Best Email Template Designers

What a good email design package includes

Email design gigs are priced per template. Check that the package states:

• Number of templates: newsletter, promotion, welcome, receipt.
• Platform the templates are built in or for.
• Mobile layout.
• Testing in common email apps.
• Editable sections you can reuse.
• Accessibility: real text, alt text and readable contrast.
• Revisions and delivery time.

Ask for a small set of flexible blocks rather than many rigid templates: a header, a hero image, a text block, a product row, a button and a footer. You can then assemble different emails from the same parts, keeping a consistent look with less design work each time.

How to brief an email designer

1. Types of emails you send, with examples.
2. Your email platform and access to it.
3. Brand files: logo, colors, fonts and images.
4. Emails you like from other brands.
5. Required footer content: address, unsubscribe link and legal text.
6. Who will build future emails from the templates.

Send yourself a test of every template and open it on your phone and computer, in the apps you use. Check links, images, buttons and the unsubscribe link before the first real send.

Include dark mode in your testing. Many people read email with dark mode switched on, and some email apps change colors automatically. Logos with transparent backgrounds and dark text can disappear. Ask the designer to check how the template looks in dark mode on common apps.

What drives the price

• number of templates and blocks
• custom coding versus the platform's builder
• testing across email apps
• custom graphics and illustrations
• copywriting included
• the designer's experience with your platform

Keep an eye on file size and loading. Emails with many large images load slowly on mobile data and may be clipped by some email apps, hiding the rest of your message and the unsubscribe link. A lighter design with compressed images reaches more readers in full.

Red flags

• Designs delivered only as images.
• No testing in different email apps.
• Important text placed inside images.
• Templates that cannot be edited in your platform.
• Missing unsubscribe link or footer details.

Keep templates simple. Complex layouts with many columns and effects are more likely to break in some email apps, and they rarely perform better than a clear, single-column design with one main message and one button.

For strategy and automations, see our email marketing guide. For the text, read our sales copy guide, and for a consistent look our brand style guides page.

Quick pre-order checklist

• Templates will be built for my email platform.
• They will be tested in common apps on phone and desktop.
• Important text is real text, not images.
• I can edit and reuse the sections.
• The footer includes the required details and unsubscribe link.