{"id":7001,"date":"2021-02-02T09:17:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powerdigitalmarketing.com\/?p=7001"},"modified":"2021-02-02T09:17:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:17:10","slug":"email-design-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powerdigitalmarketing.com\/blog\/email-design-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Design Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the immersion of so many digital channels over the past few decades, many are concerned that email is a \u201cdying channel.\u201d Is this speculation the case? Absolutely NOT! Email marketing is constantly evolving in ways to make the user experience better and more personalized. We have seen huge leaps in features such as advanced audience segmentation, animation, and interactivity, design customization, and shifting the narrative from \u201cbuy now\u201d to more nurturing and storytelling. Aside from all the exciting features that will continue to make email marketing a top channel performer, let\u2019s get back to the fundamentals and dive into specific<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/powerdigitalmarketing.com\/services\/email-marketing\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">email marketing services<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you can incorporate into your next email strategy. What exactly are some of the email design best practices? Well, glad you asked\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Provide Value Early and Above the Fold\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that a subscriber has given you access to their inbox, it\u2019s time to woo them. The \u201cjust checking in\u201d sales emails are no longer effective (and they\u2019re incredibly annoying!). Use these email best practices to excite, entice, and convert your subscribers:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Value, Value, Value: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on the consumer, not your sales goals. In order to provide value, you need to determine how you\u2019re meeting their needs. Educational content, such as blogs, videos, and newsletters, position you as the expert while interactive content, such as quizzes and surveys, engage subscribers and allow you to learn more about them.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Becoming familiar with<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/powerdigitalmarketing.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-newsletter\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to write a newsletter<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or email with more interactive content, provides the opportunity of creating more personalized emails that are certain to attract more engaged consumers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Hero Imagery:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It\u2019s called a hero for a reason! This is the superhero or first visual your subscribers see when they open an email and is designed to direct them towards the CTA. A good hero image instantly connects and conveys the value proposition of your brand and is either static or dynamic. With the rising popularity of an animated GIF in email marketing, try adding some movement to your next campaign with a hero image!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>The Squint Test: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the easiest test you\u2019ll ever take. Make your email campaign full screen, sit back, and squint your eyes until the design is blurry. What grabs your attention, even when the design is blurry? Ensure that the messaging you want to draw attention to quickly is above the fold.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">P.S. Above the fold is a common term in email marketing. This is the section of the email a subscriber will see first, without having to scroll.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Call Your Reader to Action (And Make Sure It\u2019s Obvious!)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The call to action, or CTA in an email, is what people are prompted to click on to take them to a specific website or point of purchase. Designing your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/powerdigitalmarketing.com\/blog\/how-to-perfect-your-email-ctas\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CTA email<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in a way that your audience will be receptive to is key to improving click-through rates! To find out what your list is likely to click on, you can A\/B test a few different things for the CTA such as size, web font, design, color, and placement within the email. You would be shocked how much changing a CTA button\u2019s color could affect conversions! Here are five quick and easy best practices to go by when designing CTAs:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use bright colors &#8211; make your CTA stand out in the email by using a contrasting color!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add white space &#8211; create a visual break in the email by using white space to create a clear place for someone to click.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go above the fold &#8211; place your CTA near the top of your email so users never miss it. Make it easy for people to see where to click and quickly tell the reader your main message or offer.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be mindful of the main message &#8211; make sure to make your primary CTA obvious. You can do this by making it the biggest and brightest while less important buttons can blend in more with the other text.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use logic &#8211; think about the logical places to put a CTA. We read from top to bottom, left to right. With this in mind, it makes sense to put a \u201cShop Now\u201d CTA after describing what they would be shopping for.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A CTA button<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the number one driver of click-throughs in your emails and on your website. Use A\/B testing to make sure that you are getting the most out of your CTAs, but with these five tips, you should be on the right track!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Prioritize Email Rendering Over Design<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You could design the most beautiful, eye-catching, mouth-watering email ever created. But if it doesn\u2019t render properly on a mobile device and browsers, then all of your hard work will have been for nothing. This is why designing with email rendering in mind is key.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But before we dive into key things to keep in mind when considering email rendering, let\u2019s make sure we\u2019re on the same page as to what \u201cemail rendering\u201d even is. Email rendering verifies how your email will be displayed across the various browsers, email inboxes, and devices that your subscribers use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Pro Tip: <\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a variety of tools out there (<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/litmus.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Litmus<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.emailonacid.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email on Acid<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) that can help you determine how your email renders across devices, browsers, and inboxes.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few culprits that cause common rendering issues include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Font Size<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Text gets automatically resized on most email inboxes and devices. Use a minimum of 22 pixels for header text and 14 pixels for body text.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Message Clipping:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Some inboxes (*cough cough* Gmail *cough cough*) will clip messages that are larger than 102kb. Keep your messages short and sweet to avoid this trap! (More to come on this in the next section.)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Background Images:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If you\u2019re coding emails or using a drag and drop editor, avoid using a background image behind important CTAs or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/powerdigitalmarketing.com\/blog\/what-is-styled-alt-text-for-email-marketing\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">email alt text<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Background images aren\u2019t supported in many email inboxes and they will replace the image with a background color and if the background color is similar to your CTA or text, it will be difficult to read.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Tables vs Split Columns:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For those of you using drag and drop builders within your ESP, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that the \u201csplit column\u201d feature may not always render properly across Outlook, Windows 10, and other browsers. When possible, build it out using the \u201cTable\u201d feature instead of the split column feature.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Length Matters\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Word count can be a drag, especially when it comes to email. After all, there are so many factors to consider: your subject line, preview text, headers, and body paragraph&#8230;the list goes on. So, how do you ensure what you\u2019re saying is resonating with your audience, no matter what? Here are a few tips:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Be a master of your subject:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Subject lines that is. Most ESP\u2019s will truncate subject lines past 80 characters, so to make sure you\u2019re not dooming your readers to a (&#8230;) as soon as they open their inbox, keep it short and punchy. Studies show that the best subject lines that garner the highest open rates range between 10 &#8211; 50 characters.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Embody your audience:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When thinking about the meat of your content, don\u2019t think like a marketer. Put on your persona pants. Certain audiences and certain industries require different approaches. Ecommerce emails tend to run shorter and include more imagery, given they run on a sales-driven foundation. B2B emails, on the other hand, will tend to run longer given they focus a great deal on nurturing their leads with value-added resources. Whatever industry you fall into, aim to keep your body content between 50 &#8211; 125 words.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Keep calm and test on: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Noticing your clicks are low? Learn from your data and run A\/B tests! Use bullet points, dividers, images, or different layouts to determine what drives engagement. Just remember to only test <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> variable at a time, so you can identify what worked and what didn\u2019t. Like many things, practice makes perfect.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b><i>Pro Tip:<\/i><\/b> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/offers.hubspot.com\/ab-testing-kit?hubs_post-cta=body&amp;hubs_post=blog.hubspot.com%2Fmarketing%2Fa-b-testing-tools&amp;_ga=2.72868435.192820716.1611094925-428081789.1610584861\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HubSpot\u2019s Complete A\/B Testing Kit<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to get a free tracking template and significance calculator!<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boom, and there you have it! There are lots of elements that matter when it comes to making an email great. Creativity matters and is an important aspect to stand out in inboxes, but following the design<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">best practices will ensure your email is optimized, renders across multiple devices and inboxes, and clearly communicates the goal and intent of the email! Now get out there and build some killer emails &#8211; happy email planning!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the immersion of so many digital channels over the past few decades, many are concerned that email is a \u201cdying channel.\u201d Is this speculation the case? Absolutely NOT! Email marketing is constantly evolving in ways to make the user experience better and more personalized. We have seen huge leaps in features such as advanced [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-email","category-email-marketing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Email Design Best Practices - Power Digital Marketing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wondering how to design emails that stand out in the inbox and convert? 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