Email is a very important part of an overall business process. Businesses concern themselves with conversion more than anything, emails work as the perfect means for initiation of the deal. If you think that the subject line of your email is the most important part, you might be wrong about it.
In short, you should know that the design of an email has the potential to make or break its overall effectiveness. Proper designs are known to enhance trust among your target audience that in turn, would help you a lot in conversion.
In order to let you make the best emails, we are here with some effective email design tips.
Optimise it for the latest tech
New gadgets keep on coming very often these days. If you take a look at the current scenario, you will find that smartwatches have become a common thing especially, the Apple Watch. Make it a priority to consider Apple watches while designing your emails.
The rapidly growing number of smartwatch users is a big support for this statement. In case your customer base includes youngsters, they are more likely to use smartwatches. Apple watch displays plain text when it detects linked images.
So, to start our email design tips, you have to modify the plain text accordingly. You have to make sure that the vitals are displayed on the smartwatch screen. Excelling at this point alone will ensure better click rates of your images.
Email marketing example (Source)
Minimise the use of images or better avoid them
Relying on images has several drawbacks. The first problem, in this case, is the ability of recipients to block images in the emails they get. And you will find it surprising that there is a large number of people who block images in this case. Your reliance on images will not breed any results when received by such people. The textual content in your image should be persuasive enough to make the difference.
If the use of images is indispensable for you, consider using it with alt text. Alt-text is the piece of text that your recipients will see in case they are unable to see the image. Those who are thinking of using background images should be careful enough as well.
This is because the support for background images also varies across the clients. A common approach will not serve the purpose for all your clients.
Make the email mobile-friendly
There is no denying the fact that the number of smartphone users is quite high. Apart from that, the email open rates are about 60-70% higher in the case of mobile phones as compared to PCs. Ignoring the potential of mobile phones in such a case is going to harm you in all ways.
There are some things you can do to be better at it.
- Containing the entire email in one column is highly effective to enhance readability and convenience.
- Being simple and precise to the point works well in almost all cases when it comes to convincing people the quickest.
- Make proper use of the call to action button as people don’t like to read larger texts. You can simply give an overview of the topic and then include the Read more button at the bottom of the article.
- Don’t get too fancy with fonts. If you think being fancy would be attractive, you might end up annoying due to inconvenience.
Placing the CTA (call to action) buttons at the right place matters a lot because people will not bother searching for them. It is your responsibility to place the CTA in a way that people would be able to use it properly. You can be more creative with the appearance and text of the CTA so that people would prefer clicking it.
We have already talked about fonts a little bit but here is something important. Don’t use more than two types of fonts in the email. Use special fonts only when you are mentioning something important. Things like quick reminders, links to other resources might need extra attention.
There is a simple way to check if you are doing right. Just send a sample email to your email address and open that on your phone. It would help you a lot in visualising what you are doing best and what are the drawbacks. This way you would be able to know whether the email is working the way you have intended. Here comes the next of our email design tips.
Keep on getting more specific and relevant over time
The engagement of people with your emails would tell you a lot about their precise interests. Stick to their precise preferences and create more relevant content for them. This is the core of your overall approach via emails.
Be generous with the unsubscribe link
One of the best email design tips with a subscriber focus is this one. You have to be generous with the use of the unsubscribe button. It is possible that some people would not take interest in your product or service. In that case, you have to make sure to not annoy them again.
It is true that your email will make it through the majority of spam filters if it has a clear and working unsubscribe button. When someone hits that button, it is a clear sign about their intention so you may use this knowledge in the upcoming business strategies.
Email newsletter example (Source)
Always try to keep it simple
You must have heard the saying that “simplicity is the best sophistication” and it is true right to the last word. Incorporate this concept into every part of your email. Whether you are talking about design, the text inside, or any other thing, simplicity has a role to play.
Every aspect of your email should be able to reflect your objectives i.e. deliver specific information to your target audience. Choose the right marketing software or email platform, polish a beautiful email and voila!
Final words
There is much more to know when it comes to email design. This list of email design tips is not all as there is much more to know. But we hope it will help you in getting started. You will learn a lot along the way as you discover more about the specific demands and intentions of your target audience.
