What Are The Best Places To Get Inspiration For Email Templates?

Creating engaging email templates can be challenging, but finding the right inspiration can transform your email marketing efforts. The quest for email template inspiration goes beyond simply finding attractive designs. It involves understanding what makes certain emails effective, how different elements work together to achieve specific goals, and how to adapt successful approaches to your unique needs. 

However, inspiration doesn't mean imitation. The most successful email marketers understand that great template design combines proven principles with innovative approaches. They know when to follow established patterns that users find familiar and comfortable, and when to introduce creative elements that make their emails memorable. 

This comprehensive guide will explore the best resources to spark your creativity and design compelling email campaigns. We'll also delve into practical approaches for analyzing successful templates, adapting them to your brand, and testing their effectiveness. Whether you're a seasoned email marketer looking to refresh your approach or just starting to build your email marketing strategy, this article will help you discover new sources of inspiration and transform them into effective email campaigns.

Email templates directories and resources

Finding inspiration often starts with exploring established template collections. Let’s look through the most popular email template directories and resources.

Really Good Emails 

Really Good Emails is known for collecting exceptional email designs across industries. The platform categorizes emails by type, industry, and purpose, making it easy to find relevant examples for your needs.

Email Love 

Email Love provides another excellent source of inspiration, featuring beautiful email campaigns complete with detailed breakdowns of what makes them effective. Their analysis helps you understand the strategic thinking behind successful designs.

Milled

Milled offers a unique perspective by archiving actual emails from major brands. This platform lets you see real-world examples of how successful companies communicate with their customers, providing insights into both design trends and content strategies.

Industry leaders to follow for email template ideas

Learning from successful companies can significantly improve your email marketing approach. Depending on the industry, you can check various newsletters and transactional emails to learn from the best.

Subscription-based businesses like Netflix and Spotify excel at engagement emails, masterfully using personalization and timing to keep users involved. Their campaigns often demonstrate how to maintain user interest through relevant content and clean design.

E-commerce giants like Amazon and Etsy showcase exceptional transactional and promotional emails. Their approach to product presentation, urgency creation, and call-to-action placement offers valuable lessons for any email marketer.

Media companies like Medium and the New York Times have perfected the art of newsletter formatting. Their layouts effectively balance content density with readability, while their subject lines and preview text demonstrate how to capture attention in crowded inboxes.

SaaS companies like Slack and Dropbox have mastered the art of onboarding email sequences. Their approach demonstrates how to effectively guide new users through product adoption while maintaining engagement.

Tools and platforms for email templates

Several email marketing platforms offer valuable resources for template inspiration. 

Elastic Email

Elastic Email provides an extensive and free email template library that caters to various industries and purposes, making it easier to find designs that align with your goals. The platform includes customizable templates that follow current best practices and responsive design principles. 

Once you choose a template, you can adjust it to your business needs and branding. Move, add, or delete various email blocks. Change the style of the template including colors, images, fonts, paddings, etc. Make each template unique and work for you, on every device.

HubSpot

HubSpot's email marketing resources include both free and premium templates, along with detailed documentation on implementation, explaining design choices and best practices. Their marketplace includes hundreds of professionally designed templates optimized for different industries and purposes.

Stripo

Stripo's template marketplace stands out for its innovative approach to email design. Their templates include unique interactive elements like countdowns, carousels, and accordion menus that can significantly boost engagement. Their drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to customize templates, while their HTML code export feature allows for seamless integration with various email service providers.

Unlayer

Unlayer's template collection provides a perfect balance between simplicity and sophistication. Their library includes templates optimized for specific industries and use cases, from e-commerce promotions to nonprofit newsletters. They also offer advanced features like dynamic content insertion and real-time collaboration tools, making it easier for teams to work together on email design.

Creative sources beyond email

Looking beyond email-specific resources can lead to fresh perspectives. Social media platforms, particularly LinkedIn and Instagram, often showcase innovative content layouts that can be adapted for email campaigns. These platforms excel at presenting information in engaging, digestible formats.

Design websites like Behance and Dribbble serve as goldmines for creative inspiration. While not specifically focused on email design, these platforms showcase cutting-edge visual trends that can be incorporated into your email templates.

Pinterest boards dedicated to email design offer curated collections of inspiration, often organized by industry or purpose. Following relevant boards can help you stay updated on emerging design trends and creative approaches.

Research methods for email template inspiration

Effective research involves more than passive browsing. Sign up for competitor newsletters to understand how others in your industry approach email marketing. This direct exposure helps you identify both successful strategies and opportunities for differentiation.

Joining email marketing communities and forums provides access to peer insights and discussions about what works in different contexts. These communities often share case studies and examples of successful campaigns.

Following email marketing experts on social media keeps you informed about industry trends and best practices. Many experts regularly share analyses of effective campaigns and tips for improvement.

Best practices for email template adaptation

When drawing inspiration from others, focus on understanding the principles behind successful designs rather than copying them directly. Analyze elements like layout structure, color usage, and content hierarchy to inform your own creative process.

Analyze the email template

Study how information is prioritized through size, placement, and contrast. Notice how the most important elements command attention while supporting content remains visible but subordinate. 

Analyze how the design guides the reader's eye through the content. Pay attention to spacing, alignment, and the strategic use of visual elements to create a natural reading pattern. 

Observe the balance between text, images, and white space. Successful templates often maintain a careful equilibrium that prevents information overload while ensuring key messages stand out. 

Examine how the template adapts to different screen sizes. Note which elements stack, resize, or hide on mobile devices.

Customize the email template for your brand

Always adapt inspiring elements to align with your brand identity and audience preferences. Replace the original color scheme with your brand colors while maintaining the same psychological impact.

While keeping the original hierarchy, substitute fonts with your brand's typography. Adapt decorative elements to match your brand style. Also, modify the content structure to match your brand's communication style while maintaining the effective elements of the original format. 

Do you know that in Elastic Email you can save your brand colors easily? Just choose them in our email template designer, and they will be easily available for any future designs.

Test new design elements with A/B testing to ensure they resonate with your specific audience. Always remember to test one modified element at a time to understand its impact. Begin with major changes like layout adjustments before fine-tuning smaller elements.

Trending email template design elements

When creating your email designs, always remember to stay current with modern trends to ensure your templates feel fresh and engaging. Interactive elements, when used appropriately, can significantly increase engagement. Ensure your email templates work well in dark mode, as this feature becomes increasingly popular.

Minimalist layouts continue to prove effective, helping recipients focus on key messages without distraction. The mobile-first design remains crucial, with most emails now being opened on mobile devices.

Inspiration for email templates - wrapping up

Finding inspiration for email templates is an ongoing journey that combines creativity, strategic thinking, and continuous learning. Remember that the best email templates balance inspiration from others with your unique brand voice and audience needs. Regular testing and refinement will help you develop templates that not only look great but also achieve your marketing objectives.

Keep experimenting, testing, and refining your approach. The perfect email template isn't a destination but a continuous process of improvement and adaptation to meet your audience's evolving needs and expectations.