Email marketing has changed a lot since it first became a way to interact with customers and leads. What was once the main way to communicate with an audience has now been split between email, social media, paid ads and more.
With that said, it’s important to understand that email is still a relevant part of any digital marketing campaign. In fact, according to HubSpot, email marketing is still growing in popularity. While Gmail already has 1 billion users today, The Radicati Group estimates that 3 billion people worldwide will be active email users by 2020! On top of that, emails still have an insanely high ROI of 3800%, which means for every dollar spent companies make $38!
People get slammed with emails daily, and they usually don’t have the time or patience to read the entire email. This means you have maybe a half of a second to capture the reader’s attention before they move on to the next message or delete your email.
Don’t let your email be skipped and get your message missed; take these email design best practices and wow your readers with effective design!
Mobile Designed or Bust
Your email template needs to be designed with mobile in mind. Period. More than half of all emails are opened in mobile apps these days, and all of your hard work could be missed if this isn’t taken into consideration.
A good rule of thumb for email design is to cap them at a width of 600 pixels. Look into designing your emails either as a single column or in a mobile responsive template. There are pros and cons for each, but you can choose whichever works better for you. Just as long as the mobile experience is your central focus, either option will work.
Loud Calls-to-Action
An email’s call-to-action is one of, if not, the most important part of your email design. It is the driving force of your email’s purpose and makes it clear what you want your reader to do. In emails, CTAs are often buttons that are easily identifiable (make them pop with a different color) and placed toward the top of the email (to capture your quick readers’ attention). Also, make sure that your calls-to-action are large enough to be tap-friendly and are placed far enough from other links that could be accidentally clicked.
Font Facts
To keep your email design professional and clean, aim to use less than four fonts types in a single email. A good practice is to have one font for headlines (something that grabs attention) and a simple font for the email’s body. The email’s body text size should not be smaller than 14pt font and 22pt for headlines, and break up the text so it doesn’t look too lengthy.
As far as text color goes, keep it simple and nothing too flashy that could be hard to read on screen. A light-colored background is encouraged to enhance the font colors.
Simplicity is a Good Thing
It’s simple: The more complex your layouts are designed with cool graphics and colors, the more likely your emails won’t display like you intended them to.
Simple email designs and layouts mean that your emails instantly become unanimously readable on all devices. Even though complex designs can be more visually appealing to readers, it’s not worth the problems they bring for minimal tangible benefit.
Now that you have your email design down, it’s time to fill them effective email content!
To learn more about email design, contact GreenMellen Media today!
