Email Marketing: 9 Elements to create an effective email

However, between the idea of ​​an email and its sending there is a design process that goes from the structure of the message to the choice of fonts, from the balance of colors and from the writing of the copy of the object to the optimization for mobile. .

Only by designing an email campaign with an attractive, professional and responsive design is it possible to lead users to open your email and take the action you want.

What are the main aspects to take into account to create a perfect email marketing campaign? Here are the 9 key points you should focus on to process your email:

1. Structure

Making a sketch on paper can be a really effective solution to properly organize the useful elements to create the structure of the email. With an outline drawn, you have the opportunity to put your ideas on paper and understand if there are any critical issues in creating the email.

It is important to remove all unnecessary elements. Most of the time, people in front of the computer or smartphone screen do not read carefully, but rather scan. For this reason, creating messy structures with misleading elements, different fonts and inconsistent colors would lead the user to not understand what to do.

An example of an effective structure is the inverted pyramid. This type of layout allows you to organize all elements according to a precise hierarchical order. This way the user will be able to immediately distinguish the primary elements placed at the top, such as your brand logo, from the secondary ones.

2. Colour

The color must highlight the important elements of the structure, guide the user's gaze and, above all, it must maintain coherence with the brand's communication style. How to choose colors? Here are 3 key aspects to keep in mind:

• Define a logical color range
• Limit the palette to a few colors (2 or 3) and avoid combinations that may be "annoying" to the eye.
• Aim for harmony between the message and the visual aspect

An important aspect is to use colors strategically. For example, if the main image color you choose is red, it could be a winning option to color the CTA (Call to Action) plate red.

3. Photos

Images are the main communicative element of your email. You can choose between scenic photographs, cropped representations of a product, or animated GIFs to increase the communicative power of the visual.

In the case of GIFs, it is essential to pay attention to the weight of the file so as not to slow down the opening of the email and not to exceed the number of animations so as not to confuse the user.

Sometimes it may happen that due to loading errors it is not possible to display the image. This is where alt text comes in.

Alt text or alt text appears in place of images when they cannot be displayed for various reasons. It plays a fundamental role so that the message is understood by the user even in case of visual loading problems.

4. Call to action

The CTA is the most important element of the email because it tells the user what action to take. This is why it is preferable to create captivating copy that can attract the reader, rather than a simple “click here”. Depending on the purpose of your email, you can experiment with the color, shape, and CTA copy to convey your message as effectively as possible. As mentioned above, it could be a winning option to insert the CTA within a plate of the primary color present in the email, to more easily capture the user's eye.

5. Footer

The footer is the final section of the email structure. It often receives less consideration than the main body of the text, however, it is a key part that covers important details such as your brand details and external links. What information can be included in the footer? These are just some of the main ones:

• Link to the company website
• Email
• Icons with links to social networks
• Additional links, for example to forward the email
• Permission reminder, to explain why your recipient is receiving the email: "You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to"
• Copyright
• Privacy Policy
• Details of a specific offer
• Unsubscribe link

6. Responsiveness

According to email marketing research by MagNews, the majority of people interviewed access their email inbox through their smartphone. This makes it extremely necessary to optimize and adapt the email structure to each device, to ensure excellent performance even on mobile devices.

For example, to make texts easier to read even on a smartphone, it is advisable to use large fonts, at least 22/24 px for titles and 16 px for text. The same goes for buttons and CTA (Call To Action). Users should be as easy to read as possible – slowly loading images and text that is too small greatly reduce the chance of them taking the action you want.

7. Link and UTM

Links that refer to the site or other web pages can be inserted in various parts of the email, such as within the texts, in images or in animated GIFs and in buttons.

For this reason, it is essential to track individual links to analyze their effectiveness and constantly improve your communication strategy. UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) tracking parameters are the solution for you! With these parameters, you can precisely know the data related to the source of origin, the transmission channel and the campaign of origin of the traffic.

8. Subject and preheader

According to a survey conducted by MailUp, the subject determines the opening of the email in 35% of cases. The analysis found that the shortest subject lines (maximum 24 characters) get the highest email open rates. Recipients prefer a type of subject characterized by textual brevity, the ability to clearly anticipate the contents but at the same time generate an expectation to induce them to open the email.

Here are some key points to keep in mind to create a simple, immediate and captivating object:

• Clarity
• Consistency with email content
• Length
• Text customization, for example by inserting a few but effective emojis
• Creative writing to attract the user

Instead, the preheader is a very short text that is displayed immediately after the object. Its purpose is to provide the recipient with more information about the content that will be present in the email.

9. A/B Test

On the web, the most effective way to understand which communication strategy works best is to experiment. The A/B test is an experiment to understand how the public reacts to two variants of the same message. In the specific case of email marketing, thanks to A/B testing it is possible to send two versions of the email to two different audiences, to then analyze the conversion rates and understand what people prefer between the original version A and its variant. B. This is the most effective method to constantly optimize email campaign performance and improve your digital strategy.