Free HTML Email Templates: How To Engage Readers

Free HTML email templates may seem like a boon for the small entrepreneur, the neighborhood newsletter creator, and for any event management entity; however, whether a template is free or not, the crux and raison d’être of any template is whether it is appealing to the readers. By default service providers who offer paid services will score over the service providers giving you free services. This is because they can actually afford to spend time and effort in creation of designs if not buy them outright from others. This simply means that at some point in your organizational lifecycle, transition to a paid service might be inevitable. It is either that or investing in your own design and coding team.

The question of how to engage readers can be a tricky one to tackle. There are some basics to remember like the amount of text you have that will dictate the level of minimalism you choose in your template design. To understand this postulate better, just imagine which is better to read: 100 words in a newspaper column or 100 words in a blog? The choice is aptly clear. There are some other basics like using colors that reflect the spirit of the communication and colors that do not clash enough to hamper readability. Finally, there is the simple question of how fancy and gadget-rich you can make your email and does your template allow it?

All these aside, if free is the only way to go, which free HTML email templates are actually more affable than others? One of the aspects that make readers more drawn to one design than the other is simplicity of design. This means that when you do go window shopping for templates, look for the more basic ones rather than the ones with fancy backgrounds and watermarks. Watermarks are actually a distraction and a design no-no. Readers like to read emails that have a lot of imagery. This is not a given and depends more on the profile of readers but as a general rule people find imagery more appealing than blocks of text. Therefore, try and find templates that allow you smart image placement or at least according to your specifications.

There is a tug of war that you might have to end up contending with and that is whether to go the way of heavy graphics or not. The reason for the paradoxical diatribe is that some email clients do not allow the download or view of HTML or imagery from a non-friendly source. Therefore choose free HTML email templates that can act as back up pieces if your open rates start taking a dip.

These are largely guidelines. The only person who can really decide what is good for your readers is you because you have probably been dealing with them for the longest amount of time. In that respect try taking a survey among your readers to figure out what their expectations are from you.

Image taken on 2006-09-16 17:02:39. Image Source. (Used with permission)