Arrow-links, not button soup
Each editorial card ends in a "Read more →" link rather than its own button. Button soup is the named failure mode of the newsletter archetype — five buttons and the reader picks none.
Preview
What's inside
What's inside this newsletter email template, module by module.
Read off the file itself, not a spec sheet. This is the module order the download actually ships with, in the order a reader meets them.
- View in browser (optional utility)
- Hero zone (text hero)
- Editorial body zone (surface background)
- Story 1 (lead block)
- Story 2
- Story 3
- Editor's note & primary CTA
- Primary CTA
- Pre-footer feature zone (glossary)
- Brand statement
- Unsubscribe / update
Import
How to import this template into ActiveCampaign, step by step.
The download is a single HTML file. Here is where it goes in ActiveCampaign, what the platform expects, and which tags are already wired up.
- Open Campaigns, then Campaign Templates.
- Choose Create a Template, then Start From Scratch.
- Pick Custom HTML and paste the downloaded file.
- Replace every placeholder before you send — image sources, link targets, body copy, the sender name and the footer address. ActiveCampaign does not host images in Custom HTML, so each img src has to point at a URL you control.
- Save, then select the template when you build a campaign.
Editing Custom HTML is one of ActiveCampaign’s three template paths and it is mutually exclusive with the two drag-and-drop designers — a Custom HTML template cannot be reopened in Email Designer. You can toggle to the visual editor for WYSIWYG changes when the HTML parses cleanly.
Watch for ActiveCampaign appends its own default footer unless the email carries both an unsubscribe tag and a sender-info tag. This template ships with both, so the footer you see is the footer that sends — remove either one and ActiveCampaign will bolt its own on underneath.
Swapping the placeholder images
ActiveCampaign does not host the images in a Custom HTML template. Every src has to resolve to a URL you control, or to a file you have uploaded into ActiveCampaign, before the first send — otherwise the image is simply missing in the inbox.
<img src="https://emailtemple.com/template-files/img/p…der-mark-light-1.png"
alt="My Brand"
width="140">How to use it
When to send this newsletter email, and what to change first.
When to send it
Pick a slot in the month and hold it. Consistency beats any theoretical best hour — readers learn when you show up. Judge each issue on click rate rather than open rate, because Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens across every list. ActiveCampaign’s campaign reports will show you which slot earns the clicks.
What to change first
All three stories are placeholder SEO copy dated “October 24”, “October 18” and “October 12”, and every “Read more” points at mywebsite.com. Swap the stories, the dates and the links in one pass. The amber button reads “Free audit”. Change the label if that is not your offer. The masthead logo is the only image in the file and it loads from a third-party blob URL. ActiveCampaign does not host images in a Custom HTML template, so replace it with your own. The footer needs work too: “YourBusinessName, New York, New York” is placeholder and the copyright line is duplicated.
The craft
What makes a newsletter email worth sending.
Single column, short blocks
One reading path, scannable blocks, alternating image-left and image-right between consecutive cards so the eye keeps moving without the layout repeating itself.
Structure as ritual
A fixed section order and a consistent send time turn a newsletter into something a reader can locate instantly, issue after issue. Morning Brew built a daily habit on exactly that predictability.
Or refine this
Make this email template yours.
Generate your own with this template as a starting point. Change the colors, the voice, the offer — describe what you want different and the studio recomposes it. Apply your brand kit and ship in your tone, not the template's.
The download is yours either way.
Open this template in the studio →
Questions
ActiveCampaign template questions, answered.
Can I reopen this in ActiveCampaign’s drag-and-drop designer?
No. Custom HTML is mutually exclusive with Email Designer and Classic Designer — a template created in one cannot be opened in the other. You can toggle to the visual editor for WYSIWYG edits when the HTML parses cleanly.
Does ActiveCampaign host the images in this template?
Not automatically. Every image in a Custom HTML template must point at an externally hosted URL or at a file you have uploaded into ActiveCampaign. Swap the placeholder sources before your first send.
When should a newsletter go out?
Consistency beats any theoretical best hour. Pick a slot your audience already reads in, then hold it — the predictability is the point. Read your ESP reports to find it, and judge by clicks rather than opens, because Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates industry-wide.
Does Monthly newsletter — ActiveCampaign hold up in dark mode and Outlook?
Every zone sets its background twice — once as a bgcolor attribute and once as an inline background-color — which is the pattern that survives dark-mode inversion in clients that repaint backgrounds.
The “Free audit” button is a bulletproof VML button, so Outlook on Windows draws a real filled button instead of collapsing it to a bare text link.
The layout is a 600px table backbone with a mobile breakpoint, and the CSS is already inlined for the clients that strip style blocks.
In the studio
Compose your own.
Describe what you want to send. Get a high-converting, dark-mode-safe template in seconds. Free tier, three generations a month, no card required.