Did you know, according to an article by Hubspot, 'there are 3.9 billion daily email users'? (Statista, 2020) In fact, here's some more stats that highlight the true potential of strong email marketing campaigns...
Since we can see how valuable email marketing really is, how can you leverage your results even further and help your email perform better? Of course time must be spent on creating copy that really relates to your audience in order to see great results but today, we're focusing on the newsletter design mistakes you might be making that are holding your campaign back from performing well.
If you want to grab your reader's attention, you've got to pull out all the stops when it comes to imagery in your email. We'd actually go as far as to say that the way your email looks is equally as important as the way it reads. Remember that you have a few seconds to make an impression on the viewer, and poor quality images just aren't going to cut it. But we know, we know... you already use high-res stock images, right? That's a fantastic starting point, but it's not all you need to be doing to make sure that the visual imagery in your email is up to scratch.
In today's e-commerce world, free stock photography sites are used by the masses. It's fantastic that so many people have access to high-quality images for their brand, but if you want to prioritise standing out, you have to make sure that your stock photography is as unique as it can be. That doesn't necessarily mean spending a massive part of your budget on in-house photography, or even using paid stock photography sites if it's not affordable enough for you to do so, but it's about getting creative with how you illustrate your points.Try to think outside of the box when it comes to ways to illustrate the points you are making in your email. The more conceptual the visual imagery is, the more it'll intrigue the viewer and also stick around in their mind. In addition to this, be careful to use stock imagery that hasn't already been used by your competitors. This can be more common when using free stock imagery sites, but it can still happen when using paid stock sites too.The whole point of getting as creative as possible and using as unique imagery as you can is to create a brand that will be remembered. By using imagery or image styles that are commonly used by your competitors, you aren't doing much at all to help your brand stand out and your email newsletter will look very similar to all the other messages in your customer's inbox that day (which will likely be a lot of marketing emails trying to sell the same thing you are! )
A common mistake that can really effect your campaign's performance is to forget to optimise your email for mobile. "Mobile opens accounted for 46 percent of all email opens. (Litmus.com, 2018)" That means that you need to account for a large portion of your viewers being on a small screen. Most marketers will design their email newsletters using a desktop, so it can be really easy to miss that crucial step. How can you make sure the imagery in your newsletter is optimised for mobile? Keep the graphics simple, and any text included should be minimal and as large as possible. On a small screen, small details will get lost so make sure that your images are as clear and uncomplicated as possible. It's key to do this so that your email is more accessible on any device, and it will help to communicate your point best to a huge part of your audience.
It can be so easy to feel that everybody in your audience wants to hear about all the smallest details that are important to your team and business. However, the very best graphic design requires restraint. When every design element on your email serves a purpose and is simultaneously very aesthetically pleasing, that's when you've achieved professional email newsletter design. So even though you might really want to include the ins and outs of your latest company updates within your email, remember to keep copy minimal and as impactful as you can. Explain your point as precisely as you can in an email newsletter and use links instead to direct the reader to learn more. From a design point of view, this gives your email more white space and will be more pleasing on the eye for your viewer.
Just like it's important to make sure your copy is impactful, other design elements should also be there to serve a purpose. As a general rule of thumb, only include a new image for each topic you're covering to illustrate the point. Make sure your logo is in the header, and include social follow icons in the footer to give your audience other places to follow you.
Even though your email newsletters aren't part of your website, they should still incorporate all of your brand colours. By making sure that every point of contact you have with your customer's followers the same strict brand guidelines, you'll be helping to reinforce your brand even further.  Here's a checklist of elements to check are in keeping with your brand guidelines before hitting send on your email newsletters:
Professional newsletter design can make a massive impact on your marketing campaigns and could be the deciding factor in a conversion, so making sure you polish your design as much as possible with these easy tips and tricks is really important. At Design Cloud, we help businesses all around the UK with email newsletter design every day, so if you'd like any more help from a pro UK-based graphic designer - just get in touch today.
