Email templates vs. email campaigns
Both live in the Email Builder. Use a template to shape how the email looks; use a campaign to finish the content and send or schedule it.
Email templates
Email templates hold the branding, layout, and design you reuse.
Each template is a reusable design for how your emails look. Build branding, layout, and structure once, then reuse that design across future sends.
Templates are often used for the emails sent by your automated workflows.
They may also hold a design for a specific type of email that you send (like the design for a weekly newsletter).
Use templates for emails you send repeatedly, such as monthly newsletters, event announcements, annual surveys, and board updates. Templates are intended to be edited and reused.
You DO NOT need to create a template for each individual email you send. Instead, you'll likely have a few templates that you use over-and-over for different types of emails.
Create a campaign from Marketing → Emails → Email Templates.
You can start from the Template Library, reuse a past campaign, or open a blank template. On a blank template, choose the Design Editor (drag-and-drop) or the Code Editor for raw HTML.
After you build a template, you can save it for later, send a test, preview it, rename it, and restore an earlier version from version history.
Email campaigns
Email campaigns are what you actually send.
Many clients think of these as "email blasts".
They craft the message and then specify who receives the email and when it sends.
Create a campaign from Marketing → Emails → Email Campaigns. Choose Create Campaign, select a template, make your content changes using the email builder, and save.
You can create a campaign from an existing template, clone a previous campaign, or build one from scratch.
When the message is ready, click the Send and Schedule button to set sending options: who receives the campaign (including a smart list), when it goes out, and whether to send in batches.
Templates cannot be sent directly. Before sending an email, create a campaign from the template — only campaigns display the Send and Schedule options.
When to use each
Use a template when you want a consistent look you can apply again. Use a campaign when you are ready to deliver a specific message to contacts.
Template — set up branding, layout, and design elements you plan to reuse
Campaign — pick a template, add or finalize the message, choose recipients, and send or schedule
A typical flow is template first, campaign second: design once, then create each send from that design.
How templates and campaigns work together
Campaigns build on templates. When you create a campaign, you select a template, then edit the message in the same email builder before you send.
You can also turn an existing campaign into a starting point for a new template if you want to reuse a design that already went out.