# Templates

Design reusable emails for campaigns and automations.

Templates are reusable emails that live independently of any single campaign or automation. Once you build a template, you can send it from as many automations as you like, and reuse its HTML in campaigns — giving every message a consistent look without starting from a blank canvas each time.

## What are templates?

A SendBeam template stores a name, a category, an optional default subject line, and the full HTML of an email: layout, brand colours, logo, footer text and any boilerplate copy. Templates do **not** store recipients or a send schedule — those belong to the campaign or automation that uses them.

Templates can contain:

- Header and footer sections with your logo and unsubscribe link
- Placeholder content that you replace per send
- Brand colours, button styles, and typography
- Merge tags such as `{{first_name}}` and `{{custom_fields.company}}`
- Social links and legal text

> Templates belong to the workspace. All team members with access to the workspace can view, use, and edit them.
> 

## Templates vs campaigns

It helps to think of templates as the **design layer** and campaigns as the **delivery layer**. The two are separate so you can keep a polished design in one place and reuse it whenever you need it.

| Aspect | Template | Campaign |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Purpose | Reusable email design | One specific email send |
| Subject line | Optional default | Required |
| Recipients | Not stored | All contacts, a list or a segment |
| Send schedule | Not stored | Immediate or scheduled |
| Used by automations | Yes — a Send Email step can pick one | No |
| Editable after send | Yes | No (locked after send) |

An automation's **Send Email** step references the template directly, so editing the template changes what future automation emails look like. A campaign has its own copy of the HTML, so changes to a template never alter campaigns that already used it.

## Built-in starter layouts

The visual editor opens with a **Choose a Template** screen offering pre-built layouts you can start from, or a blank canvas. They cover the most common use cases:

- **Welcome Email** — a warm greeting for new subscribers with a call-to-action button
- **Newsletter** — a clean single-column layout for regular updates
- **Product Announcement** — a layout for showcasing a new feature or launch
- **Sale / Promotion** — a bold design for offers and discounts
- **Event Invitation** — details and a registration button for events and webinars
- **Simple Text** — a no-frills layout that reads like a personal email

> Starter layouts are starting points, not saved templates. Pick one, make it yours, and save the result as a template so the whole team can reuse it.
> 

## How templates save time

Once your brand template is set up, launching a new email is a matter of minutes rather than hours. Here is the typical workflow:

1. Open **Templates** and build your brand template with the visual editor.
2. For automations, choose the template in each **Send Email** step — the email is sent exactly as designed, with merge tags filled in per contact.
3. For campaigns, open the template, copy its HTML from the **HTML** view, and paste it into the campaign's HTML view; then replace the placeholder content.
4. Set your subject line, audience and schedule, then send.

Because the header, footer, brand colours, and legal copy are already in place, you only need to focus on the unique content for that send.

> Create separate templates for different email types — for example, one for newsletters, one for transactional-style announcements, and one for promotions — and file them under the matching category. Keeping them focused makes it faster to pick the right starting point.
>

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Source: https://sendbeam.io/docs/templates