Here’s a quick breakdown of the templates you’ll find in the latest release:

• Stationery: 6
• Coupons: 12
• Inspirational: 6
• Newsletter: 3
• Eventbrite: 3
• SurveyMonkey: 3

Use the new stationery templates to send professional letters from the head honcho or quick updates to your subscribers on projects in the works (figure 2). If you run a retail store or an ecommerce site, the new coupon templates are going to be really handy as we approach back to school and the holiday season (figure 4). These puppies have QR Code merge tags built in so you can create a discount, then use our Pyow iPhone app to handle the redemption at your store.

The color field newsletter templates are easily customized using color themes (figure 1). Pop a photo into the header and you’ve got an elegant template with very little time invested.

We’ve also updated the Eventbrite templates (figure 5). If you’re promoting events through Eventbrite, you can connect your MailChimp account to send custom emails to attendees.

Simian powers unite with this release as we’ve introduced three new autoconnect templates that let you connect your SurveyMonkey surveys to MailChimp to send fancy invitations to your surveys (figure 5). You can learn a little more about our SurveyMonkey integration over here.

We have a lot more templates in the works too. This is just the beginning. If you’re into designing and coding your own templates, don’t forget to check out our Email Blueprint project over on Github, which contains 35 layouts (including some mobile friendly templates) that have been tested in all major email clients.

Much safer to simply use the “Save this email as a template” link:

MailChimp will take the campaign you’re currently working on in the editor, and save it to your templates area…

So later, when it’s time to build a new campaign, you’ll see that spiffy template as an option:

Just select the template, and fill it with content:

Years ago, building templates and editing content were in two totally separate areas of MailChimp. It was very much a “web design” paradigm. You keep your CSS and template files over here, and then you build content over there. Worked great for web designers, but not-so-great for everyone else.

So the current paradigm is more like Microsoft Word. You just work on documents, and if you want, you can choose to “Save as template:”

Get into the habit of “Save As Template”

It’s not easy to remember, but I’ve gotten into the habit of saving templates often. If I make any kind of tweak whatsoever to my newsletters, I save it as a new template just in case I want it in the future.

For example, I originally started with a 2-column template for my MonkeyWrench newsletter:

For one of my issues, I decided to take away the side column (I think I wanted to do a video-only issue). So I made a new template that only had one big column:

I immediately saved that 1-column email as a template, just in case I wanted to use something like that in the future.

Which I did, for a prize notification email that I had to send in a hurry. Glad I saved that template! All I had to do was swap out the header graphic, and I was done.

Later, when I had more time, I designed a new email (this time using more of a postcard layout) to notify our 2nd round prize winners, and you know I definitely saved that as a new template too:

BTW, did you notice the tiny little icons underneath the template thumbnails?

If you click the little green “down” arrow, that lets you download the HTML code for that email template.

This is actually a really powerful tool, because if you’re good at HTML, you can open this file and use our HTML email template language to modify editable regions, editable images, repeatable sections, and more for your clients.

Once you’ve got that template all coded, you can get to your “My Templates” area directly from MailChimp’s Dashboard:

Then you’d choose the option to “code custom templates:”

And then copy-paste your custom template code into the interface:

Years ago, I actually wrote an article about the “7 types of email templates every business needs.” It’s filled with old, broken links, but the content is still good imho. I’ve been sending emails from MailChimp since 2001, and have consistently needed those templates.

They included some beautiful new holiday templates, plus some new themes like “Environment” (for all the green and earth-friendly businesses we’re seeing in MailChimp) and “Functional” for use in very specific applications, like, say, Autoresponders.

What’s cool is that since we’re using our new Template Design Language, some of the templates have some unique MailChimp features baked right in. I’ll show you what I mean…

To find them, create a campaign. When it’s time to pick your template, go to the “Gallery” tab:

You’ll notice a pulldown menu where you can sort the template by category:

Under “Holidays” you’ll notice some elegant options, like:

Mmmm, turducken (what the heck is a “turducken?“).

Under the “Functional” category, we have new templates that you can use for very specific cases, like an annual autoresponder when it’s time to come in for a checkup:

Under the “Environment” category, you’ll find this template:

Let’s take a closer look at this one.

In the right column, you’ll notice a series of tips. We’re using MailChimp’s nifty ability to create addable content blocks:

Just keep clicking the little “+” icon, to add more tips.

Yes, Style and Versatility

I know this template is called “Live Green,” but this particular template is actually versatile enough to be used for other applications.

Like, saaaay, a plumber’s newsletter.

Let’s use the iStockphoto integration in our image gallery to search for “plumber” pictures:

and plop it into the left column of our template:

After that, I can tweak the colors, fonts, and other styles to match my brand.

Exportable for Template Hackers

Here’s a power tip from Fabio (yes, that’s his real name). He’s one of the DesignLab scientists who contributed a bunch of these templates, and is working on many more.

“Most of these pre-built templates are kind of rigid, but if you’re handy with HTML/CSS, you can take any one of them and export the code in order to tweak it exactly the way you want:

Tip: You’ll want to brush up on our Email Template Language (here’s a handy video tutorial).

Then, re-import your custom template back into MailChimp by clicking this button:

just copy-paste your code into our template editor and hit save:

We hope you find these useful. Stay tuned, because we’ve got a lot more email template announcements to make!