Email marketing courses: 8 to level up your email marketing

Email marketing courses improve your email marketing skills and potentially lead to new job opportunities.

The internet is not just a place to grow your sales leads. It is also a place to grow your email marketing skills.

While social media and SEO can dominate any digital marketing conversation, email continues to deliver undeniable value. For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $36 to $42, the highest ROI of any digital marketing channel, according to Omnisend's most recent benchmark data.

That is why it is worth investing time in understanding how to use the power of email to your advantage. And there is no better way to level up your email skills than with a focused online course. We have refreshed this list for 2025 and 2026, verifying that each course is still active, updating costs and durations where they have changed, and swapping out any courses that have been discontinued.

For more foundational guidance before or after taking any of these courses, check out our breakdown of the anatomy of an effective marketing email.

1. HubSpot Academy: Email Marketing Certification

This is a new addition to our list, and frankly an essential one. HubSpot Academy's Email Marketing Certification is one of the most respected free credentials in the industry, with over 250,000 professionals having completed HubSpot Academy certifications.

You'll learn:

• How to build an email marketing strategy that fits your business
• Segmentation and contact management for sustainable list growth
• Permissions and deliverability fundamentals, including how to land in the inbox
• Personalization and automation techniques
• Email design best practices
• How to write compelling copy and effective CTAs
• How to analyze your email metrics and run effective A/B tests

The course includes 12 lessons, 31 videos, 9 quizzes, and a practical exercise, finishing with a 60-question certification exam. Completing it earns a credential you can add to LinkedIn, and the certification carries real weight with employers given HubSpot's industry standing.

Cost: Free

Estimated duration: Approximately 4 hours

2. Email Marketing Master Class (Udemy)

This email marketing course, Email Marketing Master Class, is designed for those who already have a basic understanding of the topic. The focus is on building a more effective strategy, and there are prerequisites listed before you sign up, including already having a website and an email platform on which you can apply the concepts.

You'll learn how to:

• Plan, create, and implement an effective strategy
• Grow your email audience and get more traffic to your website
• Write effective emails and decide what to write in them
• Design emails
• Test and optimize your emails
• Create an automated email series
• Turn email subscribers into customers and create compelling offers

Cost: $24.99 to $139.99, depending on Udemy's frequent promotional sales (Udemy rarely charges full list price; check for an active discount before purchasing)

Estimated duration: At least 4 hours and 30 minutes

3. Email Marketing Master Class for Beginners (Wishpond)

There is no shame in being a beginner in anything, and Wishpond's email marketing class breaks everything down simply, with a published outline you can review before signing up.

Estimated to take less than an hour, you can learn the basics through a series of short lessons with videos, discussions, and more. You'll learn:

• How to set and meet your email marketing goals
• What types of emails to use and when
• How to create a strategy that works for your specific business

It remains a solid, no-cost option for beginners who want to build a foundational understanding before investing in a more advanced or paid course.

Cost: Free

Estimated duration: Less than 1 hour

4. Email Campaign Fundamentals (Online Marketing Institute)

One of several email marketing courses from the Online Marketing Institute, the Email Campaign Fundamentals class shows the parallel between overall marketing concepts and email marketing specifically. As the title suggests, you will better understand the fundamentals that surround creating an email campaign.

In the course, you'll learn:

• The four Ps of marketing as applied to email
• How to measure acquisition and retention objectives
• The steps in the customer journey and where email fits into each

Other courses offered by the Online Marketing Institute in the same email marketing track include "Permission & Legal Compliance," "Dissecting Email Copy Part 1," "Dissecting Email Copy Part 2," and "Getting Started with Email Marketing." For anyone wanting a fuller curriculum rather than a single standalone class, exploring the full track is worthwhile.

Cost: Available through a free trial; subscription pricing applies after the trial period. Confirm current pricing directly on the Online Marketing Institute site, as subscription tiers are periodically updated.

Estimated duration: About 30 minutes

5. Ecommerce Email Marketing Master Class (Udemy)

Are you part of (or leading) an ecommerce business that uses Mailchimp? Consider Udemy's ecommerce email marketing course, which focuses specifically on mastering the Mailchimp platform.

You'll learn how to:

• Navigate the Mailchimp platform
• Set up A/B split test campaigns
• Create quality campaigns
• Build segmented email lists

Of course, if you are not using Mailchimp, you would likely be better served by a platform-agnostic course. Looking for an alternative to Mailchimp? Consider DailyStory.

Cost: $12.99 to $19.99, depending on available Udemy sales

Estimated duration: At least 4 hours

6. Email Marketing Essentials: Designing Effective Emails (Skillshare)

Targeting small business owners, freelancers, and startup founders, this course, Email Marketing Essentials: Designing Effective Emails, teaches you how to design an email that helps you reach your goals. To be clear, this course does not dive deeply into graphic design or visual aesthetics. It focuses on developing an effective email structure and approach.

You'll learn:

• The difference between web design and email design
• The key considerations for designing and developing emails
• The best design practices for the most common email types

This is considered an intermediate-level course.

Cost: Available through a Skillshare free trial; Skillshare's standard subscription is approximately $13.99 per month or $99 per year if billed annually after the trial ends. Confirm current pricing on Skillshare's site, as the company periodically adjusts its plans.

Estimated duration: 36 minutes

7. ClickMinded's Email Marketing Course

This class from ClickMinded bills itself as one of the most detailed email marketing courses available, openly targeting people who want to learn everything there is to know about email marketing as fast as possible.

You'll learn:

• A comprehensive overview of how email marketing works
• All the different types of campaigns
• Email segmentation strategy
• How to organize campaigns for maximum profitability
• The critical aspects of email design and copy to optimize your ROI
• The fundamentals of email automation
• What you should be measuring and tracking

This is a premium course aimed at marketers and agencies who want depth over a free or low-cost overview, and it is priced accordingly.

Cost: $997 for the standalone course, or $1,997 for a multi-course bundle covering a broader range of digital marketing topics. Confirm current pricing on ClickMinded's site, as premium course pricing is updated periodically.

Estimated duration: Between 3 and 6 hours

8. Lifecycle Email Marketing for Ecommerce (CXL)

In ecommerce? While this CXL course is not free, it is widely regarded as one of the stronger paid options, and many marketers consider it worth the investment.

The course is built on lessons from active professionals in the field, teaching practical techniques you can apply directly to your own email program.

You'll learn how to:

• Capture more quality leads and convert them into customers
• Drive more sales from email while creating less content and sending fewer promotions
• Advertise more confidently knowing new customers are being followed up with automatically after each purchase

Cost: CXL offers access through its broader subscription plans rather than a one-off course purchase in most cases. Confirm current trial offers and subscription pricing directly on CXL's site, as both are updated periodically.

Estimated duration: About 4 hours

Choosing the right course for where you are

With eight options now on this list, it helps to think about which course matches your current stage and goals:

• Brand new to email marketing: Start with the free Wishpond course or the free HubSpot Academy certification. Both give you a foundation without any financial commitment.
• Want a credential for your resume or LinkedIn: The HubSpot Academy certification is free, widely recognized, and adds a verifiable credential to your professional profile.
• Already have basics down, want to build a full strategy: The Udemy Email Marketing Master Class or the Online Marketing Institute's Email Campaign Fundamentals course are strong next steps.
• Running an ecommerce business: The Udemy Ecommerce Email Marketing Master Class (if you use Mailchimp) or CXL's Lifecycle Email Marketing for Ecommerce course (for a deeper, more strategic approach) are both worth considering.
• Focused specifically on email design: The Skillshare course on designing effective emails is a focused 36-minute investment.
• Want the most comprehensive, professional-grade training and have budget for it: ClickMinded's course is built for marketers who want depth and are willing to pay a premium price for it.

Once you have completed a course or two, the next step is putting what you have learned into practice. For more on building your email marketing skills further, see our guides on 7 top benefits of email personalization, personalized email marketing: 6 benefits for marketing campaigns, mastering the art of drip emails, and 14 best practices for email drip campaigns. And for a step-by-step guide on writing your first effective marketing emails, see our beginner's complete guide to making an email.

DailyStory gives you the tools to put your new email marketing skills to work immediately, with drag-and-drop templates, audience segmentation, automation, A/B testing, and real-time analytics built in. Schedule your free demo today.