How to Create and Use Convertkit Email Templates To Save Time and Maximize Earnings
If you struggle with regularly emailing your list of subscribers then email templates could help. In this post, you’ll learn how email templates inside of Convertkit can save you time and increase your revenue.
Templates vs Snippets
Convertkit offers two different ways to create templates: Email Templates and Snippets. Snippets are shorter pieces of code that can be reused in any email with any email template. If you’re familiar with WordPress, Snippets are the email version of reusable content blocks.
Email Templates are more like full-blown email drafts that can be customized and used more than once. In this article, we will show you how to use email templates to save time when creating your emails.
Creating Templates
To create an email template, click on the “Send” tab in Convertkit. Then, click on “Email Templates”.
You will be shown all your current email templates. To create a new template click the “+ New Email Template” button.
You then have the option to choose a pre-designed template or to create using custom HTML.
Unless you’re super savvy with tech and have coding skills, stick with the pre-designed templates they have an easy visual editor. If you tend to send regular plain text emails, select Text only, otherwise pick a design that closely resembles your style.
Once you’ve selected your design, the editor gives you a visual overview of the email’s general structure, including its content, style, and colors. You can also customize the font, size, and color of text and buttons.
Once you’ve customized the template, you can save it as a default or customize it with other settings. Be sure to name your template so you know what you’re selecting when creating broadcasts.
You’ll then want to make changes that you would use in all your emails to save you time. For example, if you always start your emails out with a certain greeting, you can add that within the “default content” to make sure it’s included in the email message.
Once you’ve finished customizing your template, you’ll be ready to send it out to your list. Now let’s go over some different kinds of email templates you may want to create.
Affiliate Marketing Templates
Affiliate marketing in email can be a great way to increase your income (so long as the affiliate program allows it). Many people are hesitant to use affiliate links in their emails, but if done correctly, it can be a valuable tool.
An affiliate marketing email template might include an affiliate disclosure (or you could include it via a snippet). You might also create a template for a specific affiliate promotion that includes an opt-out for the promotion like this:
Remember, good affiliate marketers don’t share every affiliate link out there, they pick the best products for their audience to share.
Related:
- 9 Tools that Make Affiliate Marketing Easier and More Lucrative
- BBP 068 How To Use Data From Google Analytics To Improve Your Affiliate Marketing
- BBP 041 How to Increase Your Affiliate Income with Leanne Scott
Footer
The Footer of your email can be a great way to provide links to products or answers to common questions.
For example, I sell products and have an affiliate program for those products. In the footer of my affiliate newsletter template, I include the link to affiliate assets.
Updating the footer can also help your email to stand out from the standard non-edited template which usually just includes “Unsubscribe, Your Address”.
Here is an example of a custom footer for my newsletter:
To create a footer in your email template, enter content where the “unsubscribe” information is. I also like to add a divider at the top to make it easier on the eyes.
Newsletter
If you send a regular newsletter and the format or approach is almost always the same, why not save yourself time by creating a template? This can be a great way to show off recent blog posts, products, or anything else you’ve been working on and make sure you don’t forget an element that could increase your sales or conversions.
Or maybe you have templates from a course or membership (personally I’m in Liz Wilcox’s Email Marketing Membership – it’s a total steal at just $9 a month) that you really like and found to work well with your audience.
Rather than having to go reference them every time or duplicate a previous broadcast, just create an email template with an outline of what to include each time.
Different Sites Need Different Information
If you use ConvertKit, you can build segmented emails and measure engagement metrics, such as open rates and click rates.
In addition, you can tag subscribers based on their interests and where they opted-in, which can help you target your audience. Using this information to send targeted emails (with specific email templates) can increase conversions.
For example, I run both this site and elizabethstapleton.com on one Convertkit account, both help bloggers, but elizabethstapleton.com’s focus is on the legal side of blogging so by using a different email template I can include different resources and calls to action in my footer.
Use Different Email Templates for Different Audiences/Customers/Subs
When creating email marketing templates, it’s important to remember that not everyone on your list is the same. In order to maximize profits, you should create different templates for different audiences.
Maybe you segment your audience by those that have purchased from you in the past and those that haven’t (i.e. Customers and Non-Customers). Is there a certain product that usually creates the first sale? Are you promoting it to non-customers on a regular basis?
Why not include a CTA to it in a newsletter?
Similarly, you could have different segments and templates for those that are interested in certain areas of your business and direct them to the products (your or affiliates) they would be most interested in.
Related:
- What I Learned Working with an Email Marketing Strategist
- Advanced Sessions of the 2022 Blogger Breakthrough Summit
Bottom Line
Don’t be afraid to mix it up and create different email templates for different purposes. By using a variety of email templates, you can keep your audience engaged and increase conversions.
What other types of email templates have you found to be successful? Share in the comments below!
