Designing emails is one thing, designing effective emails is another. When creating emails for fun or business, here are some quick tips to keep in mind.
Who are you talking to?
- One of the most important things when designing an email is to know who you are talking to. An email designing for a 20 something, won’t work the same for a 40 something. Make sure to speak to them so they can relate. Give them products and offers that are relevant to them.
What are you trying to accomplish from your email?
- Is it informative or actionable?
Prominent call-to-actions
- If you want them to click, make it noticeable and interesting. Grab their attention so that they don’t have to look for it, make it pop. Be creative.
Sharing
- If you have a great offer you want people to pass on, make it possible. Perhaps there is an incentive (eg. Earn an additional 10% for every friend that you forward this to, get your friends to register and get 50% off)
Catch their attention
- Eye-catching graphics, animation – make your email stand out form the rest.
Best Practices
- Try and figure out how the majority of people are receiving the email. Are you targeting mobile users? Do the majority have hotmail addresses? What email client are they using? Although some of these might be hard to answer, try and find out as much as you can.
Be aware
- What are your competitors doing? What works? What type of emails work for you? What emails work for the people in your demographic? When designing emails, it is important to be up-to-date on what is going on in the industry. Subscribe to email lists and see what other people are doing. To be an expert, you need to know what works and what doesn’t from a consumer point-of-view. The easiest way, is what emails in your inbox are getting YOUR attention.
Additional Resources:
I came across this site, which has some really good examples and case studies of emails if you want to see some examples of successful emails. Take a look:
http://www.retailemailblog.com/2008/01/design-hall-of-fame-2007-inductees.html