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6 Best Email Marketing Templates

Jennifer Post
business.com Contributing Writer
Mar 18, 2021

These six email marketing services offer some of the best templates for engaging your target audience.

Templates are a useful tool that many email marketing software providers usually include with their subscription plans. Templates allow you to quickly format an email intended for your audience, including images, content, calls to action and links. The way an email is arranged can significantly affect how recipients engage with your content (or if they engage with it at all), so it is important to optimize your email marketing campaign by choosing the right template.

Here is a closer look at some of the best email marketing templates available and the software that supports them. 

1. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing services out there. It's used by small and medium-sized businesses to create eye-catching, informative, and effective marketing email campaigns.

It's a good choice for smaller businesses that are in the beginning stages of email marketing and want an appealing template that is also easy to customize and not too expensive but still comes with all of the features they need for the campaign to be successful. 

Editor's note: Looking for the right email marketing service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

Features

Mailchimp isn't just for newbie businesses that are starting to send marketing emails to boost sales. If you are an established business and want to let people know what's going on at your company, or if you want to check-in with your customers, Mailchimp has what you need. Here are some key features of this service:

  • Multiple marketing email template options
  • Predesigned marketing email themes for specific things like an event, sale announcement or appointment reminder
  • Email insights and analytics 

The above features are all crucial for an effective email marketing campaign. A well-designed template is the first step. 

Price

One of the biggest advantages of using Mailchimp is there is a completely free option that gives you access to the platform's basic email marketing templates. While you might not get all of the bells and whistles with a free plan, it's a good way to try out the service before committing to one of its paid plans. Let's compare the different pricing plans:

PlanPriceKey features
Free$0 per month
  • Marketing CRM
  • Creative assistant
  • Website builder
  • Mailchimp domain
  • Forms and landing pages
  • Send emails up to 2,000 contacts
  • 1 audience
EssentialsStarting at $9.99 per month
  • Up to 50,000 contacts
  • 3 audiences
  • All email templates
  • Multistep journeys
  • Custom branding
  • A/B testing
  • 24/7 email and chat support
StandardStarting at $14.99 per month
  • Up to 100,000 contacts
  • 5 audiences
  • Customer journey builder and branching points
  • Send time optimization
  • Behavioral targeting
  • Custom templates
  • Dynamic content
PremiumStarting at $299 per month
  • 200,000+ contacts
  • Unlimited audiences
  • Advanced segmentation
  • Multivariate testing
  • Comparative reporting
  • Unlimited seats and role-based access
  • Phone support

 

2. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a great option not only for small businesses, but businesses of all sizes. One of the best uses of Constant Contact is sending email newsletters, as their templates can be customized with your brand's colors, fonts, photos, etc.

There are e-commerce options as well; whether you sell a physical product or a digital download, Constant Contact has a template to suit your campaign. 

Features

If you prefer low- or no-code software, Constant Contact has everything you need to create the marketing email of your dreams without a lick of programming knowledge. Constant Contact offers: 

If you want to test out the service before committing to it, Constant Contact offers a 60-day free trial. Its paid plans are reasonably priced, so you won't break the bank trying to grow your business. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the plans Constant Contact offers:

Price

PlanPriceKey features
Free TrialFree for 60 daysAll of the features included in the Email plan
Email $20 per month
  • Unlimited sends
  • E-commerce marketing
  • Customizable templates
  • Branded or industry templates
  • Automated email resend to non-openers
  • Online donations
  • Logo creation
  • Contact list import
  • Learning resources
  • Phone and chat support
  • Google Ads
  • 3 users
  • Event marketing and management
Email Plus$45 per month

All of what's listed above, plus:

  • Dynamic content
  • 10 users
  • Coupons
  • Polls
  • Surveys
  • Automated email welcome series

 

3. Benchmark Email

Benchmark Email has options for small business owners who have some HTML experience, as well as those who have none. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that Benchmark's pricing is based on the number of contacts you have and how many emails you want to send each month. 

Features

Here are the key features of Benchmark's email marketing service:

  • Drag-and-drop email builder
  • Responsive email templates
  • RSS email templates
  • HTML editor
  • Photo editing
  • Color customization
  • A/B testing 

Price 

As mentioned earlier, Benchmark's pricing is based on the number of contacts you have; for the purpose of this list, the prices below are based on 500 contacts.

PlanPriceKey features
Free$0 per month
  • Basic email marketing
  • Drip campaigns
  • Simple lead generation
  • Basic reporting
  • Basic customer support
  • 250 emails per month
Pro 
  • Advanced email marketing
  • Multiple marketing automation functions (drip campaigns, behavior-based emails, advanced segmentation, website tracking)
  • Advanced lead generation
  • Advanced reporting
  • Premium customer support
  • Unlimited emails

 

4. Sendinblue

Sendinblue is one of the more economical choices for small businesses because there is no limit on the number of lists or contacts you can have. That means you won't pay extra if you gain thousands of subscribers. Sendinblue also has a library of email templates, as well as a drag-and-drop editor if you want to create an email with a more customized design.  

Features

Sendinblue's features are very similar to those offered by other email marketing template services, but Sendinblue organizes everything clearly and provides step-by-step instructions. If you don't have a lot of experience designing and sending marketing emails, Sendinblue is a very user-friendly option for small businesses. Here's what you get with Sendinblue:

  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Email template library
  • From scratch email design
  • Email personalization
  • Unlimited lists and contacts
  • A/B testing

One of the best features of Sendinblue is the unlimited lists and contacts. You pay one price no matter how many contacts your email list has. This is great for small businesses that expect their email list to grow but don't want to have to pay more money when that happens. 

Price

As we mentioned above, all plans come with unlimited contact storage. While the free plan has a daily email limit, the other plans do not. You will, however, have to pay more based on how many total emails per month you want to send. Here's an overview of its plans and the features included in each tier:

PlanPriceKey features
Free$0 per month
  • Up to 300 emails per day
  • Marketing
  • Contact management
  • Transactional email platform
  • Marketing automation
  • Real-time reporting
  • Email support
  • GDPR compliance
Lite$25 per month for 10,000 emails

Everything in the Free plan and

  • No daily email limit
  • A/B testing add-on
Premium$65 per month for 20,000 emails

Everything included in Free and Lite, plus:

  • Facebook Ads
  • Telephone support
  • Landing page builder
  • Advanced reporting
  • Multiuser access
EnterpriseCustom quote
  • 20+ landing pages
  • Custom email volume
  • 10+ users
  • Dedicated account manager

 

5. ConvertKit

At first glance, it may seem like ConvertKit doesn't have much to offer in the way of templates. However, there is so much customization you can do within each template, that it's almost like you're creating your very own email from scratch, with the help of a guide. If you want to code your own emails, you can do that, too.

ConvertKit could be overwhelming for a small business owner who is brand new to email marketing. ConvertKit's pricing model is similar to services like Benchmark, where your monthly payment is determined by how many contacts you have, which could be a deterrent for some users. However, if you're looking for highly customizable templates, ConvertKit might be the email marketing services best suited for you. 

Features

Here are the features you get with ConvertKit:

  • Landing page templates
  • E-commerce templates
  • Email designer
  • Email signup form templates
  • Marketing automations
  • Integrations 

Price

ConvertKit is another service where rates fluctuate depending on how many contacts or subscribers you have. For the purpose of this list, all prices are based on up to 1,000 subscribers. Here's a closer look at the cost of ConvertKit's three plans and the features included in each tier:

PlanPriceKey features
Free$0 per month
  • Unlimited landing pages and forms
  • Email broadcasts
  • Sell digital products and subscriptions
  • Unlimited use of templates
Creators$29 per month

Everything included in Free, plus:

  • Email support
  • Free migration from another tool
  • Automated funnels and sequences
Creator Pro$59 per month

Everything included in Free and Creator, plus:

  • Facebook custom audiences
  • Newsletter referral system
  • Subscriber scoring
  • Advanced reporting

 

6. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign offers more than 25 professional-looking email templates you can choose from. ActiveCampaign's pricing is similar to Benchmark's in that what you pay each month is based on how many subscribers or contacts you have. There's an additional complication and that is the type of business you operate (e-commerce, digital business, B2B company) also impacts pricing. More about that below.

Features

As far as templates go, you're probably best served by selecting the "Inspiration" tab within the platform. There, you'll find premade email templates that you can customize to suit your campaign.

Below are a few more key features of ActiveCampaign: 

  • Email segmentation
  • Subscription forms
  • Dynamic content
  • Split testing 

Price

ActiveCampaign's pricing is based on the number of subscribers and whether your business is a digital business, B2B company, or e-commerce business. Below is an overview of ActiveCampaign's plans and features. The prices below are based on a hypothetical business that is a digital business with a list of 500 contacts:

PlanPriceKey features
LiteStarting at $9 per month
  • Email marketing
  • Marketing automation
  • Unlimited email sending
  • Newsletters and subscription forms
  • Segmentation
  • Campaign and automation reporting
  • Chat and email support
PlusStarting at $49 per month

Everything in Lite, plus:

  • Landing pages
  • Facebook custom audiences
  • Contact scoring
  • Advanced performance reporting
ProfessionalStarting at $129 per month

Everything in Lite and Plus, plus:

  • Predictive sending and content
  • Conversion reporting
  • Onboarding support
EnterpriseStarting at $229 per month

Everything in Lite, Plus, and Pro, plus:

  • Phone support
  • Custom reporting
  • Custom domain
  • Free design services
  • HIPPA support
  • Dedicated account rep

 

Image Credit: NicoElNino / Getty Images
Jennifer Post
business.com Contributing Writer
Jennifer Post is a professional writer with published works focusing on small business topics including marketing, financing, and how-to guides. She has also published articles on business formation, business software, public relations and human resources. Her work has also appeared in Fundera and The Motley Fool.