How to Choose the Correct HTML Email Builder
When you start building HTML emails, you should first understand what your business and customer needs. And the first goal an HTML email builder should help you achieve is creating responsive emails that give customers great experiences.
So, when choosing an email builder, look for one with a user-friendly interface that offers reasonable pricing and extra features like an illustrations library.
With that in mind, here are some questions to ask yourself before selecting an HTML email builder:
- Do you need to edit the email code?
- Do you use an email marketing platform? If yes, starting with its built-in email editor can be a good start.
- How often do you create new email templates? Daily, weekly, monthly, or a couple of times per year?
When searching for an HTML email builder, you will find four main types of options.
HTML email generators. This type of tool is designed mostly for developers who are building the email functionality and need to create simple solutions without too much effort. They help to convert your input to the correct HTML (or sometimes another) format and compile it for further usage as a template. The result then can be imported to the email sending system or pasted to your app source code. HTML email generators are similar to the template engines.
Responsive email frameworks. Email framework is the best option for developers. Usually, it is a markup-based language where your code is later converted to a responsive HTML. Email frameworks offer pre-built options and various components to streamline email coding.
Built-in email templates. The vast majority of the email sending systems have their built-in email template builders. In most cases, they provide decent functionality for designing tailored templates. Also, they can support the import of custom templates or writing your HTML from scratch. If you need advanced features, you can use a third-party email building tool, and then import the result to your email sending system. However, it would be pretty weird to create a template in one ESP (email sending provider) and send it with another.
Independent HTML email builders. This category of tools offers wide functionality for creating custom and pre-defined templates for both developers and marketers. They provide drag and drop email builders, HTML email editors, image libraries, and usually can be integrated with the most popular ESPs and CRM systems.
Drag and drop editor doesn’t require any additional skills: you work with pre-designed blocks to add images and edit texts like in a usual document. In most cases, you can switch to a source HTML code to edit it if you need to customize the design.
Let’s now look at the eight best responsive HTML email builders you can use for your next email marketing campaign.
Best HTML Email Builders: Price Comparison Table
Here’s a quick price comparison of the best HTML email builders before we dive into the details of each: