If you searched for email marketing templates, you probably do not want another lecture on marketing theory. You want emails you can copy, adjust, and send. This page gives you five complete templates: a welcome email, an abandoned cart email, a post-purchase follow-up, a re-engagement email, and a promotional email. Each one comes with subject line options, the full email body, and a note on when to send it.
This page is written for small business owners, ecommerce sellers, and anyone running email with a small team and no copywriter on staff. You do not need design skills or coding skills to use what follows. If you can copy text into your email tool and replace the words in square brackets, you can send every email on this page today.
A good template is not just a pretty design. It is the right words, in the right order, with one clear job to do. Copy the templates below into whatever email tool you use, replace the words in brackets with your own details, and run through the personalisation checklist before you send. That is the whole system.
Key takeaways
- A template is copy, not just design. The words do the selling, and the same words work in any email tool.
- Five templates cover almost every job your email program does: welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, re-engagement, and promotional.
- Personalise before every send. The checklist in this guide takes five minutes and stops the mistakes that make templates look like templates.
- Judge templates by clicks and sales, not opens. Apple Mail inflates open rates, so clicks are the honest signal.
What is an email marketing template?
An email marketing template is a ready-made email structure you reuse instead of starting from a blank page. It fixes the layout, the order of the sections, and most of the wording, so each new email only needs fresh details: the product, the offer, the date.
Templates come in two kinds. Design templates control how an email looks: colours, columns, buttons, and images. Your email platform’s drag-and-drop builder handles that side, and most platforms include libraries of them. Copy templates control what an email says. This page is about copy templates, because the wording is what most small teams struggle with, and because the same words work in any tool, whether you build in Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Brevo, or a plain text editor.
Using templates does three things for you. It saves time, because the structure is already decided before you sit down to write. It keeps quality steady, because a rushed email cannot go out missing its call to action or its unsubscribe link. And it makes testing possible: when every email follows the same shape, you can change one element at a time and see what actually changed the result.
Which template do you need?
Most email marketing runs on five jobs: greeting new subscribers, recovering abandoned carts, looking after people who just bought, waking up subscribers who went quiet, and announcing offers. Match your goal to the template in this table, then copy the matching template from the next section.
| Your goal | Use this template | Send it when |
|---|---|---|
| A new subscriber just joined your list | Welcome email | Immediately, as an automated email |
| A shopper left items in the cart | Abandoned cart email | 1 to 4 hours after the cart is abandoned |
| A customer just bought from you | Post-purchase follow-up | 1 to 3 days after delivery |
| A subscriber has gone quiet | Re-engagement email | After about 90 days with no opens or clicks |
| You are running a sale or a launch | Promotional email | On the first day of the sale, with a reminder on the last day |
The 5 email marketing templates
Each template below is written to be copied as it stands. Square brackets mark the parts you must replace. Keep the structure, swap the details, and keep your own brand voice in the wording. The send timing under each template is a recommendation, not a rule: test it against your own audience and keep what works.
The abandoned cart template does the heaviest lifting for online stores. The Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at 70.22%, calculated across 50 studies, so roughly seven in ten carts never become orders. The most common fixable reason shoppers give for leaving is extra costs, such as shipping, tax, and fees appearing late in checkout. That is why the cart template below shows the items and the price up front and answers the cost questions before the reader has to ask.
Template 1: Welcome email
When to send it: Immediately after someone subscribes. This is the first email in your welcome sequence and the one new subscribers are most expecting.
Subject line options:
- Welcome to [Brand Name]. Here is your [10%] off
- You are in, [First Name]. Start here
- Thanks for joining [Brand Name]. What happens next
Hi [First Name], Thanks for joining [Brand Name]. You are now on the list for [what subscribers get: new product drops, practical tips, members-only offers]. If you signed up for [your lead magnet or discount], here it is: [link or code]. It is valid until [date], so do not sit on it for too long. Not sure where to start? These are the three things new subscribers usually look at first: - [Popular product or article 1] ([link]) - [Popular product or article 2] ([link]) - [Best seller or most-read guide] ([link]) One promise from us: we send [your sending frequency, for example one email a week], and every email will be worth opening. If one is not, the unsubscribe link is at the bottom. No hard feelings. [CTA button: Start Shopping / Read the Guide] Talk soon, [Sender Name] [Brand Name] P.S. Reply to this email and tell us what you are shopping for, or what you are working on. A real person reads every reply, and your answer helps us send you more of what you actually want.
Template 2: Abandoned cart email
When to send it: 1 to 4 hours after the cart is abandoned. If you send a sequence, this is email one: a reminder, not a discount. Save any offer for a later email.
Subject line options:
- You left something behind, [First Name]
- Your [Product Name] is still waiting
- Still thinking it over? Your cart is saved
Hi [First Name], You left a few things in your cart at [Brand Name], so we saved them for you: [Product image] [Product Name], [variant or size], [price] (Add one line like this for each item in the cart.) Good news: your items are still in stock. The less good news: we cannot hold them forever, and popular sizes and colours do sell out. [CTA button: Complete Your Purchase] Not sure about something? Delivery times, shipping costs, and returns are all covered on our [shipping and returns page] ([link]), and you can simply reply to this email if you need a hand from a human. [Sender Name] [Brand Name]
Template 3: Post-purchase follow-up
When to send it: 1 to 3 days after the order is delivered (or straight after purchase for digital products). It thanks the buyer, helps them use what they bought, and opens the door to the next order.
Subject line options:
- Your [Product Name] has arrived. Now what?
- Thanks for your order, [First Name]. One tip inside
- How is your [Product Name] working out?
Hi [First Name], Your order [order number] is complete. Thanks for choosing [Brand Name]. We hope [Product Name] is already making [the job the product does] easier for you. To get the most from it: - [Tip 1: a setup or first-use tip] ([link to guide]) - [Tip 2: a care tip or an advanced tip] - Need help? Our support team is here: [support link] When you are ready, these pair well with what you bought: - [Related product 1] ([link]) - [Related product 2] ([link]) [CTA button: Shop the Collection] And if [Product Name] has earned it, a short review helps other shoppers choose well, and it helps us improve. You can leave one here: [review link]. Thanks again, [Sender Name] [Brand Name]
Template 4: Re-engagement email
When to send it: When a subscriber has not opened or clicked in about 90 days. Send it before you remove quiet subscribers from your list, and always give them an easy way out.
Subject line options:
- We miss you, [First Name]
- Still want to hear from [Brand Name]?
- A little something to welcome you back
Hi [First Name], It has been a while since we saw you at [Brand Name], so we will keep this short. A few things have changed since your last visit: - [New product, range, or feature 1] - [Popular article or guide 2] - [Anything else genuinely new 3] To say welcome back, here is [your offer, for example 15% off your next order] with the code [CODE], valid until [date]. [CTA button: Come Back and Save] If you would rather not hear from us any more, that is fine too. Click unsubscribe below and we will not email you again. Either way, thanks for being part of [Brand Name]. [Sender Name] [Brand Name]
Template 5: Promotional or sale email
When to send it: On the first day of a sale or launch. Send a shorter reminder version on the final day, using the last-chance subject line.
Subject line options:
- [X%] off [category or everything]. Ends [day]
- The [Sale Name] is live, [First Name]
- Last chance: [your offer] finishes tonight
Hi [First Name], Our [Sale Name] is now on. Until [end date and time], you get [your offer: X% off, free shipping over a set amount, buy one get one] across [the range or category on sale]. Start with the most popular picks: - [Product 1] ([link]) - [Product 2] ([link]) - [Product 3] ([link]) No code is needed. The discount applies at checkout. (If your store needs a code, use [CODE].) [CTA button: Shop the Sale] When it is gone, it is gone: prices go back up on [date]. If something on your wishlist is in the sale, now is the time to get it. [Sender Name] [Brand Name] P.S. Orders over [amount] ship free until [date].
How to use these templates in any email tool
The steps are the same in every platform. First, paste the template text into a new campaign or automation email in your builder, and drop the wording into your usual layout. Second, work through the email and replace every set of square brackets with your real details: names, products, prices, dates, codes, and links. Third, add the product image and turn the call to action line into a button that links to the right page. Fourth, send a test email to yourself and open it on your phone, because that is where many of your readers will see it. Fifth, if the email is one of the triggered ones (welcome, cart, post-purchase), set it up as an automation instead of a one-off send, so it goes out at the right moment for every subscriber without you touching it.
The anatomy of a template that works
Every template above follows the same six-part shape. Learn the shape once and you can judge or fix any email in minutes.
Subject line. The subject line decides whether the email gets opened at all. Give it one idea, keep it specific, and keep it honest. Promise only what the email actually delivers, because a misleading subject line may buy one open and cost you the reader’s trust for every email after it.
Preheader. The preheader is the short preview text that sits next to the subject line in the inbox. Most senders waste it by repeating the subject line. Use it to add a second reason to open: the deadline, the offer, or the one thing inside the email.
Opening line. Your first sentence should pick up where the subject line left off. Readers decide in seconds whether to keep reading, and a clear opening that matches the promise in the subject line is what carries them into the body.
Body copy. Write short paragraphs with one idea in each. Say what happened, why it matters to the reader, and what to do next. Cut any sentence that does none of those three jobs. Read the draft out loud once: anywhere you stumble, your readers will stumble too.
One call to action. Give each email one main action, worded as the action itself. “Complete your purchase” tells the reader exactly what happens next; “click here” tells them nothing. Extra links to guides or support pages are fine, but the button has one job only.
Sign-off and footer. Sign with a real name where you can, because people reply to people. The footer carries your business address and a working unsubscribe link. United States CAN-SPAM rules require both, and every major email law expects subscribers to have an easy way out. A clean footer is not decoration: it is part of why inbox providers trust you.
Before you send: the personalisation checklist
A template is a starting point, not a finished email. Run through this checklist every time before a template goes out. It takes about five minutes, and it catches the mistakes that make templates look like templates.
- Replace every [placeholder]. Search the draft for “[” afterwards to catch anything you missed.
- Add the reader’s first name in the greeting or subject line, and set a fallback (such as “Hi there”) for contacts with no name saved.
- Show the actual product the reader viewed, bought, or left behind, not a generic bestseller.
- Match the offer to the segment. New subscribers, first-time buyers, and loyal customers should not all get the same deal.
- Click every link in the test email and confirm the discount code works at checkout.
- Check the numbers: prices, dates, deadlines, and the discount percentage must match the offer on your site.
- Open the test email on your phone and check the button is easy to tap and the text is easy to read.
- Confirm the footer has your business address and a working unsubscribe link.
Make the templates work harder
If you sell to other businesses, the same five jobs still apply, but the timing and tone change: longer gaps between emails, plainer design, and copy that helps the reader justify the purchase to their team. Our guide to B2B email marketing shows how to adapt each of these templates for business buyers, from the first welcome to the win-back.
For online stores, the abandoned cart and post-purchase templates carry most of the revenue, and both work best as short automated sequences rather than single emails. Our ecommerce email marketing guide walks through building those flows in full, including what each email in the sequence should say.
Templates also age. Offers expire, products change, links rot, and last season’s wording starts to feel stale. Review your set every few months, refresh anything that no longer matches your store or your voice, and work through these email marketing best practices to keep deliverability, list health, and engagement where they should be.
How to measure whether your templates are working
Judge your templates by clicks and sales, not by opens. Since Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection, Apple Mail preloads email images, which can register as an open even when nobody reads the message. Open rates now flatter almost every sender, so treat them as a rough delivery check and nothing more.
For a yardstick you can trust a little more, Mailchimp’s published benchmarks put the average click rate at 2.62% across industries. Treat that figure as context, not as a target. A small, well-kept list should be able to beat a platform-wide average, and your own trend over time matters more than any single benchmark. What you want to see is your click rate holding steady or climbing as you refine the templates.
When clicks do fall, change one thing at a time. Test the subject line first, because it decides who sees everything else. Then test the call to action wording. Give each test enough sends to produce a clear winner before you change anything else, and keep a note of what won, so next season’s templates start from evidence instead of guesses.
For the automated emails, measure the job rather than the email itself: carts recovered for the cart template, repeat orders after the post-purchase email, and clicks or replies from the re-engagement email before you clean quiet subscribers off the list. Those numbers tell you whether a template is doing its job, whatever the open rate says.
Mistakes that make templates fail
- Sending the template unchanged. Leftover brackets, another brand’s tone, or a deadline from last month are the fastest ways to lose a reader’s trust.
- Three calls to action fighting each other. One email, one main action. Everything else in the email supports that action.
- Discounting in the first cart email. The first abandoned cart email should remind and reassure. Save the offer for a later email, or you train shoppers to abandon carts on purpose.
- Mailing quiet subscribers forever. Addresses that never engage drag down deliverability for your whole list. Send the re-engagement template, then let the non-responders go.
- Skipping the phone check. Many readers will open your email on a phone. If you never look at the small-screen version, you never see the email most people get.
The bottom line
You do not need a library of fifty templates. You need five good ones, one for each job your email program actually does, kept current and personalised before every send. Set up the welcome email today and the cart email this week. Add the post-purchase and re-engagement emails over the next month, and use the promotional template the next time you run an offer. Templates turn email from a blank page you dread into a system you can run on a busy day, and a system is what gets results month after month.
Frequently asked questions
What is an email marketing template?
An email marketing template is a reusable email structure with the layout and wording mostly written in advance. Each time you send, you replace the details (names, products, offers, and dates) instead of writing every email from scratch.
What should an email marketing template include?
A subject line, preheader text, a greeting, short body copy with one clear point, one main call to action, a sign-off, and a footer with your business address and an unsubscribe link.
How do I use these templates in my email tool?
Copy the text into any email builder (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and Brevo all work), replace every word in square brackets, add your product image and your button link, then send yourself a test email and check it on your phone before it goes to your list.
Which email templates should a small business set up first?
Start with the welcome email, because every new subscriber triggers it. If you sell online, add the abandoned cart email next, then the post-purchase follow-up. The re-engagement and promotional templates come after those three.
Do email templates need to be coded in HTML?
No. These are copy templates, so the words are plain text that drop into any drag-and-drop builder, and your email platform turns them into a formatted email. Hand-coded HTML is only needed for fully custom designs.
If you run a small business, start with our guide to small business email marketing for the order to set things up in.
