All email marketers will eventually end up at the crossroad where they have to select between a custom email template or a reusable template. But which is the better choice based on design time, cost, efficiency and complexity? Is it better to create custom Mailchimp email templates or to pick a reusable email template from their library?
Here is everything you need to know about custom emails and reusable email templates to help you make the decision.
What are Custom Email Templates?
As the name suggests, custom email templates are tailor-made as per the requirements of the brand. Whatever the email marketer can conceptualize, can be put into the template. Such a massive range of customization allows the brands to create emails that truly set themselves apart from their competitors. You can create custom Mailchimp email templates from scratch using their template editor.
Email marketers can include interactive elements, GIFs, animations, and any other experimental content in the template. Any problems that arise during the optimization of the emails are dealt with more efficiently since these emails are made from scratch.
What are the Benefits of Using Custom Email Templates?
● Versatility
Custom email templates are versatile as you have the reins to make the changes on the go. Every single element of the emails can be tested and changed according to the needs of the brand.
● Consistency
Custom email templates allow you to be consistent with your branding. You can use the same brand voice and design cues to connect with the customer. This strengthens your brand identity. The branding elements can also be borrowed from other marketing channels and enhance your overall omnichannel strategies.
● Unique
Unlike reused email templates that have the same flow and CTA button placement, custom email templates look distinct and instantly recognizable. If you can manage to create a highly engaging custom email template, you will notice a boost in the conversion rates of your subscribers.
● Better Invitation Emails
Custom email templates are best suited for invitational emails as you can draw the attention of the customer with ease and increase your leads. Invitation emails usually have multiple blocks with CTA buttons to describe all the highlights of the last year, and what the invitees can expect this year.
● Better Holiday Email Campaigns
During the holidays, the competition between the brands becomes cutthroat as everybody wants to stand out in their subscriber’s inbox. In such times, custom one-off email templates can help you go toe-to-toe with the bigger brands.
What are the Cons of Using Custom Email Templates?
Addressing the elephant in the room, there is no doubt that creating custom email templates is expensive. The cost of development and testing all the interactive elements of a custom email can set you back a few thousand bucks. But, the ROI on the custom email templates sometimes justifies the cost of creating a custom email campaign. Apart from that, custom email templates are quite time-consuming since they are designed from a scratch.
What are Reusable Templates?
On the other hand, reusable email templates are modular and have blocks of HTML files that can be changed as per the requirement. The modules allow you to change the header, email content, footer, and even the image in the template. Slight changes to the modules can change the entire purpose of the emails. Hence, reusable emails are highly adaptable.
The reusable templates that you create are usually stored in your Email Service Provider. You can use their native template editor to make the desired changes. Some ESP also hosts thousands of reusable email templates in their email libraries. These templates are also pre-optimized. Therefore, as long as you are not making any major changes, you can directly put them in your email campaigns without much A/B testing.
What are the Benefits of Using Reusable Email Templates?
● Consistency
Reusable emails offer consistency to your mundane email campaigns. Cart abandonment emails, welcome email series, order confirmation emails, feedback emails, etc., are reusable emails that maintain a similar brand appearance and voice. Reusable emails make it easier to communicate with the customers.
● Higher Deliverability
Email marketers don’t make any bold creative decisions while creating these reusable elements. This means, these emails follow the brand’s guidelines to the dot and adhere to the regulations of ISPs. Hence, they have a higher deliverability rate.
● Efficient
As mentioned earlier, creating custom email templates takes a lot of time and resources. However, reusable emails are easy to create and even simpler to test. Email marketers can even directly pick the templates from the library hosted by their ESPs. Some of the templates are even pre-optimized and can be used in campaigns with minimal changes.
What are the Disadvantages Of Using Reusable Email Templates?
The reusable emails will often share a lot of similar appearance with the emails of other brands. This can become monotonous for the customers and decrease your engagement rate. Some of your promotional email campaigns might fail despite including tempting discount offers and codes.
Who wins the Battle Between Custom Emails and Reusable Email Templates?
The truth is, these two types of emails should not be measured against each other. A brand must use both custom and reusable emails to make unique and financially sustainable emails campaigns. In short, custom emails should be used in scenarios where competition is high and there is a need to stand out from the rest. And, in all the other cases, the brands should consider using reusable email templates.
Author: Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.