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Things are getting difficult with email marketing. The competition is growing. But what’s worse, the attention spans are dwindling. In a 2018 report, it was found that people spend, on average, 13.4 seconds looking at a marketing email. In 2022, this time decreased to 9 seconds. You have less and less time to capture the readers' attention and even less to persuade them to take the action you want. 

All this drama boils down to one thing: changes are needed. In good old-fashioned email marketing, copy was considered to be the most essential part. Now, the text on its own is not good enough. The design of your emails is just as vital as the persuasive copywriting within them. And we’re not talking about the visual appeal only. Readers should be able to grasp the essence of your message within two to three seconds. Moreover, effective email marketing design should be persuasive, guiding the reader's gaze to key features and making it as easy as possible to click on the needed button. 

So, how to design marketing emails so they are at their most efficient? Let’s dig in.

Email marketing design best practices

Here are tips and tricks that work for creating efficient email marketing designs regardless of what you are trying to sell.

#1. Prioritize mobile optimization 

Over 60% of emails are now opened on mobile devices. So, for starters, you have to prioritize responsive designs and ensure that your email designs look good and are easy to interact with across various screen sizes.

Some of the specific email marketing design tips you should keep in mind:

• Opt for a single-column layout to simplify the reading experience on smaller screens.
• Stack content vertically for easy scrolling and better readability.
• Use a minimum font size of 14px for body text to enhance readability.
• Choose web-safe fonts to ensure consistent rendering across devices (most pre-installed ones are usually okay).
• Design buttons with a touch-friendly size (at least 44x44 pixels) to facilitate easy tapping. UX design for email marketing should never disregard the realities of people's thumbs.
• Provide enough spacing between interactive elements (including links) to prevent accidental clicks.
• Compress images to reduce file size without compromising quality.
• Use alt text for images to convey the message even if images are blocked.
• Aim for 30-40 characters for heading to avoid truncation on mobile devices.
• Place important content near the top to minimize scrolling.
• And, of course, test your emails across different devices and email clients.

#2. Create a skimmable design

"Skimmable" is one of the email marketing design trends you should always keep in mind. Remember those 9 seconds? No one, not even the biggest, most loyal fans of your brand, will actually read your email. So, the best thing you can do is to make sure they can grasp all the info you need during those few seconds they will pay attention. What can you do to achieve this?

• Craft concise and compelling headlines.
• Establish a clear visual hierarchy by using larger fonts, bold text, and contrasting colors for headlines and important information.
• Present information in bulleted lists or numbered points.
• Break down complex ideas into digestible chunks.
• Short. Sentences. (Okay, maybe not this short.)
• Ensure visual elements support the message and contribute to a quick understanding of the content. One image is better than a hundred words.

#3. Include persuasive elements 

You can make the readers skip through your email, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will want to take the desired action. You can nudge them a little bit with persuasive and attention-grabbing elements, both in copy and design.

• Clearly articulate the value proposition of your offer and highlight these features visually.
• Use visuals that evoke emotion or convey the product's value.
• Create a sense of urgency or scarcity to prompt immediate action.
• Integrate interactive elements to engage the reader.
• Craft a compelling CTA that emphasizes the benefits of taking action.

Even if you've already established contact with the customer and it's not cold emails you're sending out, you'll likely need to use emails to prompt action. Just think of all the "activate your email" letters from various websites you've received. These tips work for them as well.

#4. Use cognitive-based persuasion tactics

While in the previous section, we covered the overt persuasion elements (grab attention, create a sense of urgency and so on), there are some cognitive biases you can make use of when creating marketing email designs.

Principle of least effort

People are naturally choosing the path of least resistance. To guide the reader to take the action you need, you can use not only obvious methods like adding arrows pointing at the button, but also, for example, an inverted pyramid design.

Cognitive ease

Sometimes, the simpler, the better. For example, when trying to persuade the reader to jump on the bandwagon of the last day of sale, you don't need to be coy about it. Large letters, arrows, moving elements – anything that grabs attention works.

Von Restorff Effect

The Von Restorff Effect, also known as the isolation effect, is a psychological principle that suggests that an item that stands out is more likely to be remembered. For example, if you see a herd of sheep, the lone cow with them will be more noticeable and remembered – and you'll be drawn to it more. In email marketing, leveraging the Von Restorff Effect can significantly enhance the visibility and impact of key elements, particularly your CTA buttons.

Limit the choices

According to Hick's law, the more choices there are, the harder it is to choose. You can present your readers with different options, but you don't want to send them into decision paralysis.

What does it mean practically for your emails? Even if you want to pack many offers in one email, make sure they are presented as visually distinctive blocks and are not competing against each other.

If you yourself are having trouble with deciding what's important enough to include in this specific email, stick to the Rule of 3. It's exactly what it says on the tin: people remember threes easily. Two options might not be enough, or the reader might feel like you're making your own products or offerings compete against each other. Four might be too much. Three? Easy to choose, easy to remember. Take note that while in the example above, there are more options, they are divided into three blocks.

#5. Maintain consistent branding

In emails, just like in digital marketing in general, consistent branding is key for establishing a strong and recognizable identity and increasing the customer's trust. Consistency in branding extends beyond just adding your logo to every email; it encompasses a harmonious integration of colors, fonts, logos, and overall design elements.

• Use your brand's color scheme, but make sure the email is readable. If your brand's primary colors are not suited for it, leave the background color white or black and use the colors strategically for headings, interactive elements, and so on.
• Use fonts consistently, but also remember about readability. If the only font you have in the brand book is a fancy handwritten one for the logo, also leave it for specific elements and go for a readable, web-safe standard typeface.
• Use consistently high-quality images. A blurred pixelated photo can break the trust in your brand all too easily.
• Use scalable versions of your logo and place it where readers can see it – but don't use it as a sole visual.
• Define and use recurring design patterns and elements (layout, borders, patterns, even the photo's editing.)

In conclusion

With email marketing, you only have seconds to grab the audience's attention, and you have to make sure every one of them counts. Clear copy, segmentation, and personalization are all vital for boosting your marketing campaign's success. But copy and design are two sides of the same coin, and you can't have one without the other and expect your efforts to bring fruit.

If you're not sure you can design your emails on your own, consider seeking a marketing designer's help. With TodayMade, you can cover all your design needs without hiring an in-house designer or relying on a freelancer. Contact us today and see how a professional's hand can transform the look and feel of your marketing emails!