We don’t need to show you an image to explain what HTML emails look like.
Simply open your inbox and look at any of those holiday emails you’ve received recently. You’ll likely see eye-catching layouts with various visual elements—images, CTA buttons, GIFs, videos, AMP components, and standout fonts.
That’s what an HTML email looks like. They resemble a landing page and are far from a plain-text email.
The biggest advantage of HTML emails, beyond their visual appeal, is the ability to use HTML email templates.
HTML email templates allow you to present your content with a clear and visually appealing structure, saving you valuable time.
Regardless of the decorative, interactive, or media elements you add to your newsletters, maintaining a cohesive layout is simple with HTML templates. Content can be arranged in blocks, sections, and columns, ensuring readers can easily scan and quickly find the necessary information. It’s efficient without compromising on quality.
Speaking of efficiency, many brands opt for drag-and-drop, pre-coded content blocks. Others rely on pre-designed HTML templates available on platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or Campaign Monitor.
No judgment for using Prebuilt HTML email templates—they do an excellent job of speeding up email production, even if you have limited coding expertise. They’re perfect for general-purpose or common email campaigns.
But what about those moments when your brand needs to stand out with a unique identity? Or when you’re planning special campaigns with highly complex design requirements?
That’s when custom HTML email templates, hand-coded from scratch, become essential.
The thought of custom coding your HTML email templates may immediately drive some of you over the edge, given the advanced coding skills and ESP-agnostic experience required for it.
But we’ll show you exactly why custom email templates are a must-have in your 2025 email marketing strategy. Let’s dive in.
Why Custom HTML Email Templates Are a Must-Have: 5 Key Reasons
Design an HTML email template in drag-and-drop builder or custom code it from scratch. Both are useful in different situations. Having them both in your email design strategy is a good idea.
But when you need to step away from generic, used-by-every-other-brand style email templates, opt for a custom HTML email template.
You wonder: does that help me create templates that carry my brand’s personality? Does that give my email designer much greater creative control and design flexibility? Yes! What you said.
And there are even more reasons to customize an email template from scratch using HTML code.
Image Source: Email Uplers
1) Unmatched Brand Consistency
Pre-built email templates work—until you need to create branded emails. They limit your design options, boxing you into generic layouts and overused styles and lack the flexibility to reflect your unique brand identity.
That’s not the case with custom HTML email templates, whether you create them in-house or partner with an email marketing agency.
With custom email templates, every element of your newsletters can be tailored to your needs. Everything exudes your brand’s personality, from your logo and color palette to typography.
A custom template ensures your emails are instantly recognizable and memorable—not because they mimic others but because they reflect your brand’s unique markers. The result is a seamless brand experience that aligns across all your channels, including emails.
This brand consistency builds trust and familiarity, ensuring your messages stand out in your subscribers’ inboxes.
2) Zero Restriction Over Creativity
Custom HTML email templates are built to push creative boundaries.
Want advanced email interactivity? Real-time content? Simple AMP games? With custom email templates, the possibilities only end with your imagination. These elements, designed from scratch, let you craft emails that aren’t just visually stunning and highly engaging.
3) Lesser Production Time
It sounds counterintuitive, ain’t it? How can a custom HTML email template, coded from scratch, take less time to produce?
You wouldn’t be wrong to think that pre-built templates are faster to design. They’re free, ready to use, and need minimal setup.
However, their rigid structures often lead to repetitive tweaks and workarounds that can become a bottleneck in the long run.
On the other hand, custom email templates, once built, function just like pre-made email templates for your marketing team, only better. All you have to do is create a library of reusable content blocks and a design system as an efficient and repeatable way to design emails month after month.
Over time, this dramatically streamlines production.
Not just that, custom templates also let you “lock in” specific design elements like the navigation bar, footer, or line spacing. So that there are no accidental tweaks, minimizing rendering issues and saving time with each iteration.
Said another way: the initial investment in custom HTML email template production saves you time by eliminating inefficiencies for future campaigns.
4) Unique Personalization
Custom HTML email templates look easy to handle when it comes to personalized email campaigns. Segmentation and integration of personalization tools can help you create email that will seem personalized and engaging.
These templates start with the click-and-type functionality, using merge tags for names and locations and different layouts, which can change the content based on the recipient’s preferences, making every message exclusive.
Moreover, custom templates allow you to adjust small content items easily. You can use one template for various campaigns, and while the emails will look different, they are not as time-consuming as creating new templates from the ground up.
5) Easier To Differentiate From Competitors
With many companies using pre-built templates, custom email templates can be a solid differentiator for visually distinct email campaigns.
By consistently using your brand colors, fonts, and imagery, you ensure every email template has a unique design stamp of your brand. Pair that with a unique layout, and you will have an email design that turns heads.
Custom HTML email templates make it easy to weave in personalized elements to address your audience’s needs or interests. With this combination of visual and personal touches, your emails create a recognizable, relatable, and valued experience for your subscribers.
Wrapping Up
Free, pre-built email templates are good enough for non-fussy email design requirements. It may save you some upfront costs. But it’s better to use custom HTML email templates when your emails must match your brand identity when you want to create a unique look that stands out from competitors, has complex design needs that can’t be met by standard templates, or require highly personalized elements tailored to specific audience segments.
It is here where you can benefit from email template design agencies like Email Uplers. The cost is typically a one-time investment, and the payoff is significant—higher engagement, stronger brand loyalty, and an email experience you can be proud of.
