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Happy *Almost* 2018! Email marketers, gurus, and geeks: we’re almost there. The whirlwind of a holiday season is coming to a close, but the start of the new year is an important time to check in with readers. Aside from (new) promotional campaigns, plenty of brands also send year-in-review digests, reflections on the past 12 months, or simple thank you notes to subscribers. However you’re celebrating, we tip our hats to you for all your hard work! For those finishing a New Year’s email design or for those just getting started, we have some inspiring New Year’s emails for you. Plus, we’re also offering a free New Year’s email template! Read on.
GIF from a January 1 email from Bloomingdale’s
*New* New Year’s email template from BEE
Ready-made mobile-responsive email templates can help you send a campaign fast. Having a library of email templates to choose from is actually one of the top considerations email gurus make when choosing or recommending an ESP. They’re a great option when you’re in need of inspiration or if your design resources are limited—especially at busy times of the year, like the holidays. That’s why BEE designers have created a complete holiday set, with templates now available for:
- New Year’s Eve or Day
- Valentine’s Dayd
- Easter
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- 4th of July
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Hanukkah
- Christmas
Our New Year’s template is available now for all BEE Pro users (you can start a free trial immediately here!) Here’s a look:
In keeping with all emails designed in BEE, the New Year’s template is fully customizable, mobile responsive, and mobile optimized, with features like bulletproof buttons, live text headers, and body copy modules. In fact, all content in the first module, including the button, is editable so you can completely customize all of it.
Tips for customizing your template
BEE’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to duplicate, rearrange, and update email modules to suit your needs. Here are a few tips for customization:
- Check out the stock image library. If the images in the template don’t fit your brand or message aesthetic, simply tap into our huge library of free stock photos, or import your own via the built-in file manager. For any image in an email, you can add filters, insert text overlay, crop, and so on.
- Alter HTML background colors. This email template has a “boxed” look, along with shades of purple behind headers and modules, which helps separate content and make the email easy to read. But, you can change all these colors to suit your needs!
- Create the perfect CTA button. BEE’s buttons are always fully customizable and bulletproof. Go ahead and change the color, height, width, font style, and more until you’re happy with them.
- Adjust padding and spacing. The template’s existing spacing is designed to give your message room to breathe. But you can always adjust the padding around an image, the spacing between modules, the buffer around a button, and more, until the message is exactly how you want it.
- Preview. Use the built-in preview function in the upper left corner to check that your message looks great on mobile. Make adjustments as needed, then finish and download!
New Year’s email design inspiration
Need fresh inspiration? Here are some fancy New Year emails from our inbox to get the creative juices flowing!
BirchBox Man
Sent January 1, 2017 | Subject: Hey There, 2017 is Yours for the Taking
Toms
Sent January 1, 2017 | Subject: New arrivals, new year
We love this animation:
Boll & Branch
Sent January 1, 2017 | Subject: We Want to Hear From You!
What a great idea to start the year off with a survey. For tips on how to build your own—including an in-email survey—check out our post where we dive into survey design.
Bloomingdale’s
Sent January 1, 2017 | Subject: Rebecca, Our After-Christmas Sale Ends Today
Did you catch the personalization in the subject? Great attention-grabbing move.
Noble Desktop
Sent January 2, 2017 | Subject: Make Code Your New Year’s Resolution
Another great GIF using illustration:
Everlane
Sent January 2, 2017 | Subject: What’s to come: Jan 2017
Love the idea of a simple calendar roll-out!
A few New Year’s email design best practices to keep in mind
Whether you use our template or create your own New Year’s email, here are a few quick tips to help guide your design decisions!
- Images don’t need to be the only visually interesting part of your email. You don’t need a custom GIF to create a beautiful email! In addition to our stock image libraries, we also love bold HTML background colors to create a dynamic, visually-interesting email, along with optimal CTA button colors (here’s how to choose).
- Alternate between two typefaces. Also, make your headline at least 3x the size of your body copy.
- Don’t say “Click here” or “Read more” on your CTA button. Tell readers what they should do using a clear, direct action verb. Try “Reserve my spot now” or “Get my free ticket.” Or, be playful! Hey, it’s your email.
- Make sure your message is accessible to everyone. If you missed it, we recently talked with Email on Acid CEO John Thies about why it’s so important designers make their emails accessible, particularly to those who are vision impaired and use their phones differently.
- Prevent Gmail from clipping your email. If you’re sending a long wrap-up or year-in-review email, make sure Gmail won’t clip it. The email service clips HTML emails that are larger than 102 KB in size, and the Gmail App for iOS clips emails that are larger than 20KB. Read more on message clipping to make sure readers see everything you want them to!
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