The Value Of Email Design In Email Marketing
The email design in email marketing is not just the look and feel of an email but how it works and flows for the reader. Before jumping into how best to design your email, we need to answer the question, why is email design so important? The following are some of the main reasons why an effective and appealing design is important to implement throughout your email campaigns:
- User experience as part of email design in email marketing: Having a good email design will add to the users’ experience. If the email looks and flows well, the user is more likely to continue reading your email and click through.
- Consistent experience: If you send a regular newsletter, having the same design/layout in each will help the reader recognize your email and become familiar with its content. If the design regularly changes, this will only confuse the reader and reduce click through rates.
- Conveys your message in style: Nobody wants to read a wall of text. By splitting your content up into bite-size chunks with clear headers, the user is more likely to read and more importantly engage with your email.
- Direct imagery and graphics: Images are a great way to showcase your product or service. In the example above, the iPhone uses an image of their new phone allowing the reader to become familiar with the product.
- Placement of CTAs: Clicking the CTA is often the main objective of an email. Having a clear CTA at the top and bottom of the email will make it easier for the reader and help them click through to the landing page.
- Drives conversions: If the email is well designed and contains relevant information the user is more likely to take action and convert.
The first steps when creating a compelling email design in email marketing is to identify who you are and to choose the colour palette.
It is best practice to include your companies logo at the top of your email and also use your brands’ colour palette for CTAs, headers etc. These will allow a reader to easily recognize your emails and become more familiar with your brand.
In the above example from the Digital Marketing Institute, the head of the email includes the companies logo so all readers can easily recognize the email, and the email also makes use of the colour blue which is part of the companies colour palette. The logo and colour is used in all of their emails as well as their website, leading to a consistent experience for the user.
Another key component for designing effective emails is the layout. The layout controls the flow of the email and makes it easier for the reader to look at.
- Organize for quick reading: Bold and colour the headers in your email to help the reader scan the email to find relevant information.
- Make room: When designing the layout of your email, don’t be afraid to space out your content making it easier to read when there are multiple sections.
- Align your content: Use the same width, font-size, and colour for similar sections of the email. If one paragraph is 500 pixels wide and is left-aligned, make sure all other paragraphs are too.
- Define your sections: If your email has multiple sections (e.g. Blog articles) make sure they are defined. You can use a different background colour or a dividing line to show where each section starts and ends.
- Above the fold: Depending on the reader’s device screen size only a small portion of the email will be in view before they have to scroll. Place your most important piece of information and CTA in the top portion of the email.
- 600 pixels width: Keep your email less than 600px in width to ensure it displays well in all email clients and browsers.
The next key component when designing an email is the font you use. The font in your email should be consistent throughout. Use the same font-style, font-size, and font-colour for all sections that are similar.
Also, avoid using a small font-size as many readers will be viewing on mobile devices. Your company may specify what the brand font-style is that is used on your company website, this font should be kept consistent in all emails also.
Here we can see two marketing emails, the email from Macy’s on the left-hand side is quite busy, predominantly image-based and offers multiple ways to respond, but no clear and obvious CTA.
The subject line advertises Father’s Day gift ideas, but then the first link is for women’s products and there’s also a link for handbags. The font sizes vary within the same sections, making the advertisement look inconsistent and off-putting. Also, Macy’s brand identity is quite unclear without a logo displayed or mention of the shop in the email.
The email on the right is an example of one of Virgin’s welcome emails to a new customer. The message of the email is clear; Virgin has reached out to talk about what they do as a business.
There is a good use of white space, making the images, copy and offer clearer. The recipient is prompted to ‘explore more’ with a clear call to action. The identity is clearly represented by the colours used and the logo standing out in the header. The font sizes are consistent within different sections of the email, making it easier to scan and skim.
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