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Last week, top email marketers and strategists came together in New Orleans for the Email Evolution Conference 2016 (EEC2016). Through panel events, breakout sessions, and workshops, email marketers gathered a great deal of advice and insight from both peers and industry leaders and learned about tech and recent trends for 2016. Missed it? Don’t worry—we rounded up the top email design tips from the conference, straight from the participants themselves.
Tip #1: Provide value after opt-in
Make new subscribers glad they signed up: give them a coupon or free gift as a thank you. You can also provide an opportunity for readers to add data about themselves to tailor their experience in future messages.
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Welcome emails are some of the highest performing messages (with an average 50% open rate!), so capitalize on the opportunity and make a great first impression. Brush up on your welcome email with our 10 Tips for Great Welcome Email Design—and make sure you’ve optimized your subscription opt-in email to increase completed signups.
Tip #2: Skip the all-image email
It’s not new news that image-only emails are problematic. They end up in spam folders…
Ditch the all image b2b email if you want your emails to have a better shot against outlook corporate filters. –@EmailKarma #eec16
— Shauna Plesmid (@ShShauna) April 1, 2016
And aren’t seen by subscribers with image-viewing turned off:
42% of consumers have images blocked; make sure your message can be read with images off – @kathpay #EEC16
— John Caldwell (@jacaldwell) March 30, 2016
Avoid the pitfalls of the image-only email by instead designing a message with a balanced text-to-image ratio. Use vibrant HTML background colors and well-styled email-safe fonts to create an email that makes it into inboxes and still looks great. And make sure all images have accurate, well-styled ALT text so you don’t lose parts of your message with images off.
Tip #3: Don’t make it hard to unsubscribe
If you’re in Canada or send to Canadian residents, you need to comply with Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL). In the States, it’s the CAN-SPAM law. One of the most important requirements of both is to make it clear and simple for readers to unsubscribe.
Don’t make it hard for someone to unsubscribe, you could be in violation of #CASL #emailmarketing #EEC16
— Len Shneyder (@LenShneyder) March 31, 2016
Someone that opts out may some day opt back in. Someone that clicks the spam button, or files a complaint with the CRTC is far worse #EEC16
— Len Shneyder (@LenShneyder) March 31, 2016
Best practice is to include an unsubscribe or opt-out link at the top of your message or in the footer. Including it isn’t just the law; it builds trust, loyalty, and respect with readers.
Tip #4: Tease content in email
The content in your email should be an appetizer before the main meal. Drive subscribers to your blog (and make your email short, sweet, and mobile-friendly) by teasing a piece of your content that encourages readers to tap to read more on your (also mobile-optimized!) blog.
email is the single largest driver of readership to blogs. #eec16 Use email as a teaser to drive them to the blog.
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Don't need to include the content IN the emails, can use the emails to drive users to content hosted elsewhere. #EEC16
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Not sure you have content? Laura Atkins shares some ideas:
Customers want content! Information and videos drive customer engagement and bring value to the email stream #eec16.
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Bring knowledge from customer care team into the digital realm, not just "buy this" but "buy this because…" #EEC16
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Use your existing content in emails! Even in your on boarding and welcome emails. #eec16 @LorenMcDonald
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Tip #5: Add animation
Because GIFs are image files (like PNGs and JPEGs), they’re super simple to use in email. And they’re a powerful tool for email marketers, adding a sense of levity, delight, and playfulness that’s eye-catching and entertaining.
Cinemegraphs (animated .gif) create subtle movement in email, just enough to grab attention. Animate small portion for intrigue. #EEC16
— Bradford Johnson (@BHJnow) April 1, 2016
Animating a small portion is a great tip; large GIF files can be slow to download or eat up mobile data plans. Optimize your use of animated GIFs in emails with these top 4 tips.
Tip #6: Test your responsive design
With up to 70% of email opens now occurring on mobile, mobile-optimized design is a must. But to make sure your email looks great across email clients, test first.
Responsive or mobile-optimized design? Of course, but test first! Don’t make it too HTML- or image-heavy @ANahatis #EEC16 #deliverability
— Brad Gurley (@DeliveryCounts) April 1, 2016
An email that’s too HTML-heavy could get clipped, whereas one that’s too image-heavy may not be viewable to readers with image-viewing disabled, or may be slow to load on mobile.
Tip #7: Try live content
Like animated GIFs, live content is dynamic and intriguing, and there are plenty of content options to incorporate:
Open-time/live/agile content uses: news, timers, carousel, offer update/expiration, weather, social feeds, balances, etc. #EEC16
— Bradford Johnson (@BHJnow) April 1, 2016
Countdown timers can be particularly effective at creating urgency. They’re also easy and free to make online. Check out our recent tutorial for a step-by-step how-to!
Tip #8: Lose the social media buttons
In email, social media buttons are secondary calls to action, often landing in an email’s footer, all the way at the bottom. The main focus of your email is to get readers to take action on your primary CTA, like signing up for your upcoming webinar, for instance. The key focus isn’t for a reader to follow you on Facebook, so it’s a best practice to prevent social icons from being a distraction. But what if you don’t need them at all?
Remove social buttons from your emails. Chances are no one is clicking them… ? #EEC16
— Faith Albers (@FaithAlbers) March 31, 2016
Find out if readers are tapping those social icons or not by using click tracking. This is particularly important if you’ve been including social buttons at the top of your email in a navigation menu that needs to be scaled down.
Scaling down your Nav for mobile? Use click tracking to determine what's really important (not just what you want them to click) #EEC2016
— Faith Albers (@FaithAlbers) March 31, 2016
Tip #9: Test font styles and colors
Font styles and colors can evoke strong reactions in readers. Ecommerce brands need to be particularly attuned to how subscribers interpret content. Check out Jessica Best’s tweet on using a small font for listing an item’s price, and being wary of the color:
Huh! Smaller price email font "feels" like a better deal & so performs better. Prices in red do well w/men, but less well for women. #EEC16
— Jessica Best (@bestofjess) March 31, 2016
The best way to get answers is to test different styles with your audience and collect data. Make sure to optimize text formatting, especially in longer messages, and try these creative uses of color to see how readers engage.
Tip #10: Prioritize email quality over quantity
Want to know what’ll cost you subscribers more than anything else? Laura Atkins doesn’t sugarcoat it:
Top customer complaint: email frequency. Too much mail drives list churn. #eec16
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Treat your customers with respect. Stop pounding them with irrelevant volume. #EEC16 @LorenMcDonald
— Laura Atkins (@wise_laura) March 31, 2016
Segment subscriber lists to send tailored, relevant content to readers.
The value of your email newsletter drives confirmation. #EEC16 Relevant content is king!
— Jack Wrigley (@jwrigley1) April 1, 2016
It’s all about creating trust and respect with your readership.
Email sending frequency pro tip. Treat sending like a relationship. #EEC16
— Jack Wrigley (@jwrigley1) April 1, 2016
Did you attend? Let us know your takeaway in the comments!
If you were at EEC 2016, too, let us know your key takeaways in the comments! We’d love to hear from you.
Also, if you’re interested in reading more tweets you can follow @theeec, check out the #EEC16 hashtag and view the full collection on Eventifier.
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