The Ultimate Guide to a Winning Email Design

In a world where billions of people have email addresses, it’s an email marketer’s dream to have the ability to promote products and services to so many prospects. However, this comes with an unavoidable drawback: the average person receives dozens of emails a day, all clamoring for attention that is in limited supply. Most people will skim over an email to get a basic understanding of its general contents. With such little attention to spare, your email needs to be gripping enough in both its layout and content to hold their attention and encourage them to act. It is why you must carefully consider the design of your email, crafting each section to achieve the best possible engagement from a skimming eye. Here’s a guide highlighting fourteen elements of good email design that you can apply to increase the success rates of your marketing strategy.

Visual design elements

1- Triangular/zigzag content arrangement

For a reader that glides over content quickly, your email needs to guide the movement of their eyes. An upside-down triangular arrangement is popular, as it directs eye movement straight down to the call of action, much like a down-facing arrow. A zigzag formation with text and imagery alternated on either side is also popular but heavily relies on plenty of alluring imagery. Whichever arrangement you choose, let the eyes always finally rest at the call to action button in the end.

2 -Mobile optimization

Statistics note that about 41% of users in 2019 opened emails on their mobile devices. The number has since increased, so email marketers must take measures to ensure their content is easy to view on phones, tablets, and PCs alike. Use responsive templates, break up the texts into smaller chunks, and keep your subject lines and pre-header text as short as possible. You don’t have much room on a phone screen, so make every little space count. Remember to mobile-optimize your website as well, since any links or buttons in your email will inevitably redirect to it.

3- Brand indicators

Whatever template you create for your emails, always have your brand appear visibly within it. Remember that the email recipient is more likely to skim over the content, so immediately recognizing your brand logo and colors is the fastest way to identify your business as the sender.

4- Visual content

Few things breed disinterest in skimming readers faster than long-winded paragraphs of prose. On the opposite end of the spectrum, well-taken and edited images and videos excel at attracting and holding attention. Keep them on brand, and remember that emojis can also present your content in a livelier light. Don’t be afraid to use them thoughtfully in your subject line too!

Email content elements

5- Personalization

Readers will feel more compelled to keep reading when the content feels like it caters specifically to them. Here are a few ways to personalize your email designs.

Reference user-specific data that you've collected from their activity on your website. Data could include geographic locations, preferred user settings, product preferences, and so on
Where possible, refer to a user by their name.
Integrate behavior-triggered emails for each action that users take on your websites like signing up, making a purchase, or even unsubscribing.
Create a customer persona for your target audiences and tailor your emails to fit their specific projected wants and needs.

6- Attractive subject line

The subject line is the first piece of text that a recipient will see before they even open your email. Here are a few tips to crafting it well enough to persuade them to want to open and see what’s inside.

7- Thought-out pre-header text

After the subject line, users will also see the pre-header text before they open the email. The pre-header text is preview content that complements the subject line and can only carry a few words with so little character space. Make yours count by crafting it to give more context to the subject line, helping readers understand what to expect in your email.

8- Short-form content

We live in an age where people consume far too much information. To adapt to this, most of us only quickly glaze over content to glean the necessary details. It does not help to have too much content to read in your emails. Long blocks of text will lose readers’ attention quickly. Keep your body text short, breaking up the paragraphs as well.

9- Clear call to action

After making your offer, you should always conclude with a call to action that encourages recipients to click through the links in your email. The call could be to make a purchase, sign up for a trial, or access a specific download.
Make it short, concise, and easy to spot within the email. Link it in text, in bold colors, or on top of a brightly colored button that readers can find quickly

10- Value-added content

Make reading through your email worth a recipient’s while! It can be tempting to just plug a quick promotion here and be done with it. However, added value is the element that persuades them to click through your call to action since they see something in it for them. Here are a few tips to help add value to your emails.

Offer useful information or a link to it that a recipient could benefit from applying, especially if it is related to a product or service they have recently purchased.

Include a special price or free item that a user could get from taking any specific action.

11- Links and buttons

The goal of your email is to convince its readers to take a specific action. Make taking this action easy by embedding links in your text and images. Buttons are great alternatives to links because you can design them to be even more attractive with bold colors, animations, and more. Make your links or buttons relevant, redirecting users to the right page on your website.

Trust-building elements

12- A trustworthy sender name

Build trust with your prospects by letting them know who is sending the message to them. Your company name must always appear in the sender name as an identifier of your business. Other variants such as company and staff or team member names help to humanize you as the sender to the recipients who will now feel like they’re receiving communication from a fellow human instead of a bot

13- Visible contact information

A reputable company should always list its contact information at the bottom panel of its email because sometimes a prospect wishes to contact them directly. This information can include a telephone number, a company physical location, and more! Having this information visible also lends to your credibility as a business.

14- Easy to access the 'Unsubscribe' button

Do not be afraid of people choosing to unsubscribe because it helps you maintain a fresh email list of recipients who look forward to your messages. Making it hard to unsubscribe from your email leaves disgruntled recipients who may mark your messages as spam, which can negatively impact your sender reputation. Place the link to unsubscribe at the bottom panel where it’s easy to find for people who wish to not receive emails from you any longer.

Always apply these elements to the design of the best possible emails for your marketing campaign. You will be well on your way to reaching more of your intended audience with a message that entices them to take action. What follows will be increased engagement and more conversions and sales.