5 Best Email Design Software Tools: How to Choose?

7.9.2023
Read time: 13 min
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5 Best Email Design Software Tools: How to Choose?
Try Publicate For Free Today
02.03.2022
Read time: 13 min

Time savings, inspiration, and ease of use - that’s just the beginning of what the best email design software should provide to you. For sending internal communications and external marketing emails, the best HTML email builder will remove the need for coders and designers.

Let’s take a look at what email design software is and review some of the best email marketing software in the market.

Guide Index
Email design mockups
Picture from Unsplash

What is Email Design Software?

Email design software provides you with templates to create newsletters and business-related marketing and communications emails. An email builder is based on drag-and-drop functionality, removing the need to know how to code in HTML or CSS.

The WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editing functionality allows anyone, with or without a tech or design background, to customize templates and input content however they wish to.

Email design software, is also equipped with integrations, to support sending. Some email design software necessitates an account to send the email, while other email builders (like Publicate) give you the freedom to design the email within its tool and then easily export to send using your preferred email service provider (i.e. Gmail, Outlook, or the like).

Why Use Email Design Software?

If you’re here reading this, then you probably are already on your search to find the best email design software out there to use because you stand to gain many benefits, including:

1. Time Savings

Of course, one of the greatest and most sought after advantages of using an email builder is to save yourself and/or your team time. Since you have access to pre-built templates, you don’t have to spend time coding an email from scratch nor do you have to spend time testing them across devices and email platforms.

Additionally, the content library makes it easy to find images and multimedia content (files, gifs, videos) to input into the email, while the image editor allows you to edit, crop and resize the images within the email design phase itself.

2. Design Features

The template and design features provide a seamless process to create professional and beautiful email communications. With content blocks, you can adjust and customize the layout of the existing template however you want to.

Plus, the templates are already set up to incorporate design best practices so you maximise engagement and balance the copy and visuals without having to guess where to put what.

3. Analytics

Importantly, email builders may offer you analytics. With data in hand, you can see how your campaigns are working or if adjustments are needed in order to boost engagement. With am email builder like Publicate you get a range of detailed analytics from open rates, clicks rates, and heat maps.

What is the Best Email Design Software?

Let’s take a look at some of the best email design software, including their top features and why they should be considered during your decision making process.

1. Publicate

Publicate is a drag and drop email builder tool that offers a no code solution for email communications with a focus to help its users drive engagement. Publicate is stacked with hundreds of templates for any purpose, including: events, sales, internal communications, seasonal, and more.

With a built-in content library, you can add and store any multimedia asset that you want to include in your email, be it .GIFs, images, audios, files, videos, etc. This way, you can always have them ready to access in the future.

What really sets Publicate apart is also the image editor which empowers you to crop or resize images as you are adding them, so you can see exactly how they will render once you send your emails out.

One of the most stand-out features of Publicate is that you can export your HTML email creation to any of your favorite email providers to send it. This means that you don’t have to learn any new systems; instead, you can use whatever you already know and love.

Publicate integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and multiple other email providers so moving your HTML email to send it out is as simple as clicking a button.

Publicate unlike other email builders also delivers detailed analytics, such as open-rates, click-through rates, and heat maps so you always know if your email is performing as desired.

2. Stripo

Stripo is an email builder platform made to help you create email templates without coding. Drag-and-drop blocks allow for anyone to customize and adjust the templates.

Additionally, Stripo integrates with many third-party tools and enables you to preview your email across different environments, such as devices and browsers.

3. Chamaileon

Chamaileon is another email builder with countless responsive templates and drag-and-drop functionality for editing. Users can drag-and-drop different elements into their emails, such as: images, buttons, dividers, and social media icons, to name a few.

If you’d rather use HTML code to design a template rather than choose from the pre-existing library, you can copy and paste your HTML code into Chamaileon to render your template.

4. Postcards

Another popular email builder is Postcards, an online app which provides you with a blank page to start creating. But, you don’t have to start with nothing.

You can drag-and-drop whatever elements you want into the workspace and move them around how you please. The many available modules and blocks of content make it easy to create any type of newsletter design that you want.

The software also boasts a multi-user environment to enable a collaborative creation process.

5. Mailchimp

Touted as an all-in-one email marketing and design platform, Mailchimp provides mobile-friendly templates and themes to choose from when you’re getting started.

Many marketing teams will opt to use Mailchimp because of its ability to create campaigns and reuse email templates for recurring purposes. However, Mailchimp can become a costly option, depending on the package you need.

people coding on computers
Picture from Unsplash

What are the Types of Email Design Software?

When searching for the perfect email designer, you’ll come across two main types of builders, which include:

1. HTML

HTML email builders require that you know how to code. You can input your coding into the email builder to create your design from the code.

2. Drag-and-Drop

Drag-and-drop email design software is based on the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that doesn't require any coding knowledge.

This is a more user-friendly and scalable solution for companies looking to provide anyone with the ability to create, design, and send email communications.

What are Email Design Software Best Features?

The best email design software shares a few key features and capabilities. Here are the most prominent and useful components of an email builder to possess:

1. Email Content Blocks

Templates are the starting point to design within a drag-and-drop email builder, but content blocks offer flexibility to adjust and customize email templates further or create your own. These provide you with email layout components, such as text, images, headers, etc.

2. Visual Editor

A visual editor means that you can drop images into your template and adjust them as needed right in front of your eyes. There’s no need for a third-party software or person to edit the images first.

3. Image Library

An image/multimedia library allows you to store your media within the software. So, whenever you wish to input it into your newsletter, it’s already ready to go and waiting for you.

4. Analytics

Rather than having to guess if your email newsletters are working well or need improvement, analytics gives you the data to back it up. With data, you can make informed decisions and adjustments moving forward. An email builder like Publicate is one of the best for analytics.

5. Mobile Responsiveness

The majority of emails are no longer read on desktops, so it only makes sense to send emails that are responsive. This means that they’ll adjust to different screen sizes, making it readable for all, even those who open their emails on mobile devices like phones and tablets.

What to Consider When Choosing Email Design Software?

As you continue along your journey to choose the best email template builder, don’t forget about the above mentioned features. Moreover, be sure to take into account the following list:

1. Pricing

Pricing matters when picking a new system to deploy within your business. Evaluate your needs and the features you want. Then, prepare your budget before shopping around.

2. Export Capabilities and Integration

Look for solutions that integrate with your existing technologies and/or email providers, such as Publicate.

With Publicate, you can continue to send your emails using your business email provider (be it Outlook, Apple Mail, Google, or any other popular tool). Publicate integrates directly, so you can export your creations smoothly from right inside your preferred email service provider.

3. Editor Type

You can quickly narrow down your list of options by knowing if you want an HTML coding editor or a drag-and-drop editor.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, the best email design software is the one that works best for you! That being said, these key considerations are what you will want to focus on when conducting your research.

An email builder like Publicate is an easy-to-use tool that is full of benefits, from its extensive array of templates available to its long list of integrations and analytical capabilities. Before committing to any software, we welcome you to try Publicate on for size with this 14-day free trial.