Why Email and Landing Page Templates Suck

Let’s be clear… what we are talking about are email and landing page templates, specifically used in Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs), like Marketo, Pardot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Eloqua.

We all know it’s a frustrating process to create original and creative emails or landing pages in these Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs) but we don’t really talk about it. MAPs are amazing at a lot of things, but for the most part, their email and landing page creation capabilities are complex and do not empower their users. That includes their collaboration, reviews, approvals and email testing (or lack thereof). So, most Marketers are still plugging away at altering hundreds of lines of code, waiting on technical resources, or spending their precious marketing dollars on getting agency expertise to help.

Templates served their purpose when Marketing Automation was first started back in the 1990’s. It allowed Marketers to leverage developers/agencies to create their templates so that they could build emails and landing pages with no code. Fast-forward to 2023, and there are now faster, more efficient ways of creating emails and landing pages that can save money, and streamline processes (major plug: Knak).

Not convinced yet? We’ll leave you with this clever poem that ChatGPT generated for us about Why Templates Suck, in the style of Romeo and Juliette.

Oh, how I loathe these templates with all my might, For they lack the personal touch and make my emails trite. Their generic content is not tailored to me, And their poor design makes my eyes want to flee.

The flexibility is limited, and I cannot express, My company’s branding, it’s a shame, I must confess. Technical limitations and spam filters do impede, My messages from reaching the hearts they’re meant to feed.

Outdated information and lack of testing, alas, Makes my campaigns ineffective, a true impasse. Limited tracking, I cannot measure success, With these templates, my love for emailing is in distress.

But oh, how I long for a true personal touch, To make my emails stand out and be loved so much. For without personalization, my emails will never be, Like Romeo and Juliet, a true love story.

Read more in our latest paper, Why Email and Landing Page Templates Suck (and why you just might not want to accept it).