Pre-built templates or custom template - A guide to help you make the right choice

With 49% of customers willing to receive promotional emails from their favorite brands, it becomes imperative for a business to have an impeccable email marketing strategy. However, when it comes to creating an email campaign, marketers stand in front of a tough choice- whether they should go for pre-built templates or choose the custom templates. After all, everyone wants to present their product and services to the customers in the best possible way.

What is an email template?

Before we go ahead and compare both the templates, let’s find out what an email template is. An email template works as a reusable HTML file that is used to create email marketing campaigns. To put it in other words, an email template is an HTML file that works towards defining the structure and content of an email campaign. It enables you to incorporate things such as images, links to an email, and CSS that reflects a company’s style in a better way. In short, these templates are saved in your Email Service Provider and work as a base for adding copy, images and links pertaining to an email.

Though the defining feature of an email template is its reusability, there are custom or one-off templates too which need to be designed from scratch. Simply put, while using custom templates, you need to go ahead with a plain screen every time you want to create an email.

Now the question is - which one is better? Pre-built templates or custom templates? Let’s take a look.

Pros and cons of pre-built templates and custom templates

Pros of pre-built templates

• Works towards saving time

Pre-built templates help in sending emails instantly. All you need to do is load the email template and replace the email content or graphics with elements you require in the new email.

• Maintains brand consistency

It maintains brand consistency by enabling uniform formatting in accordance with the branding guidelines, thereby giving your emails a consistent personality of their own.

• Facilitates better email deliverability

Pre-built templates adhere to all the branding guidelines, thereby helping brands maintain their IP reputation. This, in turn, helps ESPs recognize your emails and ensure a better deliverability rate for your emails.

• Incurs minimum production cost

A pre-built email template is a cost-effective solution. It requires very less or no coding at all, thereby making the whole process of email development quick, fuss-free, and reasonably priced.

Cons of pre-built templates

• Lacks a unique identity

A pre-built template can neither be unique nor exclusive. There could be a lot of businesses who are using the same template, thereby instilling a sense of monotony for the customers. In short, originality and standing out from the crowd is something that a pre-built email template can’t provide. For instance, take a look at the email templates below. They all seem to give a deja vu kind of a feeling because of their striking similarity.

Source: Email Uplers.

• Comes with limited customization scope

A pre-built email template allows customization of only a few things such as the logo, background color, header images, and so on. Further, there isn’t much scope for changing the layout too. In short, what you see in a pre-built template is what you get.

Pros of custom templates

• Facilitates visually attractive and aesthetic email template design

Since custom email templates are made from scratch through extensive coding, they are not only unique in design but also visually attractive. It is created keeping in mind the company's needs and has an essence of the business's unique branding.

• Promotes customization

Apart from giving you an appealing and distinctive email template design, custom templates can seamlessly adjust to your customized needs. Simply put, custom templates ensure that the end result is exactly what you want. In addition, it also allows your email to be responsive across all the devices.

• Includes interactive elements

Including interactive elements are a great way of enhancing user engagement. That's the reason including videos in your emails can increase click rates by 300%. So, if you want your emails to look better and garner customer's attention, adding interactive elements such as GIFs, carousels, sliders, collapsible menus, and more is the key. This is where custom templates can come in handy. From holiday campaigns to event invitations, incorporating interactive elements has the ability to engage the subscribers better. See how Rifle Paper Co makes good use of GIF to promote its Black Friday sales during the month of Christmas.

Source: Really Good Emails

Cons of custom templates

• Incurs maximum cost

The cost of developing a custom template is high. From the overall cost point of view and the time given by your designer and developer, a custom template can cost you an approx $70. In addition, including your own time for the final analysis of the developed template can range up to $100. Simply put, the overall cost can be anywhere near $425. So, if you are sending 4 templates in a month, the cost becomes as high as $1700. This might not be feasible for a business on a tight budget.

• Comes with a high turnaround time

The turnaround time for creating a custom template is high. You need to come up with unique template ideas days before your campaign is planned. Also, you require to hire HTML email developer to get it designed and coded. Moreover, once the template is designed, you need to test it before sending it to your subscribers.

Wrap up

An average consumer receives 126 emails per day. So, in order to stand out amidst the clutter of emails in your customer’s inbox, it becomes important to send them such emails that draw their attention in a way that leaves a long-lasting impression on them. Hence, take into account the options of both custom and pre-built templates.

Remember, whether you choose pre-built templates or custom templates depends on a variety of factors. You must bear in mind the type of your business, your target audience, and your needs and preferences as a brand. If you have a business with basic needs, a pre-built template will do the work. However, you might require a custom template for a business with high-end needs such as tailor-made functionality, impeccable presentation, and so on.

The bottom line is, you must weigh the pros and cons of both the templates and opt for the one that would best suit the needs of your brand and business.

Author Bio

Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest growing custom email design and coding companies, and specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and Pardot email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.