Email template: how to create, save and reuse it

An email template is a saved email you start from in your next campaign. The layout, colours, font, logo and footer stay, and you only swap the texts, images and links. In Quanda you create a template in the drag & drop editor: you build the email, click Save your email as a new template in the top bar and give it a name. When you use the template next time, you can update it with your changes or save another new template from it. An email created using HTML code cannot be saved as a template yet.

Key takeaways

1. An email template saves time and keeps all your campaigns looking consistent, because you prepare the layout only once.
2. You save a template from the email editor with the Save your email as a new template icon and give it a name of at most 25 characters.
3. Saved templates are on the template selection page in the Your templates section, with public templates from Quanda below them.
4. You save an edited email back to its template with the Update this template icon. The Save your email as a new template icon creates another template from it.
5. Updating a template does not change emails that have already been sent. The change takes effect the next time you choose the template.
6. It pays to have a set of five or six templates ready by purpose: newsletter, invitation, offer, greeting, thank you and service information.

In short: what an email template is, what types there are, what can go wrong and what you cannot save as a template

• What it is: a saved email that serves as a model for future campaigns.
• What types there are: Your templates, which are shared by all users of the account, and public templates from Quanda, which cannot be deleted or overwritten.
• What can go wrong: if you click Update this template after every campaign, you overwrite the generic model with your last sent email.
• What you cannot save as a template: an email created with the Create email using HTML button.

What has changed since the article was published: The article was first published in August 2021. In October 2026 we rewrote it to match the current email editor and replaced the original animations with new screenshots. We added how to update, name and delete a template, template ideas and a checklist. Since summer 2026 you can also create an email using your own HTML code. Such an email cannot be saved as a template, though.

What an email template is and why it pays off

An email template, sometimes called a reusable email template, is an email saved as a model that future campaigns are based on. It contains the layout of rows and columns, colours, font, logo, buttons and the footer. For your next campaign you simply open it and swap the content.

That is exactly the kind of email worth saving for next time. Your own template brings three benefits:

• You save time. You sort out the layout, colours and footer once. For the next campaign you only write the new content. In our experience, creating an email from scratch takes 30 to 60 minutes, while adapting a finished template takes 5 to 10 minutes. It depends on how much you change and whether you have the texts, images and links ready in advance.
• Your campaigns look consistent. Recipients recognise your emails at first glance by the same look, logo and colours.
• You make fewer mistakes. The unsubscribe link, the contact details in the footer and the social media links are correct in the template once, and you don't have to check them again every time.

Tip: You save even more time by creating campaigns with an AI assistant via the Quanda MCP server. You describe the campaign in a conversation and the draft is ready in a few minutes. At HASPO.sk, a campaign that used to take half a day now takes a few minutes. An email created this way is in HTML, though, so it cannot be saved as a template.

Your templates and public templates in Quanda

You will find templates on the Choose a template that you like page. It opens in the Email editor step when you create an email campaign. At the top there are two buttons: Start creating your own email opens an empty drag & drop editor and Create email using HTML opens the code editor. Below them is a field for filtering templates and two sections.

Your templates are emails that you or your colleagues have saved in the account. Templates are shared by all users of the account. For each one you see the creation date and the name. When you hover over a template, the Select template and Delete buttons appear. To delete a template, click Delete. Quanda will ask you to confirm that you really want to delete it.

Public templates are ready-made emails that Quanda prepares for all users. There are currently 49 of them and all users get the same selection regardless of language and plan. Many of them are named after the occasion, for example Christmas, Happy Easter, Cyber Monday, B2B or Event. You can start from them, adapt them to your needs and save the result as your own template. Public templates cannot be deleted or overwritten.

Until you have a template of your own, you will only see public templates. The Your templates section appears with your first saved template.

How to create and save an email template

You create a template in the drag & drop editor, where you build the email from rows and content components. The procedure is the same in a simple campaign and in other types of email campaigns:

1. Create an email campaign and in the Email editor step choose Start creating your own email or pick one of the public templates.
2. Build the email from rows and the content components Text, Image, Divider, Space, Button, HTML, Social Media Icons and Video.
3. Set your brand colours, font and logo so the email clearly belongs to your company at first glance.
4. Check the email in the desktop and mobile preview.
5. Click the Save your email as a new template icon in the top bar of the editor.
6. In the Create a new e-mail template window, type a name of up to 25 characters and click Save.

You drag components from the right panel into the email with your mouse. Alternatively, you can insert them with a right click. When you click a block in the email, a text editing toolbar opens above it and the block properties appear on the right: font, size, colour, style and line spacing. Working with the editor is described in detail in the help article Email editor of a simple email campaign.

The icon for saving a template is on the right of the editor's top bar, next to the icons for preview, plain text and changing the template. When you click it, Quanda saves the email and opens the Create a new e-mail template window with the question "Do you like the email you created?".

Tip: Name the template after its purpose, not after a specific campaign. You will still find a name like Newsletter or Webinar invitation a year from now, while October 2026 tells you nothing about the content.

How to use a template in your next campaign

When you want to create a new email from a template, create a campaign and in the Email editor step hover over the template in the Your templates section. Click Select template. The editor opens with the whole saved email and you only edit what changes:

• texts and headings,
• images,
• links on buttons and in the text,
• the email subject and preheader.

The layout, colours, font, logo and footer stay from the template. Within the same campaign you can swap the template at any time with the Change the e-mail template icon in the top bar.

How to update a template or save it as a new one

When you work with an email based on your own template, there are two template icons in the editor's top bar:

• Save your email as a new template (a document with a plus sign) creates another template. The original template stays unchanged.
• Update this template (a document with a down arrow) saves the changes to the template the email is based on.

When you click Update this template, the Rewrite e-mail template window opens. Quanda warns you that by clicking Save you will change the template you are currently using and all the changes you have made will be saved to it. You can also rename the template in the Template Name field.

When to use which option:

Watch out: Don't save the texts of one specific campaign into the template. If you click Update this template after every campaign, the template turns from a generic model into your last sent email, and next time you will be hunting for everything you need to rewrite.

An update does not affect emails that have already been sent. It takes effect the next time you choose the template.

Why an HTML email cannot be saved as a template

Since summer 2026 you can also create an email in Quanda using your own HTML code, with the Create email using HTML button on the template selection page. Such an email cannot be saved as a template, though. Templates are only created in the drag & drop editor.

If you use the same HTML code repeatedly, store it outside Quanda, for example in a file, and paste it in again for your next campaign. If you only need custom code in part of the email, say for a table, use the HTML component in the drag & drop editor. How to write HTML code that won't break in Outlook or Gmail is explained in the article How to create an HTML email: 7 rules to keep it from breaking.

Which email templates to prepare

Most companies get by with five or six templates by purpose. Each has a fixed structure and changing content:

You can plug the greeting template into an automated campaign that goes out on its own, as described in the article Birthday emails: how to automate them and what to write. The newsletter template tends to be the one used most often. How to put together its content is covered in the article How to create a newsletter: 3 keys to success.

How to prepare a template that lasts

A good template can be used many times without changing its structure. A few principles help:

• Write placeholder texts, not finished ones. A heading like "Your main message goes here" reminds you next time what belongs in the block. Finished text from a previous campaign is easy to forget to rewrite.
• Set the logo, colours and font to match your brand identity. How to choose colours for an email is explained in the article Colour psychology in marketing: how to get colours on your side.
• Leave room for personalisation. You insert the salutation as a personalisation tag, and Quanda replaces it with each recipient's details when sending.
• Fill in alt text for images. If the images don't load, the recipient at least sees what is on them. More in the article Can't see images in an email? Styled alt text shows a headline.
• Keep a preheader in the template. The short text next to the subject in the inbox helps the recipient decide whether to open the email. How to write it is described in the article Email preheader: 9 tips for writing preview text.
• One main button. A template with one prominent call to action is easier to adapt to every campaign.

Email templates and the API

You can also use saved templates when creating campaigns via the API. In the request you pass the template_id parameter with the template ID and Quanda creates the email content from it. If the template contains the tags {{ key_1 }}, {{ key_2 }} and so on, you fill them with your own content straight from the request, for example products from your online shop or news from your website. Details are in the API documentation.

Checklist before saving a template

Before you save an email as a template, go through this list:

• The email is built in the drag & drop editor, not with HTML code.
• The logo, colours and font match your brand identity.
• The texts are placeholders that remind you what belongs in each block.
• Images have alt text.
• The footer and social media links point to the right places.
• You have checked the email in the desktop and mobile preview.
• The template has a short name based on its purpose, at most 25 characters.

Conclusion

An email template is the simplest way to save time on every new campaign and keep all your emails in a consistent style. Save a successful email as a new template, fix mistakes in it with an update and create another one for each new purpose. Once prepared, a reusable email template serves you in every campaign that follows. You will find templates in the email editor of the Quanda marketing platform, and the prices of each plan are in Quanda pricing. If you want to design better emails, take the free online course Email Copywriting and Design That Gets Read.

If you are not sure what to do with your template or want us to help you with the design, get in touch. We will go through it with you and advise you on what to change.