99+ Best Free Outlook Email Templates for 2024
Looking for free Outlook HTML email templates? We’ve got a great tip for you. Beefree is one of the best HTML email builders around. It has 1200+ pre-designed templates you can use in Microsoft Outlook. And a great drag-and-drop editor for custom formatting and design.
HTML emails are much more effective for marketing and business transactions. They are visually appealing and stand out in the inbox. Whatever you want to use HTML email for, we’ve picked out some of the best Outlook templates Beefree has to offer. We’ve also included how to import HTML email templates into Outlook. And for tips for building HTML emails for Outlook.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Newsletters
Email is a personal and timely channel. And Outlook is preferred by over 11% of email users worldwide. It’s mostly used by large corporations. Still, you need to make emails elegant, fully responsive, and informational.
If you’re looking for the best Outlook email templates, Beefree has you covered. It has 1200+ email templates you can export to Outlook. There’s a free email template for all use cases.
Just create an account here and get 1200+ Free Newsletter Templates
This is a more traditional email newsletter template. It copies the style of a print newsletter. Or even a newspaper. It works because people have expectations about what a newsletter should look like.
It’s also very easy to customize for pretty much any purpose. The colour scheme is very neutral. The layout is clear and simple. That also helps with readability. This template is particularly good if you have one main story you want to share. Then you can link other recent posts further down.
This is another very common type of newsletter template. It combines headlines, snippets and images for multiple stories. Plus, of course, links through to the articles.
One thing I really like about this template is that it gets right to the point. For me, too many newsletter templates waste space with huge logos in the header. Especially on mobile, people are going to find it hard to see what the email is about. With this one, the first thing people see is the top story. And that’s what newsletters are about, right? Getting people to click through to read your stories.
I also like the layout. It’s simple and easy to scan. Notice also the links in the navigation bar at the top. Social links and website links. It’s obvious how people can find out more.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Real Estate
There’s a time and a place to experiment when you create Outlook templates. But you have to match form to purpose. Is real estate the right place for more ‘out there’ designs? You could try and see if they work. Or you could just let the properties speak for themselves. Which is what this template does.
It’s a classic, simple design. The main focus is the images of the properties. It fits multiple homes without becoming overcrowded. It makes good use of white space. And provides headline details with links to find out more.
Free Seasonal Templates for Outlook
Free Outlook Email Templates for Christmas
There’s a balance to be struck with templates for Christmas promotions. You want some seasonal colour. But not so much that it makes the email cluttered and hard to read.
This template does it perfectly. All the colour is in the banner image at the top. The ‘Dear Santa’ letter and free gift link are a nice touch too. Below, the product listings are clean and well-spaced.
Another way to go with seasonal promotions is to make your main message immediately clear. That’s what this template does. Christmas shoppers are looking for deals and convenience. That’s all covered in the three key messages right at the top. Sales. Discounts. Quick delivery. All with a splash of colour and clear CTAs.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Halloween
The challenge for Halloween emails is to use all those dark, spooky colours in a way that isn’t drab or hard to read.
I like the greenish slate grey at the top of this template. It’s not as overpowering as having black right at the top. The central image is eye-catching. And the key messages about deals and discounts are nice and clear. With a touch of humour to make them stand out.
This template goes with black at the top. But it works because of the colourful graphic headline. It catches the eye and gets the message across. And there’s that play on words that grabs your attention. (although No tricks just treats is a bit overused :D)
Notice how the colour scheme switches once the product listings start. Bold blocks of colour, including black, can work as headers. But they’d be too much for a whole template. Contrast works well.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Other Holidays
This is a great example of a template for promoting a holiday event. It’s simple, colourful and clear, all at the same time. Both the header and the main content block tell you what the email is about. The header is a simple summary. The main block with more details and a CTA. The image adds more colour and visual appeal.
If you’re looking for a general-purpose seasonal or holiday template, this is a good option. It’s very straightforward and easy to customize. The two-tone colour scheme can be changed to suit any occasion. It can be repurposed just with a change of headline and graphic. And you can add whatever product, service or event you want to promote in the bottom half.
Ever noticed how the biggest sales event of the summer holidays is the end of the holidays? This is another classic event-linked promotional template. The header is bright, eye-catching and has a great visual design. But it also explains what the email is about at a glance. With the CTA underneath.
Below that, the product blocks are clear and to the point. Images are the main focus with a brief description and links.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Thank You Emails
Thank you emails are automated emails you send out following a transaction. So someone signing up for a subscription. Or placing an order. Or making a purchase etc.
Thank you emails are a courtesy, a way to connect with customers. But they also represent an opportunity to lock in loyalty and encourage extra sales. The template above does that perfectly. Sure, it starts out thanking the new subscriber. But look what the rest of it is about. A coupon to encourage them to make a purchase. A product search, and 3 product/service listings.
It’s also a very flexible template. You could repurpose this to just about any type of business. It has clear layouts. There’s a logic to the way your eye moves from the coupon to the search to the listing. Almost like you’re being drawn down the funnel. It’s pretty minimalist as far as visuals go. But that just makes it easy to add your own images and colour.
This is a different kind of thank you template. It’s basically a receipt. Sending receipts via email is standard practice in ecommerce. But this template shows receipts don’t have to be drab and boring. Sending a receipt via email is a way to get your brand in front of a customer. To reinforce your identity with them as a business they want to buy from again.
Note the personalization in the first line. Little touches like that help to establish a connection with customers on a personal level.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Notifications
Notification emails take many shapes and sizes. Notifying a customer an order has been received and processed. Telling them their account or password details need updating. Letting loyalty scheme members know they are due a reward.
With notifications, the purpose must come first. I’ve talked a lot about using colour or attractive images when you create email templates so they grab attention. Notification templates are an exception. I like the template above because it focuses on what it’s about. No distractions. It’s text-led with a prominent, clear headline. It’s easy to adapt for any purpose.
Then, when that’s out the way, a discount coupon and a CTA. Nothing says you can’t use notifications as a promotional opportunity. As long as it doesn’t distract from the main purpose. The image draws attention to the coupon. And finally, a footer with social links to encourage more connections.
Not that you can’t have any imagery at the top of a notification email. A lot of templates do. I prefer it when the images relate to the message. Like this one. The @ symbol is widely understood as meaning email. So including it supports understanding.
A very important type of notification email is subscription confirmation. It’s good practice to confirm every sign-up with an email. It’s called double opt-in. This template is a very simple and flexible option. It’s got five elements. Logo, image, headline, text, and A button. And that’s all you need. The colour scheme is bold but easy to change. And you can customize all the other content blocks to suit any kind of subscription.
Free eCommerce Templates for Outlook
Free Outlook Email Templates for Product Recommendations
Visuals are simply a must in ecommerce. People want to see what they are buying. Plus, good images grab attention. But I’ve avoided templates that lean on big professionally made graphics at the top. You can do this if you like. But if you are using a pre-made template, the likelihood is you want one you can customize quickly and easily.
This is what I’d call a classic product template. It looks just like a product listings page on a website. When you’re promoting products via email, you want to offer a good selection. But without your email becoming too crowded.
This template has a lot on it. But it does a good job of keeping everything clean and clear. It uses a neutral colour scheme. And plenty of white space to separate elements. And of course, it focuses on product imagery over details. There are links if people want to find out more.
This template is packed with links and CTAs. It’s a sales-oriented template. You want to maximise opportunities for people to click and convert. I like the icons listing the different product categories this vendor offers. That expands the offer beyond the recommended products. I also like the tags above the product images. They tell people what’s a good deal, what’s popular right now. Subtle but useful recommendations.
I like this template because it goes bolder with its colour scheme. But it doesn’t lose that clarity and spacing of the first template. Look at how it organizes everything in rectangular blocks. That helps create an effective contrast between the bold pink and the neutral grey. It creates visual appeal but keeps it under control. After all, you want the focus to be on the products, not the design.
You’ll notice the headers in both these templates are more or less identical. An image, a title, a brief strapline paragraph, and a link button to your online store. It’s a standard formula for driving traffic to your store.
Finally, I like this template as it shows what product imagery alone can do. Like the first one, the colour scheme is very neutral. It has that go-to header formula, but with an enlarged image. And then the rest of it is all about product images. Notice how the layout of the pictures creates a little more visual interest. But really, this template is all about letting product photos speak for themselves.
Free Outlook Email Templates for Abandoned Cart Emails
Abandoned cart emails are part of what is known as ‘remarketing’. If someone adds products to their cart but then leaves, don’t give up. Try to get them back on board again. Especially if they have gone as far as adding items to their shopping cart but not clicking buy.
Like product recommendation emails, there is a ‘classic’ format for abandoned cart emails, too. The template above is a good example. It’s very straightforward. It’s a capture of the actual shopping cart. With a note at the top asking the customer if they would like to continue. And a link to do so.
This template is flexible for any kind of abandoned cart email. I like the block at the bottom, too. Asking customers if there is an issue you can help with is often a good way to complete a sale.
Simplicity works for abandoned cart emails. But you might want a template that makes a bit more of an impact. This is a great example. It’s all about the product image front and centre. Showing customers what they have left behind is a great way to nudge them into buying. Just make the image big, bold and attractive.
On this template, that’s backed up by a playful header. It’s a message that will likely make customers smile. And maybe tug on their heartstrings just a little. Visually, it’s all very pleasing, with smooth layouts and an attractive colour scheme. Note the footer section as well. If the customer has changed their mind about one product, maybe they can be tempted by something else.
How to import a template to Outlook
So you’ve picked a free Outlook email template. You have customized the design and added your content. Now you want to send it in Outlook. What next?
First, you have to be using the Outlook app in Windows. HTML template imports are not available in Outlook for Mac.
Here are the steps to take to import a new template:
- Download your finished template as an HTML file.
- In Outlook, navigate to File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar.
- In the “Choose Commands From” dropdown, select “All Commands.”
- Go to “Attach File” and click “Add”
- Click “OK” to confirm.
- Now click Compose to create a new email.
- At the top of the message window, you’ll see a new “Attach File” option. Click it.
- Choose your downloaded HTML file.
- Choose “Insert as Text”.
Your template will now appear as the main body of the email. Save it to user templates, give it a subject line and send it as a new message!
Things to pay attention to when using Outlook Email Templates
A word of warning. Outlook has a reputation for not displaying HTML templates the way they are intended. Some versions of Outlook are worse than others. It’s all because Outlook’s rendering rules are all primed for Microsoft Word. Not HTML or CSS. So it doesn’t interpret HTML code as well as other email clients.
But don’t fret. There are fixes. Here are the main things to pay attention to.
Always test your templates in Outlook before you send
Before you finish editing, send your template to an Outlook inbox as a test. Or best of all, send it to different Outlook inboxes across different versions. If you don’t have access to multiple Outlook versions, use a testing tool. Read our guide to the best email testing tools.
Look for any anomalies in how the template displays. Check if the layout looks and if custom fonts aren’t replaced. Test out all links and buttons. For anything that doesn’t work, see if you can fix or change it in the editor.
Stick to simple backgrounds
Outlook has a particular problem with template backgrounds. More specifically, it doesn’t render multiple background images well. So avoid having different background images in different elements. Stick to a single background image. Or just use colours instead.
Button shape is an issue
Do you prefer to have nice rounded link buttons in your emails? Or did you choose a template partly because of its curves? Outlook displays all buttons as rectangles by default. This may or may not annoy you. It seems like a small thing. But if you’ve used images, say, with nice rounded shapes in them, hard angles on the link buttons could jar. Especially if there are lots of them.
There’s not much you can do. The only fix is to change the button code using Vector Markup Language (VML). But if you don’t know how to do this. All you can do is adjust the rest of your design to suit squared buttons.
Use spacers instead of margins
Margins are a CSS style command that adds space around an element. This is great for creating clean layouts with plenty of white space to keep everything clear. But Outlook won’t render margins. If you use them, your layouts will appear cramped and ugly.
The good news is that spacers offer a better alternative to margins anyway. Spacers are components that you use just to add space. They are also commonly used in the best HTML email editors and templates.
Outlook Email Templates Conclusion
Outlook templates help you send great-looking emails. They also save you a lot of time and effort. Beefree is a great tool for creating email templates with 1200+ Outlook templates. Remember our tips for things to pay attention to with Outlook emails.
For more email templates, check out our collection of the best free responsive email templates and free Mailchimp templates. Most of these will work with Microsoft Outlook, too.
Outlook won’t be a good tool to send marketing emails as your email list grows. You’ll be better off with a dedicated email marketing software. We collected and reviewed the best free and cheap email marketing tools and the top email newsletter software to help you choose one. You can also connect Beefree to free SMTP servers to send your campaigns.
If you often get writer’s block when writing email copy, have a look at our review of the best AI writing tools.
Outlook Email Templates FAQ
Can I send an HTML email with Outlook?
An Outlook email won’t display an HTML template in the body by default. You have to change the attachment settings to allow “Insert as Text”.
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How do I create HTML email templates in Outlook?
The easiest option is to use a platform that offers pre-made HTML email templates, like Beefree. It has 1200+ email templates and a drag-and-drop editor. You can choose a design you like and customize it. That saves a lot of time. Beefree also allows you to download email templates as HTML files.
Get started with Beefree here
Can I add templates to Outlook?
In Outlook, go to File > Options > Quick Access Toolbar. Select “Attach File” and add it to the toolbar. There will now be an Attach File icon at the top of the Compose window in Outlook. When you click on it, you will see an “Insert as Text” option. Use this to select your HTML file and add your template to the body of your email.
How can I get free Outlook email templates?
Try Beefree here