How to create email templates

Overview

With a built-in email template editor, you can easily create custom email templates and use them in a variety of ways, such as:

Automated Workflow: Automatically send emails as Leads progress through your sales process.
Appointment Reminders: Automatically send email reminders to Leads you're meeting with.
Mass Email: Send an email to a large group of Leads.
Single, one-off emails to Leads: Compose and send a single email to a Lead.

How to create an email template

Go to Settings.
Navigate to the Sales > Marketing Templates setting and select the 'EDIT' button.: You can save time scrolling if you enter the word “template” in the search bar.
On the Email Templates page, select the ‘Add Email Template’ button.: You can also import templates. Learn how.
Name the template something unique (ex. New Lead #1, New Lead #2) so it’s easy for you and your team to choose the right template for the right purpose. Enter the email subject line, from name, and from email address.: We recommend using #AGENTNAME# and #AGENTEMAIL# for the purpose of populating the assigned agent’s information into these fields. That way, if you change your name, your email address, or if you add other agents, you don’t need to edit every email template.
(Optional) Check the ‘This message is available for all users’ box if you want to make it available to other users.: Otherwise, only you will be able to use it.
Select the ‘Save Template’ button to save your changes.

You can use email templates if you set up Automated Workflow email actions or send one-off emails directly to a specific Lead.

Email editor

There are three main components of the email template creator.

Content blocks where you add your text, images and more.
Rows where you set up the layout of the template.
Settings where you can customize the size, background and more.

Content blocks

Think of the email template like a puzzle. You take a bunch of pieces or blocks and put them together to form a whole picture. The only difference is, you have different types of content blocks to choose from. Each has a specific purpose according to your needs. If you want to include an image, for example, add the IMAGE block. For text, use the PARAGRAPH block.

Types of content blocks:

Paragraph: Add your message including Merge Tags for personalization, like Dear #FIRSTNAME#.
List: Add ordered (bulleted) and unordered (numbered) lists.
Image: Upload and insert images (.jpg or .png only).
Button: Add a clickable button for call-to-actions, such as “Download” or “Click for Link”.
Divider: Divide your blocks with a solid line.
Spacer: Add whitespace to break up your blocks.
Social: Link to your social media accounts.
HTML: Add HTML to customize your email beyond the standard content blocks.
Video: Embed a playable video.
Icons: Add your business logo or other icons.

Note: Do not use the TEXT block. It’s an outdated component that may cause rendering issues in sent emails.

Screenshot showing content blocks in the email editor

To add a content block, select it from the right-hand panel and drag it to the desired location.

Animated image showing how to add content blocks from the Content panel into an email template by dragging and dropping

You can move content blocks in your template by dragging and dropping. Hover over the block until you see a + icon, then select it and drag the block to the new location.

Animated image showing how to move content blocks within an email template by dragging and dropping

To delete a content block, select the block to highlight it, then select the trash bin icon.

Screenshot showing how to delete a content block from an email template

Rows

When putting an email template together, it’s important to add rows for your content blocks. These rows serve as the scaffolding of your template, shaping its overall layout and structure.

The template structure is important to keep in mind when designing a template because it affects how your email renders in different devices, from computers to smartphones and tablets.

Screenshot showing rows in the email editor

To add a row, select it from the right-hand panel and drag it to the desired location.

Animated image showing how to add rows from the Rows panel into an email template by dragging and dropping

You can move rows in your template by dragging and dropping. Hover over the row until you see a + icon, then select it and drag the row to the new location.

Animated image showing how to move rows around in an email template by draggin and dropping

To delete a row, select the row to highlight it, then select the trash bin icon.

Screenshot showing how to delete a row from an email template

Settings

To further customize and personalize your template, check out the template settings. Here, you can adjust various elements to your preferences. This includes the content area width, content area alignment, background color, content area background color, background image, default font, and link color.

Screenshot showing the email editor settings

Pay special attention to the content area width and the content area alignment.

Content area width determines how the email will expand to render and display on devices. By default, the content area width for all templates starts at 500px for editing purposes. After you’re done building your template, you will want to maximize the width to 900px for the best viewing experience across all devices.

Content area alignment determines how the email content is displayed. Content is usually left-aligned for standard email correspondence while newsletters are typically center-aligned.

If you make any changes, remember to save the template or your changes will be lost.

You can use email templates if you set up Automated Workflow email actions or send one-off emails directly to a specific Lead.

How to attach a file

When creating an email template or compiling an email to send directly from a Sales Record, you can use the BUTTON content block to attach files.

To get started:

In the email editor, drag and drop the BUTTON content block to the desired location in your template.
Rename the BUTTON label to clearly describe its purpose.: Consider creating a naming system for your buttons to maintain consistency. For example:
- Download Open Enrollment Flyer
- Click Here to View Open Enrollment Dates
- Download Carrier Flyer
Select the BUTTON content block to open its content properties, then select the ‘Link file’ link text to access your file manager.
In the file manager, select the ‘Upload File’ button.
Find and select the file you want to attach from your computer and upload it.: The uploaded file will appear in your file manager.
Select the BUTTON content block again to view its properties and confirm that the URL includes the filename of the attached file.
Continue editing as needed, then save the template when you're finished.

Tips for attaching files:

Do not attach client-specific files to an email template, as those files will be included in every email sent using that template, including Mass Email and Sales Workflow emails.
You can attach client-specific files to emails sent directly from a Sales Record.
Each button can only link to one file. To attach multiple files, we recommend uploading them to a folder in a secure cloud storage account and linking to the folder instead.

Tips for creating email templates

Tip #1: Build a general signature template or edit the “Basic Signature Template” we have for you already.
Tip #2: Write clear and specific subject lines. If you have too many "catch" words, your email will be the one caught in spam. Things like "Invest now" or "Save big" are potential catchwords.
Tip #3: Personalize your template. By using Merge Tags, you'll be able to create a template with "Dear #FIRSTNAME#" that will populate "Dear John".
Tip #4: Make your emails relevant. With Automated Workflow, you can market to leads based on their status disposition, tag grouping, carrier/products, birthday, renewal, effective date, turning 65 dates, and more.
Tip #5: Make sure your physical address is at the bottom of every email. This is a CAN SPAM act requirement.
Tip #6: When adding text to a template, use the PARAGRAPH content block instead of the TEXT block. The TEXT block is an outdated content element that may cause rendering issues in your emails.
Tip #7: We’ve automatically applied the required Unsubscribe feature for CAN SPAM Act compliance. It is a double opt out feature so they don’t just accidentally hit it. You can run reports on Unsubscribes in Reports> Leads + Unsubscribed= Yes.

How to export a template

Note: Only the AMS+ template .CSV file can be imported. This will not work for other email templates from other platforms, such as MailChimp.

If you created an email template that you think others might want to use, you can share it with other users via template export. A .CSV file will be generated and then can be shared with other people using AMS+’s email solution.

To export a template:

Go to Settings.
Navigate to the Sales Marketing Templates setting and select the 'EDIT' button.: You can save time scrolling if you enter the word “template” in the search bar.
On the Email Templates page, select the ‘Edit’ button next to the template you want to export.
Select the ‘Export’ button.: The template will be saved to your computer. Check your default “Downloads” folder.

How to import a template

Go to Settings.
Navigate to the Sales > Marketing Templates setting and select the 'EDIT' button.: You can save time scrolling if you enter the word “template” in the search bar.
On the Email Templates page, select the ‘Import Template’ button.
Search your computer for the template file and select it for import.: Please note that the import file must be in a CSV format.

Sample templates

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