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In the summer of 2022, we first started hearing buzz around a new term: “Quiet quitting“.

Quiet quitting is a term that essentially means an employee who does the core responsibilities of their role, but doesn’t go above-and-beyond for their company.

I think it‘s safe to say we’ve all met quiet quitters throughout our careers — heck, most of us have been quiet quitters during times when we felt less engaged by our work, and opted for the out-by-five approach rather than staying late to pursue projects outside our scope.

There are parts of the quiet quitting approach that I believe are fundamentally healthy … but there are other aspects that hint at employees who feel unengaged, unmotivated, or unsupported in their roles.

So I‘d like to revisit the concept of quiet quitting and figure out why roughly 30% of full-time employees say they’re quiet quitting in 2024 — and whether that’s actually a bad thing.

What is quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting is a term that took off on TikTok in a video by content creator Zaiad Khan.

In the video, which currently has 3.5 million views, the Tiktoker explains what quiet quitting is: A rejection of hustle culture and a reclaiming of work-life balance.

Shortly after, other TikTok users shared their thoughts and experiences with quiet quitting – the hashtag now gaining 97.6 million total video views.

So while the term includes the word “quitting,” it actually has nothing to do with it.

Quiet quitting involves completing your work responsibilities without going above and beyond. This looks like logging out at 5 p.m., not seeking additional tasks or projects, and taking regular time off.

For some quiet quitters, it’s a form of rebellion. For others, it’s an odd term to describe something they’ve done for decades.

How many employees are quiet quitting in 2024?

HubSpot Blog Research found one in three full-time employees say they’re actively quiet quitting in 2024.

Here’s how this breaks down by generation:

• 32% of full-time Gen Z
• 37% of full-time millennials
• 35% of full-time Gen X

What‘s more interesting, though, is the respondent’s viewpoint on what quiet quitting actually means: Over half (55%) of full-time employees think quiet quitting is equivalent to setting healthy boundaries at work, while 45% say quiet quitting reflects an employee’s work ethic.

That’s about an equal, 50-50 split.

So I took to LinkedIn and sent out a poll: Do most people think quiet quitting is a bad thing … Or do they think it’s healthy?

The Results Are In Favor of Quiet Quitting … So What Are The Benefits of Quiet Quitting?

A whopping 71% of the respondents on my LinkedIn poll stated that quiet quitting is a good thing.

To be clear: Quiet quitting, a term originally coined by Zaiad Khan in a TikTok video with 3.5 million views, initially began as a reclamation of work-life balance, and a rejection of hustle culture.

As Khan puts in his video: “Work is not your life. Your worth is not defined by your productive output.”

Those in favor of quiet quitting believe that it can help an employee establish boundaries around work, while ensuring they aren’t taken advantage of by their employer.

In other words: Why should an employee stay late to work on “extra” projects beyond their current scope, if they aren’t feeling valued or fulfilled in their role otherwise?

I can see the argument. Many employees are feeling burnout from being required to consistently overachieve. Our culture often emphasizes productivity at all costs – be it mental, physical, or emotional health. (There’s actually a word for this: Toxic productivity.)

HubSpot’s most recent 2024 Consumer Trends report found that the top four reasons employees are considering leaving their jobs in 2024 are:

• Pay is not competitive enough (38%)
• Wanting to switch career paths (24%)
• Lack of a sense of purpose in their work (23%)
• Burnout (20%)

And, to some extent, all of these reasons point back to the benefits of quiet quitting. If you‘re not feeling fulfilled or finding purpose in your role, if you’re not getting paid enough, or if you’re feeling overworked and underaprpeciated … Why should you continue to go above-and-beyond for your employer?

I’m all for setting work-life boundaries and finding your worth outside the productivity hampster wheel.

But hear me out: Is quiet quitting really the healthiest way to do it? Or is quiet quitting just a reflection of an unengaged, unfulfilled employee?

Quiet Quitting Suggests a More Insiduous Problem

A couple of years ago, I was a quiet quitter myself – at a chocolate store.

It was my first high school job, and I didn‘t like my manager. I felt she didn’t respect me enough to abide by my work preferences when it came to my work hours, and she made jokes about my age in front of customers, which embarrassed me.

So what did I do? The bare minimum, of course.

I didn‘t stay late to help her wrap Easter baskets; I didn’t raise my hand when she asked who could pick up an extra Saturday shift; and at six p.m. on the dot, whether I was with a customer or not, I beelined it for the exit.

As silly as this example is (I get it – it was a high school, part-time job), I use it to suggest that quiet quitting isn’t always about achieving more work-life balance, or setting healthy boundaries.

A lot of times, it‘s a miserable experience, and it occurs because an employee doesn’t feel engaged or motivated.

The dream for most employees is to want to go above-and-beyond for their employer. Quiet quitting usually isn‘t an employee’s first choice: Instead, it‘s the result of months or years of burnout where they’ve been unsupported and underappreciated.

In his article, “What’s New About Quiet Quitting (and What’s Not)“, J. Richard Johnson, Ph.D., writes: ”If a worker enjoys his or her job, he or she will supply more — possibly far more — than the bare minimum … Consider as examples the work of a professional surfer or musician. The surfer and the musician get intrinsic joy — gratification — from their work regardless of whether they are paid.”

Simply put: Your employees won’t feel compelled to quietly quit if they feel engaged. The two are at odds.

At HubSpot, I‘ve always felt compelled to own projects outside my role because I know it’s the fastest way to create a career I‘m excited by — and because I trust my employer to reward my hard work. I’ve also felt empowered to work extra hours (at times) because I’ve been too engaged to shut my laptop down.

Why aren‘t I quietly quitting at HubSpot? Because I love my job, I feel appreciated and supported by my manager, and I feel like I’m making a difference. And I trust that my employer has my best interests at heart: Including allowing me to sign off when I’m finished, and never expecting me to give 110% if I only have 70% in the tank.

That‘s empathy, and it’s likely the key to reversing the quiet quitting trend.

How Companies Should Address Quiet Quitting

In an NPR article, critics of this term say that quiet quitting is a misnomer for setting boundaries at work and having a healthy work-life balance.

They also argue that this term highlights how many companies exploit employees and set an expectation of overperformance without adequate compensation.

With this in mind, instead of seeing quiet quitting as a trend that’s harming the workplace, employers should see it as an opportunity to improve their workplace culture.

The fact is: Employees are only “quiet quitting” as a result of a poor workplace environment – and there’s data to support this.

Invest In Good Management

A workplace study by HBR states that quiet quitting is a reflection of “bad bosses” rather than employees’ unwillingness to go the extra mile.

Their researchers found that managers who ranked highest in balancing business needs with employees’ needs had the highest percentage of employees willing to go the extra mile — 62% to be exact with only 3% quiet quitting.

This is a stark contrast to the managers who ranked the lowest in the category only having 20% of their employees willing to go the extra mile and 14% quiet quitting.

An employee who receives adequate support from their manager, is given growth opportunities, and is rewarded for their work will be motivated to perform at the highest level.

It’s up to employers to create the environment in which that happens. It starts with setting boundaries surrounding work hours – this can look like a no-contact policy around out-of-office times.

Management training is also important as that will likely have the strongest impact on the employee. Training on growth coaching, skill development, and pay transparency will help toward building trust with employees and promoting a positive work life.

In addition, set quarterly career chats between managers and their direct reports to discuss areas of interest and focus, current or expected challenges, and more. The more engagement managers build with their teams, the lower the likelihood of quiet quitting.

Encourage Recognition as a Remedy

However, to effectively tackle the problem of quiet quitting, we need to address its roots. When work dissatisfaction affects morale, recognition emerges as a remedy. In environments where recognition is part of the culture, quiet quitting doesn’t thrive because employees are consistently affirmed and reminded of their value.

When employees feel seen and appreciated, it transforms their perception of their work. They become more engaged, form closer bonds with their colleagues, and are less prone to stress and burnout. When employees believe they’re recognized, they are 2.7x more likely to be highly engaged.

So what does effective recognition look like? Shanyu Kates, a Data Analyst on HubSpot’s People Analytics team, told me her team has instituted “High Five Fridays”, a weekly initiative that encourages managers and ICs to give shout-outs via an automated Slackbot in the team channel. This practice is a simple yet powerful tool to reinforce appreciation and combat the underlying causes of quiet quitting.

In most cases, a quiet quitter is simply an employee who doesn’t have the right support. Once you offer what they need, you’ll have an engaged performer on your hands.

How Employees Should Address Quiet Quitting

Finally, Sarah DeLuca, a Human Resources Manager at Dion & Sons Inc. and podcast host, believes employees will also need to figure out how to address their own inclination towards quiet quitting. 

As she told me, “Employees must also take ownership of their career satisfaction and well-being. Rather than silently enduring dissatisfaction, individuals should actively communicate their concerns with their managers or HR representatives.”

She adds, “Whether it involves re-negotiating workload expectations, seeking opportunities for skill development, or advocating for a healthier work-life balance, employees play a crucial role in shaping their professional experiences.”

Ultimately, it’s up to you to imagine the type of role or career experiences that would make you feel most engaged — and then continue to make efforts to head in that direction. If your employee isn’t fostering a culture where that’s possible, maybe you should consider actually quitting. 

As DeLuca puts it, “Only through collaborative efforts can we navigate the complexities of the contemporary work landscape and create environments where both employers and employees thrive.”

It feels like Instagram, more than any other social media platform, is evolving at a dizzying pace. It can take a lot of work to keep up as it continues to roll out new features, updates, and algorithm changes.

That‘s where the Instagram stats come in. There’s a lot of research about Instagram — everything from its users’ demographics, brand adoption stats, and all the difference between micro and nano influencers.

I use this data to inform my marketing strategies and benchmark my efforts.

Read on to uncover more social media stats to help you get ideas and improve your Instagram posting strategy.

80+ Instagram Stats

Click on a category below to jump to the stats for that category:

Instagram’s Growth

Instagram User Demographics

Brand Adoption

Instagram Post Content

Instagram Posting Strategy

Instagram Influencer Marketing Statistics

Instagram’s Growth & Usage

1. Instagram is expected to reach 1.44 billion users by 2025. (Statista)

2. The Instagram app currently has over 1.4 billion monthly active users. (Statista)

3. U.S. adults spend an average of 33.1 minutes per day on Instagram in 2024, a 3-minute increase from the year before. (Sprout Social)

4. Instagram ad revenue is anticipated to reach $59.61 billion in 2024. (Oberlo)

5. Instagram’s Threads has over 15 Million monthly active users. (eMarketer)

6. 53.7% of marketers plan to use Instagram reels for influencer marketing in 2024. (eMarketer)

7. 71% of marketers say Instagram is the platform they want to learn about most. (Skillademia)

8. There are an estimated 158.4 million Instagram users in the United States in 2024. (DemandSage)

9. As of January 2024, India has 362.9 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. (Statista)

10. As of January 2024, Instagram is the fourth most popular social media platform globally based on monthly active users. Facebook is first. YouTube and WhatsApp rank second and third. (Statista)

https://youtu.be/EyHV8aZFWqg

11. Over 400 million Instagram users use the Stories feature daily. (Keyhole)

12. As of April 2024, the most-liked post on Instagram remains a carousel of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi and his teammates celebrating the 2022 FIFA World Cup win. (FIFA)

13. The fastest-growing content creator on Instagram in 2024 is influencer Danchmerk, who grew from 16k to 1.6 Million followers in 8 months. (Instagram)

14. The most-followed Instagram account as of March 2024 is professional soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, with 672 million followers. (Forbes)

15. As of April 2024, Instagram’s own account has 627 million followers. (Instagram)

Instagram User Demographics

16. Over half of the global Instagram population is 34 or younger. (Statista)

17. As of January 2024, almost 17% of global active Instagram users were men between 18 and 24. (Statista)

18. Instagram’s largest demographics are Millennials and Gen Z, comprising 61.8% of users in 2024. (MixBloom)

19. Instagram is Gen Z’s second most popular social media platform, with 75% of respondents claiming usage of the platform, after YouTube at 80%. (Later)

20. 37.74% of the world’s 5.3 billion active internet users regularly access Instagram. (Backlinko)

21. In January 2024, 55% of Instagram users in the United States were women, and 44% were men. (Statista)

22. Only 7% of Instagram users in the U.S. belong to the 13 to 17-year age group. (Statista)

23. Only 5.7% of Instagram users in the U.S. are 65+ as of 2024. (Statista)

24. Only 0.2% of Instagram users are unique to the platform. Most use Instagram alongside Facebook (80.8%), YouTube (77.4%), and TikTok (52.8%). (Sprout Social)

25. Instagram users lean slightly into higher tax brackets, with 47% claiming household income over $75,000. (Hootsuite)

26. Instagram users worldwide on Android devices spend an average of 29.7 minutes per day (14 hours 50 minutes per month) on the app. (Backlinko)

27. 73% of U.S. teens say Instagram is the best way for brands to reach them. (eMarketer)

28. 500 million+ accounts use Instagram Stories every day. (Facebook)

29. 35% of music listeners in the U.S. who follow artists on Facebook and Instagram do so to connect with other fans or feel like part of a community. (Facebook)

30. The average Instagram user spends 33 minutes a day on the app. (Oberlo)

31. 45% of people in urban areas use Instagram, while only 25% of people in rural areas use the app. (Backlinko)

32. Approximately 85% of Instagram’s user base is under the age of 45. (Statista)

33. As of January 2024, the largest age group on Instagram is 18-24 at 32%, followed by 30.6% between ages 25-34. (Statista)

34. Globally, the platform is nearly split down the middle in terms of gender, with 51.8% male and 48.2% female users. (Phyllo)

35. The numbers differ slightly in the U.S., with 56% of users aged 13+ being female and 44% male. (Backlinko)

36. As of January 2024, Instagram is most prevalent in India, with 358.55 million users, followed by the United States (158.45 million), Brazil (122.9 million), Indonesia (104.8 million), and Turkey (56.7 million). (Backlinko)

37. 49% of Instagram users are college graduates. (Hootsuite)

38. Over 1.628 Billion Instagram users are reachable via advertising. (DataReportal)

39. As of January 2024, 20.3% of people on Earth use Instagram. (DataReportal)

Brand Adoption

40. Instagram is the top platform for influencer marketing, with 80.8% of marketers planning to use it in 2024. (Sprout Social)

41. 29% of marketers plan to invest the most in Instagram out of any social media platform in 2023. (Statista)

42. Regarding brand safety, 86% of marketers feel comfortable advertising on Instagram. (Upbeat Agency)

43. 24% of marketers plan to invest in Instagram, the most out of all social media platforms, in 2024. (HubSpot)

44. 70% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery. (Omnicore Agency)

45. Marketers saw the highest engagement rates on Instagram from any other platform in 2024. (Hootsuite)

46. 29% of marketers say Instagram is the easiest platform for working with influencers and creators. (Statista)

47. 68% of marketers reported that Instagram generates high levels of ROI. (HubSpot)

48. 21% of marketers reported that Instagram yielded the most significant ROI in 2024. (HubSpot)

49. 52% of marketers plan to increase their investment in Instagram in 2024. (HubSpot)

50. In 2024, 42% of marketers felt “very comfortable” advertising on Instagram, and 40% responded “somewhat comfortable.” (HubSpot)

51. Only 6% of marketers plan to decrease their investment in Instagram in 2024. (HubSpot)

52. 39% of marketers plan to leverage Instagram for the first time in 2024. (HubSpot)

53. 90% of people on Instagram follow at least one business. (Instagram)

54. 50% of Instagram users are more interested in a brand when they see ads for it on Instagram. (Instagram)

55. 18% of marketers believe that Instagram has the highest growth potential of all social apps in 2024. (HubSpot)

56. 1 in 4 marketers say Instagram provides the highest quality leads from any social media platform. (HubSpot)

57. Nearly a quarter of marketers (23%) say that Instagram results in the highest engagement levels for their brand compared to other platforms. (HubSpot)

58. 46% of marketers leverage Instagram Shops. Of the marketers who leverage Instagram Shops, 50% report high ROI. (HubSpot)

59. 41% of marketers leverage Instagram Live Shopping. Of the marketers who leverage Instagram Live Shopping, 51% report high ROI. (HubSpot)

60. Education and Health and Wellness industries experience the highest engagement rates. (Hootsuite)

61. 67% of users surveyed have “swiped up” on the links of branded Stories. (HubSpot)

62. 130 million Instagram accounts tap on a shopping post to learn more about products every month. (Omnicore Agency)

Instagram Post Content

63. Engagement for static photos has decreased by 44% since 2019, when Reels debuted. (Later)

64. The average engagement rate for photo posts is .059%. (Social Pilot)

65. The average engagement rate for carousel posts is 1.26% (Social Pilot)

66. The average engagement rate for Reel posts is 1.23% (Social Pilot)

67. Marketers rank Instagram as the platform with the best in-app search capabilities. (HubSpot)

68. The most popular Instagram Reel is from Samsung and has over 1 billion views. (Lifestyle Asia)

69. Marketers rank Instagram as the platform with the most accurate algorithm, followed by Facebook. (HubSpot)

70. A third of marketers say Instagram offers the most significant ROI when selling products directly within the app. (HubSpot)

71. Instagram Reels with the highest engagement rates come from accounts with fewer than 5000 followers, with an average engagement rate of 3.79%. (Social Pilot)

72. A third of marketers say Instagram offers the best tools for selling products directly within the app. (HubSpot)

73. Over 100 million people watch Instagram Live every day. (Social Pilot)

74. 70% of users watch Instagram stories daily. (Social Pilot)

75. 50% of people prefer funny Instagram content, followed by creative and informative posts. (Statista)

76. Instagram Reels are the most popular post format for sharing via DMs. (Instagram)

77. 40% of Instagram users post stories daily. (Social Pilot)

78. An average image on Instagram gets 23% more engagement than one published on Facebook. (Business of Apps)

79. The most geo-tagged city in the world is Los Angeles, California, and the tagged location with the highest engagement is Coachella, California. (HubSpot)

Instagram Posting Strategy

80. The best time to post on Instagram is between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays. (Social Pilot)

81. Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement than posts without a tagged location. (Social Pilot)

82. 20% of users surveyed post to Instagram Stories on their business account more than once a week. (HubSpot)

83. 44% of users surveyed use Instagram Stories to promote products or services. (HubSpot)

84. One-third of the most viewed Stories come from businesses. (HubSpot)

85. More than 25 million businesses use Instagram to reach and engage with audiences. (Omnicore Agency)

86. 69% of U.S. marketers plan to spend most of their influencer budget on Instagram. (Omnicore Agency)

87. The industry that had the highest cooperation efficiency with Instagram influencers was healthcare, where influencer posts were 4.2x more efficient than brand posts. (Emplifi)

88. Instagram is now the most popular social platform for following brands. (Marketing Charts)

Instagram Influencer Marketing Statistics

89. Instagram is the top platform for influencer marketing, with 80.8% of marketers planning to use the platform for such purposes in 2024 (Oberlo)

90. Nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers) comprise most of Instagram’s influencer population, at 65.4%. (Statista)

91. Micro-influencers (10,000 to 50,000 followers) account for 27.73% (Socially Powerful)

92. Mid-tier influencers (50,000 to 500,000 followers) account for 6.38% (Socially Powerful)

93. Nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers) have the highest engagement rate at 5.6% (EmbedSocial)

94. Mega-influencers and celebrities with more than 1 million followers account for 0.23%. (EmbedSocial)

95. 77% of Instagram influencers are women. (WPBeginner)

96. 30% of markers say that Instagram is their top channel for ROI in influencer marketing (Socially Powerful)

97. 25% of sponsored posts on Instagram are related to fashion (Socially Powerful)

98. The size of the Instagram influencer marketing industry is expected to reach $22.2 billion by 2025. (Socially Powerful)

99. On average, Instagram influencers charge $418 for a sponsored post in 2024, approximately 15.17%​​​​​​​ higher than in 2023. (Collabstr)

100. Nano-influencers charge between $10-$100 per Instagram post. (ClearVoice)

101. Celebrities and macro influencers charge anywhere from $10,000 to over $1 million for a single Instagram post in 2024. (Shopify)

102. Brands can expect to earn $4.12 of earned media value for each $1 spent on Instagram influencer marketing. (Shopify)

The landscape of Instagram is vast and ever-expanding. However, understanding these key statistics will ensure your Instagram strategy is well-guided and your marketing dollars are allocated for maximum ROI.

There’s more than just Instagram out there, of course. So, download the free guide below for the latest Instagram and Social Media trends.

PowerPoint presentations can be professional, attractive, and really help your audience remember your message.

If you don’t have much experience, that’s okay — I’m going to arm you with PowerPoint design tips from pro presenters, the steps you need to build an engaging deck, and templates to help you nail great slide design.

Download Now

Buckle up for a variety of step-by-step explanations as well as tips and tricks to help you start mastering this program. There are additional resources woven in, and you’ll find expert perspectives from other HubSpotters along the way.

Table of Contents

• How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation
• PowerPoint Presentation Tips

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Microsoft PowerPoint is like a test of basic professional skills, and each PowerPoint is basically a presentation made of multiple slides.

Successful PowerPoints depend on three main factors: your command of PowerPoint’s design tools, your attention to presentation processes, and being consistent with your style.

Keep those in mind as we jump into PowerPoint’s capabilities.

Getting Started

1. Open PowerPoint and click ‘New.’

A page with templates will usually open automatically, but if not, go to the top left pane of your screen and click New. If you’ve already created a presentation, select Open and then double-click the icon to open the existing file.

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2. Choose a theme or create your own.

Microsoft offers built-in themes and color variations to help you design your slides with a cohesive look. To choose from these pre-built themes, choose the File tab again, select New, choose one of the options, and click Create.

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There is also an option to select a blank presentation if you prefer to start from scratch. With this option you can use PowerPoint elements, your design sense, and your brand’s color palette to make your own theme.

Creating PowerPoint Slides

3. Insert a slide.

Insert a new slide by clicking on the Home tab and then the New Slide button. Consider what content you want to put on the slide, including heading, text, and imagery.

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4. Create a variety of slides for different purposes.

You don’t want to present the same exact slide each time, just with different content on it. This would bore your audience, so make sure that you create multiple variations.

Consider what kind of multimedia you’ll be using, and choose or create different layouts accordingly. At minimum, you’ll need:

• A title slide
• An agenda or table of contents slide
• A slide that introduces the speaker
• Various content slides

5. Use the Duplicate feature to save you time.

There’s no need to create these designs over and over. Now that you have a few to draw from, simply duplicate them before inputting your content:

• On the left pane, right-click the thumbnail of the slide you want to duplicate.
• Choose Duplicate Slide from the pop-up menu.

This will automatically add a copy of this slide to the presentation. From there, you can customize it for your needs.

6. Add photos to your slide.

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Add images by clicking Insert and clicking the Pictures icon. You can add other elements by using features in the Home and Insert tabs on the top ribbon. Explore your layout by dragging elements around.

7. Add transitions to your slides (optional).

When done well, transitions can add a little bit of movement and showmanship to your presentation. PowerPoint has several transitions built in for you to choose from.

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Select the Transitions tab from the top ribbon. Select a transition for it to preview on your screen. To customize it further, click Effect Options and play with the features to find something that suits your liking. To remove a transition, select Transitions and click None.

8. Add animations to your slides (optional).

Like transitions, animations can add movement, reveal information, and help you underscore the points you want to hit during your speech. To animate an element, follow these steps:

• Select the element you want animated by clicking on it.
• Choose Animations from the top ribbon.
• You’ll have the option to choose from several effects displayed in the ribbon.
• Clicking on one will give you a preview.
• To customize the animation, select Effect Options.
• To remove an animation, click None in the ribbon.

You’ll also have the option to move animations around as you edit your slides by clicking on the Animation Pane button, then reordering the animations in the pop-up list.

Finishing Up Your Presentation

9. Save your presentation.

Click File and Save, making sure to specify where you want your PowerPoint to be stored. If you’re using your slides for education or teaching, it could be beneficial to convert your presentation to an online course.

10. Run your presentation.

Always do a trial run to ensure that your slides are set up properly and your animations fire the way you expect them to.

To present your PowerPoint, go to the Slide Show tab and click Play from Start. The slide will cover your whole screen so that your audience (in this case, you) is solely focused on the visual elements of your presentation.

11. Advance the slides.

Whenever you’re in presentation mode and you’re done with one slide, click your mouse to advance to the next slide.

PowerPoint Style

1. Don’t let PowerPoint decide how you use PowerPoint.

Microsoft wanted to provide PowerPoint users with a lot of tools, but this does not mean you should use them all. You don’t want it looking like your tweenage Geocities site and playing unwanted midi-files.

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To keep it professional, here are some key things to look out for:

• Make sure that any preset themes complement your needs before you adopt them.
• Avoid Microsoft Office’s default fonts, Calibri and Cambria — they can make the presentation feel underwhelming.
• Professionals should never use PowerPoint’s action sounds.
• PowerPoint makes bulleting automatic. Bullets are often appropriate, but not always.
• All shapes start blue with a small shadow. Remove this shadow if it’s not needed, and don’t leave shapes default blue — it reads as a mistake to other PowerPoint users.

The easiest way to know you’re getting it right is to download some templates. We offer 10 free templates that you’re welcome to try out. Even if you don’t end up using them, you’ll get a sense for best design practices.

2. Create custom slide sizes.

Default slide sizes work for most presentations, but you may need to adjust it for larger presentations and/or weirdly-sized displays. Here’s how:

• In the top-left corner, choose File.
• Select Page Setup.
• Type the height and width of the background you’d like, and click OK.
• A dialogue box will appear. Click Scale if you want to also resize your content, or Don’t Scale if not. We recommend clicking Don’t Scale, then manually adjusting minor layout issues.

Pro Tip: You can avoid a headache if you resize your slides before you add any objects to them. Otherwise, the dimensions of your objects will become skewed.

3. Edit your slide template design.

It‘s much easier to edit your underlying PowerPoint template before you start — this way, you don’t have to design each slide by hand. Here’s how:

• Select View in the top navigation.
• Click Master.
• In the drop-down, click Slide Master.
• Make any changes you like, then click Close Master in the top ribbon. All current and future slides in that presentation will use that template.

4. Write text with your audience in mind.

Remember that whatever else your PowerPoint presentation does, it needs to support the fantastic content you’re sharing with stakeholders.

A significant part of a PowerPoint’s content is text, and great copy can make or break your presentation.

Evaluate your written work from a few different angles so you know your entire audience can see and understand it.

Keep the amount of text under 6-8 lines (or 30 words max). Use a minimum of size 24 pt. How your text is received differentiates good presenters from the best.

Typography

Choosing the right font is important — the perception of your font type could influence your audience’s impression of you. The right typeface is an opportunity to convey consistent brand personality and professionalism.

Some fonts are seen as clean and professional, but this doesn‘t mean they’re boring. A common mistake is thinking your font isn’t exciting enough, which could lead you to choose a font that distracts from your message.

I recommend sticking to simple serif and sans-serif fonts. Avoid script fonts because of potential readability issues.

That said, you can still use fun and eccentric fonts in moderation. Offsetting a fun font or large letters with something more professional can create an engaging presentation.

Above all, be sure you’re consistent so your presentation looks cohesive throughout each slide. Check out this example from HubSpot’s company profile templates:

Interested in this presentation template? Download it for free here.

5. Make sure all of your objects are properly aligned.

Having properly aligned objects on your slide is the key to making it look polished and professional. You can manually try to line up your images, but we all know how that typically works out.

Get rid of the guessing game and let PowerPoint work its magic to align multiple objects:

• Select all objects by holding down Shift and clicking on all of them.
• Select Arrange in the top options bar, then choose Align or Distribute.
• Choose the type of alignment you’d like.

Here’s how to align objects to the slide:

• Select all objects by holding down Shift and clicking on all of them.
• Select Arrange in the top options bar, then choose Align or Distribute.
• Select Align to Slide.
• Select Arrange in the top options bar again, then choose Align or Distribute.
• Choose the type of alignment you’d like.

PowerPoint Design Tools

6. Use “Format Object” to better control your objects’ designs.

Format menus allow you to do fine adjustments that otherwise seem impossible.

To do this, right-click on an object and select the Format Object option. Here, you can fine-tune shadows, adjust shape measurements, create reflections, and much more. The menu looks like this:

Although the main options can be found on PowerPoint’s format toolbars, look for complete control in the format window menu. Other options include:

• Adjusting text inside a shape.
• Creating a natural perspective shadow behind an object.
• Recoloring photos manually and with automatic options.

7. Take advantage of PowerPoint’s shapes.

PowerPoint’s shape tools have come a long way. Today’s shapes include a highly functional Smart Shapes function, which enables you to create diagrams and flow charts in no time.

These tools are especially valuable because paragraphing and bullet lists are boring to look at — you can use shapes to help express your message more clearly.

8. Create custom shapes.

When you create a shape, right click and press Edit Points to create custom shapes that fit your specific need. For instance, you can reshape arrows to fit the dimensions you like:

Another option is to combine two shapes together. Select the two shapes you’d like to work with, then click Shape Format in the top ribbon. Tap Merge Shapes. There are several options to create custom shapes:

• Combine creates a custom shape that has overlapping portions of the two previous shapes cut out.
• Union makes one completely merged shape.
• Intersect builds a shape of only the overlapping sections of the two previous shapes.
• Subtract cuts out the overlapping portion of one shape from the other.
• Fragment will split your shape into different parts depending on where they overlap.

9. Crop images into custom shapes.

You can also use PowerPoint to crop existing images into new shapes:

• Click on the image and select Picture Format in the options bar.
• Choose Crop, then Crop to Shape, and then choose your desired shape.

10. Present websites within PowerPoint.

Believe it or not, presenting websites within PowerPoint is something we’re still having to find work-arounds for.

From my experience, these are some tactics that have worked in the past that may be helpful depending on which version of PowerPoint you have:

• Traditionally, to show a website in a PowerPoint slide you would just create a link to the page and prompt a separate browser to open.
• Try adding the third-party program LiveWeb that you install on your PowerPoint program. Head to the LiveWeb website and follow the instructions. Unfortunately, Mac users don’t have a similar option.
• Take screenshots of a website, insert the image on your slide, and link in through a browser. You can embed media (such as a YouTube video) by downloading it directly to your computer.
• Some versions allowed a Web Viewer Add-on until Microsoft decided that was a security risk. Insert>Get Add-ons, search for Web Viewer, then click on the Add button.

• Install ClassPoint, which essentially puts an internet window on top of your slide for use until you’re done with it, then you can just move to the next slide. You can even bookmark the webpage you want ahead of time to jump straight to it. Using this does introduce a new navigation bar along the bottom of your presentation. Here’s a video Introduction to ClassPoint:

• Finally, PowerPoint Live is a new tool that enables you to do more seamless presentations during video calls and may be a better overall match for doing presentations remotely. Check out this video:

11. Try Using GIFs.

Image Source

GIFs are looped animated images used to communicate a mood, idea, information, and much more.

Users add GIFs to PowerPoints to be funny or quickly demo a process. They’re very popular with and easily recognized by Millenials and Gen Z, and it’s easy to add GIFs to your slides:

• Download and save the GIF you want.
• Go to the slide you want the GIF on.
• Go to the Home tab, and click either Insert or Picture.
• From the Picture drop-down menu, choose Picture from File.
• Navigate to where you saved your GIF and select it. Then, choose Insert.
• It will play automatically the moment you insert it.

PowerPoint Process

12. Keep it simple.

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PowerPoint is an excellent tool to support your presentation with visual information, graphics, and supplemental points.

Your PowerPoint should not be your entire presentation, and the elements you do introduce need to function properly.

If the presentation simply repeats your words, has broken links, or shows unreadable text, the hiccups can become the take-away of your talk no matter how well-spoken the presentation.

Slam-dunking the basics by keeping it simple is the way to go. If your slides have dense and cluttered information, it will distract your audience and you could lose their attention.

In short? Keep your presentation persuasive by keeping it clean:

• Limit bullet points and text.
• Avoid paragraphs and long quotes.
• Maintain “white space” or “negative space.”
• Keep percentages, graphs, and data super basic.

13. Embed your font files.

Image Source

One constant problem presenters have with PowerPoint is that fonts seem to change when presenters move from one computer to another.

The fonts are not actually changing — the presentation computer just doesn’t have the same font files installed.

To embed your fonts on a PC:

• Click File then Options.
• Open up the Save tab.
• Select the Embed fonts in the file check box under Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation.

Now, your presentation will keep the font file and your fonts will not change when you move computers.

To embed your fonts on a Mac:

• On the top bar, click PowerPoint, then click Preferences.
• Under Output and Sharing, click Save.
• Under Font Embedding, click Embed fonts in the file.

14. Save your slides as a PDF file for backup purposes.

If you’re still afraid of your presentation showing up differently when it’s time to present, you can create a PDF version just in case.

This is a good option if you’ll be presenting on a different computer because if it doesn’t have Powerpoint installed, you can still use the system viewer to open a PDF.

The only caveat is that your GIFs, animations, and transitions won’t transfer over.

To save your presentation as a PDF file:

• Go to File, then click Save as…
• In the pop-up window, click File Format.
• A drop-down menu will appear. Select PDF.
• Click Export.

You can also go to File, then Export, then select PDF from the file format menu.

15. Embed multimedia.

PowerPoint allows you to either link to video/audio files externally or to embed the media directly in your presentation. For PCs, two great reasons for embedding are:

• Embedding allows you to play media directly in your presentation. It will look much more professional than switching between windows.
• Embedding also means that the file stays within the PowerPoint presentation, so it should play normally without extra work (except on a Mac).

If you use PowerPoint for Mac it gets a bit complicated, but it can be done:

• Always bring the video and/or audio file with you in the same folder as the PowerPoint presentation.
• Only insert video or audio files once the presentation and the containing folder have been saved on a portable drive in their permanent folder.
• If the presentation will be played on a Windows computer, then Mac users need to make sure their multimedia files are in WMV format.
• Consider using the same operating system for designing and presenting, no matter what.

16. Bring your own hardware.

Between operating systems, PowerPoint is still a bit jumpy. Even between differing PPT versions, things can change. The easiest fix? Just bring along your own laptop when you’re presenting.

The next easiest fix is to upload your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides as a backup option — just make sure there is a good internet connection and a browser available where you plan to present.

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation software that will show up the same way on all operating systems.

To import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Slides:

• Navigate to slides.google.com. Make sure you’re signed in to a Google account (preferably your own).
• Under Start a new presentation, click the empty box with a plus sign. This will open up a blank presentation.
• Go to File, then Import slides.
• A dialog box will come up. Tap Upload.
• Click Select a file from your device.
• Select your presentation and click Open.
• Select the slides you’d like to import. If you want to import all of them, click All in the upper right-hand corner of the dialog box.
• Click Import slides.

When I tested this out, Google Slides imported everything perfectly, including a shape whose points I had manipulated. This is a good backup option to have if you’ll be presenting across different operating systems.

17. Use Presenter View.

In most presentation situations, there will be both a presenter’s screen and the main projected display for your presentation.

PowerPoint has a great tool called Presenter View, which can be found in the Slide Show tab of PowerPoint. Included in the Presenter View is an area for notes, a timer/clock, and a presentation display.

For many presenters, this tool can help unify their spoken presentation and their visual aid. You never want to make the PowerPoint seem like a stack of notes that you’re reading off of.

Use the Presenter View option to help create a more natural presentation.

Pro Tip: At the start of the presentation, you should also hit CTRL + H to make the cursor disappear. Hitting the “A” key will bring it back if you need it.

Your Next Great PowerPoint Presentation Starts Here

Now that you have these style, design, and presentation tips under your belt, you should feel confident to create your PowerPoint presentation.

But if you can explore other resources to make sure your content hits the mark. After all, you need a strong presentation to land your point and make an impression.

With several templates to choose from — both in PowerPoint and available for free download — you can swiftly be on your way to creating presentations that wow your audiences.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

In the 5 years I’ve run Nudge, I’ve interviewed dozens of experts on pricing. These aren’t run-of-the-mill LinkedIn gurus. They’re peer-reviewed researchers from some of the world’s most prestigious universities. In this blog, I reveal their top five pricing tips.

5 Secrets About Pricing

Recently on my podcast Nudge, a guest told me a secret about pricing.

“The truth,” Melina Palmer said, “is that pricing isn’t really about the price.” Instead, it’s everything around the price. The framing, the offer, the brand. That’s what makes people buy.

This insight has been backed up by dozens of other behavioural scientists who I’ve interviewed for my show, and in hundreds of peer-reviewed papers I’ve read on the topic.

Simply put, offering a lower price isn’t the smartest way to improve your sales. Instead there are five other tips I’d suggest you try first.

1. Break your price down.

When showing your price, try to break it down into smaller increments.

Richard Shotton, in his book the Choice Factory, ran tests with customers looking to purchase a car. Some potential buyers saw the cost outright ($40,000). Some saw the cost per day over the course of several years ($11 a day).

Those who saw the price broken down were 4x more likely to rate the price as a good deal and 50% more likely to buy.

This doesn’t only work for expensive products like cars.

John Gourville in 2003 published a paper that found that cheaper items — like mobile phone contracts — were seen as more affordable when framed in daily terms. The contract was seen as better value when shown as $1 per day — rather than $30 a month.

So, when setting your price, consider showing the price per day equivalent to customers.

2. Avoid round numbers.

When setting the price, don’t opt for a round number.

Michael Santos, a psychologist at the University of California, demonstrated why in his 1994 study. For the study, the researchers dressed up as street beggars and requested donations from pedestrians.

Some asked for rounded amounts, like a dollar or a quarter. Others asked for precise amounts like $1.02 or 35 cents.

Incredibly, those that asked for the specific amounts received 60% more donations. 60% more, even when they asked for more than the rounded amount. Asking for 35 cents gets more donations than simply asking for a quarter.

The specificity makes the request seem more genuine — encouraging people to donate more.

This has real world implications.

A 2008 study of 25,000 house sales in Florida found that homes that listed their sale price as a specific price sold for closer to their asking price.

For example, listing a house at $249,749 — rather than a rounded price of $250,000 — would increase the end-sale price.

Being precise increases the appeal of your price. So ditch rounded prices.

3. Add a premium decoy.

If you want to increase your sales, you should create a premium option that you don’t expect customers to buy. It sounds irrational — but it works.

It’s known as decoy pricing.

Dan Ariely, in his book Predictably Irrational, showed how The Economist Magazine used this so effectively in the early 2000s.

Originally, The Economist offered two subscriptions.

1. Web-only subscription for $59
2. Print & web subscription for $125

Later, they added a decoy option. A print-only subscription that costs as much as the print & web subscription.

Adding the decoy changed consumer behavior. Previously, the majority bought the $59 web-only subscription. But after seeing the decoy price, the majority picked the $125 print and web subscription.

Adding an expensive premium decoy makes your standard option seem more appealing. It anchors the buyer to a higher price point and makes the original offer look better value.

Researchers in 2018 found the effect still holds true today. Experiments at the National Academies Press showed that introducing a hardcover priced between 160% and 790% more expensive than the paperback increased paperback sales by 16.2%.

So if possible, introduce a higher-priced decoy into your pricing mix.

4. Enforce a purchase limit.

Enforcing a purchase limit sounds a little irrational. Surely to increase sales you shouldn’t cap how much a customer can buy?

But some smart marketers would disagree.

One study from the 2011 Journal of Marketing Research looked at soup sales at American grocery stores. Half the stores showed advertising banners encouraging customers to buy soup — these were standard adverts that read:

“Buy soup today”

The other stores had the same adverts, but with one twist — a disclaimer next to the ad which said:

“Buy soup today: limited to 12 cans of soup per customer.”

Nobody was buying 12 cans of soup in the first place, so you might think this message is fairly pointless, but it wasn’t.

The limitation made the product seem scarce — and it increased sales by 112%.

Capping how much a customer can purchase can increase sales — so consider adding some limits to your product availability.

5. Don’t say “it’s free.”

Often, to increase the appeal of a price, marketers throw in a bonus product “for free.” We assume this will work well. After all, who doesn’t like free stuff? But it’s not the smartest way to promote your product.

This insight comes from a 2020 study by two Korean researchers Koo and Suk. They ran online experiments in the US, UK, Canada and South Korea. Hundreds of participants would see two different types of promotions.

Some would see that the bonus product or service was “free.”

Other times the promotion would state it’s $0.”

Saying it’s $0 appears to work best. In the 10 experiments, saying $0 was more effective as a promotion than saying it’s free.

Why? Well, $0 seems a bit more salient, it stands out. It’s a simple, yet effective way to improve any promotion.

To create a great price you need to think beyond the number. Offering the cheapest option won’t always win. And often, adding some psychology to your price can be better than trimming the cost.

This blog is part of Phill Agnew’s Marketing Cheat Sheet series where he reveals the scientifically proven tips to help you improve your marketing. To learn more, listen to his podcast Nudge, a proud member of the HubSpot Podcast Network.

Whether you want that job promotion or to sidestep into a new field, you’ll need to commit to learning new skills. One of the best ways you can do that is by taking free online courses.

Blog posts and podcasts are great starting points for exploring a particular topic.

But, I believe that online business courses will provide you with the time and space you need to explore a topic in-depth and truly master a new skill.

Plus, most courses are made up of on-demand videos and exercises that you can progress through at your own pace.

Below, I‘ve gathered the best free online business courses. Having taken some of these courses myself, I must admit that these are some of the most detailed and valuable free online courses you’ll find.

These cover the main business skills you‘ll need to advance in today’s rapidly changing workplace — from digital marketing and coding to selling, managing conflicts, and more.

Keep reading to become an expert in whatever subject you feel can best help you succeed. Or if you’d prefer, click on one of the following topics to jump straight to courses regarding that topic in particular:

• Best Free Online Courses Overall
• Free Fundamental Marketing Courses
• Free Content Marketing Courses
• Free Social Media Marketing Courses
• Free Email Marketing Courses
• Free SEM Courses
• Free Sales Courses
• Free Ecommerce Courses
• Free Coding & Developer Courses
• Free Personal & Professional Development Courses
• Free Design Courses
• Free Business & Finance Courses
• Free Writing Courses
• Free Entrepreneurship Courses
• Free Humanities Courses
• How to Choose an Online Course
• Free Online Courses FAQ

Best Free Online Courses Overall

Learning new skills can be both time-consuming and challenging.

In fact, according to Josh Kaufman, international bestselling author of The Personal MBA, it takes 20 hours to go from knowing nothing about a particular subject to being pretty good at it.

Of course, if you want to become an expert, that takes even longer.

Online courses allow you to get a head-start on the fundamental skills you need to grow in your career or switch to a new field. Here are some of my top picks.

• Fundamental Marketing — Inbound Marketing Certification by HubSpot Academy
• Content Marketing — Content Marketing Certification by HubSpot Academy
• Social Media Marketing — Social Media Marketing Course by HubSpot Academy
• Email Marketing — Cold Email Masterclass by Mailshake
• SEM — Google Ads by Google Skillshop
• Sales — Inbound Sales Certification by HubSpot Academy
• Ecommerce — Dropshipping 101: Build Your First Online Store by Shopify Academy
• Coding — Intro to HTML and CSS by Udacity
• Personal and Professional Development — Conquering the Fear of Public Speaking by Udemy
• Design — Graphic Design Course by HubSpot Academy
• Business and Finance — Business Foundations Specialization by University of Pennsylvania
• Writing — Good with Words: Writing and Editing by University of Michigan
• Communication — Communication Skills – Persuasion and Motivation by Alison
• Entrepreneurship — How to Build a Startup by Udacity
• Humanities — Introduction to Digital Humanities by Harvard University
• Languages — Basic Spanish 1: Getting Started by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia

Ready to start developing your skills? Let’s take a look at the best courses below.

Free Fundamental Marketing Courses

1. Inbound Marketing Certification by HubSpot Academy

Length: 5 Hours

From attracting leads to engaging prospects and delighting customers, this course covers the fundamentals of what inbound marketing is all about.

In my opinion, this course is ideal for new graduates who’d like to go into marketing or for any experienced professional who’s considering shifting into a marketing career.

It will give you the foundational knowledge you need to move into any marketing job.

Recommended for:

• New marketing professionals.
• Experienced non-marketing professionals who are shifting into marketing.

2. Get a Business Online by Google Skillshop

 

Length: 3 Hours

I would highly recommend this course if you’re looking to start a successful business online. You can learn the basics of building a digital presence, plan your online business strategy, and more.

This course is a helpful introduction to making your business visible online and also getting noticed locally without delving too deeply into the specifics.

Recommended for:

• Small business owners.
• New marketing professionals at small businesses.

3. Get Started Using Google Analytics by Google Skillshop

Length: 1 Hour

This course shows new Google Analytics users how to create an account, implement a tracking code, and set up data filters.

You’ll learn how to navigate the Google Analytics interface and reports, and set up dashboards and shortcuts.

I would suggest this course for both beginner and advanced marketers who need a refresher on Google Analytics or need more advanced instruction.

Recommended for:

• Marketing professionals at every level.

Free Content Marketing Courses

4. Content Marketing Certification by HubSpot Academy

Length: 8-9 Hours

I strongly encourage taking this course if you want to power your business with remarkable content.

This course will teach you how storytelling, content creation, repurposing, and promotion come together to build a content marketing machine that grows your business and your career.

While every professional will benefit from taking the content marketing certification course, I believe it’s especially recommended for new content writers and content managers.

Recommended for:

• New content marketers, content writers, and content managers.
• Experienced non-marketing professionals moving into a content marketing role.

5. Viral Marketing and How to Create Contagious Content by Coursera

Length: 4-5 Hours

Ever wondered why some things become popular, while other things don’t?

This course explains how things catch on and can help you apply those ideas to become a more effective marketer.

This is a good course to take if you feel your marketing efforts aren’t yielding the results you want or aren’t becoming as widespread as you’d like.

While individual contributors would benefit from taking this course, marketing managers who have a hand in ideation and strategy would most benefit from the knowledge they gain.

Recommended for:

• Mid- and senior-level marketers with a hand in strategy and ideation.
• Brand managers of all levels.

6. Online Video Marketing Course by HubSpot Academy

Length: 3-4 Hours

This online video marketing training will teach you how to get started with online video marketing to better attract, engage, and delight your audience.

I strongly recommend this course for individual contributors with a hand in video creation and content creation.

Managers would also benefit from taking the first course, “How to Create a Successful Video Marketing Strategy,” if they’ve not yet established a video marketing strategy.

Recommended for:

• Video and content marketers getting started with video marketing.
• Marketing managers who want to start a video marketing strategy.

Free Social Media Marketing Courses

7. Social Media Marketing Course by HubSpot Academy

Length: 5-6 Hours

This course provides you with everything you need to build a social media strategy — including tools to help you attract new customers, build loyalty, and shape a positive conversation around your business.

In my opinion, it’s a great fit for marketers of all levels who need a strong foundation in social media marketing.

Recommended for:

• Marketers of all levels who are delving into social media marketing.
• Business owners who want to create a social media marketing strategy.

Once you’ve completed this overarching social media marketing course, I highly recommend you check out the following channel-specific courses:

• Facebook Marketing (~1 Hour). Facebook is a huge platform, ripe with marketing opportunities. Learn how to develop an effective marketing strategy using Facebook that covers all the bases.
• LinkedIn for Business Marketing (~1.5 Hours). You know LinkedIn beyond the basics, and now it‘s time to bump it up a notch. In this course, you’ll learn advanced techniques for building and launching a successful LinkedIn marketing strategy.
• Instagram Marketing (~2.5 Hours). An Instagram marketing and advertising strategy is one of the most powerful ways to connect with customers and drive marketing impact. This course takes you from the beginning to the end of planning an Instagram marketing strategy.
• YouTube Marketing (~2 Hours). HubSpot’s course in YouTube Marketing is an in-depth, expansive set of tools and lessons that offer successful strategies to grow a monetized, optimized YouTube channel. It’s ideal for social media managers and anyone who would be creating videos for your company’s YouTube channel.

8. Introduction to Social Media Strategy by Skillshare

Length: 30-60 Minutes

Whether you’re looking to foster brand awareness, increase website traffic, or drive sales, this course can teach you how to craft a social media strategy to achieve your goals on Facebook and X.

From finding your voice to buying paid advertising, this course describes a proven process for creating custom social strategies. I think it’s ideal for new marketers who need a quick refresher or overview.

Note: Skillshare offers community members free access to its courses for 14 days — you’ll need to sign up as a member to access the class for free.

Recommended for:

• Marketers of all levels who want to delve into social media marketing.
• Business owners who want to create a social media marketing strategy.

9. Video Storytelling for Social Media by Social Creators

Length: 5 Days

This crash course is set up like a challenge. The goal? To help you make high-quality videos with your iPhone or Android device so you can start vlogging and share engaging videos on your social media accounts.

It’s ideal if you’re planning to market your brand or business over video-based channels such as Instagram or TikTok. In my opinion, it’s a great fit if you don’t want to spend money on expensive video gear.

Recommended for:

• Video marketers and content creators who want to create storytelling videos.
• Freelance bloggers and content creators who are looking to create more videos.

10. How to Create an Instagram Content Plan & Strategy by Later

Length: 1-1.5 Hours

This video series is a great introduction to the Instagram world.

You‘ll learn how to gain more followers, build a community, and create content that drives true engagement.

I highly encourage taking this course if you’re interested in finding influencer partners on Instagram and building a visual identity.

Recommended for:

• Marketers at small businesses without an Instagram strategy.
• Freelance bloggers and online content creators.

11. Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate by Meta

Length: Varies

This is a series of six social media marketing courses offered by Meta. These courses are in-depth and offer valuable knowledge to establish your online presence on various social media platforms.

Additionally, these courses offer extensive insights into creating Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns in Meta Ads Manager that drive results.

Recommended for:

• New social media marketing managers.
• Marketers who are interested in specializing in social media marketing and Meta ads.

12. X Ads Academy by X

Length: Varies

X Ads Academy isn’t so much a course as it is a school for both advanced and beginner X marketers.

Whether you’re a social media coordinator or the director of social media marketing at an enterprise firm, X Ads Academy’s courses will help you build the knowledge and skills you need to scale and improve your X marketing strategy.

The courses have been designed to help you level up your expertise with advertising on X so you can succeed.

I think this is a must-take course for marketers who have been extensively using Twitter marketing and want to understand what changes have been made since Twitter changed to X.

Recommended for:

• New and experienced social media professionals who are planning to use X extensively.
• Any marketer or professional who wants to specialize in X marketing.

Free Email Marketing Courses

13. Cold Email Masterclass by Mailshake

Length: Self-Paced

Whether you use cold emails to connect with influencers, build your personal brand, find mentors, or grow your network, there’s no underestimating their power.

Sujan Patel offers eight lessons that will reveal how to turn theory into practice, tapping into existing cold email best practices and deploying them in a way that’s both efficient and effective.

What I love most about this course is that the learning is not just applicable to cold emails. You can also learn email writing best practices that will serve you as you market to leads and prospects who’ve subscribed to your email list.

Recommended for:

• Any marketer or professional who’s planning to email leads or other professionals in their network.
• Any professional who wants to improve their cold emailing skills.

14. Email Marketing Certification by HubSpot Academy

Length: 3-4 Hours

Email marketing is a necessity to learn. By completing HubSpot‘s course, you’ll walk away with expansive knowledge in all things email marketing, from templates to testing, as well as a certification to add to your resume.

I think this is an excellent follow-up to the Cold Email Masterclass. It allows you to specialize in email marketing, learn to segment your user base, and optimize email deliverability rates.

Recommended for:

• Marketers of all levels who are planning to do email marketing.

15. Email marketing masterclass by Mailmodo

Length: ~1.5 hours

If you’re starting as an email marketer or want to know the basics of it, this email marketing masterclass by Mailmodo is the perfect course for you. The USP of this course is that it teaches you so much in such a short amount of time.

The entire course is divided into seven chapters, with an assessment at the end of each chapter. The topics include email list segmentation, deliverability, email design, and AMP emails.

I love that, in the end, you get an assignment to practice what you’ve learned on their platform completely free of cost. You also receive a certificate of completion.

Recommended for:

• New and aspiring email marketers.
• People who would like to understand how email marketing works.

Free SEM Courses

16. Google Ads by Google Skillshop

Length: Varies

If you don‘t know where to start with Google’s ad products, Google’s Skillshop for Google Ads may be for you.

You’ll figure out where to get started in mini, bite-sized lessons or jump straight into the certification process.

Topics include programmatic ads, AI-powered ads, search ads, discovery ads, video ads, and more.

In my opinion, if you already have experience with Google Ads, you can forgo taking the courses and instead apply your existing knowledge using a series of exercises.

Recommended for:

• Marketers of all levels who want to further their knowledge or practice their existing Google Ads knowledge.
• Business owners who want to learn how to set up Google Ads.

17. SEO Certification Course by HubSpot Academy

Length: 3-4 Hours

Interested in building traffic but unsure about a successful strategy? Our SEO crash course eliminates the pains of navigating a concrete SEO strategy and provides you with the tools to implement a winning one.

This course starts from a basic starting point, so I recommend it for beginner marketers only. If you’ve been in a digital marketing role for a few years, chances are you’re familiar with most of this information.

Recommended for:

• New marketers who want to learn the basics of SEO and improve their SEO skills.
• Experienced non-marketing professionals who want to learn SEO.

Free Sales Courses

18. Inbound Sales Training by HubSpot Academy

Length: 3-3.5 Hours

In this certification course, you’ll learn how to grow your sales pipeline, close more leads, and grow your career.

I recommend this course for new sales professionals or experienced salespeople who need a refresher or formal training in core sales skills.

Recommended for:

• New and aspiring salespeople.
• Experienced sales professionals who need a refresher in sales fundamentals.

Once you complete this initial certification, I strongly encourage you to dive into more specific topics, such as sales enablement and management training.

• Sales Enablement Training (Length: 7.5 Hours). In this self-paced online course and exam, you’ll learn how to align marketing and sales for optimal efficiency. You’ll learn to bridge the gap between marketing and sales teams with strategies and tactics from sales leaders.
• Sales Management Training (Length: 4.5 Hours). Learn how to define your target market, create a scalable sales process, and build training, coaching, hiring, and on-boarding programs to help your sales team grow.

19. Introduction to Negotiation: A Strategic Playbook for Becoming a Principled and Persuasive Negotiator by Yale University

Length: 3 weeks

If you want to become good at sales, first, you must become good at negotiation.

This course will help you do just that. I highly recommend this course as it is designed to analyze and shape your negotiations.

Additionally, you’ll be offered opportunities to negotiate with other students using case studies based on real-life business challenges.

Recommended for:

• Sales managers who want to improve the performance of their sales team.
• Experienced salespeople who are looking to level up their skills in negotiation.

20. The SMART Sales System by SalesScripter

Length: 10-12 Hours

This program is designed to give you a strategy-backed process. It covers building a value proposition, asking the right questions, closing more effectively, and more. You’ll sell more, and even better — selling will become more fun.

After you’ve watched all of the videos in the training course, you’ll have an overview of the most important topics in sales.

Recommended for:

• New sales professionals who are trying to get a high-level overview of the most important sales topics.
• Sales managers who want to level up their team.

Free Ecommerce Courses

21. Dropshipping 101: Build Your First Online Store by Shopify Academy

Length: 2 Hours

Dropshipping is a business model where you don’t keep any products in stock at your own warehouses but rather ship them directly from the manufacturers’ or suppliers’ warehouses.

It’s one of the best ways to start an ecommerce business with low overhead and startup costs.

In this course, you’ll learn to find winning dropshipping products, pick trustworthy suppliers, and build an ecommerce brand step-by-step.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who’d like to start an ecommerce business with a dropshipping model.

22. Launch Your Online Business by The State University of New York

Length: 3 weeks

I highly suggest taking this course if you are looking to start your own online business.

At the end of the course, you will have a better understanding of different online business models, customer personas, building brand identity, and more.

You will also gain knowledge about copywriting, photography, and video production. These are some of the most important skills you need to acquire if you plan to start your online business.

Recommended for:

• Anyone looking to start an online business.

23. Ecommerce Marketing Training by HubSpot Academy

Length: 30-60 Minutes

If you work for an ecommerce business and want to implement an inbound marketing strategy, this is a good course for you.

In this short crash course, you’ll learn the basics of selling more online and how that fits into an inbound strategy. I recommend taking this course once you’ve got the basics down, such as how to run a dropshipping business.

Recommended for:

• Ecommerce sellers who want to grow their business.

24. Email Marketing for Ecommerce by MailChimp

Length: ~30 Minutes

Learn how to use automation, optimization, and personalization to boost your business through email. Once you’ve got the leads from your ecommerce website, it’s time to nurture them through email marketing.

This course will run through the entire process. Due to its inclusion of advanced marketing topics such as A/B testing and segmentation, I recommend it for experienced marketers at an ecommerce retailer.

Recommended for:

• Experienced marketers working at ecommerce businesses.
• Freelance marketers with ecommerce clients.

Free Coding & Developer Courses

25. Intro to HTML and CSS by Udacity

Length: ~3 Weeks

In this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of HTML and CSS, two core web development languages, along with best practices and professional problem-solving techniques using Developer Tools.

I appreciate how the coding lessons are designed, offering easy-to-follow instructions, interactive quizzes, and a tested curriculum that can help anyone learn how to code.

Recommended for:

• Marketers, salespeople, and freelancers wanting to learn HTML and CSS.

Udacity offers a variety of other courses that can teach you to code. Once you’ve covered HTML and CSS, you can then dive into:

• Intro to JavaScript (Length: ~2 Weeks). After HTML and CSS, JavaScript is an essential language to learn if you’re planning to create high-performing websites. Udacity’s Intro to JavaScript course will cover all the basics you need to know.
• Intro to Python Programming (Length: ~14 hours). Come to grips with key computer science concepts in this introductory Python course. You’ll learn by doing and will build your own search engine and social network.
• Self-Driving Fundamentals: Featuring Apollo (Length: ~4 Weeks). Through this course, you‘ll be able to identify key parts of self-driving cars and get to know Apollo architecture. You’ll be able to use Apollo HD Map, localization, perception, prediction, planning, and control, and start the learning path of building a self-driving car. I recommend taking this course for fun.

26. Learn Java by Codecademy

Length: 25 Hours

Codecademy offers an excellent repository of coding courses.

If you didn’t like Udemy’s HTML and CSS class, I recommend learning it from Codeacademy instead.

One of the languages you can learn is Java, which can be used to create web applications, software-as-a-service products, and mobile apps.

Because it’s a more advanced programming topic, I only recommend it if you’re planning to start a computer science career or develop your own web app or SaaS.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s interested in shifting into a developer role or coding their own app.

27. Introduction to iOS App Development, Xcode, and Interface Builder by Devslopes

Length: 3-4 Hours

This iPhone app development course will give you all you need to create your very own iOS app from the ground up.

You’ll specifically learn how to create an app using XCode, Apple’s iOS app builder, and Interface Builder, which is a feature within Xcode.

With clear video tutorials that are easy to follow, this course will get you up-to-date with the latest iPhone app development trends.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s interested in coding their own iOS app.

28. Algorithms, Part I by Princeton University

Length: ~53 Hours

This course by Princeton University covers the essential information that every serious programmer needs to know about algorithms and data structures, with emphasis on applications and scientific performance analysis of Java implementations.

Because algorithms are a more advanced coding topic, I only recommend it if you’re planning to shift into a programming career. If that doesn’t sound like you, start with Udemy’s HTML and CSS course instead.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s interested in shifting into a programming career.

29. Machine Learning Specialization by Stanford University

Length: ~33 Hours

I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to learn the fundamentals of AI and machine learning. This is a course by AI visionary Andrew Ng that teaches you to construct machine learning models in Python.

In addition, you will learn how to apply this knowledge to practical complex problems. Whether you’re stepping into the world of AI or want to build a career in machine learning, this is the perfect place to start.

Recommended for:

• Programmers who want to get a foundational knowledge of AI and machine learning.

Free Personal & Professional Development Courses

30. Conquering the Fear of Public Speaking by Udemy

Length: 30-60 Minutes

We all fear public speaking — or, at the very least, feel a measure of anxiety whenever we have to give a speech or a presentation.

This course will teach you techniques to overcome the fear of public speaking, as well as how to avoid feeling nervous before speaking publicly. It’s a short course, too.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who wants to overcome the fear of public speaking.

31. Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Master Tough Subjects by Deep Teaching Solutions

Length: ~15 Hours

Whether you’re a student or a young professional, I believe learning how to digest and access information is a key skill to succeed at both school and work.

This delightfully “meta” course teaches you how to learn new subjects and retain information.

Recommended for:

• Students of all levels who want to get better at retaining information.
• Professionals of all levels who want to learn how to retain information.

32. Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills by University of Michigan

Length: ~17 Hours

In this course created by the University of Michigan, you’ll learn about and practice four key steps to a successful negotiation.

While negotiation may be most often used at work and specifically during a sales call or prior to signing an employment contract, these skills can also be used in your day-to-day and personal interactions.

Recommended for:

• Professionals of all levels.
• Sales personnel who want to improve their negotiation skills.

33. The Manager’s Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Managing People at Work by University of London

Length: ~28 Hours

This course gives you a practical guide to managing people at work. It doesn’t matter whether you are a first-time manager in a shop or a middle manager in an office environment — the same skills apply to every workplace.

Recommended for:

• Mid- to senior-level professionals moving into a managerial role.

34. Career Success Specialization by University of California, Irvine

Length: ~10 Hours / Week (2 Months)

This course will teach you project management skills, communication skills, time management skills, and financial skills — all of which are needed to succeed in today’s workforce. You’ll also learn business writing and negotiation skills.

I recommend it for new graduates or anyone who’s still in college.

Recommended for:

• Recent college grads or current college students.

35. The Science of Happiness by University of California, Berkeley

Length: 4-5 Hours / Week (11 Weeks)

This course by UC Berkeley will walk you through the concept of happiness from a scientific and psychological standpoint and give you practical tips for boosting happiness when you’re feeling blue.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who’d like to improve their happiness in work and life.

36. The Science of Wellbeing by Yale University

Length: ~19 Hours

The purpose of this course is to not only learn what psychological research says about what makes us happy but also to put those strategies into practice. It’s an excellent follow-up to UC Berkeley’s course above.

I believe it’ll help you rewire the way you think about happiness and well-being.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who’d like to improve their happiness in work and life.

Free Design Courses

37. Graphic Design Course by HubSpot Academy

Length: 30-60 Minutes

Need to become a graphic designer in less than an hour?

This course by HubSpot Academy offers basic concepts in graphic design to create designs that accurately represent your brand.

You can then translate these concepts to any tool of your choosing, including Adobe Illustrator, Canva, and even PowerPoint.

Recommended for:

• Non-design professionals who need to learn the basics of graphic design.

38. Learn Adobe Illustrator From Scratch by EduOnix

Length: 10-11 Hours

Adobe Illustrator is one of the best tools you can use for your graphic design projects. In this course by EduOnix, you’ll learn how to master Adobe Illustrator with real-world examples.

I only recommend it if you have an active Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.

Recommended for:

• Designers who need to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator quickly.

Free Business & Finance Courses

39. Introduction to Business Ownership by Udemy

Length: 54 Minutes

This course will provide you with the vital information that you need before starting a business. It‘ll teach you the basics of business financing, taxes, licenses, and permits that you need. You’ll also learn how to market your business.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who wants to start a business.

40. Stock Market Investing for Beginners by Udemy

Length: 1.5-2 Hours

Learn the basics of the stock market through comprehensive, interesting, and fun lectures. This is an essential course for anyone who’d like to invest and diversify their portfolio.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who wants to start investing.

41. Corporate Finance by New York University

Length: Self-Paced

New York University’s Corporate Finance course is a big-picture class. It looks at the financial principles that govern how businesses raise funds, invest those funds in assets and projects, and return those funds to investors.

This would be a helpful course for both entrepreneurs and professionals considering starting a career in corporate finance.

Recommended for:

• Entrepreneurs.
• Professionals moving into executive roles.
• Professionals interested in shifting into corporate finance.

Free Writing Online Courses

42. Good with Words: Writing and Editing by University of Michigan

Length: 18-20 Hours

Good with Words: Writing and Editing prepares you to write strong prose from a grammatical, technical, and syntactical standpoint.

This is an excellent option for anyone who’d like to strengthen their writing skills without necessarily diving into additional topics such as marketing or essay writing. It’s a great foundational course for any type of writing discipline, including fiction writing.

To take this course for free, click the “Enroll for Free” button. In the pop-up, click “Audit the course.” This will give you the option to view the course materials without paying for the certificate.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who writes emails, social posts, articles, and web pages in their role.

43. Blogging Course by HubSpot Academy

Length: 2 Hours

Business blogging is more than just writing and publishing content in the hopes you‘ll attract customers.

In this course, you’ll learn how to craft a blogging strategy that drives business growth, create quality blog content that customers love, and build a guest blogging strategy that’s powered by SEO.

Recommended for:

• Mid- to senior-level marketers who have a hand in their company’s marketing strategy.
• Individuals who want to improve their blogging skills.

Free Communication Courses

44. Effective Communications Skills for Business by Udemy

Length: 38 Minutes

This course will introduce you to essential communication skills that aid persuasion and show you how to use strong communication in business. I assure you that you’ll be a better communicator at the end of the course.

Recommended for:

• Anyone who’d like to improve their communication skills.

45. Conflict Management Specialization by University of California, Irvine

Length: 4 Months

With this series of courses by the University of California Irvine, you’ll learn listening skills, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and how to assemble a conflict management plan likely to yield positive resolutions.

While anyone would benefit from taking this course, I especially recommend it for professionals in people-management roles.

Recommended for:

• Mid- to senior-level professionals who manage teams or other people.
• Anyone who’d like to improve their conflict management skills.

Free Entrepreneurship Online Courses

46. How to Build a Startup by Udacity

Length: ~1 Month

In this course, Steve Blank and Kathleen Mullaney provide insight into the key steps needed to build a successful start-up.

You’ll learn the various types of business models, the parts of a value proposition, the concept of customer segmentation, and more.

In my opinion, this is a top-to-bottom course that will give you the foundations you need to start a business.

Recommended for:

• First-time entrepreneurs.

47. Business Strategy Specialization by University of Virginia

Length: ~1 Months (10 Hours/week)

Develop your ability to think strategically, analyze your competition, recommend a positioning strategy, and create value.

In this course, you’ll explore the underlying theory and foundation of a successful business strategy and gain the tools you need to understand that strategy.

Recommended for:

• Entrepreneurs with an existing business they’d like to grow.

48. Marketing Fundamentals: Who Is Your Customer? by Babson College

Length: 3-4 Weeks

This course will help you discover how to acquire the right customers and grow your startup business.

While it’s branded as a marketing course, I think it’s designed for entrepreneurs who don’t know how to begin marketing their new product or service and who want to understand their target market.

That said, it’s also a great course to take if you’re interested in going into marketing.

Recommended for:

• Entrepreneurs without a marketing background.
• Professionals with an interest in marketing.

Free Humanities Online Courses

49. Introduction to Digital Humanities by Harvard University

Length: ~7 Weeks

The term “humanities” encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and fields.

Regardless of your favorite humanities subject, learning how to carry out research and visualize the subject using digital tools is essential if you’d like to progress in your career.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who carries out research in the humanities.

50. Modern Masterpieces of World Literature by Harvard University

Length: ~8 Weeks

Explore some of the world’s most salient literary masterpieces in Harvard’s Modern Masterpieces of World Literature course. You’ll get a taste not only of the English literary tradition but of others around the globe, too.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s interested in global literature.

51. Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Specialization by MoMA

Length: 2 Months (10 Hours/week)

Want to explore modern art? Here is a series of three courses that offer a unique glimpse into the world of modern art.

In this course, you‘ll explore the Museum’s behind-the-scenes operations, step inside the studios of creative professionals, and see into the minds of artists, designers, architects, and other innovative creators.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s interested in modern art.

52. Gender and Sexuality: Applications in Society by the University of British Columbia

Length: ~6 Weeks

If you’re interested in studying gender from a theoretical and epistemological standpoint, Gender and Sexuality: Applications in Society is the course you need to take.

It will give you an overarching overview of gender and sexuality through a variety of perspectives and lenses.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s interested in gender and sexuality.

Free Language Online Courses

53. Basic Spanish 1: Getting Started by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia

Length: ~7 Weeks

Learning a new language is always a worthwhile investment, especially if you’re a global marketer or salesperson. This basic Spanish course by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia will help you establish a foundation for the language.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s planning to use Spanish at work or for leisure.

54. Mandarin Chinese Level 1 by MandarinX

Length: ~6 Weeks

If you’re planning to expand your business into the Asian market, then learning Mandarin is key, given that Mandarin is the most spoken language in Asia.

It’s also a popular language for business. Mandarin Chinese Level 1 will give you the foundation you need to take more advanced Mandarin courses.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s planning to use Mandarin at work or for leisure.

55. Getting Started with French 1 by The Open University

Length: ~6 Hours

Have you been wanting to learn French? Getting Started with French 1 will teach you the basic phrases you need to interact with others in a French-speaking environment.

I highly recommend taking all of the courses in this series as a precursor for more advanced language study.

Recommended for:

• Any professional who’s planning to use French at work or for leisure.

How to Choose an Online Course

Deciding on which online course to select from such a wide range of options can be a complex process. To simplify this, I’ve listed the process I personally follow whenever I have to select a course.

Define your learning objectives.

First and foremost, before diving into searching from thousands of online courses, I make sure I have identified what my learning goals are. I ask myself questions like:

• What skills do I wish to acquire or improve?
• What knowledge gaps do I want to fill? What are my short-term and long-term goals?

Having clarity on what I want to achieve helps me to cut down options that are not relevant and find courses that send me in the direction of achieving my objective.

Research course providers.

Once I have an understanding of what I want to learn, I start researching who provides these courses.

I look for courses on well-known platforms such as HubSpot, Coursera, and EdX, as well as search websites that offer niche courses.

I also look for courses provided by prestigious universities. They usually have well-structured study programs and universally recognized certifications.

Some of the top course providers to select from:

• HubSpot Academy — best for marketing and sales courses.
• Coursera — best for a wide range of subjects.
• EdX — best for university-level courses.
• Codecademy — best for coding and programming.
• Udacity — best for tech-focused courses.
• Udemy — best for skill-based courses.
• Microsoft Learn — best for Microsoft product-related skills.
• Oxford Home Study — best for flexible, self-paced learning.
• OpenLearn — best for free courses from the UK’s Open University.
• freeCodeCamp — best for full-stack web development courses.
• Google Skillshop — best for digital marketing courses.

If you’re looking for one single place to learn how to take your career to the next level and/or grow your business, check out HubSpot Academy.

It contains tons of free certified courses on everything from inbound and content marketing to social media and sales.

Read course descriptions and syllabi.

When I come across a course that appeals to my interest, I make sure to review the course description and syllabus.

I look for information about the course content, learning outcomes, and time commitment required.

This allows me to figure out if the course covers the subjects that I am interested in and if it is suitable or not for my current skill level and schedule.

Check the instructor’s credentials.

I always check the instructor’s background and level of expertise in the domain before selecting a course.

I look for instructors who are experts in their field, have relevant industry experience, and have a track record of teaching successful courses.

Look for interactive elements and practical assignments.

I have noticed that courses with engaging activities and relevant assignments are more useful and fun for me during my learning process.

I look for courses that include quizzes, discussions, projects, and hands-on exercises. These elements help me apply what I’ve learned, strengthen my understanding, and develop practical skills that I can use in real-world situations.

Read reviews and ratings.

Before I finally make up my mind, I always take a look at testimonials and ratings posted by former students. I look for feedback about the subject matter, the way the course is taught, and the learning experience in general.

This helps me gauge the quality of the course and make an informed decision.

Free Online Courses FAQ

Have questions about taking an online course? I’ve got you covered.

What courses are available free online?

All the courses listed on this page are available for free online, including:

• Inbound Marketing Certification by HubSpot Academy
• Online Video Marketing Course by HubSpot Academy
• Cold Email Masterclass by Mailshake
• Dropshipping 101: Build Your First Online Store by Shopify Academy
• Intro to HTML and CSS by Udacity

Simply sign up on each platform and begin learning! I recommend you check out each provider’s full catalog to learn which courses are available for free.

What online courses are in demand?

Coding and AI online courses are overall in high demand, which is attributable to the exponential growth rate of technical fields.

The AI market is expected to grow by 36.8% from 2023 to 2030 at CAGR, and around 97 million people are expected to work in AI by 2025.

Therefore, learning and upskilling yourself to use AI in your day-to-day work is more important than ever.

However, I believe that in-demand courses vary by field. For instance, if you’re looking to jumpstart a marketing career, then an SEO course is the best choice, as it’s one of the most in-demand skills in marketing.

Which certificate course is best?

According to me, the best certificate course ultimately depends on what you want to do. I recommend starting with a general certification course and then narrowing it down after you find out what you’d like to specialize in.

For instance, if you’re looking to get into social media marketing, my advice would be for you to pursue a digital marketing certification course, so that you understand the basics of digital marketing.

Once you’ve mastered it, you can then get social media certified.

What is the best free online course platform?

For career-focused courses, I personally recommend HubSpot Academy or Coursera. For theoretical university-based courses, I recommend EdX. For employee-related training courses, I recommend ProProfs Courses.

Where can I get free courses with a free certificate?

You can access free courses with a free certificate on HubSpot Academy and Google Skillshop. Most online course providers, such as Coursera and EdX, charge for a certificate, but it varies by individual course.

Is an online certificate worth anything?

Yes! An online certificate is highly worthwhile. It will not only help your resume stand out, but it will ensure you’re adequately prepared to complete tasks in your desired role.

Not only that but getting an online certificate takes effort and consistency — two key attributes that will make you desirable to any employer.

Can you get a job with an online course?

You can get a job with an online course, but it’s important that you obtain a certification at the end of the course, build a portfolio of work, and showcase your newly learned skills with personal projects.

Over the years, I have seen more and more employers opening their hiring doors to candidates from non-traditional backgrounds — indeed, for most roles, a bachelor’s degree isn’t essential.

If you leverage the wealth of online courses at your disposal, you can build a breadth of knowledge that would rival that of any other candidate.

Learning is an investment that continues to pay.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

That’s never been truer than it is today. With new technologies emerging at breakneck speeds, there’s a palpable pressure to continuously upskill.

I hope you found the online business courses you need for the next step in your career — whether you’re looking for a promotion or a sidestep into an entirely new field.

Whatever your reason, I believe that learning new skills will give you a competitive advantage in today‘s rapidly changing workplace. Plus, the more you invest in your learning, the better you’ll grow.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

According to GetFive, only 30% of resumes are approved by applicant tracking systems (ATS). Once the resumes are approved, a hiring manager will only spend an average of six seconds reading each resume.

If those stats stress you out, I hear you. Writing a great resume that gets you noticed is tough — that’s why I’m here to encourage you to try a resume builder.

In this post, I’ve compiled a list of the best free resume builders that will help you create a personalized professional resume that passes ATS, stands out to the hiring manager, and helps you land your next job interview.

Why use a resume builder?

Writing a polished resume is second nature for some job applicants. But for others (and maybe most of us), creating a strong resume can be a struggle.

If you’re one of the many people who need a little extra support, here are a few ways I think a resume builder can help out.

Saves Time

Resume builders offer templates, clean designs, and tips that speed up resume writing. They also make the process less stressful.

Offers Writing Tips

It takes a lot of work to promote yourself. And even if you enjoy self-promotion, writing isn’t a skill everyone has. A resume builder can help you use the best words and phrases to show your experience and knowledge.

Improves Design

Each industry has different expectations for what a great resume looks like. If you’re not familiar with design skills or tools, resume builders offer free templates to make your resume look as good as it sounds.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Recruiters often use ATS systems to scan resumes. And a good resume builder will help with formatting to make sure that your resume is easy for these systems to read.

We’ve discovered the best free resume builders on the market. These resume builders are great for all jobseekers, from entry-level to executive level.

Each free resume builder has a simple interface, customization options, and templates that help you create the perfect resume for your next job.

Featured Resource: HubSpot Resume Templates

Download these free templates to get your thoughts on paper and plan your resume before using a free online resume builder.

1. Zety: Best for Expert Resume Creation Tips

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Zety is an excellent online resume builder because of its state-of-the-art templates. You can quickly start from scratch and input your information, or upload an existing resume.

I enjoyed this feature because it saves a lot of time if you already have a resume and want that as your starting point.

My favorite element of this tool, though, is that the site will walk you through the process. All you need to do is fill out the information, and then — voila! You have a resume.

In order to download your resume, you’ll need to make an account, and then pay for a 14-day access fee, which is $1.95. If you decide to pay the fee, you’re then granted unlimited downloads and edits.

It’s available in .pdf, a .docx, or .txt formatting.

Best For

Zety is best for those looking for expert help in creating their resumes. The tool provides tips and prompts to help you create the content for your resume. There are also a variety of customization options to ensure your resume fits your needs.

PROS	CONS
Guides users through each step of the process and offers tips and prompts	$1.95 fee to download your resume
Variety of customization options to create a unique resume	Some templates interfere with ATS
Auto-suggestion feature provides ATS-optimized descriptions of work experience and skills

Available Resume Templates

There are 18 resume templates to choose from, including Cascade, Crisp, and Concept.

Verdict

Zety is a fast and easy resume-building tool and I like that it offers writing help at crucial moments in the process. But you won’t be able to take advantage of its simple and attractive resume templates without paying a small fee.

2. Resume Genius: Best for Easy and Fast Resume Creation

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Resume Genius is undoubtedly one of the easiest and fastest free resume tools you have at your disposal.

With a clean and easy-to-use interface, the tool walks you (speedily) through the sections of your resume, including education, work experience, and references. It even auto-generates parts of the resume for you, which you can then edit.

Resume Genius provides you with easy fill-in-the-blank sections so you can have an impressive, comprehensive resume in no time. It also gives you the option to upload a resume, which it auto-fills into your template.

I think this resume builder is on par with Zety but is about a dollar more expensive.

Best For

Resume Genius is best for those looking for step-by-step guidance when creating a resume. The tool offers tips and advice at each stage of the process.

Another great feature I like is that Resume Genius’ search options help you build an ATS-optimized resume that’s customized to fit your industry and position.

PROS	CONS
Easy-to-use interface	You must pay $2.95 for a 14-day trial to download as a PDF or different format
URL for sharing and performance tracking
Can search for positions and choose from 50,000+ job description bullet points that relate to what you’re applying for

Available Resume Templates

Resume Genius has lots of templates varying, and allows you to change the color schemes. I like that its resume builder tools let you scroll through different templates to see how each one looks with your information.

Verdict

I think this resume builder is pretty intuitive to use and offers helpful suggestions to polish your resume. I enjoyed how fast it was to set up, and the tips it offers. The templates are nice, but the fee is something to keep in mind.

3. Wepik: Best for Customizing Pre-Made Resumes

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If you’re like me and don’t have that much graphic design knowledge, that’s no longer an issue thanks to Wepik, a user-friendly editing tool.

This tool allows users to create the most professional and attractive visual branding documents with ease.

Once you’ve picked your perfect resume, import and complete your information into the template including your academic background, contact information, and business experience.

With one more click, download the document in your preferred format, and you’ll be more than prepared to share your professional profile in minutes.

Best For

Wepik is a great tool for small businesses and individuals looking to create a quick, professional-looking resume and cover letter.

You’ll have access to completely free premium-level features within the online editor, such as a broad library of pictures, fonts, and graphic elements.

PRO	CONS
Free premium-level features	Fewer customization options for existing designs, which cannot be uploaded
Intuitive and easy editing	You have to start from scratch or choose a template
Lots of templates to choose from	Have to create an account

Available Resume Templates

This tool includes over 100 resume templates. Wepik also has thousands of ready-made templates for cover letters, name tags, cards, and more.

Verdict

I think Wepik makes it easy to plug your work experience into a beautiful template. Unlike the previous resume builders, it works more like a visual editor and doesn’t offer as much writing help as other tools.

But this tool does offer AI writing help, and you can download your finished resume in PNG, JPG, or PDF formats.

4. My Perfect Resume: Best for Guided Resume Creation Help

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My Perfect Resume allows you to either start from scratch and input information into a blank template or upload a pre-existing resume if you already have one.

Plus, the tool offers you expert recommendations as you move throughout the process, including suggested phrases you can include for specific roles.

My Perfect Resume also enables you to include optional sections like certifications, accomplishments, and affiliations.

This is vital, particularly if you‘re just starting out or switching industries. This tool is particularly useful if you’re applying for a creative role and want to add color or a unique design to your resume.

To use My Perfect Resume for free, click the“Download” button once you reach the final step of the builder instead of selecting “Finish Resume.” Then, choose “Plain Text (.txt)” to download your resume for free.

Best For

My Perfect Resume is excellent for those looking for guided help when creating their resumes.

I like that the tool recommends templates based on your experience level and provides expert recommendations for skills to include based on your job titles.

PROS	CONS
Recommends templates based on experience level	Fewer customization options
Provides expert recommendations for skills and job responsibilities based on job title	Some templates interfere with ATS
	Free download of a .txt file; you must pay $2.95 for a 14-day trial to download your resume as a PDF or Word document

Available Resume Templates

This tool has over 40 resume templates. It automatically shares template options based on how long you’ve been working. You can also filter templates by categories like Modern, Traditional, or Creative.

Verdict

I found this tool to be super user-friendly. It does a good job of anticipating and resolving challenges in the resume-making process. It also gives you a chance to experiment with templates before and after you‘re done editing your resume.

But to make the most of its optimized templates, you’ll need to pay a fee. Also, compared to other tools on the list, there are fewer customization options here.

5. Standard Resume: Best for Active LinkedIn Users

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I like that Standard Resume allows you to import your qualifications straight from LinkedIn. It’s a time-saver if your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date.

The white background and minimalist features enable you to focus on what really matters — your content. You can switch back and forth between “Write” and “Design” to see how your resume looks as you go along.

To download it as a PDF, you‘ll need a paid plan, but you can share it online for free when you’re finished. Best of all, the tool also makes your resume mobile-responsive so that you can view it on your smartphone.

Best For

Standard Resume is great for LinkedIn users looking to quickly create an ATS-compatible resume. The tool uses your LinkedIn profile to automatically build a professional resume.

Standard Resume also provides tips and best practices you can consult as you complete your resume draft.

PROS	CONS
Free	Limited customization options or design-focused tools
Easy import from existing LinkedIn profile
Minimalist, helping you focus on your experience and achievements

Available Resume Templates

Standard Resume offers 12 streamlined resume templates, including Yew, Venables, and Cordova.

Verdict

I think this is a good option, especially since the “Review Score” feature offers a clear score and a set of recommendations to improve your resume before you start designing.

It also offers an easy way to share an attractive resume online. But you’ll need a paid plan to download your resume as a PDF.

6. Kickresume: Best for Quick and AI-assisted Resume Creation

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Kickresume stands out as a versatile resume builder that offers both AI-assisted and manual resume creation options. With the help of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, you can generate a unique and tailored resume by simply answering a few questions.

To use Kickresume for free, simply stick to its basic features and templates that are not marked as “Premium.”

Create a full resume manually or with help from AI by navigating to “Your documents” on the dashboard and choosing either “New resume,” “New resume with AI,” or “Import from LinkedIn.”

When creating an AI resume, provide your name, recent job title, and select a template. Kickresume will then generate a resume, which you can modify and download in PDF format.

Best For

Kickresume is ideal for those who need assistance with their first drafts, want to create a resume quickly, or simply don’t enjoy writing resumes.

The AI-generated content saves time, incorporates relevant keywords, and ensures your resume stands out.

PROS	CONS
AI generates the first draft of your resume within one minute	Limited options available for free resumes
Easy-to-use interface with expert tips throughout the process Templates designed by HR experts and typographers

Available Resume Templates

Kickresume offers 35+ professionally designed resume templates. Four of these templates are available for free, while the remaining are premium options.

Verdict

Kickresume is a powerful, easy-to-use resume-building tool that simplifies the resume creation process.

Although some personalization may still be required, the AI-generated content saves valuable time and ensures relevancy thanks to its use of keywords. I think this builder is a good option if you don’t mind paying.

Plus, you’ll get access to proofreading and other features.

7. Canva: Best for Design Creativity and Expression

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If you‘re applying for a creative role or want a resume that truly lets you stand out, you might consider using one of Canva’s hundreds of free designer templates.

Canva‘s selections are incredibly varied and unique, so you’ll undoubtedly find one you like, and inputting resume sections can be as easy as copy-and-paste.

Best For

Canva is best for those looking for resume design creativity and expression.

Although not specifically designed for resume building, the tool offers a wide variety of templates, layouts, and designs to choose from when creating your resume.

PROS	CONS
Easy-to-use interface	No option to upload an existing resume, so you must start from scratch with each new resume
Hundreds of free designer templates	Difficult to edit design elements
Templates are categorized by industry	Canva’s PDF formatting can interfere with ATS

Available Resume Templates

Hundreds of templates, organized in categories, such as Graphic Design, Corporate, and Creative. This makes it easy to choose based on your preferred industry.

Verdict

In my experience, Canva can help you create a unique and visually stunning resume.

But if you’re looking for help formatting, writing, or editing your resume, you may want to look for another tool, since Canva focuses more on design and layout.

8. Pixpa: Best for Creating Online Resume Websites

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Pixpa provides an excellent solution for creating professional online resume websites that showcase your skills, experience, and accomplishments in a visually appealing and user-friendly manner.

It is particularly beneficial for job seekers, freelancers, and creative professionals who want to make a strong impression in the competitive job market.

With Pixpa, users can easily create visually stunning and customized resume websites that go beyond traditional paper resumes.

Best For

Pixpa is ideally suited for individuals who want to stand out in the job market and present their credentials effectively.

It caters to jobseekers, freelancers, creative professionals, and anyone looking to create a unique and visually striking online resume.

PROS	CONS
Create visually stunning and professional-looking resumes	No free plans are available
With a drag-and-drop editor, Pixpa makes it easier to customize your resume to match your personal brand and style.	Advanced coding customization may have limitations.
Easy to integrate resume with your portfolio	Unable to import or upload an existing resume or LinkedIn profile

Available Resume Templates

Pixpa offers 30+ beautiful personal and CV website templates that can be fully customized. Overall, there are 150+ templates available.

Verdict

I think Pixpa is a reliable resume website builder that offers a user-friendly interface and customizable templates.

9. Indeed: Best for In-Platform Job Seekers

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Creating an Indeed resume is an incredibly quick process. Best of all, the site allows you to automatically share your resume with employers on Indeed as soon as you‘re finished.

If you’ve already completed a resume, it’s still a good idea to upload it to the site for exposure to potential employers.

While Indeed doesn‘t offer as many options for creativity as some of the others on this list, it’s an impressive option if you want to create a more traditional resume and start sharing it right away.

Just add your pre-written resume content, add it to a template, and download your resume as a PDF.

Best For

In my experience, Indeed’s free resume builder is best for those looking to jumpstart their job search immediately after creating their resume.

It guides you through the resume creation process with expert advice and prompts to help your resume catch employers’ attention. Resumes created using Indeed’s free resume builder are designed to be viewed and picked up by ATS.

PROS	CONS
Free	Only eight templates
Includes expert tips and advice	Limited design and customization options
Templates compatible with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)	Unable to import or upload an existing resume or LinkedIn profile

Available Resume Templates

This resume builder has eight simple templates, including Executive, Modern, and Minimalist.

Verdict

Indeed’s resume builder is a straightforward option, which I enjoyed. They aren’t trying to sell you a product or require you to make an account. This resume builder is most useful if you’ve already used a resume template to write each section.

It‘s a quick way to make your resume look clean and professional, but if you’re looking for writing help or advice, you may want a more comprehensive tool.

10. Resume.com: Best for Minimalist Resume Creation

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With Resume.com, you can build a beautiful resume in minutes.

This tool is an excellent choice if you’re looking for recommendations on what to include in your resume. This resume website also has popular templates for various job categories to help you stand out from the competition.

To use this for free, when you‘re at the last stage, you’ll see a pop-up that says to create an account — instead, just click “Skip for now.” Then, in the top right-hand corner, you can click the download button.

Best For

Resume.com is great for jobseekers looking to quickly create a professional resume. This 100% free resume builder provides resume examples to help you during the process.

PROS	CONS
Completely free	Limited options for design and customization
LinkedIn importing	No pre-written content
Share, print, and download in multiple formats	Minimal guidance for resume creation

Available Resume Templates

This tool offers 15 simple resume templates, including Apollo, Tempe, and Terra.

Verdict

Resum.com is easy to use and offers general tips to inspire your resume creation.

That said, if you haven‘t already written a resume you love, it doesn’t offer any personalized help to improve your resume.

11. Novoresume: Best for ATS-Friendly Resume Building

 

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If you want a quick, modern, and professional resume, check out Novoresume.

This tool is especially popular for creative industries such as graphic design, writing, or marketing. Its drag-and-drop editor helps you customize your resume to your needs.

Plus, its “Content Analyzer” tool can give you ideas for content, formatting, and design. I think it’s an excellent resume builder if you’re changing careers or need an all-in-one resume tool.

Best For

Novoresume is an excellent choice if you want an ATS-friendly resume. The platform checks for relevant keywords and resume format for ATS system optimization.

Its templates are eye-catching but still meet the strict ATS guidelines. Plus, Noveresume has a free ATS checker to scan your final document.

PROS	CONS
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) Optimized	Limited features in the free version
User-friendly interface	Some features are only available with premium pricing
Modern design and formatting	Limited options for layout changes

Available Resume Templates

This tool offers eight free resume templates and more with the premium version.

Verdict

Novoresume offers a range of features to create a well-designed and easy-to-read resume that you can quickly download to PDF.

But many features come with premium pricing, and I didn’t like that there’s no option to upload an existing resume for editing.

12. VisualCV: Best for Multimedia Resumes

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Creative industries like photography, advertising, and design often like to see a resume with visual appeal. While many resume builders offer fetching designs, Visual CV offers a drag-and-drop editor to create a truly custom resume.

This tool also gives you a chance to track the performance of your online resume and multimedia extras. This lets you update your resume and attachments with data-driven ideas.

I liked that it also gives you three options for creating a resume: import your existing resume, work off of a pre-written resume, or start from scratch.

The pre-written feature exists in some other resume builders, but mostly as an AI-generated paragraph for certain parts of the resume.

Best For

Besides an appealing resume, creatives often submit multimedia applications with an online portfolio, videos, images, or links. This resume builder makes it simple to add media directly to your resume, adding interaction and visual engagement.

PROS	CONS
Multimedia resume options	Primarily for creative professionals
Customizable drag-and-drop editing	Limited features in the free version
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) optimized templates	Some complicated or difficult-to-use features

Available Resume Templates

This tool has over 20 attractive templates, including Denali, Quartz, and Fuji.

Verdict

Visual CV is a great way to create an attractive and professional resume with loads of premium choices. While technically a free tool, without upgrading to a paid account, you’ll have a large watermark on your new resume PDF.

13. CakeResume: Best for Resumes With an Online Portfolio

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CakeResume is one of the best resume websites for creative resumes. It offers customizable templates and a rich media editor to embed videos, images, and PDF files directly into your resume. It also includes resume optimization for ATS.

Make your resume stand out without coding experience using this simple interface and drag-and-drop tools.

Once you’ve designed your resume, you can preview it to make sure your final resume is formatted correctly, then click “Download PDF” to save your new resume.

Best For

This resume builder is for job seekers who want to add an online portfolio, video, quote, or slideshow to their resume.

Your online portfolio can include recent projects to help you stand out from other candidates and get to the job interview stage.

PROS	CONS
Create a resume with an online portfolio	Limited to one free resume
User-friendly drag-and-drop design features	Limited features with the free version
ATS optimization

Available Resume Templates

CakeResume offers 10+ multimedia-friendly resume templates.

Verdict

This resume builder is excellent for creating resumes that incorporate other media or important links. But it doesn‘t include tips for writing, so it’s useful to use a resume template for drafting your resume before using this resume design tool.

I also wish that there was an option to import your existing resume, but the option to import from LinkedIn is good.

14. Resume Now: Best for Time-Saving Resume Creation

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Creating a custom resume for each job application is ideal, but it can also be a headache because of the time drafting a resume can take.

But Resume Now is an intuitive resume builder with a ton of customization choices. It offers key phrase and skill suggestions for both ATS and the recruiter you need to impress.

Smart templates, a clear interface, and useful advice make this a great tool for resume building in no time.

To download your resume, instead of clicking “Save and Next” at the bottom of the screen, click “Download.” Then, select Plain Text to download your resume for free. Other resume download formats will mean a charge.

Best For

Resume Now uses powerful templates and useful tools to speed up the resume creation process. This makes it perfect for job seekers who want to create a personalized resume for each application.

You can also make your resume interactive and track resume engagement once you’ve finished.

PROS	CONS
Pre-written content and tips for different job industries	May not offer depth and detail for technical or niche positions
User-friendly interface	Limited customization compared to other resume builders
Easy to customize	Free download is a .txt file; you must pay for a 14-day trial to download as a PDF or Word document

Available Resume Templates

Resume Now offers over 30 attractive resume templates.

Verdict

This is a comprehensive tool for efficient and effective resume building, but you lose the unique quality of the templates when using the free version only.

I like that you don’t need to make an account to start (although they will send you marketing emails once you input your email into your resume). I also like the option to import your resume, as it saves time.

15. ResumeNerd: Best for Resume Writing Help

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ResumeNerd is a super helpful tool for new job seekers who are creating resumes.

It offers dozens of pre-written bullet points, expert resume coaching, and customizable designs. If you’re not sure how to write a resume, this could be the resume builder for you.

Another bonus this builder offers is industry-specific resume samples. That said, if you’re looking for a free tool, this free download is .txt format only.

Best For

This resume builder is a top choice for help with writing a resume.

Its features include writing suggestions and pre-written sections for highlighting skills and experience. This tool is also super user-friendly for creating quick and polished resumes.

PROS	CONS
Pre-written phrases and bullet points	Limited features in the free version
Step-by-step resume-building instruction	Better for entry-level job seekers than experienced professionals
24/7 customer support	Some features are only available on the premium version

Available Resume Templates

This resume builder offers 13 unique templates, including Hospitality, Impresa, and Heron.

Verdict

ResumeNerd is a helpful resume builder for people building a first resume, but the suggestions and tips may not be as useful for people with more work history.

However, I do like the option to start your job search while building the resume to get tips on the specific skills you should add for that targeted position.

16. Jofibo: Best for Comprehensive Guides

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Jofibo is known for its intuitive and easy-to-use interface where you just have to enter your data and professional experiences.

The resume builder is one of the cheapest alternatives and lets you test all features for free before you decide whether or not to buy a subscription.

Best For

I like that Jofibo is there for you all the way during your job search.

With their comprehensive guides on how to write a resume, a cover letter, or how to prepare for a job interview you can always count on them for help. This tool offers expert tips during the entire resume writing process.

One of their biggest forces is their easy-to-use interface where everything is customizable down to the last detail.

PROS	CONS
Intuitive editor with resume templates across multiple industries	No option to upload existing resumes
Free tools available	Some features are only available with subscriptions
Detailed customization features

Available Resume Templates

There are 12 resume templates available which are all optimized for ATS. You can easily shift between templates when creating your resume.

Verdict

Jofibo is very easy to use and does not require any technical skills or knowledge to get started. The templates all offer a high level of customization so that you can create documents that match the exact requirements you may have.

You can try all features for free but if you want to download your documents, you will need to pay a small fee.

17. Hloom: Best for Resume Templates

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Whether you need a modern, creative, or traditional template, Hloom can help job seekers in any industry. This customizable and easy-to-use resume builder can help you create an eye-catching and ATS-friendly resume or CV.

This tool is comprehensive too — you can add fonts or images to amp up your design or use the resume writing tips to improve your resume.

Best For

Hloom offers a selection of over 400 professional resume templates. You can edit any template to your specific needs, saving time and effort.

This platform also offers cover letter and reference templates to keep your personal branding consistent across your job applications.

PROS	CONS
400+ resume templates	Free downloads are limited to .txt files
Industry-specific templates	No multimedia support
Drag-and-drop customization features

Available Resume Templates

HLoom has over 400 templates available and offers categories to help you find the best template for your needs.

Verdict

I think HLoom is a simple and straightforward resume builder that offers a range of templates and tips for resume creation.

Like many other tools, users need to pay to get all the benefits of designed templates, as it limits free downloads to Plain Text files.

What’s the best resume builder?

The answer to that question depends on your needs. All the tools and tips I have shared above should help guide you to the resume builder that is the best fit for you and your needs.

Building a resume can feel overwhelming, and like you’re staring at a blank canvas. But with an online resume builder, you can get recommendations, formatting and content tips, and build a beautiful document that will stand out and highlight your skills.

Choose the resume builder that meets your needs and fits your industry and personal style, and you’ll be well on your way to earning a second look from hiring managers.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and was updated for comprehensiveness.

There’s no end to the number of newsletters you can subscribe to. Email marketers have a lot to compete with in their subscribers’ inboxes.

If you’re wondering how email marketers get through, check out free email newsletter templates that make it easier to design a newsletter.

That’s why a solid newsletter template is crucial to designing an email that people are encouraged to click through. Discover some of my favorites below, plus tips for encouraging engagement.

Table of Contents

• Free Email Newsletter Templates
• Best Places to Find Newsletter Templates
• How to Customize Email Newsletter Templates to Increase Engagement

If done well, email newsletters can do wonders to help you build an engaged subscriber base, keep your business top-of-mind, and nurture leads that are already making their way down the funnel.

However, “done well” means more than just serving up great content. In fact, an often overlooked component of the newsletter creation process is the design.

Don’t have time to build out a custom template from scratch?

I’ve scoured the internet for the best resources for email newsletter templates and compiled them below.

Many of the templates have also been pre-tested for compatibility with major email service providers (ESPs) via Litmus — a web service that allows you to preview the way your email will look on different email clients and devices.

Once you find one you like, download the template and customize it to fit your needs. Depending on compatibility, you can even try out newsletter layouts on Google, Outlook, and other email providers.

1. HubSpot

Start using HubSpot’s free Email Template Builder

Price: Free and paid options available

If you’re a Marketing Hub user, HubSpot offers a great collection of email templates you can use on your next marketing email.

No need to log out and search for a template in another marketplace; these templates are available to you right within the tool.

Once you choose a template, you can start using it immediately right in HubSpot — no HTML or CSS required. I specifically use HubSpot for the templates because of how easy they are to use and the variety of options available.

What I like: HubSpot provides a complete, end-to-end solution for all your marketing requirements since it provides access to our comprehensive CRM, centralizing your customer data.

As an email marketing platform, you can look through hundreds of templates tailored to your subject, content type, customer profile, and customer stage in your funnel. These templates can be customized using your unique customer information in the CRM.

The email solution offers excellent analytics and A/B testing capabilities, so you can keep improving your marketing plan over time.

2. Litmus

Price: Free

Litmus offers a free email template collection — from newsletter templates to account management templates. All of the templates have been tested with the platform.

While you are required to create a Litmus account with your email address to access the templates, the templates themselves are free of charge.

What I like: Along with the multiple template options, Litmus provides strong customization options like countdown timers to highlight the urgency of a sale or event, progress bars to encourage brand loyalty, and real-time sentiment monitors, which can increase email engagement and revenue.

With its easy-to-use email builder, you can effortlessly access AI-powered email content optimization capabilities such as suggested subject lines and alternate body text tones. Something that I think is quite time-saving in this day and age!

3. ConvertKit

Price: Free and paid options

ConvertKit is a creative email template platform that’s a great option for bloggers, course creators, and more. ConvertKit comes with email automation tools, sign-up forms, and many more integrations.

To use ConvertKit’s email newsletter templates, you’ll need to sign up for a plan, but the good news is that they offer both free and pro subscriptions.

While this platform is more on the creative side, its vast array of templates and tool integrations will help businesses in any industry upgrade their email newsletter.

What I like: Since ConvertKit is mostly aimed at digital content creators, it helps you grow your subscriber lists, send targeted newsletters, increase product sales, and establish membership sites. You can also easily embed email marketing and subscriber forms anywhere on your WordPress website.

What I find unique about ConvertKit is its ability to use the A/B test function to compare two distinct subject lines.

It will split-test the subject lines (15% for each line) for the first 30% of your emails. The other 70% of the emails will have the subject line that receives the most opens.

4. ZURB: Foundation for Emails

Price: Free

ZURB Studios has 11 responsive email templates available for free, including the newsletter one below. It has a great, fluid layout you can customize with your own colors, images, and wording.

If you want to see how each template looks on different email clients, you can check out screenshots from each template’s email client tests, which are available on the site. These layouts are optimized for most email clients — except for outdated versions of Outlook.

The template kit comes with a separate CSS stylesheet and HTML file to ease the editing process. Most email code editors will place the CSS in line with the HTML itself after both are uploaded separately.

If you’re going to add images to your newsletter, keep in mind that you’ll have to create a separate folder and compress it with the CSS stylesheet before uploading.

What I like: I personally find Zurb’s Masterclass best — because it’s perfect for beginners to learn how to use the templates. You even get three free tutorials on responsive email design.

Pro tip: Once you’ve selected a template, use HubSpot’s free email marketing software to craft your message and send a newsletter out to the world!

5. Postcards

Price: Free, Plus — $16 per month, and Pro — $24 per month

Postcards provides some of the best-designed email template builders on the market that are up-to-date and require no previous coding experience.

With Postcards, you can easily create professional-looking emails with their pre-designed email templates that are customizable.

Their email builder is a game-changer for marketers, designers, and developers who want to streamline their email creation process and focus on what matters: crafting engaging content and design.

What I like: You know why I think Postcards works so well? It’s a no-code platform with exceptional content history and enterprise-level collaboration features. You can store your work in the detailed version history, allowing you to go back in time and recover a successful email template.

6. Flodesk

Price: Free for 30 days

Flodesk is an upcoming email newsletter design platform with over 3,000 email templates and designs to enhance your email marketing. Moreover, I’m a big fan of their contemporary template designs, which are quite eye-catching.

Aside from giving you access to a vast array of templates, Flodesk lets you connect your ecommerce site to help with automation and analytics.

Another benefit of Flodesk is that its subscription price ($38/month) is a flat fee. So, whether you’re sending 200 or 2,000 emails, you’ll pay the same price, and you’ll never have to upgrade your subscription to get all of the perks.

Pro tip: Want to segment your customers when sending them newsletters? Well, Flodesk allows you to sort your audience so that you stay as relevant as possible.

7. 99designs

Price: Free

99designs is a growing online community and collaboration platform for designers and small businesses, and they have a great designer blog and business blog.

As a free offering to their blog readers, they released a set of 45 free email templates — perfect for newsletters, promotional messages, and personalized responses. All of the templates are fully responsive and compatible with all major email clients.

Pro tip: What I think is great about 99designs is that you can also start a design contest to test custom email template options from various designers.

8. Moosend

Price: Free for 30 days, Pro — $9 per month, Enterprise — custom

Moosend is an email marketing platform that makes it easy to design custom emails with a drag-and-drop editor and over 70 premade templates.

Moosend also tracks analytics and sends personalized automated emails to subscribers based on their interests and behavior. If you’re interested in landing pages and subscription templates, it includes those as well.

Moosend analyzes your subscriber base to help your business succeed. Like Flodesk, it lets you connect your ecommerce site to attract more subscribers and store all information in one place.

Moosend is free for the first 30 days, and then you would have to upgrade to pro status for $9/month. However, if you choose the annual pro plan, it comes up to $7/month.

Pro tip: There’s no need to export templates — you can actually send your email newsletters through the platform. This makes it that much more convenient, in my opinion.

9. Bee Free

Price: Free and paid options available

BEE Free is the ultimate solution for creating captivating emails without any coding skills. With its extensive library of over 1,500 responsive templates, you’ll have a wide range of options to bring your email designs to life.

Plus, I love that there’s no sign up needed. You can just start as is.

They provide a drag-and-drop functionality that empowers you to create on-brand newsletter emails easily, ensuring your message resonates with your audience.

Its collaborative features enable multiple team members to work together seamlessly on email templates, streamlining your workflow and boosting productivity.

BEE Free’s seamless integration with Hubspot allows you to effortlessly export your email designs for a smooth transition.

With its extensive template library, user-friendly interface, and seamless HubSpot integration, you can create stunning, responsive email designs in no time.

Pro tip: There’s even an option to hire a designer on the platform who can help you customize your email templates.

10. Campaign Monitor

Price: Free for 30 days, plans start at $11per month

Campaign Monitor is another free email newsletter template and marketing platform. With a variety of email templates for newsletters, welcome emails, and promotional campaigns, Campaign Monitor makes designing emails easy.

Campaign Monitor also compiles your analytics and tracks when emails are sent, delivered, and opened.

For many businesses, email marketing needs to connect to their website or ecommerce site, and Campaign Monitor does just that.

Campaign Monitor has it all when it comes to templates and helps you maximize your sales by staying on-brand and creating a seamless customer experience.

What I like: Campaign Monitor has one of the most unique features I’ve encountered in an email builder. That is — you can lock specific areas of the template so that your team alters only the information you want them to. This protects your brand identity and important business data.

11. MailerLite

Price: Free and paid plans available

MailerLite offers various newsletter templates for promotions, announcements, and more. With its trendy newsletter designs, MailerLite makes sure its customers stay up to date while sending newsletters.

You can customize the templates using either an HTML editor or a drag-and-drop editor. You’re also able to connect your MailerLite account to your website. MailerLite has features that allow you to grow your audience with landing pages, subscription forms, and pop-ups.

MailerLite provides data insights as well. One thing I find useful about MailerLite is that they will send your emails based on your customers’ time zones, allowing you to send emails that get the most opens. MailerLite also provides A/B split testing tools so you can identify the best version of every email you send.

Pro tip: With the free plan, you can create your own custom templates. However, if you want to access their template options, you’ll have to look into their paid plans.

12. Sender

Price: Free and paid options available

Sender is an all-in-one email and SMS marketing platform for ecommerce and small to medium-sized businesses who want to reach out to their customers at an affordable and accessible price.

Sender provides delivery-friendly text and branded HTML email newsletters to connect with your email subscribers and biggest fans.

Choose from a library of 35+ visually stunning, premium-feel newsletter design templates that are fully customizable to your specific business requirements.

In addition, all templates have responsiveness baked into the design so that your emails are guaranteed to play nice on mobile devices.

Besides offering advanced email marketing features such as segmentation and automation, Sender also allows you to design highly responsive and eye-catching pop-ups and forms to attract sign-ups and execute SMS marketing for higher conversions.

Sender has a ton of affordable price points and capabilities even in their free account. With the Free Forever plan, you can send up to 15,000 emails every month to 2,500 contacts at no cost, with premium features such as segmentation and automation bundled together.

What I like: The best part of using Sender is the access to their support team. And not to mention, I was surprised by their swift response time!

13. Constant Contact

Price: $12 per month or $80 per month

Do you run a non-profit? If so, this is the newsletter tool specifically for you. Constant Contact is an email newsletter builder that offers specific templates to help nonprofits raise funds and market their missions.

With hundreds of templates to choose from, you’ll be sure to find a design based on the template you need and what type of nonprofit you run.

The great thing about Constant Contact is the business analytics. While using the platform, you can see when emails are sent, delivered, opened, and shared. You will also be able to see top trends and send personalized emails to your clients.

Constant Contact also connects with your social media profiles, includes sign-up forms, and offers text message marketing tools.

Contacting your non-profit subscribers via text message can be a great advantage because people check their emails, but people check their text messages more.

While Constant Contact is not free, its features more than make up for it. You can start with the basic subscription ($12/month) or upgrade to a premium account ($80/month) to unlock all the features.

What I like: Fundraising is easier with their integration options, such as DonorPerfect, Blackbaud, Neon CRM, and Qgiv. I found it easy to add any features to promote the event properly.

14. Themezy

Price: Free

Download 16 free HTML, CSS, and PSD customizable email templates on Themezy. You don’t have to submit an email address to get started, and there are various color schemes and layouts to meet your email list’s needs.

Pro tip: The templates are designed to be responsive across devices to ensure that your subscribers can read your newsletter. So, if you’re sending emails on every gadget like I am, you can be sure that your template works regardless.

15. Drip

Price: Free for 14 days, then payments based on the number of subscribers

Drip offers email marketing and SMS marketing for ecommerce brands. Drip is a new platform that lets you set up email marketing campaigns through hundreds of customizable templates.

Along with their email newsletter templates, Drip offers excellent customer relations management tools, data analytics, and trend trackers. Through that, you can see how many of your customers bought red shoes within the last year.

As a result, you’ll be able to better market yourself through your campaigns. Drip also has integrations that you can connect to your WordPress website, so you can use Drip without being on Drip.

Drip lets you start with a free 14-day trial, and the cost of your subscription will depend on your number of contacts. For up to 500 contacts, it’s $19/month, and the price goes up from there.

Drip is beneficial to creators and ecommerce businesses because of the various marketing and analytics tools it offers. From email marketing to SMS marketing campaigns, Drip lets you effectively engage your customers.

What I like: You know what I find convenient about Drip? It comes with 150 native integrations, so you can use it with almost any marketing platform.

16. MailPortfolio by SliceJack

Price: Free

If your marketing strategy is heavily reliant on visuals, MailPortfolio is perfect for you. It’s a minimalist template with no added background distractions.

While it was made for those looking to display personal creative portfolios, it’s also suitable for larger businesses and organizations.

The template has been tested with Litmus, is responsive, and works perfectly on all email clients. (Note: older versions of Outlook may not render all of the fonts, and the Android Gmail app is not fully supported.)

Pro tip: Make sure you don’t use the stock images on the MailPortfolio template. You have to change them — otherwise, your newsletters won’t work as well. Something I learned the hard way.

17. Material Design by Paul Goddard

Price: Free

This template is based on Google’s Material Design and has a robotic-retro feel. It is perfect for sending out multi-purpose newsletters featuring new products, events, and other announcements at the same time.

This theme isn’t made for a specific industry, but the template is well-fitting for businesses looking for a timeless, technological look.

Material Design has been tested on Litmus, is compatible with all major ESPs, and is responsive. While its main attraction is its unique design, this theme download also includes customizable HTML files.

Pro tip: What I’ve learned is that if you’re having trouble downloading the template, you can access it from Paul’s Google Drive link, too.

18. Briar by SliceJack

Price: Free

Briar is the perfect newsletter template for marketers looking for a fluid, minimalist design featuring images and text that don’t overshadow each other.

It’s perfect for sending out regular newsletters, and you can customize the inline CSS files.

The template has been tested with Litmus and works with all major ESPs. However, some older versions of Outlook may not render all Google fonts. Also, the Android Gmail app is not fully supported.

Pro tip: One hack I learned is that you can easily use these templates for your MailChimp campaigns with their own HTML file.

19. EmailOctopus

Price: Free

EmailOctopus is a marketing service that launched a series of 11 templates that can be used to create newsletters for a variety of industries.

Whether you’re marketing for a fashion brand or a medical supply company, one of the templates will fit your needs.

The templates have the “typical” newsletter look but allow you to add product announcements, feature stories, and CTAs wherever you’d like.

All of the templates can be modified through any WYSIWYG editor, and the downloads include the HTML files.

These templates have been tested through Litmus across all major ESPs and are responsive to all screen sizes.

What I like: EmailOctopus is also GDPR compliant, so I find using all their free templates safe.

20. MailBluster

Price: Free and paid options available

MailBluster brings you an interactive solution for the best email newsletter design. Apart from all the essential email marketing features, MailBluster includes a hefty lot of free email newsletter templates.

Choose from a mass collection of their newsletter templates or create from scratch to build your own. Also, you can customize your own template by editing the existing one from their large template gallery.

These templates are compatible with all major ESPs. Combined with their powerful drag-and-drop editor and email automation feature, you can automate your email newsletter effectively.

Additionally, MailBluster also features interactive real-time tracking and reporting, list segmentation, A/B testing for email marketers, and more.

So, design eye-catching email templates and boost your sales via MailBluster!

What I like: MailBluster offers a free option that allows you to send 62k monthly emails and unlimited subscribers. This is probably the best deal for any company wanting bulk email services. Plus, what I love most is that they provide one-to-one support regardless of the price tier you’re in.

1. Feshto by Liramail

Price: $59 for an all-in-one bundle

Feshto is an email bundle that helps ecommerce companies feature products in their newsletters and share testimonials from satisfied customers. It comes with a weekly digest module, which is their version of a newsletter.

The module features a chic, clean design that ensures your images and copy are not distracting from each other. You can choose from their various layouts, such as “Weekly Digest,” “City Story,” and “Blog Article.”

As mentioned, these templates are perfect for product features and testimonials from satisfied customers. While the default themes are black and white, you can make edits in your preferred WYSIWYG editor.

Feshto’s templates are responsive and compatible with all major ESPs.

2. ThemeForest

Price: $6-$29 per template

ThemeForest is an awesome resource for email templates if you have some budget to spend. Their library has over 460 newsletter templates in all different colors, styles, and themes.

The templates are rated using a four-star system, and you can filter by rating, price, recency, and popularity.

Here’s one example from its library:

Market – Responsive Newsletter with Template Builder ($20)

This template has eight prebuilt layouts, 24 color variations, 24 full-layered PSD files, and more. Plus, it’s supported by all major email clients.

3. HubSpot Email Copy Templates

Price: Free

If you’re looking for written templates that you can put into your email tool, these are the templates for you.

HubSpot offers free email templates that empower you to market and sell your business over email without writing a single line from scratch. These free email template downloads save you time and money.

The templates can be downloaded right to your computer and can be used by any type of business.

4. Mailchimp

Price: Free to $350 per month

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps small and large businesses scale and grow their business through marketing techniques and automations.

Mailchimp has a variety of pre-made templates in its email newsletter tool.

Aside from giving you over 100 designs to choose from, Mailchimp also gives you the option to download their Email Blueprints, which allows you to customize HTML templates.

5. ActiveCampaign

Price: Free to $259 a month

ActiveCampaign is a full-service email provider that offers email marketing automation and CRM tools.

Its library of newsletter templates allows you to create conversion-optimized, visually impactful emails without touching a single line of code.

ActiveCampaign is free, but you will need to sign up for an account to use and view their email templates. You can use the majority of their templates for free, but if you want some customization, you’ll want to upgrade to a paid account.

6. Canva

Price: Free — custom pricing per month

Canva is an online graphics software that provides free templates for a multitude of things like Instagram posts, resumes, and email newsletters.

Canva is a great tool because you can find free templates for specific niches like fashion, tech, culinary, and many more.

While there is a paid tier, many of the premade templates are free, and you can add your own customizations without having to pay extra.

7. Adobe Express

Price: Premium — $9.99 per month, teams — $12.99 per month

Adobe Express, formerly known as Adobe Spark, is another browser-based graphic design tool that has a multitude of templates and functions to help any company create a newsletter.

Similar to Canva, Adobe offers premade templates based on industry categories like photography, architecture, and fashion. To access the templates, you must sign up for an account with Adobe.

8. CakeMail

Price: Free

CakeMail is an email marketing tool that includes user-friendly automation tools and allows you to create customizable emails for any person, occasion, and niche.

CakeMail offers over 50 free editable email templates that are divided into smaller niche categories.

One of the advantages of CakeMail is that you do not have to sign up to use the email templates provided, but if you would like to see how your email campaigns are performing, you can register for an account.

9. MJML

Price: Free

MJML is an HTML-based email designer. They have a wide variety of free templates that are customized for the type of email marketing your company is trying to do, including newsletters, promotions, and seasonal emails.

Once you find a template that you like, MJML allows you to see the template and the HTML code in real time as you edit it.

Because MJML is HTML-based, you will have to copy your code and transfer it to the HTML editor in an email marketing service to use the template.

10. TemplateMonster

Price: Varies, pay per template

TemplateMonster offers a variety of email newsletter templates, all of which are available for relatively low prices.

Their templates are clean, customizable, and easy to use, and they’re compatible with most major email clients, such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Additionally, the templates come with built-in responsive layouts for screen adaptability and PSD sources for a litany of customization options.

11. Microsoft Office Templates

Price: Free and paid email templates

Microsoft Office has a variety of tools, including extensive templates that can be used for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

You can further narrow down your templates depending on the category of your business. While Microsoft does offer free templates, they are limited. For paid templates, you have to download Microsoft 365.

How to Customize Email Newsletter Templates to Increase Engagement

1. Choose headings wisely.

To help with the overall flow of your email, you need to refine your headings and subheadings.

Not only do they draw attention to the most important parts of your newsletter, but they also divide sections and give your text a visual hierarchy to help readers process information in the correct sequence.

2. Create a cohesive look.

Choose consistent typography, colors, and spacing to give your email a cohesive look. You’ll want to choose colors that complement each other and don’t overwhelm the eye.

Knowing a little color theory will pay off and help you create engaging emails.

3. Add your logo and brand colors.

Speaking of cohesiveness, swapping the template’s stock colors for your own branding can quickly create a cohesive design. Use your own logos and brand color scheme so that all of your marketing materials have a similar theme.

4. Keep it short.

No one wants to open a newsletter to see a wall of text. You want your messaging to be concise so that readers can quickly scan it while getting all the pertinent information they need.

5. Put images to use.

Images can greatly increase the readability of your newsletter and provide much-needed buffers between text.

Images and infographics are also great ways to display information in an engaging way. They should be high-quality and in line with your brand’s messaging.

6. Make it mobile-friendly.

As more people use phones to access email, you’ll want to make sure your newsletter has a mobile-friendly design. Choose a responsive design that adapts to whatever mode (tablet, mobile, or desktop) your readers are using.

7. Use clear CTAs.

Increase conversions and engagement by using attention-grabbing CTAs. Entice your readers to click using persuasive language, eye-pleasing colors, and proper placement.

Using a contrasting color design will help your CTA stand out. I find that adding a well-designed button can attract subscribers’ attention and prompt them to take action.

8. Test and make adjustments.

To find the best newsletter format, you’ll need to use A/B testing to determine which performs better. Test out different designs over a set period of time, compare results, and go with the one that performs the best.

Get Started on Your Email Marketing Newsletter

Ready to draft your next email newsletter campaign?

Download one of the excellent newsletter templates from the template galleries and landing pages above. Then, learn how to craft an email newsletter your audience will want to engage with.

Editor’s Note: The post was originally published in December 2018 but was updated for comprehensiveness in December 2019.

Duplicate data is the bane of spreadsheet solutions, especially at scale. Given the volume and variety of data now entered by teams, it’s possible that duplicate data in tools like Google Sheets may be relevant and necessary, or it could be a frustrating distraction from the primary purpose of spreadsheet efforts.

The potential problem raises a good question: How do you highlight duplicates in Google Sheets?

I’ve got you covered with a step-by-step look at how to highlight duplicates in Google Sheets and find duplicates in Google Sheets, complete with images to ensure you’re on the right track when it comes to de-duplicating your data.

Table of Contents

• How to Find Duplicates in Google Sheets
• Highlighting Duplicate Data in Google Sheets
• Step-by-Step: How to Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets (With Pictures)
• How to Highlight Duplicates in Multiple Rows and Columns
• How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets

How to Find Duplicates in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a free, cloud-based alternative to proprietary spreadsheet programs and — no surprise, since it’s Google we’re dealing with — offers a host of great features to help streamline data entry, formatting, and calculations.

There are two ways to remove duplicates in Google Sheets: conditional formatting and the UNIQUE function. I’ll go over both below, but, before you start following along, I have two things to note: 

1. You can run multiple conditional formatting rules at a time, so you don’t need to delete any to run your conditional formatting rule to delete duplicates. 
2. You won’t get an accurate duplicate count if you have any extra characters or spaces in your data, so you need to make sure your set is clean. Even an accidental extra space will count it as a separate data point.

Let’s dive into how you can highlight and remove duplicates in Google Sheets. 

Highlighting Duplicate Data in Google Sheets

Google Sheets has all the familiar functions: File, Edit, View, Format, Data, Tools, etc., and makes it easy to quickly enter your data, add formulas for calculations, and discover key relationships. 

While other spreadsheet tools, such as Excel, have built-in conditional formatting tools to pinpoint duplicate data in your sheet, Google’s solution requires a little more manual effort. 

So how do you automatically highlight duplicates in Google Sheets? While there’s no built-in tool for this purpose, you can leverage some built-in functions to highlight duplicate data.

Step-by-Step: How to Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets (With Pictures)

Here’s a step-by-step guide to highlighting duplicates in Google Sheets:

Step 1: Open your spreadsheet.

Step 2: Highlight the data you want to check.

Step 3: Under “Format”, select “Conditional Formatting.”

Step 4: Select “Custom formula is.”

Step 5: Enter the custom duplicate checking formula.

Step 6: Click “Done” to see the results.

Step 1: Open your spreadsheet.

First, head to Google Sheets and open the spreadsheet you want to check for duplicate data.

Step 2: Highlight the data you want to check.

Next, drag your cursor over the data you want to check to highlight it.

Step 3: Under “Format”, select “Conditional Formatting.”

Now, head to “Format” in the top menu row and select “Conditional Formatting.” You should then see a popup window titled “Conditional format rules.” 

Step 4: Select “Custom formula is.”

Next, you need to create a custom formula. Click the down arrow underneath “Format cells if,” and select “Custom formula is” from the dropdown menu. It’s the last option to choose from, so you can scroll right to the end.

Step 5: Enter the custom duplicate checking formula.

To search for duplicate data, we need to enter the custom duplicate checking formula, which for our column of data (A) looks like this:

=COUNTIF(A:A,A1)>1

The formula searches for any text string that appears more than once in a data set. The default highlight color is green, but you can change it by clicking on the paint can icon in the “Formatting style” menu. 

Step 6: Click “Done” to see the results.

And voilà — we’ve highlighted the duplicate data in Google Sheets.

How to Highlight Duplicates in Multiple Rows and Columns

You can also highlight duplicates in multiple rows and columns if you have a larger data set. The process starts the same as above, but you enter an expanded data range in the Conditional format rules menu to account for all the cells you want to compare. 

I’ll use the same example above as a starting point, but I’ll add a few more names so we use a formula to search across three columns: A, B, and C, and also across rows 1-10.

To start, repeat steps two – four from above, but enter the following equation during step 5: 

=COUNTIF($A$2:G,Indirect(Address(Row(),Column(),)))>1

This will highlight all duplicates across all three columns and all ten rows, making it easy to spot data doppelgangers:

Find and Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets With the Unique Function

Another way to find duplicates in Sheets is to use the UNIQUE function, which looks for the unique values in your designated range and produces a duplicate-free list. Here’s the formula: 

=UNIQUE(RANGE)

Note: This formula can only identify duplicates in a single column. 

There’s only one step to this method, which is entering your formula into an empty cell. Continuing with the same data set from above, I entered =UNIQUE(A1:A10). The image below is my duplicate-free list (on the left).

To use the UNIQUE function to find duplicates in multiple columns and rows, use this formula: 

 =UNIQUE(TOCOL(RANGE))

A drawback to using the UNIQUE function to find duplicates in Google Sheets is that it spits out a separate duplicate-free list instead of highlighting and deleting them. It creates an added step since you’ll have to manually remove duplicates with your new list as a reference, so I recommend this method for those with a smaller data set who don’t mind a few manual updates. 

Alternatively, this method is an excellent option for producing a cleaned list to start fresh.

How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets

In addition to highlighting duplicates, you can also use Google Sheets to delete duplicates with the Data Cleanup feature. Below, I’ll show you how.

Step 1: Select any cell.

Step 2: Navigate to the header toolback, select “Data,” then “Data cleanup,” then “Remove duplicates.”

Step 3: In the popup window, select the columns you want to delete duplicate data from, then select “Remove duplicates.

Note: If you have a sheet header, make sure to select “Data has a header row” so it’s not included in the duplicate search. 

All duplicates are now gone!

Dealing With Duplicates in Duplicates in Google Sheets

Can you highlight duplicates in Google Sheets? Absolutely. While the process takes more effort than some other spreadsheet solutions, it’s easy to replicate once you’ve done it once or twice, and once you’re comfortable with the process you can scale up to find duplicates across rows, columns, and even much larger data sets.

Besides your content, using one of the best fonts for resumes may help you get a recruiter’s attention. Studies have shown recruiters typically scan a resume for six to thirty seconds before deciding if an applicant is fit for a role.

With only a few seconds to demonstrate your qualifications for a position, every detail counts — including the font you use. The question is, what are the best resume fonts to pass the six to thirty-seconds scan?

I asked HubSpot recruiters to reveal the seven best fonts for your resume and what they consider in terms of design ‌so your resume can stand out in a pile.

Table of Contents

• What is the best font for a resume?
• Expert Advice on Choosing the Right Font
• Top 7 Best Fonts for Resumes
• Does Using The Best Resume Fonts Even Matter?
• Worst Fonts for Resumes
• Ideal Resume Font Sizes
• Resume Font Tips
• Choosing a Resume Font: FAQs

Featured Resource: 12 Free Resume Templates

Download Now

What is the best font for a resume?

Here’s a hot take — I don’t think there is one best font for a resume.

I think most folks would lean toward Times New Roman or Calibri, but there are so many factors that go into choosing a font that works best for you.

• What industry are you in? Certain industries, like law, have font standards, so it’s not a bad idea to align your resume accordingly.
• Is your resume text-heavy? Some fonts work better in smaller sizes and in tighter formats than others.
• What’s the company culture like? Times New Roman might be a great fit for lawyers, but it might not be the best choice if you’re joining a company with more of a relaxed vibe.

So, my non-answer is … it depends.

If I absolutely had to pick my favorite, I’m going with Helvetica because it’s clean, simple, and easy to read (even in smaller sizes). Plus, it’s available on most, if not all, devices.

But don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear what the experts have to say.

Expert Advice on Choosing the Right Font

To evoke a sense of style, professionalism, and uniqueness, you must put effort and consideration into your font choice. When speaking with recruiters, it quickly became apparent that classic fonts are still the best options.

“I’m a big fan of the ‘classics’ for resumes — Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, and Cambria. I’m a little old school, but I think they are the cleanest and exude professionalism,” said Johanna Fleming, a former senior recruiter at HubSpot.

Riley Kundtz, the former senior MBA campus recruiter at HubSpot, agreed.

“I find the classic formatting and Times font helpful when reading a dense resume from an experienced MBA candidate.”

Times New Roman has become a bit controversial lately. It was the go-to font for many years because it’s traditional and recognizable, but lately, some are opting against it.

“For me, it’s all about legibility and cleanliness. I prefer sans-serif fonts like Helvetica, which is modern and elegant, over serif fonts like Times New Roman,” says Glory Montes, a technical recruiter at HubSpot.

“Overall, I would just stay away from a font like Times New Roman; it’s overused and reminds me of long nights writing course papers in college,” adds Glory.

Georgia is one font The New York Times uses and is similar to Times New Roman. It’s a bit wider, making it easier to read.

Paulina Valdez Franco, former executive recruiter at HubSpot, agrees with this take.

“My two favorite fonts are Helvetica if you’re looking for a clean and classic look, and Georgia, if you want a more modern and fun look,” she said. “The latter is also designed to read well on screens.”

Helvetica is widely used in advertising and works equally well for text-heavy pages and documents.

A lesser-known font that’s a great option for your resume is Garamond, recommended by our former team lead of engineering recruiting at HubSpot, Rich Lapham.

“Recruiters have an idea of the skills they are looking for on a resume, so if you try a new style or format, it can be tougher for recruiters to find the information they are looking for,” he said. “Keep it clean and simple.”

Franco added that Arial and Calibri are great choices to play it safe.

Bridget LeMon, HubSpot’s global emerging talent and university recruiting senior manager, echoes this.

“It’s totally acceptable – and becoming more common – for candidates to stray away from the resume norms of Times New Roman and Calibri,” she said. 

“Avenir Next and Muna are two excellent font options if you are looking to break the status quo.”

Ultimately, you‘ll want to consider the position you’re applying for when choosing a font. To Glory Montes’ point, certain more creative roles might benefit from a unique font than Times New Roman.

Best Fonts for Resume

1. Times New Roman

Times New Roman font has been popular for resumes for decades.

This serif option is easy-to-read and communicates formality. Online, the font is uniform and accessible across various platforms and operating systems.

Best for: Word documents. PDFs can host unique fonts. However, a standard font will be helpful if your resume is uploaded as a Word document.

Advantages

• It has a classic and professional look, making it an excellent choice for applicants targeting corporate positions.
• It’s a standard font used in most word processors, making it an accessible option for any device.
• It’s easily readable in print and on-screen.

Disadvantages

• Times New Roman’s outdated look may not appeal to all industries, and some may consider it bland or generic.
• This font may make your resume blend in with the rest due to its ubiquity.
• It’s a heavy serif font, taking up more space than other options.

2. Arial

Arial is a sans-serif font that has become popular for its clean and modern look. 

Arial’s straightforward and minimalist design has made it a popular choice for applicants targeting creative positions.

Best for: Resumes submitted online, where readability is essential for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) used in recruitment.

Advantages

• Arial offers simplicity, which allows your content to stand out. 
• It has strong legibility in small font sizes, even in print.
• It’s ideal for applicants trying to fit all the necessary information in their resume on a single page.

Disadvantages

• The font’s overuse in branding and design has led to its association with a non-innovative style. 
• Arial’s uniformity may not suit industries such as graphic design or creative writing seeking to showcase creativity and flair.
• It may make the text appear less formal and inappropriate for specific job applications.

3. Avenir Next

Avenir Next is a modern typeface gaining popularity among designers and recruiters. Avenir Next’s appearance is characterized by its geometric shapes, open contours, and strong lines.

Its clean, contemporary look has become a popular font choice for resumes.

What I love: Avenir Next is a scalable font. It maintains its readability even at small sizes, and its geometric shapes make it a perfect choice for digital resumes.

Advantages

• Avenir Next’s sleek and modern design makes it an excellent choice for applicants targeting creative industries.
• Its clear, simple lines offer a sense of elegance, while its legibility gives recruiters a sense of professionalism.

Disadvantages

• Avenir Next may not be as widely recognized.
• It could be difficult to read on some computer systems without the font installed.
• It’s a premium font with a higher price tag.

4. Helvetica

Helvetica is a widely recognized and popular font used on resumes, particularly in the design industry.

It’s clean, classic, and timeless. This font is popular with professionals, design enthusiasts, typographers, and Wes Anderson.

What I love: The font is available in multiple weights, making it easier to differentiate headings and sections in the resume.

Advantages

• Helvetica is easy to read and has a professional, straightforward appearance.
• The font‘s popularity means that job recruiters and hiring managers are familiar with it.
• Helvetica’s clean lines give the resume a structured and well-organized look, making it ideal for those in finance, law, and business management.

Disadvantages

• The font’s ubiquity in resumes may make it feel overdone and uninspired. 
• With so many applicants using the font, your resume may struggle to stand out.
• Helvetica‘s minimalist design can also work against you if your resume has limited content.

5. Calibri

Calibri is a contemporary design, making it a popular choice for creating a visually appealing and easy-to-read resume.

What I like: Calibri offers a sense of uniformity across different platforms, making it an accessible and reliable option for applicants.

Advantages

• The font has been designed with legibility in mind, making it an excellent option for resumes.
• Calibri’s modern look creates a sleek appearance, making it ideal for job seekers looking to highlight their contemporary skills.
• Calibri is also lighter than other font options, making it an ideal choice for single-page resumes.

Disadvantages

• Calibri is one of the default fonts available in most word-processing programs, so it’s not unique or personal.
• The font can be perceived as informal, making it less than ideal for formal industries, like law or finance.

6. Cambria

Cambria’s classic design features elegant serifs, making it a perfect choice for job seekers. You can easily create a traditional, professional-looking resume that stands out.

What I like: Cambria’s generous spacing between characters and lines makes the resume much easier to read and stands out from other fonts.

Advantages

• Cambria has a classic yet modern appearance.
• The font‘s serifs give it a timeless look that is perfect for job seekers in more traditional industries such as finance or law.
• It’s  highly readable, even in smaller font sizes, which makes it an excellent choice for information-heavy resumes.

Disadvantages

• Some recruiters and hiring managers might view the font as old-fashioned or generic.
• Cambria’s heavy serifs may be problematic for those trying to keep their resume to a single page.

7. Georgia

Georgia is a traditional serif font that has been a popular choice for resumes due to its elegant and classic look.

Georgia’s unique design features distinguishable serifs that give it a professional appearance.

What I like: The font’s design combines traditional and modern aesthetics, making it a versatile option for job seekers applying for a wide range of positions.

Advantages

• Georgia’s design is easy to read even in smaller font sizes, making it a perfect choice for resumes with limited space.
• It can be customized, which makes it an excellent option for applicants looking to add their personal touch.

Disadvantages

• The font’s traditional appearance may not be suitable for applicants targeting creative or non-traditional fields.
• It’s a serif, making it difficult to read in small sizes on a digital screen or in online applications.

Does using the best resume fonts even matter?

Most recruiters I spoke with were hesitant to offer a font. Instead, they focus on the content.

“I rarely pay too much attention to fonts,” said Heta Patel, a former HubSpot recruiter. “I’m more concerned to see a resume that’s formatted neatly – submitting a PDF is helpful with this, so your formatting doesn’t shift.”

Sales Recruiting Manager Kelsey Freedman agreed.

“Honestly, I care little about the font of a resume, as long as it’s clear and in PDF format,” Freedman said. “I typically review a resume for 20 to 30 seconds, so a traditional font is good.”

Freedman continued, “I would advise avoiding script font or bubble font, or similar fonts that are distracting.”

Ultimately, and as expected, your content still matters most. However, a clear font will help avoid any irritability you might cause a recruiter with a distracting, messy design.

“What I get most excited about is the content. Depending on the role, I look to see that candidates are sharing direct and compelling snapshots of their work,” said Ashley Hodder, a global recruiting manager at HubSpot.

“I look for indicators that show data orientation, autonomy, and thoughtfulness about business impact,” she said.

Worst Resume Fonts

While some recruiters may not have suggestions for the best fonts, many can agree on some of the worst ones.

“Anything that is cursive or too bubbly is too hard to read. For instance, I’d stay clear of Comic Sans,” says Holly Peterson, team lead for management and research recruiting HubSpot.

Another resume font type to avoid is Script.

With text-heavy documents, Scripts, and any of their derivatives make text hard to read because they look like they’re written by hand.

They’re generally used in hand lettering and calligraphy for artistic projects and shouldn’t be present anywhere near your resume.

Ideal Resume Font Size

When asked which font size is best, Fleming said 12 is ideal. Most recruiters would agree.

Your text should be large enough to read comfortably without straining but small enough that there’s space to include all key elements, such as your objective, contact information, skills, and experience.

You can use larger font sizes for headings containing your name and section titles.

If your font is extensive, you can scale to 10.5 — but never go below it.

The critical takeaway is to make your resume clear and easy to read, which means keeping the font size around 12, sticking to classic fonts with modern twists, and forsaking your favorite script font.

Resume Font Tips

1. Choose a font that’s best suited for your industry.

It’s important to keep industry nuances in mind as you’re writing. 

For example, a seasoned graphic designer wouldn’t dare use Comic Sans. And the standard font for most legal documents is Times New Roman.

This is not to say your resume font will make or break your chances of getting the job. But this small step can help demonstrate your attention to detail and your experience in the field.

Pro tip: Whenever I’m refreshing my resume, I like to browse examples in my industry for inspiration. It helps me make sure that I’m aligning the overall style with the position I’m applying for.

This is especially useful when I’ve been out of the job market for a while.

2. Keep the font consistent throughout.

Font consistency is just as important as font type and size. It can be confusing for recruiters if you’re switching back and forth between fonts.

And as I mentioned, you have about 30 seconds tops to make an impression. Make your resume scannable and easy-to-read at a glance.

Pro tip: If you’re going to mix fonts, at least make sure all text levels are the same throughout. For example, all titles and headers should be the same, and all paragraph fonts should match.

3. Be mindful of contrast and colors.

It’s fun to introduce colors into your resume — whether it’s background colors or adding some flare to your titles and headers.

But the most important part is readability. Don’t get carried away with bright or busy colors. You’ll end up taking away from the content on the page.

Pro tip: You can use a color contrast checker to make sure your resume is accessible and legible.

4. Pay attention to formatting.

Similar to font consistency, you’ll want to make sure your resume is well-formatted and organized.

Use headers to break up your sections, make sure your margins are at least half an inch on all sides, and use a font type with optimal clarity.

Recruiters get thousands of resumes per job listing. Make sure your resume catches their eye for good reason — not bad.

Pro tip: Just because your resume looks good on your computer, doesn’t mean it’ll look good on all computers. Save and send your resume as a PDF to ensure the formatting stays constant wherever it goes.

Choosing a Resume Font: FAQs

1. Should I choose a serif or sans-serif font for my resume?

This decision largely depends on the type of job you’re applying for and the contents of your resume. 

While there’s no right or wrong answer, here’s a helpful cheat sheet:

• Serif fonts are classic and professional. They work best for multi-page or light-text resumes and traditional fields (e.g., law, finance, business).
• Sans-serif fonts are modern and sleek. They work best for single-page or text-heavy resumes and creative fields (e.g., marketing, design).

2. What size should my resume font be?

Size 12 is the ideal font size for a resume.

You can go as low as 10.5 if you have a lot of information to include, and I wouldn’t recommend going larger than font size 14.

However, you can go larger than 14 for headers and section titles to help organize your sections (i.e., Education, Experience, etc.).

Happy Resume Writing

The critical takeaway is to make your resume clear and easy to read, which means keeping the font size around 12, sticking to classic fonts with modern twists, and forsaking your favorite script font.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Every time I work with a new brand, my first order of business is to conduct a competitive analysis. 

A competitive analysis report helps me understand the brand’s position in the market, map competitors’ strengths/weaknesses, and discover growth opportunities. 

In this article, I’ll break down the exact steps I follow to conduct competitor analysis and identify ways to one-up top brands in the market. 

We’ll cover:

• What is competitive analysis?
• What is competitive market research?
• Competitive Analysis in Marketing
• How To Conduct Competitive Analysis in 5 Steps
• How to Do a Competitive Analysis (the Extended Cut)
• Competitive Product Analysis
• Competitive Analysis Example
• Competitive Analysis Templates
• Competitive Analysis FAQs

Competitive analysis gives you a clearer picture of the market landscape to make informed decisions for your growth. 

That said, you have to remember that competitive analysis is an opportunity to learn from others. It isn’t:

• Copying successful competitors to the T.
• Trying to undercut others’ pricing.
• A one-and-done exercise.

Let’s look at how this exercise can help your business before breaking down my 5-step competitive analysis framework.

4 Reasons to Perform Competitive Analysis 

If you’re on the fence about investing time and effort in analyzing your competitors, know that it gives you a complete picture of the market and where you stand in it.

Here are four main reasons why I perform a competitive analysis exercise whenever working with a brand for the first time:

• Identify your differentiators. Think of competitor analysis as a chance to reflect on your own business and discover what sets you apart from the crowd. And if you’re only starting out, it helps you brainstorm the best opportunities to differentiate your business.
• Find competitors’ strengths. What are your competitors doing right to drive their growth? Analyzing the ins and outs of an industry leader will tell you what they did well to reach the top position in the market.
• Set benchmarks for success. A competitor analysis gives you a realistic idea of mapping your progress with success metrics. While every business has its own path to success, you can always look at a competitor’s trajectory to assess whether you’re on the right track.
• Get closer to your target audience. A good competitor analysis framework zooms in on your audience. It gives you a pulse of your customers by evaluating what they like, dislike, prefer, and complain about when reviewing competing brands.

The bottom line: Whether you’re starting a new business or revamping an existing one, a competitive analysis eliminates guesswork and gives you concrete information to build your business strategy.

What is competitive market research?

Competitive market research is a vital exercise that goes beyond merely comparing products or services. It involves an in-depth analysis of the market metrics that distinguish your offerings from those of your competitors.

A thorough market research doesn’t just highlight these differences but leverages them, laying a solid foundation for a sales and marketing strategy that truly differentiates your business in a bustling market.

In the next section, we’ll explore the nuts and bolts of conducting a detailed competitive analysis tailored to your brand.

Essential Aspects to Cover in Competitive Analysis Research 

Before we walk through our step-by-step process for conducting competitor analysis, let’s look at the main aspects to include for every competitor:

• Overview. A summary of the company — where it’s located, target market, and target audience.
• Primary offering. A breakdown of what they sell and how they compare against your brand.
• Pricing strategy. A comparison of their pricing for different products with your pricing.
• Positioning. An analysis of their core messaging to see how they position themselves.
  Customer feedback: A curation of what customers have to say about the brand.

Now, it’s time to learn how to conduct a competitive analysis with an example to contextualize each step. 

Competitive Analysis in Marketing

Every brand can benefit from regular competitor analysis. By performing a competitor analysis, you’ll be able to:

• Identify gaps in the market.
• Develop new products and services.
• Uncover market trends.
• Market and sell more effectively.

As you can see, learning any of these four components will lead your brand down the path of achievement.

Next, let’s dive into some steps you can take to conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis.

How to Conduct Competitive Analysis in 5 Quick Steps

As a content marketer, I’ve performed a competitive analysis for several brands to improve their messaging, plan their marketing strategy, and explore new channels. Here are the five steps I follow to analyze competitors.

1. Identify and categorize all competitors.

The first step is a simple yet strategic one. You have to identify all possible competitors in your industry, even the lesser-known ones. The goal here is to be aware of all the players in the market instead of arbitrarily choosing to ignore a few.

As you find more and more competitors, categorize them into these buckets:

• Direct competitors. These brands offer the same product/service as you to the same target audience. People will often compare you to these brands when making a buying decision. For example, Arcade and Storylane are direct competitors in the demo automation category.
• Indirect competitors. These businesses solve the same problem but with a different solution. They present opportunities for you to expand your offering. For example, Scribe and Whatfix solve the problem of documentation + internal training, but in different ways.
• Legacy competitors. These are established companies operating in your industry for several years. They have a solid reputation in the market and are a trusted name among customers. For example, Ahrefs is a legacy competitor in the SEO industry.
• Emerging competitors. These are new players in the market with an innovative business model and unique value propositions that pose a threat to existing brands. For example, ChatGPT came in as a disruptor in the conversational AI space and outperformed several brands. 

Here’s a competitive matrix classifying brands in the community and housing space:

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Testing It Out

To help you understand each step clearly, we’ll use the example of Trello and create a competitor analysis report using these steps.

Here’s a table of the main competitors for Trello:

able of the main competitors for Trello:

Type of competitors	Competitor names
Direct competitors	Asana, Basecamp, Monday.com, MeisterTask
Indirect competitors	Slack, Notion, Coda
Legacy competitors	Microsoft Project, Jira
Disruptor competitors	ClickUp, Airtable

2. Determine each competitor’s market position.

Once you know all your competitors, start analyzing their position in the market. This step will help you understand where you currently stand in terms of market share and customer satisfaction. It’ll also reveal the big guns in your industry — the leading competitors to prioritize in your analysis report.

Plus, visualizing the market landscape will tell you what’s missing in the current state. You can find gaps and opportunities for your brand to thrive even in a saturated market.

To map competitors’ market positions, create a graph with two factors: market presence (Y-axis) and customer satisfaction (X-axis). Then, place competitors in each of these quadrants:

• Niche. These are brands with a low market share but rank high on customer satisfaction. They’re likely targeting a specific segment of the audience and doing it well.
• Contenders. These brands rank low on customer satisfaction but have a good market presence. They might be new entrants with a strong sales and marketing strategy.
• Leaders. These brands own a big market share and have highly satisfied customers. They’re the dominant players with a solid reputation among your audience.
• High performers. These are another category of new entrants scoring high on customer satisfaction but with a low market share. They’re a good alternative for people not looking to buy from big brands.

This visualization will tell you exactly how crowded the market is. But it’ll also highlight ways to gain momentum and compete with existing brands.

Testing It Out

Here’s a market landscape grid by G2 documenting all of Trello’s competitors in the project management space. For a leading brand like Trello, the goal would be to look at top brands in two quadrants: “Leaders” and “High Performers.” 

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3. Extensively benchmark key competitors.

Step 2 will narrow down your focus from dozens of competitors to the few most important ones to target. Now, it’s time to examine each competitor thoroughly and prepare a benchmarking report.

Remember that this exercise isn’t meant to find shortcomings in every competitor. You have to objectively determine both the good and bad aspects of each brand.

Here are the core factors to consider when benchmarking competitors:

• Quality. Assess the quality of products/services for each competitor. You can compare product features to see what’s giving them an edge over you. You can also evaluate customer reviews to understand what users have to say about the quality of their offering.
• Price. Document the price points for every competitor to understand their pricing tactics. You can also interview their customers to find the value for money from users’ perspectives.
• Customer service. Check how they deliver support — through chat, phone, email, knowledge base, and more. You can also find customer ratings on different third-party platforms.
• Brand reputation. You should also compare each competitor’s reputation in the market to understand how people perceive the brand. Look out for anything critical people say about specific competitors.  
• Financial health. If possible, look for performance indicators to assess a brand’s financial progress. You can find data on metrics like revenue growth and profit margins. 

This benchmarking exercise will involve a combination of primary and secondary research. Invest enough time in this step to ensure that your competitive analysis is completely airtight.

Check out this example of a competitor benchmarking report for workforce intelligence tools:

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Testing It Out

Here’s how I benchmarked Asana based on these criteria using the information I could find:

Criteria	Asana
Quality	100+ integrations Automation rules AI features for project management Highly praised for user-friendly interface
Price	Offers a free tier and paid plans starting from $10.99/month per user. Advanced features and integrations are available at higher price points​​.
Customer Service	Live chat Phone support​​ Ticket-based support Tutorials in Asana Academy Knowledge base and community forum
Brand Reputation	Considered one of the best project management tools, with a slightly more robust feature set compared to competitors​​.

4. Deep dive into their marketing strategy.

While the first few steps will tell you what you can improve in your core product or service, you also need to find how competitors market their products.

You need to deep-dive into their marketing strategies to learn how they approach buyers. I analyze every marketing channel, then note my observations on how they speak to their audience and highlight their brand personality.

Here are a few key marketing channels to explore:

• Website. Analyze the website structure and copy to understand their positioning and brand voice.
• Email. Subscribe to emails to learn their cadence, copywriting style, content covered, and other aspects.
• Paid ads. Use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to find if any competitor is running paid ads on search engines.
• Thought leadership. Follow a brand’s thought leadership efforts with content assets like podcasts, webinars, courses, and more.
• Digital PR. Explore whether a brand is investing in digital PR to build buzz around its business and analyze its strategy.
• Social media. See how actively brands use different social channels and what kind of content is working best for them.
• Partnerships. Analyze high-value partnerships to see if brands work closely with any companies and mutually benefit each other.

You can create a detailed document capturing every detail of a competitor’s marketing strategy. This will give you the right direction to plan your marketing efforts. 

5. Perform a SWOT analysis.

The final step in a competitive analysis exercise is creating a SWOT analysis matrix for each company. This means you‘ll take note of your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Think of it as the final step to consolidate all your research and answer these questions:

• What is your competitor doing well?
• Where do they have an advantage over your brand?
• What is the weakest area for your competitor?
• Where does your brand have the advantage over your competitor?
• In what areas would you consider this competitor a threat?
• Are there opportunities in the market that your competitor has identified?

You can use tools like Miro to visualize this data. Once you visually present this data, you’ll get a clearer idea of where you can outgrow each competitor. 

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Testing It Out

Here’s a SWOT analysis matrix I created for Asana as a competitor of Trello:

To run a complete and effective competitive analysis, use these ten templates, which range in purpose from sales to marketing to product strategy.

Featured Resource: 10 Competitive Analysis Templates

Download Now

1. Determine who your competitors are.

First, you‘ll need to figure out who you’re competing with to compare the data accurately. What works in a business like yours may not work for your brand. Divide your “competitors” into two categories: direct and indirect.

Keep these brands on your radar since they could shift positions at any time and cross over into the direct competitor zone. Using our example, Stitch Fix could start a workout line, which would certainly change things for Fabletics.

This is also one of the reasons why you‘ll want to routinely run a competitor analysis. The market can and will shift at any time, and if you’re not constantly scoping it out, you won‘t be aware of these changes until it’s too late.

2. Determine what products your competitors offer.

You‘ll want to analyze your competitor’s complete product line and the quality of the products or services they’re offering. You should also take note of their pricing and any discounts they’re offering customers.

Some questions to consider include:

• Are they a low-cost or high-cost provider?
• Are they working mainly on volume sales or one-off purchases?
• What is their market share?
• What are the characteristics and needs of their ideal customers?
• Are they using different pricing strategies for online purchases versus brick-and-mortar?
• How does the company differentiate itself from its competitors?
• How do they distribute their products/services?

3. Research your competitors’ sales tactics and results.

Running a sales analysis of your competitors can be a bit tricky.

You’ll want to track down the answers to questions such as:

• What does the sales process look like?
• What channels are they selling through?
• Do they have multiple locations, and how does this give them an advantage?
• Are they expanding? Scaling down?
• Do they have partner reselling programs?
• What are their customers’ reasons for not buying? For ending their relationship with the company?
• What are their revenues each year? What about total sales volume?
• Do they regularly discount their products or services?
• How involved is a salesperson in the process?

These helpful pieces of information will give you an idea of how competitive the sales process is and what information you need to prepare your sales reps with to compete during the final buy stage.

For publicly held companies, you can find annual reports online, but you’ll have to do some sleuthing to find this info from privately owned businesses.

You could find some of this information by searching through your CRM and reaching out to those customers who mentioned they were considering your competitor.

Find out what made them choose your product or service over others out there.

When a competitor is identified, have your sales team dive deeper by asking why they are considering switching to your product. If you’ve already lost the deal, be sure to follow up with the prospect to determine why you lost to your competitor.

4. Take a look at your competitors’ pricing, as well as any perks they offer.

There are a few major factors that go into correctly pricing your product — and one major one is understanding how much your competitors are charging for a similar product or service.

If you feel your product offers superior features compared to those of a competitor, you might consider making your product or service more expensive than industry standards.

However, if you do that, you’ll want to ensure your sales reps are ready to explain why your product is worth the additional cost.

Alternatively, perhaps you feel there‘s a gap in your industry for affordable products. If that’s the case, you might aim to charge less than competitors and appeal to prospects who aren’t looking to break the bank for a high-quality product.

Of course, other factors go into correctly pricing a product, but it‘s critical you stay on top of industry pricing to ensure you’re pricing your product in a way that feels reasonable to prospects.

Additionally, take a look at any perks your competitors offer and how you might match those perks to compete. For instance, perhaps your competitors offer a major referral discount or a month-long free trial version.

These perks could be the reason you‘re losing customers, so if it feels reasonable for your brand, consider where you might match those perks — or provide some unique perks of your own if competitors don’t offer any.

5. Ensure you’re meeting competitive shipping costs.

Did you know expensive shipping is the number one reason for cart abandonment?

Nowadays, free shipping is a major perk that can attract consumers to choose one brand over another. If you work in an industry where shipping is a major factor — like e-commerce — you‘ll want to take a look at competitors’ shipping costs and ensure you’re meeting (if not exceeding) those prices.

If most of your competitors offer free shipping, you‘ll want to look into the option for your own company. If free shipping isn’t a practical option for your business, consider how you might differentiate in other ways — including loyalty programs, holiday discounts, or giveaways on social media.

6. Analyze how your competitors market their products.

Analyzing your competitor’s website is the fastest way to gauge their marketing efforts. This is a great way to see how accessible and engaging their assets are, and if you can, try experimenting with A/B testing your landing pages or website as well. Take note of any of the following items and copy down the specific URL for future reference:

• Do they have a blog?
• Are they creating whitepapers or e-books?
• Do they post videos or webinars?
• Do they have a podcast?
• Are they using static visual content such as infographics and cartoons?
• What about slide decks?
• Do they have a FAQs section?
• Are there featured articles?
• Do you see press releases?
• Do they have a media kit?
• What about case studies?
• Do they publish buying guides and data sheets?
• What online and offline advertising campaigns are they running?

7. Take note of your competition’s content strategy.

Then, take a look at the quantity of these items. Do they have several hundred blog posts or a small handful? Are there five white papers and just one e-book?

Next, determine the frequency of these content assets. Are they publishing something new each week or once a month? How often does a new e-book or case study come out?

Chances are, if you come across a robust archive of content, your competitor has been publishing regularly. Depending on the topics they’re discussing, this content may help you hone in on their lead-generating strategies.

From there, you should move on to evaluating the quality of their content. After all, if the quality is lacking, it won‘t matter how often they post since their target audience won’t find much value in it.

Choose a small handful of samples to review instead of tackling every single piece to make the process more manageable.

Your sampler should include content pieces covering a variety of topics, so you’ll have a fairly complete picture of what your competitor shares with their target audience.

When analyzing your competitor’s content, consider the following questions:

• How accurate is their content?
• Are spelling or grammar errors present?
• How in-depth does their content go? (Is it at the introductory level that just scratches the surface, or does it include more advanced topics with high-level ideas?)
• What tone do they use?
• Is the content structured for readability? (Are they using bullet points, bold headings, and numbered lists?)
• Is their content free and available to anyone, or do their readers need to opt in?
• Who is writing their content? (In-house team? One person? Multiple contributors?)
• Is there a visible byline or bio attached to their articles?

As you continue to scan the content, pay attention to the photos and imagery your competitors are using.

Do you quickly scroll past generic stock photos, or are you impressed by custom illustrations and images? If they’re using stock photos, do they at least have overlays of text quotes or calls-to-action that are specific to their business?

If their photos are custom, are they sourced from outside graphic professionals, or do they appear to be done in-house?

When you have a solid understanding of your competitor‘s content marketing strategy, it’s time to find out if it’s truly working for them.

8. Learn what technology stack your competitors use.

Understanding what types of technology your competitors use can be critical for helping your own company reduce friction and increase momentum within your organization.

For instance, perhaps you‘ve seen positive reviews about a competitor’s customer service — as you’re conducting research, you learn the customer uses powerful customer service software you haven’t been taking advantage of.

This information should arm you with the opportunity to outperform your competitors’ processes.

To figure out which software your competitors use, type the company’s URL into Built With, an effective tool for unveiling what technology your competitors’ site runs on, along with third-party plugins ranging from analytics systems to CRMs.

Alternatively, you might consider looking at competitors’ job listings, particularly for engineer or web developer roles. The job listing will likely mention which tools a candidate needs to be familiar with — a creative way to gain intel into the technology your competitors use.

9. Analyze the level of engagement on your competitor’s content.

To gauge how engaging your competitor‘s content is to their readers, you’ll need to see how their target audience responds to what they’re posting.

Check the average number of comments, shares, and likes on your competitor’s content and find out if:

• Certain topics resonate better than others.
• The comments are negative, positive, or mixed.
• People are tweeting about specific topics more than others.
• Readers respond better to Facebook updates about certain content.
• Don’t forget to note if your competitor categorizes their content using tags and if they have social media follow and share buttons attached to each piece of content.

10. Observe how they promote their marketing content.

From engagement, you‘ll move right along to your competitor’s content promotion strategy.

• Keyword density in the copy itself
• Image ALT text tags
• Use of internal linking

The following questions can also help you prioritize and focus on what to pay attention to:

• Which keywords are your competitors focusing on that you still haven’t tapped into?
• What content of theirs is highly shared and linked to? How does your content compare?
• Which social media platforms are your target audience using?
• What other sites are linking back to your competitor’s site but not yours?
• Who else is sharing what your competitors are publishing?
• Who is referring traffic to your competitor’s site?
• For the keywords you want to focus on, what is the difficulty level? There are several free (and paid) tools that will give you a comprehensive evaluation of your competitor’s search engine optimization.

11. Look at their social media presence, strategies, and go-to platforms.

The last area you‘ll want to evaluate when it comes to marketing is your competitor’s social media presence and engagement rates.

How does your competition drive engagement with their brand through social media? Do you see social sharing buttons with each article? Does your competitor have links to their social media channels in the header, footer, or somewhere else? Are these clearly visible? Do they use calls-to-action with these buttons?

If your competitors are using a social network that you may not be on, it’s worth learning more about how that platform may be able to help your business, too.

To determine if a new social media platform is worth your time, check your competitor’s engagement rates on those sites. First, visit the following sites to see if your competition has an account on these platforms:

• Facebook.
• Twitter.
• Instagram.
• Snapchat.
• LinkedIn.
• YouTube.
• Pinterest.

Then, take note of the following quantitative items from each platform:

• Number of fans/followers.
• Posting frequency and consistency.
• Content engagement. (Are users leaving comments or sharing their posts?)
• Content virality. (How many shares, repins, and retweets do their posts get?)

With the same critical eye you used to gauge your competition’s content marketing strategy, take a fine-toothed comb to analyze their social media strategy.

What kind of content are they posting? Are they more focused on driving people to landing pages, resulting in new leads? Or are they posting visual content to promote engagement and brand awareness?

How much of this content is original? Do they share curated content from other sources? Are these sources regular contributors? What is the overall tone of the content?

How does your competition interact with its followers? How frequently do their followers interact with their content?

After you collect this data, generate an overall grade for the quality of your competitor’s content. This will help you compare the rest of your competitors using a similar grading scale.

12. Perform a SWOT Analysis to learn their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

As you evaluate each component in your competitor analysis (business, sales, and marketing), get into the habit of performing a simplified SWOT analysis at the same time.

This means you‘ll take note of your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats any time you assess an overall grade.

Some questions to get you started include:

• What is your competitor doing well? (Products, content marketing, social
• Where does your competitor have the advantage over your brand?
• What is the weakest area for your competitor?
• Where does your brand have the advantage over your competitor?
• What could they do better with?
• In what areas would you consider this competitor a threat?
• Are there opportunities in the market that your competitor has identified?

You‘ll be able to compare their weaknesses against your strengths and vice versa. By doing this, you can better position your company, and you’ll start to uncover areas for improvement within your own brand.

Competitive Product Analysis

Product analysis drills down to discover key differences and similarities in products that share the same general market.

If you have a competitor selling products in a similar market niche to your own — you want to ensure that you aren’t losing market share to the competition.

Leveraging the example above, we can drill down and discover some of the key differentiators in product offerings.

1. Assess your current product pricing.

The first step in any product analysis is to assess current pricing.

Nintendo offers three models of its Switch console: The smaller lite version is priced at $199, the standard version is $299, and the new OLED version is $349.

Sony, meanwhile, offers two versions of its PlayStation 5 console: The standard edition costs $499, and the digital version, which doesn’t include a disc drive, is $399.

2. Compare key features.

Next is a comparison of key features. In the case of our console example, this means comparing features like processing power, memory, and hard drive space.

Feature	PS5 Standard	Nintendo Switch
Hard drive space	825 GB	32 GB
RAM	16 GB	4 GB
USB ports	4 ports	1 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0
Ethernet connection	Gigabit	None

3. Pinpoint differentiators.

With basic features compared, it’s time to dive deeper with differentiators. While a glance at the chart above seems to indicate that the PS5 is outperforming its competition, this data only tells part of the story.

Here’s why: The big selling point of the standard and OLED Switch models is that they can be played as either handheld consoles or docked with a base station connected to a TV. What’s more, this “switching” happens seamlessly, allowing players to play whenever, wherever.

The Playstation offering, meanwhile, has leaned into market-exclusive games that are only available on its system to help differentiate them from their competitors.

4. Identify market gaps.

The last step in a competitive product analysis is looking for gaps in the market that could help your company get ahead.

When it comes to the console market, one potential opportunity gaining traction is the delivery of games via cloud-based services rather than physical hardware.

Companies like Nvidia and Google have already made inroads in this space, and if they can overcome issues with bandwidth and latency, it could change the market at scale.

Competitive Analysis Example

How do you stack up against the competition? Where are you similar, and what sets you apart? This is the goal of competitive analysis.

By understanding where your brand and competitors overlap and diverge, you’re better positioned to make strategic decisions that can help grow your brand.

Of course, it’s one thing to understand the benefits of competitive analysis, and it’s another to actually carry out an analysis that yields actionable results. Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered with a quick example.

Sony vs. Nintendo: Not all fun and games.

Let’s take a look at popular gaming system companies Sony and Nintendo.

Sony’s newest offering — the Playstation 5 — recently hit the market but has been plagued by supply shortages.

Nintendo’s Switch console, meanwhile, has been around for several years but remains a consistent seller, especially among teens and children.

This scenario is familiar for many companies on both sides of the coin; some have introduced new products designed to compete with established market leaders, while others are looking to ensure that reliable sales don’t fall.

Using some of the steps listed above, here’s a quick competitive analysis example.

1. Determine who your competitors are.

In our example, it’s Sony vs Nintendo, but it’s also worth considering Microsoft’s Xbox, which occupies the same general market vertical.

This is critical for effective analysis; even if you’re focused on specific competitors and how they compare, it’s worth considering other similar market offerings.

2. Determine what products your competitors offer.

PlayStation offers two PS5 versions, digital and standard, at different price points, while Nintendo offers three versions of its console.

Both companies also sell peripherals — for example, Sony sells virtual reality (VR) add-ons, while Nintendo sells gaming peripherals such as steering wheels, tennis rackets, and differing controller configurations.

3. Research your competitors’ sales tactics and results.

When it comes to sales tactics and marketing, Sony and Nintendo have very different approaches.

In part thanks to the recent semiconductor shortage, Sony has driven up demand via scarcity — very low volumes of PS5 consoles remain available. Nintendo, meanwhile, has adopted a broader approach by targeting families as its primary customer base.

This effort is bolstered by the Switch Lite product line, which is smaller and less expensive, making it a popular choice for children.

The numbers tell the tale: Through September 2021, Nintendo sold 14.3 million consoles, while Sony sold 7.8 million.

4. Take a look at your competitors’ pricing, as well as any perks they offer.

Sony has the higher price point: Their standard PS5 sells for $499, while Nintendo’s most expensive offering comes in at $349. Both offer robust digital marketplaces and the ability to easily download new games or services.

Here, the key differentiators are flexibility and fidelity. The Switch is flexible — users can dock it with their television and play it like a standard console or pick it up and take it anywhere as a handheld gaming system.

The PS5, meanwhile, has superior graphics hardware and processing power for gamers who want the highest-fidelity experience.

5. Analyze how your competitors market their products.

If you compare the marketing efforts of Nintendo and Sony, the difference is immediately apparent: Sony’s ads feature realistic in-game footage and speak to the exclusive nature of their game titles.

The company has managed to secure deals with several high-profile game developers for exclusive access to new and existing IPs.

Nintendo, meanwhile, uses brightly lit ads showing happy families playing together or children using their smaller Switches while traveling.

6. Analyze the level of engagement on your competitor’s content.

Engagement helps drive sales and encourage repeat purchases.

While there are several ways to measure engagement, social media is one of the most straightforward: In general, more followers equates to more engagement and greater market impact.

When it comes to our example, Sony enjoys a significant lead over Nintendo: While the official Playstation Facebook page has 38 million followers, Nintendo has just 5 million.

Competitive Analysis Templates

Competitive analysis is complex, especially when you’re assessing multiple companies and products simultaneously.

To help streamline the process, we’ve created 10 free templates that make it possible to see how you stack up against the competition — and what you can do to increase market share.

Let’s break down our SWOT analysis template. Here’s what it looks like:

Download Free Templates

Strengths. Identify your strengths. These may include specific pieces of intellectual property, products that are unique to the market, or a workforce that outperforms the competition.

Weaknesses. Here, it’s worth considering potential issues around pricing, leadership, staff turnover, and new competitors in the market.

Opportunities. This part of the SWOT analysis can focus on new market niches, evolving consumer preferences, or new technologies being developed by your company.

Threats. These might include new taxes or regulations on existing products or an increasing number of similar products in the same market space that could negatively affect your overall share.

Competitive Analysis: FAQs

What is a competitive analysis framework?

A competitive analysis framework is a structured approach used to evaluate potential competitors and understand their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

This framework serves as a guide for businesses to identify competitive advantages, understand market positioning, and inform strategic decisions.

Depending on the industry and the company’s objectives, this framework might focus on areas like product features, market share, pricing, customer feedback, and more.

How do you do a good competitive analysis?

Conducting a thorough competitive analysis involves several steps:

• Identify competitors. Start by listing key competitors in your market, both direct and indirect.
• Evaluate their products/services. Analyze what they’re selling and how it compares to your offerings.
• Analyze market position. Determine their market share, brand perception, and unique value proposition.
• Check their marketing strategies. Observe their advertising, content marketing, PR efforts, and online presence.
• Assess their financial health. If available, review financial statements, annual reports, or investor presentations.
• Gather customer feedback. Reviews, testimonials, and surveys can give insights into competitor strengths and weaknesses.
• Regularly review and update. The market evolves, and competitors change strategies, so it’s vital to keep your analysis current.

What are the 5 parts of a competitive analysis?

The five key components of a competitive analysis include:

1. Company overview. A brief snapshot of the competitor, including its history, size, and mission.
2. Product/service analysis. An examination of their key products or services and how they compare to yours.
3. Marketing strategy. Insights into their promotional tactics, target audience, and unique selling propositions.
4. Operational analysis. An understanding of their supply chain, distribution, and customer service practices.
5. Strengths and weaknesses. A clear breakdown of where the competitor excels and where they might be vulnerable.

What are the 3 C’s in a competitive analysis?

The 3 C’s refer to a strategic model that considers three main factors when understanding the broader business environment:

1. Company. Understanding your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
2. Customers. Knowing who your target audience is, what they value, and how they behave.
3. Competitors. Analyzing direct and indirect competitors to determine market dynamics and potential threats.

Is SWOT analysis a competitive analysis?

Yes, SWOT analysis is a type of competitive analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is a strategic planning tool used to identify and analyze these four elements of a business.

While a SWOT analysis can be focused internally on a company‘s own attributes, when used as a competitive analysis tool, it assesses a competitor’s SWOT to understand where your business has advantages or might be vulnerable.

How does your business stack up?

Before you accurately compare your competition, you need to establish a baseline. This also helps when it comes time to perform a SWOT analysis.

Take an objective look at your business, sales, and marketing reports through the same metrics you use to evaluate your competition. Record this information just like you would with a competitor and use this as your baseline to compare across the board.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published prior to July 2018 but has been updated for comprehensiveness.