagement
5. Moosend
If you’re in the eCommerce, hotel, or retail industry, Moosend is one of the best places to access free email templates. Even if they have 70+ templates available, you can expect high-quality designs from them. Plus, before committing to Moosend, you can try their editor for free to see if they’re the best fit for you.
6. Litmus
Ecommerce businesses can also browse Litmus for email templates. They don’t have hundreds of templates to offer. But rest assured, their free email templates are updated and responsive. eCommerce owners can use their templates for the following purposes:
- Welcome
- Announcement
- Newsletter
- Account management
- Transactional
- Invitation
- Personal note
7. Sendgrid
Sendgrid is another great option for browsing marketing campaign emails. Unlike some email design platforms, Sendgrid has around 60+ templates only. However, you can find basic marketing emails, such as promotions, loyalty programs, and seasonal emails. Aside from those, you can also send email newsletters for your content marketing strategy.
8. Canva
Although Canva is a graphic design software, they have tons of free email templates for your marketing needs. On Canva, you can find modern email designs with pastel or neutral-colored themes. Plus, you’ll also notice the traditional email marketing style, which is ideal for simple email designs.
With Canva, it’s ideal for preparing your branded assets when designing emails. This way, you can keep designing their free email templates and not pay a single cent to purchase any asset.
9. Chamaileon
Chamaileon is another site to find simple email templates. Even though it looks simple, they have been optimized. Plus, they are responsive email designs too. They have transactional, welcome, promotional, and holiday emails for your small business. Like other email design platforms, you can test the email design before exporting it. However, you need to sign up to unlock more features and download your free email template.
10. Topol
If you have a visual-heavy email design, Topol has unique email templates! This is ideal for eCommerce businesses considering you want to feature various products in one email. Plus, they have colorful and engaging templates for any purpose or occasion!
When using Topol templates, it’s ideal to use high-quality images. Most email templates have a header image focusing on their new or prominent products.
11. Benchmark
Benchmark is a great starter site for browsing email templates. With only 50+ email templates, you get an idea of what emails you can send to your subscribers. Most templates are promotional holiday ones. But you can also find announcements, invitations, and newsletter emails to connect with your subscribers.
You can download the template immediately and use it on another editor. You can also sign up for their platform to edit it.
12. MailBakery
The MailBakery template store is ideal for small businesses, such as restaurants, photography studios, and real estate companies. In Mailbakery, you can’t try a template before downloading it. However, you can save the email template only and use it on other email design software applications mentioned above. Plus, you can preview the email design on the web or mobile too.
How Do I Create My Own Email Template?
An alternative to downloading or using free email templates is creating your own. You can design email graphics from scratch using an email or graphic design software. Most online design software applications have a free plan, allowing you to create and download email templates. Plus, they use drag-and-drop features making designing smoother and easier.
How Can Penji Help with Your Email Marketing Campaigns
If DIY isn’t an option, you can leave the email marketing needs to the pros. Give your emails a makeover with Penji. It starts with subscribing to any of our plans here. Then, once subscribed, you can submit a design request.
Make sure you have a detailed brief and upload any assets the designer should include while creating your emails. After 24 to 48 hours, you will get the first draft and decide if that’s all good for you. If so, you can immediately use the email design in your campaigns to start reaching more subscribers and getting more sales!
