Email marketing design best practices: 11 Tips for non-designers

By Jesse Kennedy June 20, 2024

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Electronic mail design is important to an efficient email marketing strategy. Whereas the precise data you talk is vital, design parts are simply as essential.

In any case, research present that 90% of the information transmitted to our brains is visual.

So, by incorporating e mail design greatest practices, you may go away a long-lasting impression on subscribers, assist them bear in mind and belief your model, and drive extra conversions.

Happily, you don’t should be an expert designer to create stunning emails!

In reality, on this article, we’ll cowl all a very powerful e mail advertising and marketing design greatest practices that anybody can apply, no matter talent stage. 

On the finish, we’ll present you a couple of e mail design instruments that will help you begin sending beautiful emails very quickly.

Why is e mail advertising and marketing design vital?

Electronic mail advertising and marketing design goes past the mere aesthetics of your messages. In reality, design performs a vital function in how recipients understand your model identification.

By giving your e mail design the eye it deserves, you may assist construct belief with recipients, get them to have interaction extra, and even drive extra conversions.

So, let’s check out a few of the key causes it’s best to incorporate e mail design greatest practices into your advertising and marketing technique.

1. Create first impression

In case you’ve put within the effort to get customers to join your e mail listing, then it’s key to make first impression!

WIth good e mail design, you may seize recipient’s consideration and set a constructive tone for his or her interplay together with your model.

An expert-looking design establishes belief from the outset, guaranteeing recipients really feel like they’re getting the worth you promised after they signed up to your listing.

2. Drive extra conversions

By establishing belief with efficient e mail design, recipients can even be extra prone to convert into prospects.

So, with the suitable e mail design, you may assist information your viewers in direction of the motion you need them to take, whether or not that be making a purchase order or downloading a useful resource.

3. Enhance readability and engagement

Incorporating e mail design greatest practices can be key for bettering the readability of your messages. 

For instance, the usage of subheadings and bullet factors, together with visible parts, like photos, might help make your emails extra participating.

A report by Litmus discovered that folks spent a median of simply 9 seconds an e mail. So, it’s key that those that open your emails are capable of perceive the knowledge rapidly and simply.

Keep in mind, the better your emails are to learn, the extra recipients will likely be engaged. When recipients are extra engaged, they’ll be extra prone to convert. 

4. Construct recognition with a constant model picture

Yet one more key cause e mail advertising and marketing design is vital is that it could possibly assist you to construct a constant model identification.

That is essential to growing each belief and recognition amongst your recipients.

In accordance with an Edelman report, 59% of customers usually tend to make a purchase order from a model they belief, whatever the worth. Likewise, 67% usually tend to advocate and keep loyal to a model they belief.

So, to create loyal prospects, it’s important to construct a recognizable and dependable model picture. By incorporating e mail design greatest practices into your advertising and marketing, you may obtain this.

11 Electronic mail advertising and marketing design greatest practices

Now that you’ve a greater understanding of why design is so vital, let’s take a look at some e mail advertising and marketing design greatest practices.

By incorporating the following pointers into your emails, you’ll have the ability to ship emails that create a recognizable model identification, construct belief with recipients, and enhance engagement.

1. Decide the suitable e mail design structure

The proper e mail structure could make the distinction between a subscriber who takes an motion and one who unsubscribes. 

Attention spans are getting shorter, so understanding how folks learn your emails will assist you to craft simpler messages.

Understanding the place their eyes are prone to go could make your e mail extra readable. Higher but, it could possibly assist the reader navigate in direction of your name to motion. 

So, let’s discover a couple of sorts of e mail design layouts that will help you try this.

Z-Sample

The Z-Sample traces the trail of your eyes when studying: left to proper; high to backside.

Folks will learn the primary line throughout, then down and to the left, and again throughout the suitable once more. When studying on this sample, it types a Z-shape.

This e mail design structure works greatest when you may have a whole lot of data to speak. The construction will assist your subscribers devour all the knowledge in a straightforward and logical means.

You’ll usually see such a e mail observe a sample the place you begin with a headline and textual content on the highest left, with a picture to the suitable. Then, the decrease left nook could have one other picture, and throughout from that will likely be textual content. 

This works as a result of:

1. Readers’ eyes are naturally drawn to pictures. By having the pictures diagonal from one another, you assist subscribers observe an easy-to-read path.

2. It creates a cleaner structure by not having all of your textual content on one facet of the e-mail.

Inverted Pyramid

The inverted pyramid is a format used for information tales, but it surely additionally works properly for emails. This construction grabs consideration and focuses on a very powerful elements of your message. 

It’s good for when you may have one factor to inform your readers, and a selected name to motion you need them to click on on. 

You need to use this structure for:

• Driving subscribers to your web site to learn an article
• Amassing sign-ups for an occasion
• Encouraging subscribes to buy a services or products

F-Sample

Lastly, the Nielsen Norman Group first recognized the F-Sample after studying how people’s eyes read a website.

Much like the Z-Sample, a reader consumes content material from left to proper, after which again to the left. Nevertheless, as a substitute of studying throughout the second line, they learn much less. This sample continues as readers make their means down the e-mail.

This implies it’s best to put your most vital, attention-grabbing data on the high of your e mail. 

Then, assume your subscriber goes to skim the remainder of your e mail. Use much less textual content additional down within the e mail, and steadiness the copy with photos on the suitable.

This e mail design structure works properly when you may have a whole lot of data to speak. 

You need to construction your e mail with a very powerful data on the high, after which use bullet factors and shorter content material additional down the e-mail. 

Lastly, shut with a name to motion.

2. Select the suitable colours

Choose colours that mirror your emblem and model. Nevertheless, be certain there’s sufficient distinction for simple studying. Keep in mind, readability is essential!

Textual content that doesn’t have sufficient distinction in opposition to its background is difficult to learn.

It’s additionally a greatest e mail advertising and marketing design observe to include shade psychology. To decide on complementary colours, take a look at this chart in regards to the emotional impacts of different colors.

Free shade palette instruments like Coolors can even assist you to create a professional-grade palette in minutes.

In the end, this may guarantee your emails are higher aligned together with your model identification.

3. Go away some respiratory room

Densely packed emails could also be onerous to learn. That is very true on cell units, where 49.7 percent of all email opens occur.

Most individuals scan emails slightly than studying them phrase by phrase. So, having ample white area between parts makes your emails simpler to scan. Primarily, it retains them from trying visually overwhelming. 

Leaving additional white area has a further profit as properly: it challenges you to maintain your message transient and to solely embrace the related particulars. 

Keep in mind, brevity and readability are important to efficient e mail design.

Right here’s an important instance from TrueCar.

4. Use textual content as a design factor 

Formatting your emails for skimmers and scanners additionally helps. The most typical formatting parts are: 

• Subheadings
• Brief paragraphs
• Bullet factors
• Bolded phrases 

Utilizing visible cues like these will make a very powerful factors of your e mail simple to search out.

Take a look at this instance from Jon Persson of CultMethod. He bolds vital parts inside the physique of his e mail, whereas breaking apart the copy with bullet factors and perfectly-placed headlines. 

Most significantly, every paragraph is brief and simple to learn.

5. Stability textual content with photos

You must also think about breaking apart giant chunks of textual content with visible photos. Readers favor quick blurbs of knowledge. So, strive incorporating photos and contours when attainable.

Pictures assist inform the story of what you need to talk to your subscribers

Simply be certain to not overdo it! As an alternative, observe the 60/40 rule: photos ought to take up not more than 40% of your e mail.

6. Plan for lacking photos

Almost all e mail companies give subscribers the choice to cover photos. In reality, some even disable photos robotically, forcing the person to click on a hyperlink or press a button to “activate” photos. 

For instance, right here is how an e mail with a big hero picture seems in Outlook:

Since many well-liked e mail platforms block photos, it’s best to be sure that your e mail continues to be readable—and your call-to-action continues to be clickable—when photos are turned off.

Relatively than utilizing image-based buttons that disguise your CTA when photos are turned off, strive utilizing a “bulletproof button” as a substitute. This system combines a background shade with a daily textual content hyperlink, offering the phantasm of a button that customers can see when photos are on or off.

Most e mail advertising and marketing companies, like AWeber, can help you simply create bulletproof buttons inside your e mail design structure. 

If the pictures you’re utilizing are an vital a part of your emails, be sure to add alt textual content to the picture. That is textual content that describes what the picture is about. 

In case you’ve ever laid out webpages or labored with WordPress, you will have added alt textual content to pictures earlier than.

If you embrace alt textual content, subscribers can nonetheless perceive what you supposed to point out them, even when they block photos.

7. Decide the suitable typography

As we’ve talked about already, making your e mail simple to learn is important, and your typography is a big a part of this.

So, be certain the font you utilize in your subheadings and physique copy are comfortably readable. Frequent e mail fonts embrace Arial or Helvetica, however you’re not restricted to those.

Moreover, make sure you’re utilizing a big sufficient font measurement. In any case, you don’t need your recipients squinting to attempt to learn your e mail. For instance:

This font measurement is a 12px, and it may be tough for folks to learn

This font measurement is 16px, which is giant sufficient for many of your subscribers to learn with out zooming in.

8. Use clear hyperlinks and buttons

You’ll doubtless embrace no less than one or two hyperlinks and buttons in your e mail advertising and marketing design. Nevertheless, it’s vital to verify it’s clear the place your entire hyperlinks result in.

For instance, as a substitute of writing phrases like “click on right here”, strive utilizing extra particular labels.

One thing like “purchase now” or “get your demo” inform the reader precisely what is going to occur after they click on in your hyperlink or button.

For instance, on this e mail from Capital One, their button clearly communicates that once you click on it, you’ll have the ability to view the small print of their checking account provide.

9. Appeal to readers’ eyes

We already talked about that you just’ll need to embrace some visible parts, like photos, in your e mail design. 

Nevertheless, it may also be a good suggestion so as to add in some inventive parts, like a GIF, to essentially seize your readers’ consideration.

In case you do decide to incorporate a GIF, simply be certain it enhances your message and doesn’t distract from what you need to talk.

In the end, although, small inventive touches like this may be an effective way to seize consideration and have interaction recipients.

10. Embrace a name to motion

In case you’re taking the time to construct and ship an e mail to your listing, it’s key that you just direct your subscribers to take some kind of motion after they learn it.

Calls to motion can embrace something from:

• Encouraging subscribers to purchase your services or products
• Directing recipients to obtain a free useful resource
• Getting recipients to join an occasion or webinar

In the end, you need to have interaction your subscribers in order that they take the motion you need them to take.

So, remember to embrace a CTA that clearly communicates the worth it could possibly present recipients, and ensure it stands out.

11. Ship a check e mail

Yet one more important e mail advertising and marketing design greatest observe is to check your e mail earlier than sending it out to your complete listing. It will assist you to guarantee there aren’t any formatting errors in your design.

In any case, you don’t need to put in all the hassle to design your e mail solely to understand it doesn’t look proper in subscribers’ e mail inboxes.

So, remember to ship a check e mail to your individual inbox first. 

When you’re constructive that it seems the best way you need it to, then you may ship it out to your complete listing.

Electronic mail design instruments to create stunning emails

You don’t want to begin from scratch to create stunning emails. In reality, there are tons of e mail advertising and marketing instruments that make design a breeze.

So, listed here are a number of e mail advertising and marketing design instruments that will help you get began.

1. Canva

Canva is a free graphic design device that permits you to create and edit any form of picture. 

Higher but, AWeber has a fully-integrated Canva drag-and-drop button. This implies you may create your photos in Canva and drag them straight into your AWeber e mail.

2. Electronic mail templates

Generally merely getting began is the toughest a part of sending an e mail. That is the place an e mail template can turn out to be useful. 

If you discover the suitable template, a lot of the work is completed for you. All it’s worthwhile to do is customise it to suit your model by including your emblem and updating the colours. Then you definately’re able to go!

AWeber has hundreds of email marketing and newsletter templates prepared so that you can customise to your messages. These can prevent hours of time each week and allow you to skip a lot of the heavy lifting of designing your individual emails. 

Listed here are only a few of the templates obtainable. Every template additionally has no less than three shade palettes to select from.

3. Attempt an e mail builder

Lastly, on-line instruments like Stripo, BeeFree, and Dyspatch even have templates and drag and drop e mail design editors. They’re just like what you’ll discover in your e mail advertising and marketing supplier’s account, however some e mail designers favor these instruments. 

You may design an e mail in any of those instruments after which import it into your e mail supplier. 

Interact your subscribers with e mail advertising and marketing design greatest practices

In case you’re not a professional designer, constructing a professional-looking e mail could seem a bit intimidating. 

Nevertheless, by incorporating the e-mail advertising and marketing design greatest practices above, you can begin creating stunning emails very quickly.

Keep in mind, good e mail design is important to constructing belief, driving conversions, and establishing your model identification. So, it’s key that you just give your design the eye it must be efficient.

In fact, if you would like a custom-designed e mail or e-newsletter, we might help with that, too! AWeber presents each {custom} e mail templates and touchdown web page designs. 

Full {custom} designs are $229, or a modification of an current template is $29. Click here to learn more about our custom design services.