You’ve got a business idea, product launch, or important news, and you’re bursting with enthusiasm, and want to share it with the world.

You need an email that’s engaging, professional-looking with great imagery and branding, and effective at getting people interested in what you’re selling or want to say.

An HTML email template is what you need. But how do you go about creating one?

Simplelists are here to help you create an HTML email template with ease by following a few simple steps.

What is an HTML email template?

An HTML email template is a pre-designed layout that you can use to create emails. They come in a range of different shapes and sizes, with different features and benefits. Some may be more suited to your needs than others, so it’s important to know what they are before you start using them.

An HTML email builder allows you to quickly build professional-looking emails without having any design skills whatsoever.

They’re also great if you want consistent branding across multiple campaigns or newsletters as they allow for customization options such as colors and logos.

If you’re looking for a simple and easy way to create professional-looking emails, then using an HTML email template is a great choice.

What is a Plain Text email format?

Plain text email is a simple, readable format for email messages, also known as “text only” and “no HTML”.

A Plain text email is stripped of any fancy formatting, such as colors or graphics, and just contains the bare bones of what you need to say. It’s simply an email format that can be read by any device or computer, regardless of the operating system.

Common uses for plain text emails are in sending transactional messages, such as purchase receipts or password resets. It’s a great option for people who don’t have any special requirements when it comes to sending an email.

Email Plain Text VS HTML: the Pros and Cons

There are two main types of email: plain text and HTML. Plain text emails are easier to read but don’t stand out as much. HTML emails can be more engaging, but they’re harder to read (especially on mobile devices).

An ideal solution would be to use both in your emails — but which one should you choose?

Our table gives you an overview of Simplelists’ pros and cons to email plain text vs HTML.

Feature	HTML emails	Plain text emails
Engaging emails (color, graphics & video)
Professional look
Easy-to-read sections
Social media buttons
Flexible email templates
Enable tracking and analytics
Not seen as spam
Quick loading and opening speed
Suitable for group emails

HTML Pros & Cons

Create colorful and eye-catching emails

HTML emails allow you to include images, graphics, and video that showcase products, alongside design formatting (e.g., color, logo, placement) to grab readers’ attention on certain information — such as price or call-to-action (CTA) buttons.

Make your emails look professional

Maximize the use of design features to make your company’s brand image and identity prominent, including logos and banners. You can also use HTML emails to create a consistent look and feel across all your marketing campaigns.

Structure emails into easy-to-read sections

Through short and eye-catching sections, HTML can help you to structure emails in an easy-to-read way. Create text boxes, links, and CTA buttons that are placed in a logical order, which makes it easier for readers.

Offer some social media buttons

They can include buttons that allow recipients to share their email with their social networks, increasing the chances that people will see it. If being shared to be viewed on multiple devices, it’s important to use a responsive email template. This means that recipients will see your email regardless of where they read it or what device they use.

Create flexible email templates

HTML emails are more versatile and allow for a wider variety of designs than plain-text versions. The flexibility to create a responsive email template is one of the most important features of HTML emails, as it allows recipients to view and interact with your message no matter where they’re reading it.

Enable tracking and analytics

They also provide analytics for email campaigns, allowing you to see when emails were opened, links that were clicked on, and what percentage of subscribers went on to make a purchase, etc. This is valuable information to improve future campaigns and develop the best possible email strategy for your business.

More easily go to spam

Email providers use a variety of criteria to decide what emails are spam and which ones aren’t. Because HTML formatting can be difficult for email provider’s filters to digest, as a precautionary measure for their users, it can mistake your message as spam — even though you’ve done nothing wrong!

Plain Text Pros & Cons

Quickly loading and faster opening speed

Plain text emails have a smaller file size than HTML-based emails, so they load faster and are less likely to get stuck in spam filters. Buffering times are drastically reduced for plain text emails since there are not so many elements or graphics to load.

Less engaging and similar to a text message

The impact of plain text email is only reliant on the copy and is often used for transactional messages that require little thought or action from the recipient, like confirming an order or updating account information. Because of its lack of visual appeal, plain text tends not to be as engaging as HTML email templates would be with embedded features.

Limited analytics options

Email campaigns that rely on plain text may require self-reporting for tracking purposes. As a result, the only way to measure success is by how many recipients write back. Text-based email campaigns are great for sending out information. However, if you want to increase sales and maximize engagement, creating an HTML email template may be better.

Better for one-on-one emails

Plain text emails excel at writing sales letters and other types of informational copy. Their prose is efficient, informative, and well-suited to one-to-one communication.

Get sending to your list straight away with Simplelists

Building or managing an effective email list can be challenging, especially if you’re new to online marketing.

At Simplelists we’ve got a lot of great features to help make building your email list easier than ever before.

With an easy-to-use interface, you can create multiple lists for different audiences, with a direct sign-up form integrated into your website.

Why not try us for free, you can build and send to your email lists in just a few clicks.

Sign up today for a free trial

We have already discussed on our blog how a well thought-out and well-designed footer on your email can ensure that your email complies with the law and avoids being marked as spam. The footer is a good place to include your contact information, invite recipients to visit your social media links, remind them why you are receiving the email, and include links to other important places (for example, your privacy policy or other news items on your website). In this short post, we remind you how to add a personalised footer to your emails when using Simplelists.

Email customisation

Personalising your Simplelists emails is quick and easy and including a personalised footer makes your emails look professional. You can include a logo, links to your website, a phone number and more. A personalised footer also saves you time and gives your emails consistency.

To add a personalised footer, simply log in and go to 'List settings’ in the left hand menu. Then, select the 'Email customisation’ tab on the main screen.

Scroll down to the 'Message footer’ box and then type your email signature into it.

Unsubscribe link

To include a link to allow your recipients to unsubscibe from your emails, add a '$’ sign follwed by the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE’, being sure to use capital letters. So, your example signature might look something like this:

Best wishes,

Your name

Unsubscribe from this list here: $UNSUBSCRIBE

When a list member then receives an email from you, they will see your signature and a clickable 'unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the email.

Style your footer

You also have the option to style your footer using HTML. You can do this in the next box down on the 'Email customisation’ page, called 'HMTL footer message’ (optional). You can include CSS to add colour, preferred fonts and other styles that match your website and/or brand. Make sure that you use inline styles as these are recognised by email clients such as Gmail and Hotmail. You can also include links to your website and/or other important pages. Simply copy and paste your HTML into the box.

 

You can watch a short video with these instructions in an earlier post on our blog.

Before delving into writing HTML code for your bespoke design email, it’s a good idea to spend a few minutes doing some planning first. Don’t think of this stage as wasted time - it is more likely to be the opposite - saving you time in the long run as you will know exactly what you are aiming for before starting. A well-planned email is also likely to be a success, especially if you are using the email for marketing purposes.

Some questions to consider

Before you start writing the code, ask yourself some or all of the following questions:

• Who will the email be sent to?
• What is the aim of the email?
• What is the ideal outcome?
• What are other positive outcomes?

To answer those questions, let’s think of an example scenario. The email might be going to existing customers of a particular company (let’s call it 'My Company’). The aim of the email could be to share the latest news about an exciting new product. The ideal outcome might be that people reading your email click through to your website and buy the new product. Other positive outcomes might include following the company on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.), or that they remember the company and what it does. At a later date they then may decide to buy the product or look for other similar products, and they may return to the site.

What to include in the email

The answers to the above questions will also help you to decide what you want to include in the email. For the above 'My Company’ scenario, it would be wise to include:

• A customer name
• Text with the news and information about the product
• A strong 'call-to-action’ for the recipient to click through to the company website news page (read more about 'calls-to-action’ in our earlier post on email marketing tips)
• A logo and social media buttons

Now that you have decided on the content of the email, you can go ahead and sketch a design. You might like to use a pen and paper to do this, or use a simple graphics program that you are familiar with.

Design tips

It is a good idea to use a simple white background for your email - you can choose another colour if you like but white is preferable for ease of reading and a subtle, professional design. When choosing a font, remember that HTML emails are restricted to 'websafe’ fonts so it is quite a simple choice: Georgis, Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, Arial, Comic Sans, Impact, Lucida Sans Unicode, Tahoma, Trebuchet or Verdana (we don’t recommend using Comic Sans or Impact as they are unlikely to look good and/or be easy to read). Our preference is Trebuchet as it looks modern and is less common that well-used fonts like Arial and Lucida Sans Unicode.

A subtle grey colour works well for text and you might like to choose an 'accent’ colour to go with it. Make sure your text is large enough to read easily. You can use headings anc columns to guide the reader through your text. Keeping a lot of white space in the email is a good idea as it makes the email clean and easy to read. Make sure the 'call-to action’ is very visible. Include a signature, logo and your social media buttons as well.

Step-by-step guide

You can view a short video about designing HTML emails using Simplelists here. This video takes you through the design process step-by-step and is based on the questions we started with in this blog post.

You may also like to browse the short series of six videos about HTML emails that include tips and guidance on: designing emails; writing code for responsive emails; and testing and sending emails.