You know when you’ve received a poorly designed email. You cringe in horror and struggle to find the will to read it. You simply move on to the next one, hoping it will be easier to read.
Because it’s not about the value of the content that’s in that email, it’s about how it’s presented to you.
We know this to be true regarding presentation slides, marketing material design and many other things, but we somehow forget all about it when we sit down to write an email.
I suspect it’s because we default to the corporate and formal way many of us have learned to write emails. It’s a mindset that’s really difficult to get out of. (I am still struggling sometimes.)
So to combat that, I want you to understand the basic design elements that make it an easy to read email.
TLDR:
White space: make sure your content is not crammed together like a newspaper from the 50s, but that there is enough free space between different elements.
Headings: use headings and subheadings to split the content up into smaller more digestible sections.
Colour: use a different accent colour to help highlight or draw attention to something, keep it simple and don’t overdo it.
Text styling: when warranted, highlight a piece of text in a paragraph by making it bold or italic, helping the reader to scan and see what’s important.
Emojis: make sure it’s aligned with your brand. Emojis are something that should enhance your text and message with emotion, not replace it.
Images: illustrate your content with images when relevant, but remember that the message needs to come across without them too.
Dividers: use dividers to separate different sections of your email and create space.
Buttons: use buttons when you want your subscribers to take action.
Email design needs to facilitate the receiver to read it and engage with it, by helping them quickly understand what you’re trying to say and what’s in it for them.
White space
White space is the empty space between content that helps the eye to visually distinguish between sections, which helps to skim through the content faster identifying what’s important and what’s not.
For example:
(this is a template from MailerLite)
The white space between the logo and the header allows the text to breathe. The two blog post promos are not trying to cannibalise each other’s digital real estate. As your eyes scan through the page, you quickly and easily go from logo, to title, to the first blog image and title and then the other. You don’t need to work for it.
Now let’s manipulate this content and remove all the buffer white space:
You see? It looks a lot less appealing and is quite stressful to look at.
This applies to all design elements: headings, images, text and overall email formatting.
I genuinely think that this could be the biggest thing that will help ensure your subscribers’ happiness in the long run.
Headings
Use headings. Use headings often.
Just like the white space, headings help the reader skim through the content and identify if there is anything of interest to them.
Look at a page in a Dostoyevsky novel:
It’s overwhelming, to say the least. Before you read it, you need to prepare yourself that you will need lots of concentration and focus.
If your subscriber sees this in their inbox, they just won’t read it. People don’t have the time or the patience.
It’s an email, not a novel.
Subheadings help you break your content into sections that are small pieces of valuable standalone content on their own, and together they form the bigger picture.
For example:
A recipe can have these subheadings:
Ingredients
Prep
Cooking steps
Serving suggestions
And under the subheadings, you’ll also probably see a list or a step-by-step outline, not just a wall of text like this:
(ChatGPT Omelette recipe.)
Always go back through your content and see where you can separate it into sections and add subheadings.
Colour
Use colours wisely, less is more. Think accent colour and not a rainbow.
Use colour to highlight certain links or draw attention to a few key messages.
Allocate one colour to one topic and stick to it (at least within the same email).
The example below is from my vet. The use of red as an accent colour is very considerate and is only used where they want your attention the most, especially in the body copy.
Because the use of red is sparse, it draws the attention of the reader and immediately tells them what’s important.
Text styling
(bold, italic, underline, highlight)
Highlighting important pieces of content in bold or highlight for example, signals to the reader that this big is important and that if they were to read something, this should be it.
Highlighting something important only works if it’s sparse.
See this example:
Only the time and date of the event are bold so in this email, you first see your name, then the date and time, and then the big blue button at the end. The rest are extra information.
Emojis
To emoji or not to emoji 🤔
In the digital world we live in, emojis have become an element of text that supports the copy and helps convey your message, but it may not be for you.
I will again lean on your brand – is it within your brand to use emojis in your content?
If yes, then go for it. If not, don’t sweat it.
You can absolutely send an email that’s text only and have a great engaging email that people read and take action on. You don’t have to add pictures, emojis, and gifs.
Always make sure that they are complimentary to the text and that the text makes sense on its own.
The below example is from Fabric, a marketing education company, it’s not overbearing and supports the content well. But the main reason it works for them is that it’s part of their brand and their target market responds well to it.
Pictures
People like pictures, we just do. When it comes to using pictures in an email it’s about relevance.
For example, if you are sharing several blog posts with your community, you could add a picture that represents each piece of content, like this:
You can use images as content dividers as well, if your email is on the longer side and you want to split the content into different sections.
All of the email examples I have included so far use images in one way or another to help you get the gist of the content. Experiment and test different ways to format images in your emails, find what works for you.
Dividers
Dividers come in different shapes and forms. It can be a simple horizontal line or an empty space that matches the background colour that visually separates one section from another.
I highly recommend using dividers in your emails, once again to help the reader distinguish between sections as they skim it and decide if they should keep reading.
Buttons
If you want your readers to take an action on something, it’s best to include a button. Buttons get far more clicks than links embedded in the copy.
A button is there to be clicked, so it makes it super clear for the reader.
The example above shows the call to action link in the first paragraph but to ensure that the reader doesn’t miss the point, the Mini MBA guys then double up with a very clear button shortly after.
That’s it, that’s the email (and btw, the use of accent colour is very 👌)
Next time I’ll help you figure out your email marketing positioning so that your audience is excited to subscribe and receive your emails. Why should they subscribe?
Sorry for making this long 🍷