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

A healthy email list is important to ensure that you can contact a range of clients and drive success in your business. If you are already using Simplelists for email marketing, this won’t come as a surprise. If you are just starting a business, developing a list of contacts or ‘members’ can be challenging, especially when your customers are receiving other marketing messages in their inbox and becoming more sensitive to spam. Nevertheless, there are some effective ways to build a list of relevant members who will want to receive your emails.

Ensure that it is easy for people to sign up

There are plenty of ways to encourage people to sign up or 'opt-in’ to receiving your emails. If you put a subscribe form on your website, make sure it looks ‘clean’ and matches the rest of the site. Place the form towards the top of the page, and add some text to explain why they should sign up. You can create a subscribe form using Simplelists, if you wish. It is best not to ask for too much information at this stage – an email address is all you need. Asking for a first name as well will allow you to personalise your emails when you contact them.

You could also consider placing a subscribe form at the end of blog posts, in your site’s footer, or on your ‘About’ page. You can also use social media to encourage people to sign up and/or visit your website. Writing guest blogs with a sign-up form in them can also work well.

Sign up at the point of sale or when completing other forms

If your website/product requires people to set up an account or fill in a form on your website, you could also build in an email list sign-up into this process. Try to ensure that the reason for registering is clear though, and relevant to your target audience. You could make it as simple as including a check box that reads ‘Subscribe to our mailing list?’ that they can check when registering.

Word of mouth and events work well

You may like to offer those people who have been on your list for a while a small incentive or discount that might encourage them to tell others about your site/product. Make sure you ask for the friend’s email address and first name (again, to allow personalisation).

Make sure they know what to expect

It is good practice to make sure that your customers know exactly what to expect when they subscribe to your list. You should let them know what to expect with regards email frequency and content, and reassure them that they can unsubscribe at any time. It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the law surrounding email marketing so that you don’t break any of the rules.

In Part 1 we looked at one of the most popular uses for Simplelists, the listserve. In this post we’ll consider another use that is also widely used - email marketing.

WHY USE EMAIL MARKETING?

There are many forms of marketing: SEO (search engine optimistion), social media marketing (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Google+), a good website, advertising, email marketing and more. If you are serious about your business you should be using as many of these as possible. Each has their strengths and weaknesses but it is worth remembering that it isn’t an either/or choice - ideally you’ll use almost all methods.

But we’re focusing on email marketing here - why use email marketing?

It’s direct - when you send an email it goes directly to the person’s inbox. This means that you have the opportunity to gain the full attention of the customer.

It’s targeted - you decide exactly who you will send the emails to and you can tailor those emails specifically for the people who receive them. You can send different emails to different groups of customers.

To convert visitors to customers - when people browse websites online, most don’t buy immediately from the first website they see. Most people visit multiple websites and often research the area further, gathering information from several websites and returning to buy when they are ready - maybe after several days or weeks.

But which shop will the customer return to in order to make the purchase? Often it is simply the shop that they remember. Email marketing can really help here - if people receive a timely email they’ll remember you before the competition.

To encourage repeat business - customers that have bought from you before are more likely to return. You can use email marketing to contact them directly about new offers, products or services and turn a one time customer into a regular buyer.

WHY USE SIMPLELISTS?

Simplelists makes for great email marketing, here’s why:

It’s simple - you don’t need to be a tech expert to use simplelists. Just write an email and send it to your whole list!

It’s quick - let’s face it, you have a million and one things to do when you are running a business. If it takes up a lot of time to do your marketing jobs, they’ll probably end up forgotten. With Simplelists you can send out an email to all your customers in just a couple of minutes... and that means more time for everything else.

Emails get through - there is nothing worse than your marketing emails not getting through to your customers. Simplelists have better deliverability than email clients and free providers.

Your emails are free from advertising - most free group email providers place adverts on your emails so that they can advertise to your customers. This looks cheap and can be detrimental to your business. Emails that you send via Simplelists are free from adverts.

You can send HTML emails - with Simplelists you have the option to design emails using HTML. You aren’t constrained to templates so your emails can look exactly how you like. Of course you don’t have to use HTML - you can send simple text emails too.