An email template is a pre-configured and pre-designed email that you can use for recurring email communications such as anniversaries, welcome or abandoned cart emails, or monthly newsletters. It simplifies the process of creating email campaigns or setting up the Send an email action in automations, ensuring consistent structure and saving time.

Before you start

To learn more about the differences between the email templates used for email campaigns, automations, and transactional emails, check our dedicated article What are email templates in Brevo?
Set up your Brand Library so that every new template you select will inherit your brand properties (logo, colors, fonts) to maintain consistent email branding. To learn more, check our dedicated article Automatically design your emails with your brand's assets using the Brand Library.
If you use an email template as design when creating an email campaign, only the email design is retained. When creating an email campaign using an email template, only the email design is kept. All parameters such as sender, subject, preview text and additional settings must be configured at campaign level. To learn more on how to configure your email campaign parameters, check our dedicated article Create an email campaign.
If you only want to save the design of your email template to save time during the design step, you can directly save your email design as a template from the Drag & Drop editor. To learn more, check the dedicated section in Drag & Drop Editor - Part 1: Editor Overview.

⚙️ Set up your email template settings

Set up the sending settings for your email template. They will be applied every time the email template is used as a transactional email or in an automation. If you use the email template to send an email campaign, only the template design will be reused.

To create and set up an email template:

Go to Campaigns > Templates > Email templates and click New Template.
Enter a Template name to easily find and recognize it in your email template list. This name will only be visible to you.
In the Subject Line field, clearly describe your email content in a few words. The subject line is the first content that your recipients will see in their inbox.
In the Preview text field, type a short and attractive text that gives an overview of the content of your email. It will be displayed in your recipients' inbox, just below the subject line. This feature is supported by most email clients.
Select in the From Email drop-down list the sender email address from which you want your recipients to receive your email. By default, the sender email address will be the one used for your Brevo account. To create a new sender for your campaign, click + Add a new sender.
In the From Name field, type in the name you want to display in your recipients' inbox that will help them identify your company.

💡 Good to know
You can personalize your Subject line, Preview text and From name with contact attributes. To learn more, check our dedicated section in Personalize your emails using contact attributes.
Optional: Click Show Advanced Options to set them up:
Show Advanced Options
- Reply-To Email address and 'To' field
  To learn more, check our dedicated section in Personalize your emails using contact attributes.
- Activate Google Analytics Tracking
  To learn more, check our dedicated article Integrate Google Analytics with your Brevo account.
- Use a custom profile update form
  To learn more, check our dedicated article Update your contacts details and preferences (Update Profile form).
- Add a Tag
  To learn more, check our dedicated article Create and use tags in your email campaigns.
- Add an attachment
  To learn more, check our dedicated section in Create an email campaign.
Click Next Step to design your template.

🧑‍🎨 Design your email template

After setting up your email template settings, you can now design its content. This step requires the most work and creativity but has the biggest payoff!

Search for the email template design you need in the different tabs. Hover your mouse over each template and click the magnifying glass icon 🔍 to see what they look like.

You can either choose to:

Use the Drag & Drop Editor to customize:
- Prebuilt email templates in Layouts and Template gallery.
- Your own email templates in My templates.
  
  ❗️ Important
  Only the email design is kept from your template. All parameters must be configured at the campaign level.
- Templates from your previous email campaigns in Campaigns.
  ➡️ To learn more on how to use the Drag & Drop Editor, check our dedicated section in the Help Center.
Code your own email using:
- Simple Editor for basic text-only emails.
  
  💡 Good to know
  Use email templates created with the Simple Editor to send one-to-one emails from Conversations. To learn more, check our dedicated article Send one-to-one emails from Brevo.
- Paste your Code to upload an HTML file created by a design professional.

When your email template is configured and designed, it is time to test and activate it to be able to use it in your email campaigns or automations ⬇️.

✅ Save and activate your email template

We highly recommend you preview and test your email template before activating it. This will allow you to review your email template and have an idea of what it will look like in your recipients' inboxes and spot possible errors before sending it:

Preview your campaign directly in Brevo and use the Desktop 🖥 and mobile📱icons to switch from one view to the other.
Click Send a test to receive the email template in your inbox or the ones of your colleagues.
When you are done, click:
- Save & Quit to save it in your list of email templates as Inactive.
- Save & Activate to save your email template and activate it to use in your email communications.

❓Where can I find and use my email templates?

The email templates will be available:

From Campaigns > Templates > Email templates,
Under the My Templates tab when creating an email campaign or an email template,
In Automations, when selecting an email template during the Send an email action.

To learn more, check our dedicated article Where can I use my email template? (Campaigns, Automation & Transactional).

⏩ What's next?

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo expert partner.

Create an email template