Email marketing remains as prevalent as ever. Hence, crafting an effective email design is an essential skill that you must obtain. An incredible design can captivate readers, encourage engagement, and drive conversions. In this guide, we delve into the core principle of email designs, the psychology of color, and the latest trends.
You can design incredible emails through the insights we provide, the step-by-step instructions, and best practices. Not only will they look compelling, but they will resonate with your audience and yield measurable results.
Using Visuals to Enhance Your Messages
Why should you consider using imagery? Well, they provide faster communication than a written message. Visuals evoke emotions, which can be a powerful way to connect with the audience and leave a lasting impression. There are different types of imagery, such as illustrations. However, animated signatures, known as GIFs, stand out. Integrating GIF images into emails adds an element of fun and can draw attention to important aspects like a call-to-action button. You can email GIFs via Gmail, Yahoo, and Apple Mail as an incredible means of capturing attention and adding personalized email messages.
The Psychology of Colors in Email Marketing
Color psychology is about how colors affect our behavior and perception. In marketing, the colors you use in your emails can influence what your target audience feels and acts upon. Hence, resort to this list of colors and choose one according to your desired outcome:
Red. Associated with excitement, urgency, and passion. It can be used to draw attention to a call-to-action (CTA).
Blue. It conveys trust, security, and calmness. This is primarily used in business and healthcare industries.
Green. Green is associated with health, tranquility, and nature.
Yellow. It evokes optimism and youthfulness but can also be used as a warning color.
Orange. This is seen as a playful, vibrant, and inspiring color.
Structuring Your Email for Maximum Impact
There are several tips regarding mail layout that you can follow. However, designing an email template generally takes planning and strategic design. Not only should you focus on reaching your audience, but your email should compel them to take action. Here are the top tips for designing your email:
Craft a compelling subject line. Make it engaging and clear to improve open rates. Focus on personalization and action verbs.
Use preheader text. A Preheader text is the summary text that follows the subject line when an email is viewed in the inbox.
Above-the-fold. Place the most important information and CTA above the fold so it’s visible without scrolling.
Break up text with headings. No one wants to be overwhelmed by large amounts of text. Hence, break things up through headings to make them more scannable and easier to manage.
Design for all devices. Use responsive design, ensuring your email looks perfect regardless of the device used.
Integrate social proof. Include testimonials, reviews, or user-generated content to build credibility.
Engaging Your Audience with Innovative Email Design
Interactive emails are becoming more prominent in the industry as they incorporate elements people can engage with. Aside from knowing how to embed a GIF in an email, you can integrate several different content and remove background from GIF with Adobe Express to ensure proper quality and size. Some of the top types of interactive elements for your branded email include:
Hover effects. This is when a button or link changes color upon hovering over it.
Image carousels. Carousels allow users to scroll through multiple images at once.
Accordion features. An accordion design is similar to your email header design. It condenses long emails, letting users expand the sections they want to read.
Surveys and polls. Embedding these into emails can increase response rates by making participation easier for users.
The Ultimate List of Best Practices for Designing Emails
It is time to delve into the best practices for email design. Here is the list that will guide you through the process:
- Use optimized images and minimalistic design elements to ensure email loads quickly.
- Use alt text for images and sufficient contrast between text and background.
- Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and bold text to guide readers.
- Stick to web-safe fonts to ensure your text displays consistently across different devices.
- Include your logo and use your brand’s color scheme to increase recognition.
- Use email testing tools to preview your designs before sharing.
- Include a plain text version to reach every subscriber effectively, as not all email clients render HTML emails correctly.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, how to design emails boils down to having a layout that resonates and captivates your audience. That often includes what we discussed in this article, from embedding GIFs to playing with color psychology. Regardless of which tools you choose, optimize your designs for all devices to ensure they are consistent for all clients. This improves your credibility and increases the likelihood of your clients sticking around. Don’t forget to incorporate call-to-action to lead your clients to perform a desired task upon reading your email.
