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Email Design For Mobile: Best Practices to Take Your Marketing Emails up a Level

Emily Santos
Emily Santos
Sep 15, 2022
Email Design For Mobile: Best Practices to Take Your Marketing Emails up a Level

Evolution of Mobile-First Design

The term "mobile-first design" is one you may have heard before, but perhaps you've never put it to practice. To understand what mobile-first means, it's important to understand how web and email design has evolved over time.Previously, desktop computers were the most commonly used device to view websites and emails. Today, mobile phones are ubiquitous and part of our lives.We use mobile phones for most of our everyday tasks. From waking up tolistening to our favorite podcasts, managing our project, chatting on Slack with our colleagues, and, yes, checking emailsThe shift in how users view content forces marketers and designers to approach email creation with a slightly different mindset – using a "mobile-first" design method.

What is Mobile-First Design?

The mobile-first design method encourages us to build emails and websites considering the smallest device first. This means that as your design process continues, additional functionality and content is added for larger screens, such as desktops.A Bluecore report shows that "59% of Millennials and 67% of Generation Z use their smartphones as their primary email source." Given that a vast majority of your subscribers are most likely part of these generations, it is safe to assume that ignoring mobile-first design could result in low email engagement.It is easy to see that mobile-first is essential. However, it does come with its challenges that could become barriers to your success. These barriers include spam filters, ineffective subject lines, long graphic load times, or accessibility concerns.To get a better understanding of these challenges and best practices to tackle them, continue reading.

Why Should We Optimize Emails for  Mobile Responsiveness?

Reports by Litmus show that "roughly half of all email opens occur on mobile devices." In fact, SaleCycle shows that "42.3% of people delete emails on their devices when they're not optimized for mobile."Unfortunately, a majority of marketers have yet to embrace mobile email design. A 2020 study by SuperOffice found that "nearly one in five email campaigns were not optimized for mobile viewing."By ignoring mobile design, even your best emails could be providing your reader with a poor email experience, and you could be missing out on the benefits it can provide, such as:

  • Increased conversion rates
  • Higher open and click-thru rates
  • Fewer opt-outs
  • Better email delivery rates

Mobile Email Design Stats to Make You Go Hmmmm….

Here are some moreinteresting mobile email stats that might make you consider upping your mobile email game.

  • "Almost every report on email open rates concludes that mobile is responsible for at least 50% of all opens" (Campaign Monitor)
  • "70% of users will delete poorly formatted emails in under three seconds." (Campaign Monitor)
  • "Mobile transactions accounted for 71% of sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2021." (Shopify)
  • "Smartphone users spend five to six hours daily on their phones, not including work-related use." (Statista)

See also: Top Email Design Trends for 2022

Creating Mobile Responsive Emails: 8 Best Practices

As we've outlined, you have much to gain from investing time in learning about responsive email design for mobile. According to MailChimp"launching a mobile responsive email design can increase unique mobile clicks by 15%".So, let's unwrap some essential best practices for creating responsive emails that convert and make you more confident in mobile email.

1. Best Email Subject Lines

The best email subject lines are the ones that intrigue you, offer you a deal, or require you to take action. While desktop allows up to 60 characters to reel your reader in, mobile-only has the capacity for 30-35 characters.

The Stats on Subject Lines:

  • "Subject lines influence 33% of email recipients to open the email." (OptinMonster)
  • "Subject lines can cause 69% of people to mark the email as spam." (OptinMonster)
  • "Using an emoji in a subject line can increase open rates by 56%." (Experian)
  • "Subject lines that use personalization increase open rates by 50%." (Marketing Dive)
  • "Including a sense of urgency can increase open rates by 22%." (OptinMonster)

When you have so much riding on such a small amount of real estate, you may feel pressured to deliver brilliance each time.An effective subject line is one of the most important and it might seem like a difficult and daunting task. Lucky for you, we're here to help. Here are some tips to make writing a short and effective subject line:Ways to improve your subject line performance Right Away

  • Personalize it
  • Avoid salesy-phrases like "apply now," "cash bonus," and "earn money"
  • Include a keyword for SEO Optimization. 
  • Add some emojis for an extra dose of personality 
  • Make it timely and specific
  • Add a sense of urgency
  • Keep it relevant to your copy

Don't Forget About Preheaders

The preheader is the text line displayed under the subject line in your email. You can use this additional real estate to get someone to open your email. We'll talk more about A/B testing and how you can test the effectiveness of your subject line and preheaders.

2. Best Practices for Designing Emails for Mobile 

In a mobile-first email design world, design starts with the mobile user's needs and then the desktop user's needs. Approaching design with this mindset will ensure you're delivering the best experiences to most of your audience who choose to use mobile for email.A good mobile-first email design will include:

  • A single-column layout
  • Simple copy
  • Standard fonts
  • Limited, on-brand color

Single-column Layouts

A responsive email designed with a single-column layout will be well-received by users on any device. It is by far the most accessible format to navigate from a smartphone.The single-column email makes it easier to focus on the messaging, presenting information in a precise order using a hierarchy. The content will scale and fit nicely regardless of the device used to view it.

Copy

Continuing with our subject line guidance above, keep copy simple. It can be challenging for someone to read a large amount of text on a small screen, like that of a mobile device.Keep the experience enjoyable by landing your message quickly before users scroll past it. Here are some tips for how to write short, goal-oriented sales copy:

  1. Have one goal in mind, and try not to do too much more than that with one email message.
  2. Keep a consistent brand voice throughout the email.
  3. Use subject line and preheader text to add to the email's content.
  4. Use active words that engage.
  5. Get specific – don't use too many fluff words that take up space.
  6. Have someone else read it to make sure your message is clear.

See also: 4 Steps for Writing Better Emails and Collaborating Efficiently

Fonts

Have you ever tried to read a tiny font on a smartphone? Be sure to choose readable fonts – at least 22-point headlines and 14-point body text.We also recommend choosing a standard font and limiting the fonts used to no more than two. Defining this will keep your email legible and looking professional and on-brand.

Colors

We love color and think it can add a lot of fun to design. However, mobile email is not necessarily the right place for a crazy amount of color. Too much design in an email can be distracting from the message, so try to choose one primary color and one or two secondary colors for each email.It would be best if you also considered accessibility concerns when choosing the color for the email. For many mobile users, Dark Mode is a default setting. Not only does it enhance accessibility and reduces eye strain on those with light sensitivity, but also:

  • Preserves battery life on devices by reducing screen brightness and using less energy.
  • Offers a slick and cool dark interface that many prefer.

Read this article for Dark Mode best practices. When using BEE Pro, you can easily toggle on and off the Dark Mode feature to helpsimulate how your messages will be displayed when dark mode is enabled.

Dark mode for Mobile Email Design

3. Optimize Images for Mobile Use

Images are a great way to create visual interest and engage your audience in the content of your email. However, images could also hurt your email's performance if not done correctly.See also: How to Optimize Images for Responsive Mobile EmailsSome common mistakes made when it comes to images include:

  • Images too large to load
  • Images not formatted for accessibility
  • Poor image quality
  • The image is not responsive
  • The image is in the wrong format

To give your readers the best user experience, it's best to use responsive email images in your email design. Using responsive images is one way to keep your design mobile-first and provide a positive experience for mobile users.

High-Quality Images

It is best to export high-quality mobile and web images with a resolution of 72 DPI (dots per inch). While this might sound small, this is not one of those instances where more is better. A 72 DPI guarantees a high-quality image on web and mobile and prevents blurriness.It's also important to consider the image's color values. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) color values are meant for print and won't display well on a digital screen. Instead, we recommend images in RGB (red, green, blue) because they work well for high-quality digital images.

Image Size

File sizes impact the total time it will take for email content to render once it's opened fully. In addition, on a mobile device, internet connections could contribute to long load times. Avoid these concerns by optimizing your image sizes for mobile-first email design.For the highest quality image, we recommend adjusting your content area width to around 600px. Images will adapt according to the device used to open the email, so this is the safest route to ensure a high-quality display. Be sure to compress your images for faster loading times.

Image Format

There are many different image file formats, each with pros and cons.

  • PNG: These images maintain their quality when compressed and can export transparently.
  • JPEG: These images are suitable for colorful photos but don't allow transparency and may lose quality with compression.
  • SVG: These images are in a vector format, allowing easy resizing without losing quality.

Image Accessibility

Always consider if you should include accessibility components to assist visually impaired individuals. For example, here are two ways to make your images more accessible:

  • Alt Text: Includes an image description that allows screen readers to describe the image to someone who cannot see it. 
  • Color Contrast: It may be hard for some to distinguish between colors. Reading colorful text on top of a bright background can be especially hard. Consult this guide by Color Oracle for tips on designing for people with visual impairments.

Keep Diversity and Inclusiveness Top of Mind 

As you choose images for your mobile email design, be sure to consider your audience's diverse perspectives. Consider their genders, races, abilities, cultures, ages, and more.If your audience is diverse in these areas, then your emails should also represent this diversity. When you select images, consider if the people in your pictures represent different races, genders, abilities, etc. Here is an articleto help you write more diverse and inclusive emails.

4. Tips for CTA Design

A call-to-action (CTA) can be a link or a button. When designing your mobile responsive email, it is best to use large, colorful buttons for the CTAs. According to Constant Contact, "buttons are 25% more likely to be clicked than a link alone."Sometimes, a thin link can be challenging to find and click on a smartphone. Provide a big, colorful button to get the most attention from your readers. A suggested size is a minimum of 44px x 44px.After you consider how to design your button, next, think about what it says. The purpose of a CTA is to encourage your reader to do something. Here is a list of common CTAs:

  • Sign Up
  • Subscribe
  • Try for Free
  • Get Started
  • Learn More
  • Join Us
  • Register

These CTAs are generic, and some may cause hesitancy because the reader doesn't know what they'll get beyond the button. What does "Learn More" mean?Marketing emails often use engaging CTAs that are more explicit about what the reader can expect. A few examples of more descriptive CTAs include:

  • Download the eBook
  • Sign Up for Weekly Newsletters
  • Book a Free Demo
  • Register for Free Webinar

In your email, it is best to drive attention toward a single action to take. Including multiple CTAs with different activities may cause confusion and, therefore, inaction on the reader's part. Similar to the guidelines for writing the best email copy, keep your CTAs focused on the one goal of your email and don't distract from that goal.Ensure accessibility of your CTAs by using HTML code to define your button instead of inserting an image. Within the code, you can include alt tags to identify the CTA text for a screen reader.

5. Best Use of Space

When designing the layout for your mobile-friendly email design, remember to make it user-friendly as well. It can be challenging to interact with elements on a mobile device if they are too close together. By leaving a good amount of white space around design elements and CTAs, you can help drive a more positive user experience.Often, simple emails can get the message across more easily. Utilizing white space allows a reader to focus more carefully on the action that you want them to take. A good email will contain your logo, simple copy, plain colors, and a clear call to action.How you choose to layout your email will have an impact on the user experience. A modular structure, similar to the layout options provided in BEE Pro responsive email templates, will ensure that your email layout is mobile responsive and presents information in an orderly way.Keep your email layout simple by including these three basic simple and skimmable design elements:

  • Header
  • Body copy
  • CTA

Keeping the content simple and a clean layout will make for a very user-friendly mobile email experience.

6. Best Use of Scroll

According to Campaign Monitor , the average person receives 100-120 emails daily, not including spam. That's a lot of emails! If you take time to read and scroll through every email, that will consume a large portion of your day.That is why many people scan their emails for essential details and only typically give an email 10-15 seconds of their time.For this reason alone, it is important that your email's key message is immediately seen with only a short glance. Don't beat around the bush, or you'll miss out on a potential conversion opportunity.Most readers do not follow a typical left-to-right reading pattern when scanning emails. Instead, their eyes will fly over the copy and images, typically in an "F" pattern.If you have subscribers, they may only be looking at headlines and CTAs.Here are some content tips by Campaign Monitor tokeep your email skimmable

  • Subject lines: For mobile audiences, the best subject lines will be 28 to 39 characters.
  • Preheaders: Most email platforms allow 40 to 100 characters.
  • Email copy: Ideal length is 50 to 125 words.
  • CTAs: Keep it short and sweet at two to five words.

Keeping your email copy concise will keep your message clear and get your point across more quickly.However, keep in mind that CTA placement is still extremely important, even if you have a short email. Don't bury your CTA at the bottom of the email – there's a high probability they won't even get there to see it.Instead, drive a higher level of engagement when you place a CTA before the first scroll. This may mean including a button in your header image or immediately below it. Then, if your email is on the longer side, including a few more buttons later will give them ample opportunity to convert.

7. Is A/B Testing Emails Necessary? 

A strong email marketing strategy will include testing to see if the improvement is achievable. Who wants to settle for the status quo? That said, there are a few different ways to optimize your emails with testing to increase results.HubSpot reports that "Q.A., A/B, and spam testing can lead to a higher ROI of up to 28%". So, where should you start?

Q.A. Testing

Use the test-send functionality available through your email provider to review emails, as they will appear to recipients before deploying them to your entire list. Doing this allows you to test appearance across multiple devices and email clients. Be sure to click on all hyperlinks within the test email to ensure they are linked correctly, and also review any personalization for proper setup.A good Q.A. testing process may also include a review by another person. With remote work at its highest levels, you may need a tool that will provide a suitable platform for collaboration.Ways you can speed up email development and team collaboration include:

  • Reusable content blocks - These ready-made templates allow everyone in your organization to build emails in an organized and repeatable way. BEE Pro utilizes a reusable content block strategy to help users create focused and on-brand emails every time.
  • Style guidelines - Empower all team members to take charge of creating mobile emails when you provide them with a brand style guide. Policies can include color palettes, fonts, text, title sizes, etc., and help keep communications consistent across the organization.
  • User roles and permissions - Allow team members to provide feedback and collaborate faster when you all have access to the email design platform. With BEE Pro, team members can be assigned as designated reviewers and provide timely feedback to speed up email design and launch.

A/B Testing

A/B testing can help you improve the performance of your emails by allowing you to learn what performs better – A or B. This article by 99Firms states that "approximately 59% of companies will perform A/B tests on their marketing emails."

What should you A/B Test? 

  • Subject lines
  • Call-to-action phrases
  • Button colors, size, and placement
  • Salutation
  • Bullet points
  • Video or no video
  • Personalization
  • Sending day of the week
  • Sending time of day

In addition to these items, A/B tests are also helpful in understanding UX design and conversion rate optimization. A study by Forrester Research showed that "better UX design could result in up to 400% increases in conversion rates."

Spam Testing & Email Deliverability

You can use a third-party testing app to check your email for red flag errors that may send your email to a spam folder. Nearly 16% of all emails go missing or get caught by a spam filter. Common triggers that could cause your email to identify as spam include:

  • Long, wordy emails
  • Lots of exclamation points
  • ALL CAPS
  • Too much salesy language
  • I.P. address reputation
  • Domain reputation 

In addition to these items, some design choices could help keep your emails from the spam folder.

What is the CAN-SPAM Act? 

The CAN-SPAM Act enacted in 2003, states that all marketing emails are required to have an unsubscribe option visible on every email. A simple mistake such as forgetting the unsubscribe link could lead you to be found in violation of CAN-SPAM and receive fines or penalties.Other requirements for staying in compliance include:

  • Don't send emails to people who have previously opted out
  • You must remove someone from your list within ten business days of opting out
  • Each email must have the physical address of the sender on it
  • Subject lines can't be deceptive or misleading

If you make it hard for a recipient to unsubscribe from an email, they could flag you as spam, and your email service provider could stop sending your campaigns. Unwanted emails can really bug some people.

8. Accessibility Guidelines for Emails

According to the CDC, 26% of adults in the United States have some kind of disability, making Accessibility design, not a choice but a necessity.The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was implemented in the U.S. to ensure businesses considered how they were delivering products, services, and communications to all Americans. While some outlined guidance is specific, the law doesn't provide much detail around ADA email compliance standards. This makes our job even more critical in monitoring ourselves and ensuring we communicate in an accessible way.Email accessibility is about making sure allyour email recipients can access your message.Here are some best practice guidelines to ensure your mobile-friendly email designs are accessible:

  • Create descriptive subject lines
  • Don't rely solely on color to emphasize – use underlines with hyperlinks
  • Use responsive design 
  • Structure content with headers
  • Include alt text with images and graphics
  • Ensure legible font size and high color contrast ratios
  • Include white space
  • Include an HTML language attribute
  • Left-align text
  • Include captions in videos

The most beneficial changes email marketers can make to email accessibility is to keep content short, subject lines descriptive, and links and buttons easy to see.

Mobile-Friendly vs. Responsive Email Design

When you're preparing to begin optimization of an existing email built for desktop, you should consider if you want to build your emails mobile-friendly or with a responsive email design. Before you can make that decision, let's compare the two options.

Email Width

When you design an email as mobile-friendly, you essentially design the email to fit a mobile device. Typically, a mobile-friendly email will be constructed as a fixed width to the width of a mobile device.Responsive emails, however, are slightly different. First, their construction allows them to conform to the width of whatever device views the email. So, the email will be viewable at full width, whether viewed with a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

Font Sizes

A mobile-friendly email will only display fonts at the size they were coded, for instance, 14-point body text. However, a responsive email will optimize the font size automatically in proportion to the original to display it legibly on the chosen device.

Layouts

We mentioned earlier that single-column layouts are ideal for mobile-friendly emails. While this is true, designing a multi-column email specifically for mobile is still possible.A responsive email, however, will adjust a multi-column email for a desktop to a single-column display for a mobile device. As part of this adjustment, elements can hide if the programmer chooses to help keep the email at a reasonable length.

How BEE Pro Helps Optimize Email for Mobile

Mobile design mode, available in both BEE Pro plans, helps email marketers optimize email for mobile devices. Functionality in the platform allows users to hide elements to save mobile users space and control how pieces will stack on the smaller device screens.With mobile design mode, users will save time toggling between desktop and mobile designs without needing to enter a preview mode. Also, if you want to change your mobile design, you can do this independently of the desktop design version. We think this is a more efficient and intuitive way to create mobile responsive designs in less time.

Optimize your Mobile Email Design with BEE Pro

With BEE Pro mobile design mode, the system will optimize your email for the best display on a mobile device. This includes adjustments to:

  • Alignment - When desktop designs have a multi-column layout, sometimes the alignment can look odd on mobile. Instead of hiding the contents, the mobile design mode will center-align it to look better.
  • Text size - Set different text sizes for paragraph, list, title, button, menu, icon, and form for mobile display.
  • Padding - Set different padding values for mobile and desktop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vki0LNdPtJM

Mobile-friendly Email Responsse Template

BEE Pro provides over 1,500 mobile responsiveemail templates. All of our templates are designed to provide you with peace of mind and ensure that all content is arranged to display optimally on mobile devices. Here are some tips for finding the right email template for you:

  • Usage: How will you use the email? Is it for an announcement or a sale? There are many usage category options.
  • Industry: Get closer to the look you want by filtering down to the industry level. A wide variety of sectors are offered, including automotive, health and wellness, and fashion.
  • Automated: Will your email be sent in an automated message format? There are several great template options available to get your brainstorming. Consider abandoned cart, confirmation, thank you, and password reset emails.
  • Seasonal: Grow customer relationships with timely seasonal email messages. We have various seasonal options, including Chinese New Year, Fashion Week, and the Super Bowl.

After you've selected your template to use, easily drag-and-drop content into the email or landing page. Switch from Desktop to Mobile mode to ensure design and content looks good on any device.

BEE Pro mobile design mode

How Mobile Email Design Implemented with BEE Pro

The Director of Communications for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Denver became a BEE Pro advocate after speeding up his design process to get work done faster.Since a large portion of his audience where busy college students with mobile devices, he needed a tool that allowed him to optimize emails for mobile. Our intuitive builder provided him with the flexible layouts he needed, along with key features like mobile optimization, for him to be successful at his job.With BEE Pro, the director could quickly complete email designs with easy-to-implement content blocks and use mobile optimization to design on-brand emails. It worked well with his email-sending platform and made his email marketing experience much smoother. In addition, quick preview tests allowed his boss to review emails quickly and stay organized for a more seamless workflow experience.You can read more about the University of Denver's BEE Pro story.

What Comes Next?

Now that you've become a pro at mobile responsive email design, check out our tips on creating landing pages that convert. You can use BEE Pro to effortlessly create responsive landing pages from scratch or use one of our templates.BEE Pro helps anyone design emails and landing pages with our easy-to-use, drag-and-drop, no-code editor. Get access to over 1,500+ email and landing page templatesprofessionally made by 30+ Designers. We are always launching new designs, so there's always something new to discover!Take your email and landing page design to the next level by subscribing to BEE Pro. Happy designing!

Elevate Your Email Campaigns: Optimal Banner Size & Design Tips

Discover the perfect email banner size for your campaign with our comprehensive guide, including design tips, best practices, and inspiration to enhance your emails.
Beefree team
Apr 17, 2024

Every marketer knows that branding, visually engaging branding, matters. In a recent HubSpot survey, 20% of marketers reported to see a direct correlation between their design choices and an increase in email engagement.

In email marketing specifically, one of the first design elements a recipient views is your banner, making it crucial to grab the attention of the reader at first glance. An email banner should effectively convey your message, resonate with your audience, and be responsive regardless of what device your recipient uses to view your emails.

Let's discuss email banner best practice to follow that will ultimately lead to improve results of your email campaigns.

What is an email banner?

An email banner is a strategic design element element that appears at the top of your emails to catch the immediate attention of your reader. Sometimes called an email header, your banner is where you’ll introduce the main purpose of your email, like that amazing sale you’re advertising or the product launch of the century, and reel in customers’ so they scroll through the rest of the email.

Your email banner is your chance to make a fantastic first impression. Let’s explore the best email banner sizes and best practices to keep in mind.

Ideal email banner sizes

It is an outdated solution to automatically set all email banners to a width of 600px. With screen sized of both mobile and desktop devices varying so widely, it's important to ensure your email banner size is responsive for optimal viewing experience.

  • For desktop users, a banner 650-700 pixels wide and 90-200 pixels tall is ideal
  • For mobile users, the ideal banner is 350 pixels wide and up to 100 pixels tall

These updated dimensions follow responsive design best practices allowing email banners to render properly in a variety of email clients and devices.
Responsive design allows your email design to automatically adjust to the screen size of a customer’s device.

PRO tip: using an email design template that is already built to be responsive makes following this best practice a breeze.  

Impact of email banner size on campaign performance

A banner that’s poorly sized could become distorted when customers open it in their Gmail, Outlook, or whatever email platform they use.

This makes your email look less professional and it can also be harder to read so it doesn’t get your message across as well. A poorly sized email banner can also affect the user experience. If the banner is too wide, for example, it forces customers to scroll horizontally and it doesn’t allow them to see the entire banner in one view.

Not only do these issues affect the overall experience customers have with your email but they can also squander the excellent engagement opportunity that a well-designed email banner can be. According to Opensense's data, email banners can have 5-10% engagement rates,  a significant enhancement compared to the average click-through rate of 1.4% in emails.

Best practices for email banner design

Your banner size is an important part of designing an effective email banner, but it’s one of many. Check out these best practices to make your email banner even more powerful in garnering the engagement of your recipients.

  • File size: Any image in your email, but specifically your email banner, should be of high-quality. The ideal image should be download as a PNG at a resolution of 72dpi at 40kb or below.
  • Inverted pyramid: This "rule" in email design relates to adding the most important information at the top, working your way down to the least important information. When designing your email banner, make sure it clearly communicates the most important message in your email.
  • Brand consistency: As important as it is that your email banner makes a positive impression and communicates the main purpose of your email, it also should align with your brand. Make sure the design uses your brand colors, logo, or other aspects that make it consistent with your brand’s visual identity.
  • Text: Your banner needs to communicate your message, but less is more. Keep your copy sparse so it isn’t visually overwhelming and so the focus stays on your core intention. Ideally, 45-75 characters on a line is the sweet spot.
  • Email-friendly fonts: Make sure you use email-safe fonts that render reliably on major email platforms.
  • Accessibility: You want your banner’s message to reach as many customers as possible, and that includes customers with disabilities. Make sure to include accessibility features like using alt text so viewers with visual impairments can understand your message and using color combinations that viewers with color blindness can see.
  • Interactivity: Your email banner doesn’t have to be just a plain image or text. Consider making it interactive, such as with a GIF or a video that grabs your viewers’ attention.
  • Testing: You can follow all the rules for proper email banner size and design, but it’s still important to test it in action to make sure it shows up the way you want it to. Always send yourself a test email and see how that test email looks on different devices and platforms before you send it to your subscriber list.

For inspiration, check out these excellent email banners. This one from Beefree's template catalog clearly communicate the purpose of the email, remains consistent in branding throughout and plays with visual and text hierarchy to guide the reader's eye.

color of the year beefree email template
Use this template

This other email banner uses a navigation bar to keep the reader in the brand's ecosystem allowing readers to learn more about the marketing agency. This simple, yet effective email header communicates clearly the purpose of the email using imagery and text and has a clear CTA to lead the reader to complete the desired action without needing to scroll.

free beefree webinar email template
Use this template

Common mistakes in email banner design

When creating a strong email banner, it’s just as important to avoid doing the wrong things as it is to do the right things. Watch for these common pitfalls in email banner design:

  • Over-designing: Your email banner is prime real estate in your email, so of course you want to make the best use of that real estate. If you try to cram too much into that banner, though, you may lose your core message entirely because viewers don’t know where to look. 
  • Hard-to-read fonts: Your email banner is a wonderful place to get creative and build visual appeal, so of course you want to use fun design elements and fonts.
    But at the end of the day, the purpose is to send a message, so make sure the ornamental fonts you use are still clear enough that they’re easy to read.
  • Lack of responsive design: We’ve touched on this above but it’s also a common misstep that’s worth mentioning. Considering that 46% of emails are opened on mobile devices, every email and banner you create must be responsive to maintain its visual quality on any email platform.

Leveraging Tools for Email Marketing Banner

There’s a lot to consider as you’re designing an email banner, but we have great news: there are tools that can make it easier.

Take Beefree for example. Our extensive email template library has over 1,700 pre-built templates that already use banner design best practices like responsive design, minimal text for maximum impact, and proper sizing. Our HTML email editor makes it easy to customize these designs for your brand and messaging.

Start designing with ease and sign up for a free account today! 

Beefree's acquisition of Really Good Emails: here’s why we're excited and you should be too

As of April 15th, 2024, Beefree has acquired Really Good Emails to bridge inspiration and creation: here’s why and what’s next.
Massimo Arrigoni
Apr 15, 2024

If you’re in the email space, you’ve visited reallygoodemails.com

I’ve been a fan for years. There’s nothing like seeing fantastic messages designed by some of the world's best brands to inspire you. Perhaps as well-known as the website are the newsletters from Really Good Emails: witty, funny, and packed with great articles and best practices.

So when Mike Nelson, one of the founders of Really Good Emails (RGE), reached out to me months ago, I was all ears.

Mike and his partners had been volunteering their time on the RGE project for almost ten years and had decided that it was time to switch gears. To deliver more value to their millions of visitors, RGE needed more time, money, and full-time focus.

One thing they found in surveys is that RGE users wanted to “turn saved emails into customizable templates” and use them in any email tool. As it turns out, that’s exactly what people do with Beefree’s no-code email builder: create millions of emails monthly for all sorts of use cases in virtually every industry. They even create those emails inside hundreds of other applications where our tools are embedded. 

Mike clearly had the right idea, and I’m so glad he and his co-founders reached out. 

We started talking and sharing ideas and a vision for the future of RGE. There was a lot of alignment. We believed then—and even more strongly today—that a collaboration between RGE and Beefree could make the art and science of email creation more accessible, more inspiring, and simply, more fun.  

Our plans for the future

If you’re an RGE fan and have never heard of Beefree, our goal is to shorten your path from inspiration to creation. Over the next several months, we will work on various ways to make that happen.

If you’re a Beefree fan, we will add more inspiration to your email design process. You’ve seen the 1,700+ templates in our catalog. Now, we’ll leverage the 15,000+ designs on the RGE site to give you creative superpowers.

If you’re involved in email creation at all, the key point is this: by bringing together RGE's vast email catalog with Beefree's intuitive design tools, we will provide new ways for you to close the gap between finding inspiration and creating something valuable from it.

I've always believed that inspiration is the precursor to creation. Seeing a design that clicks with you, that sparks that "Aha!" moment, is crucial. And Really Good Emails has been that source of "Aha!" for many, including myself. Incorporating RGE's treasure trove into Beefree's ecosystem feels like a natural step toward enhancing the creative process for our community.

Bringing Beefree and RGE together

From a product point of view, you will start seeing integrations between RGE and Beefree. We’ll start small and get fancier over time. They will start shipping soon, and we’ll keep you posted. 

While that’s in the future, there are things we can deliver to you today.

  • First, the Pro features on reallygoodemails.com become FREE for all, starting immediately. At Beefree, we love removing friction and agreed with our friends at RGE to start there. So, create new collections, add your favorite emails, and use the Chrome extension. It’s all free now.

  • Secondly, Unspam is back. It was hard for an all-volunteer team to host and grow this special email event. We have zero intention of changing the nature and objectives of the event, but we’re excited to support it and help it grow. Justine Jordan - Head of Strategy & Community at Beefree - took the lead on that, co-hosting Unspam 2024 in her own, authentic way.

  • Third, I'm super excited to welcome Mike Nelson and Matt Helbig from RGE to the Beefree team. They have a lot of innovative ideas around the future of Really Good Emails, and we can’t wait to collaborate with them. Matthew Smith and Matt Cook will help as strategic advisors.

We live in a world where email continues to be the favorite channel for companies to communicate with their subscribers and for people like you and I to hear from our favorite brands (e.g., here and here). In this world, you - email creators - play such a crucial role.

You are the key stakeholders for both RGE and Beefree. Hundreds of thousands of you use our tools every month. Through Unspam and many other initiatives, we want to increase investment in email makers and creators. 

We need to do so to continue building products that make sense and are truly helpful: successful products only come from a lot of deep listening. We want to do so because we are part of the same community, and there’s no healthy RGE & Beefree without a thriving community.

I know it’s cliché to say it, but we truly believe this is a case where the whole has a real chance of being greater than the sum of the parts. Our tools - combined - will deliver a greater amount of value to you. Our efforts - combined - will have a greater impact.

Give us a bit of time to execute all of this, and keep us honest as we do so. If you have questions, we maintain a FAQ here and welcome your comments and feedback by emailing community@beefree.io

With heartfelt enthusiasm, optimism, and anticipation for what’s to come,

Massimo Arrigoni 

CEO, Beefree

Best Practices in Email Marketing for Digital Agencies

Delve into the email marketing best practices that can empower digital agencies to harness the full potential of emails. From crafting compelling content to leveraging automation and segmentation, these practices are essential for driving engagement, nurturing leads, and achieving remarkable results
Beefree team
Apr 10, 2024

For fast-paced digital marketing agencies, it's common to focus on nurturing and expanding your clients' businesses, that you leave little room to promote your own services. While this is unintentional, this oversight may be hindering your agency's growth potential.

That's where email marketing comes in as a game-changer forbusy agencies. With email creation becoming more intuitive, powerful, and 37% of brands increasing their email budgets it's clear to see that email continues to grow as an effective marketing solution.

Let's delve into the best practices that can elevate your agency's email marketing game and unlock new avenues of success.

Why email marketing benefits digital marketing agencies

With 4.3 billion email users, email continues as a sustainable, cost-effective, and high-converting solution to effortlessly balance client acquisition and client retention.

This single strategy enables targeted outreach to engage and move audiences through different stages of the buyer's journey. For new audiences, email marketing can be used to show them your work, promote services, and reasons to work with you. For customer loyalty and retention, email can be used to upsell and/or communicate the consistent value you bring to your clients.

Email marketing presents a lucrative opportunity for marketing agencies of all sizes to thrive and grow. By consistently engaging potential clients and ensuring your presence remains prominent, you establish top-of-mind recall for marketing services.

#1: Segmentation to keep the balance

As your organization grows, you will notice that your audience has a wide range of interests depending on their demographics, business, and needs. Segmentation involves dividing your email list into different groups based on specific criteria, such as industry or stage in your client acquisition journey.

Segmentation enables you to send targeted and personalized content to each group, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of your campaigns and ROI. For example, if you have a segment of subscribers who are interested in social media marketing, you can tailor your emails to provide them with valuable tips and resources in that area.

Seer Interactive, for instance, is a digital marketing agency serving a variety of audiences from digital marketers who need to stay up to date on best practices to prospective customers. You can see in the example below how Seer differs their emails based on the audience.

Email for digital marketers:

Focuses on speaking to digital marketers who are interested in learning more about how to improve their services, what's new in the industry, and new tools and solutions.


Email for potential clients:

The second email targets potential clients who are likely in the discovery phase of what an agency does. Seer provides some insights to help the reader make more informed decisions with comparisons, a checklist, and an article with what to expect. This email, while does not directly promote Seer's services, let's the reader know that this agency is here to help keeping them top of mind.

Segmenting your audience using the customer journey funnel

As mentioned earlier, one of the most beneficial aspects of email marketing for agencies is the ability to maintain balance between client acquisition and customer retainment. In our professional experience, the best way to do this is to map out your customer journey and plan out how each stage serves your audience and of course moves them through the journey. While your client’s journey may vary depending on your services, but typically it entails the following: 

  • Awareness: In this stage, prospects have heard your name but are just getting to know who you are. This is where you can create a sequence of emails for them to get to know your agency, the services you offer, and what makes you unique. 
  • Consideration: This audience is weighing their options about the best marketing agency for them. This is where you will likely begin to provide statistics about the returns you’ve achieved for other clients or share testimonials. 
  • Decision/conversion: This is the stage when prospects just need that final push to take action and sign on as clients. In this stage, you can offer incentives or a free trial of one services.
  • Loyalty: This is the stage when a business has signed on as a client or made a purchase and your goal is to retain them. You’ll want to send these clients loyalty-boosting content like announcements about new products, appreciation for their support, and informative content that is helpful to them.

Ultimately, segmentation is a great way to keep your subscribers engaged and drive client acquisition and retention. Once you have a clear understanding of your client journey and the goals at each stage, now it's time to grow your email list.

#2: Building and growing your email list

To maximize the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns, it is essential to first start building a quality list of people who are interested in what you have to offer and say.

  1. Make it easy to subscribe: Whether you're using a form on your website or a landing page, make sure that your process is simple. Only ask for only essential information, ideally only up to three. Some suggestions are name, email address, and a question that could help you segment them into groups such as "are you looking for an agency?" This simple question could help segment new subscribers to cold vs. hot leads. Don't forget to use a clear CTA that communicated what the next step is.  
  2. Leverage social media: Promote your email list on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter/X to reach a wider audience and encourage sign-ups.
  3. Offer valuable incentives: Provide something of value, such as appealing discounts on a client’s first service or exclusive content like a guide to social media marketing in exchange for people signing up to your email list.
  4. Regularly clean your list: While building and growing your email list, it is important to regularly examine your subscribers and remove those who are not engaging. This helps maintain a healthy list and ensures that your metrics accurately reflect subscriber engagement.
  5. Don’t forget existing clients: Add your existing clients to your mailing list so they can stay up to date on your latest services and offers. Additionally create a segment of former clients who have not engaged with your agency in a while. This segment is perfect for targeted emails meant to re-engage them, like personalized information about where they left off in the process and a call-to-action button for them to jump back in.
  6. Provide compelling content consistently: Deliver content that is interesting, informative, and valuable to keep subscribers engaged and to make them more likely to tell others about your mailing list. The friends they tell may become subscribers and eventually clients.

Keep these best practices in mind to build a high-quality subscriber list who are genuinely interested in your brand. 

#3: Designing high-converting emails

The effectiveness of your email campaigns is directly influenced by the design choices you make. Research shows that visually appealing designs can significantly enhance engagement rates.

Email design best practices

Strategic design choices not only make your emails more appealing, but also drive higher conversions.

  1. Personalize your emails: HubSpot ranks message personalization as one of the most effective strategies for email marketing. Tailor the content based on their interests or past interactions with your brand, such as by including a section for recommended services. This increases engagement and makes your emails more relevant.
  2. Use professional and high-quality visual design: Use high-quality images and graphics that support your message and reflect your brand's identity. A visually appealing email is more likely to capture attention and encourage click-throughs. In fact, according to Campaign Monitor, communications with visuals receive 650% more engagement than those without.
  3. Include a clear call-to-action (CTA): Wordstream found that one CTA in your email can garner 371% more clicks and over 1600% higher sales. Your CTA should be prominent, concise, and action-oriented. Make it easy for recipients to understand what they need to do next, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for an event, or downloading a resource.
  4. Maintain consistent branding: Ensure that your email templates align with your brand's colors, fonts, and overall visual style. Consistency helps build recognition and reinforces trust with your audience, and according to GaggleAMP, customers who feel connected to your brand account for 37% of revenue and spend twice as much.
  5. Design for mobile devices: According to eMarketer, over half of emails are opened on mobile devices. Be sure your emails are mobile-friendly so they still look clean and engaging for your recipients.

Leverage email templates

Email marketing templates are a great asset for your email design. Many email marketing tools offer pre-designed emails that you can easily customize to suit your needs and brand guidelines.

By using pre-built templates, your agency can significantly reduce the time and effort required to create engaging emails, ultimately boosting your return on investment (ROI) by maximizing the impact of your email marketing efforts.

source: https://app.userevidence.com/assets/9921CTHL

Ensure responsive, mobile-optimized, HTML email design

When designing your marketing emails, designing in HTML helps ensure that your emails will be readable in nearly any email app (like Gmail, Outlook, and so on) and device. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an HTML coder to create HTML emails.

Now a days, there are many tools that offer an easy-to-use design interface so you can design your emails and export the HTML the solution builds for you. These tools, streamline and make the design process more efficient, without the need to have any knowledge on HTML or CSS.

By utilizing an HTML email design tool, such as Beefree, not only can you enjoy the peace of mind that your emails will render well, but you also benefit from a solution that helps you and your agency save time, increase productivity, and get more done with less resources.

source: https://app.userevidence.com/assets/7845FVNE

However, not all HTML email builders are made equal.

#4: Choosing the right email marketing software for your agency

A stellar email campaign starts with effective and productive email marketing software. When choosing email marketing software, it's important to consider factors such as ease of use, customization options, integration capabilities with other tools, and more.

Factors to consider when choosing email marketing software

How do you determine which of the many email marketing tools is the best fit for your agency’s needs? Here are some important factors to consider while you weigh your options:

  1. Check out the features: Every software has its own collection of features like scheduled sending, automated options for sending a series of emails, personalization, design capabilities, and so on. Compare tools and their features against your list of must-haves.
  2. Examine the pricing: Cost matters in your ROI. Pick a service that fits your budget.
  3. Consider other capabilities: Some tools offer email marketing along with other helpful services like social media ads, website analytics, and so on. Consider whether there are email marketing tools that will also replace some of your other software.
  4. Try A/B testing: If you’re able to try out multiple email tools at the same time, consider sending a few campaigns with each tool to see if one performs better than the other.
  5. Weigh the integration capabilities: Consider email marketing platforms that may integrate with some of the other tools you use, like your client management system. This applies to email tools that integrate with other email tools too, like BeeFree which provides a user-friendly way to design your emails and smoothly send them with nearly any email sending platform
  6. Preview emails: Check out examples of what other businesses have created using each email tool.
  7. Read reviews and research: See what other businesses (and especially other marketing agencies, if possible) have to say about each tool.

Recommended email marketing tools

Here's a quick rundown of some recommended email design tools that can help maximize your ROI:

HubSpot

  • Key features: AI-driven marketing automation, built-in analytics, advanced segmentation, customizable templates.
  • Benefits: Targeted emails improve ROI and overall marketing strategy. HubSpot's AI can help with segmentation and crafting tailored emails for each recipient.

MailChimp

  • Key features: Easy usability, broad template selection, robust automation, analytics.
  • Benefits: Good for beginners and seasoned marketers alike, MailChimp offers an intuitive platform with high flexibility.

Constant Contact

  • Key features: User-friendly interface, diverse template library, event management tools, social media integration.
  • Benefits: Great for small to midsize businesses. It offers a range of features that can help streamline and automate your email marketing processes.

GetResponse

  • Key features: All-in-one platform, landing page builder, advanced analytics, webinar hosting
  • Benefits: If you're looking for more than just email marketing, GetResponse offers a suite of tools including landing page and webinar solutions.

ActiveCampaign

  • Key features: Advanced automation, CRM integration, messaging features, customer behavior tracking
  • Benefits: ActiveCampaign is ideal for businesses with a focus on customer relationships. It offers extensive automation and tracking capabilities for a more personalized approach.

Beefree

  • Key features: Specializing in HTML email design, with an extensive catalog of email templates to use and a drag-and-drop email editor for complete customization
  • Benefits: While emails cannot be exported via Beefree like the above, Beefree integrates with all major email sending platforms for easy use with your favorite software. Additionally, the application offers free and cost-effective plans to help you get started.
source: https://app.userevidence.com/assets/2327OLKA

To ensure you're choosing the right tool, consider your organization's unique needs, the tool's capabilities, and how well it integrates with your existing marketing tech stack.

#5: Automating Your email marketing efforts

Leveraging automation in your email marketing strategy can significantly enhance your outreach efforts and improve your email marketing ROI. By automating certain aspects of your email campaigns, you can ensure timely and targeted communication with potential clients, increasing the likelihood of engagement.

Automation allows you to schedule emails to be sent at optimal times and personalize content based on user behavior. This not only saves time and resources but also maximizes the impact of your emails. There are several ways that your agencies can incorporate automation, but here are some:

  • Sending an email to clients who started but didn’t complete your inquiry process.
  • Automated welcome series for new clients that introduces them to your work process.
  • Automated follow-ups for webinars, events, or meetings.

Benefits of email marketing automation

  1. Increased efficiency: With automated emails, you can reach a larger number of clients or reach clients more reliably without having to manually send individual emails.
  2. Engagement and lead nurturing: Marketing automation sometimes offers advanced features like lead scoring and nurturing. You can segment your audience based on their behavior or interests, ensuring that they receive relevant content tailored specifically for them.
  3. Advanced user segmentation: Automation allows you to segment your email list based on various criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement level. This enables you to send personalized messages that resonate with each segment of your audience.
  4. Increased conversions: By sending targeted and timely emails through automation, you can significantly improve conversion rates. Whether it's encouraging a purchase or promoting an upcoming event, automated emails can help drive more conversions for your agency.

#6: Tracking and measuring for success

To ensure the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts, it is crucial to track and measure key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. This data helps you recognize trends, such as what designs or content resonate the most with your clients, and help make informed decisions for your next campaign.

Important metrics to track

Here are some key metrics that you should track throughout your agency’s email marketing campaigns.

  1. Open rate: Shows the percentage of recipients who opened your email out of those who received it. It gives insight into the effectiveness of subject lines and sender names.
  2. Click-through rate: Measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link within your email. It helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your email content and call-to-action.
  3. Conversion rate: Tells you how many recipients took the desired action after clicking through your email. In the case of a marketing agency, that action could be filling out your website’s contact form.
  4. Bounce rate: Tracks the percentage of emails that were not delivered to recipients' inboxes due to invalid or non-existent email addresses.
  5. List growth rate: Allows you to assess how quickly your email list is expanding so you can adjust your acquisition strategies accordingly.
  6. Email sharing/forwarding rate: Measures how often recipients share or forward your emails to others. It can indicate whether your content resonates with your audience and has potential for increased reach.
  7. Unsubscribe rate: Monitors the percentage of recipients who unsubscribe from your emails after receiving them. High unsubscribe rates may indicate issues with targeting, content relevance, or frequency.

To learn more about how to measure and make informed decisions based on each metrics read: 8 Email Metrics That Actually Matter in 2024

Unlocking the power of email marketing for agencies

Digital marketing agencies have a unique business model and a unique use for email marketing. Unlike many businesses, you aren’t trying to use your email marketing to make a quick sale or appeal to impulse buyers. You’re trying to establish a genuine and ongoing connection with potential clients and show them the concrete value you can bring to their businesses. Agency-specific strategies like those above can help you make the most of every email you send.

Want a more efficient way to create compelling marketing emails? The Beefree "Business" plan is the perfect solution for growing agencies to scale their email marketing processes and campaigns. Start your free 15-day Business trial today

source: https://app.userevidence.com/assets/2651YKEJ


Frequently asked questions for agencies

1. How can email marketing help digital agencies maximize their ROI?

Email marketing helps digital agencies maximize their ROI by allowing them to reach a targeted audience, build relationships with clients, and drive traffic to their website or landing page.

2. What are some best practices for email marketing in digital agencies?

Some best practices for email marketing in digital agencies include segmenting the audience according to interests or needs and other factors, personalizing emails, creating compelling subject lines and content, optimizing for mobile devices, and analyzing campaign data to make improvements.

3. How often should digital agencies send emails to their subscribers?

The frequency of sending emails will depend on factors such as the industry, target audience, and goals of the campaign. However, it is generally recommended to maintain a consistent schedule that provides value without overwhelming subscribers.

4. What metrics should digital agencies track to measure the success of their email marketing campaigns?

Digital agencies should track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTRs), conversion rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribe rates to measure the success of their email marketing campaigns.

5. Are there any legal considerations when conducting email marketing for digital agencies?

Yes, there are legal considerations when conducting email marketing. Digital agencies need to comply with anti-spam laws like the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States and GDPR in Europe by including clear opt-in/opt-out options, providing accurate sender information in each email sent, and following other guidelines.

Elevate Your Email Campaigns: Optimal Banner Size & Design Tips

Discover the perfect email banner size for your campaign with our comprehensive guide, including design tips, best practices, and inspiration to enhance your emails.
Beefree team
Beefree team
17 Apr
2024

Every marketer knows that branding, visually engaging branding, matters. In a recent HubSpot survey, 20% of marketers reported to see a direct correlation between their design choices and an increase in email engagement.

In email marketing specifically, one of the first design elements a recipient views is your banner, making it crucial to grab the attention of the reader at first glance. An email banner should effectively convey your message, resonate with your audience, and be responsive regardless of what device your recipient uses to view your emails.

Let's discuss email banner best practice to follow that will ultimately lead to improve results of your email campaigns.

What is an email banner?

An email banner is a strategic design element element that appears at the top of your emails to catch the immediate attention of your reader. Sometimes called an email header, your banner is where you’ll introduce the main purpose of your email, like that amazing sale you’re advertising or the product launch of the century, and reel in customers’ so they scroll through the rest of the email.

Your email banner is your chance to make a fantastic first impression. Let’s explore the best email banner sizes and best practices to keep in mind.

Ideal email banner sizes

It is an outdated solution to automatically set all email banners to a width of 600px. With screen sized of both mobile and desktop devices varying so widely, it's important to ensure your email banner size is responsive for optimal viewing experience.

  • For desktop users, a banner 650-700 pixels wide and 90-200 pixels tall is ideal
  • For mobile users, the ideal banner is 350 pixels wide and up to 100 pixels tall

These updated dimensions follow responsive design best practices allowing email banners to render properly in a variety of email clients and devices.
Responsive design allows your email design to automatically adjust to the screen size of a customer’s device.

PRO tip: using an email design template that is already built to be responsive makes following this best practice a breeze.  

Impact of email banner size on campaign performance

A banner that’s poorly sized could become distorted when customers open it in their Gmail, Outlook, or whatever email platform they use.

This makes your email look less professional and it can also be harder to read so it doesn’t get your message across as well. A poorly sized email banner can also affect the user experience. If the banner is too wide, for example, it forces customers to scroll horizontally and it doesn’t allow them to see the entire banner in one view.

Not only do these issues affect the overall experience customers have with your email but they can also squander the excellent engagement opportunity that a well-designed email banner can be. According to Opensense's data, email banners can have 5-10% engagement rates,  a significant enhancement compared to the average click-through rate of 1.4% in emails.

Best practices for email banner design

Your banner size is an important part of designing an effective email banner, but it’s one of many. Check out these best practices to make your email banner even more powerful in garnering the engagement of your recipients.

  • File size: Any image in your email, but specifically your email banner, should be of high-quality. The ideal image should be download as a PNG at a resolution of 72dpi at 40kb or below.
  • Inverted pyramid: This "rule" in email design relates to adding the most important information at the top, working your way down to the least important information. When designing your email banner, make sure it clearly communicates the most important message in your email.
  • Brand consistency: As important as it is that your email banner makes a positive impression and communicates the main purpose of your email, it also should align with your brand. Make sure the design uses your brand colors, logo, or other aspects that make it consistent with your brand’s visual identity.
  • Text: Your banner needs to communicate your message, but less is more. Keep your copy sparse so it isn’t visually overwhelming and so the focus stays on your core intention. Ideally, 45-75 characters on a line is the sweet spot.
  • Email-friendly fonts: Make sure you use email-safe fonts that render reliably on major email platforms.
  • Accessibility: You want your banner’s message to reach as many customers as possible, and that includes customers with disabilities. Make sure to include accessibility features like using alt text so viewers with visual impairments can understand your message and using color combinations that viewers with color blindness can see.
  • Interactivity: Your email banner doesn’t have to be just a plain image or text. Consider making it interactive, such as with a GIF or a video that grabs your viewers’ attention.
  • Testing: You can follow all the rules for proper email banner size and design, but it’s still important to test it in action to make sure it shows up the way you want it to. Always send yourself a test email and see how that test email looks on different devices and platforms before you send it to your subscriber list.

For inspiration, check out these excellent email banners. This one from Beefree's template catalog clearly communicate the purpose of the email, remains consistent in branding throughout and plays with visual and text hierarchy to guide the reader's eye.

color of the year beefree email template
Use this template

This other email banner uses a navigation bar to keep the reader in the brand's ecosystem allowing readers to learn more about the marketing agency. This simple, yet effective email header communicates clearly the purpose of the email using imagery and text and has a clear CTA to lead the reader to complete the desired action without needing to scroll.

free beefree webinar email template
Use this template

Common mistakes in email banner design

When creating a strong email banner, it’s just as important to avoid doing the wrong things as it is to do the right things. Watch for these common pitfalls in email banner design:

  • Over-designing: Your email banner is prime real estate in your email, so of course you want to make the best use of that real estate. If you try to cram too much into that banner, though, you may lose your core message entirely because viewers don’t know where to look. 
  • Hard-to-read fonts: Your email banner is a wonderful place to get creative and build visual appeal, so of course you want to use fun design elements and fonts.
    But at the end of the day, the purpose is to send a message, so make sure the ornamental fonts you use are still clear enough that they’re easy to read.
  • Lack of responsive design: We’ve touched on this above but it’s also a common misstep that’s worth mentioning. Considering that 46% of emails are opened on mobile devices, every email and banner you create must be responsive to maintain its visual quality on any email platform.

Leveraging Tools for Email Marketing Banner

There’s a lot to consider as you’re designing an email banner, but we have great news: there are tools that can make it easier.

Take Beefree for example. Our extensive email template library has over 1,700 pre-built templates that already use banner design best practices like responsive design, minimal text for maximum impact, and proper sizing. Our HTML email editor makes it easy to customize these designs for your brand and messaging.

Start designing with ease and sign up for a free account today! 

Beefree's acquisition of Really Good Emails: here’s why we're excited and you should be too

As of April 15th, 2024, Beefree has acquired Really Good Emails to bridge inspiration and creation: here’s why and what’s next.

If you’re in the email space, you’ve visited reallygoodemails.com

I’ve been a fan for years. There’s nothing like seeing fantastic messages designed by some of the world's best brands to inspire you. Perhaps as well-known as the website are the newsletters from Really Good Emails: witty, funny, and packed with great articles and best practices.

So when Mike Nelson, one of the founders of Really Good Emails (RGE), reached out to me months ago, I was all ears.

Mike and his partners had been volunteering their time on the RGE project for almost ten years and had decided that it was time to switch gears. To deliver more value to their millions of visitors, RGE needed more time, money, and full-time focus.

One thing they found in surveys is that RGE users wanted to “turn saved emails into customizable templates” and use them in any email tool. As it turns out, that’s exactly what people do with Beefree’s no-code email builder: create millions of emails monthly for all sorts of use cases in virtually every industry. They even create those emails inside hundreds of other applications where our tools are embedded. 

Mike clearly had the right idea, and I’m so glad he and his co-founders reached out. 

We started talking and sharing ideas and a vision for the future of RGE. There was a lot of alignment. We believed then—and even more strongly today—that a collaboration between RGE and Beefree could make the art and science of email creation more accessible, more inspiring, and simply, more fun.  

Our plans for the future

If you’re an RGE fan and have never heard of Beefree, our goal is to shorten your path from inspiration to creation. Over the next several months, we will work on various ways to make that happen.

If you’re a Beefree fan, we will add more inspiration to your email design process. You’ve seen the 1,700+ templates in our catalog. Now, we’ll leverage the 15,000+ designs on the RGE site to give you creative superpowers.

If you’re involved in email creation at all, the key point is this: by bringing together RGE's vast email catalog with Beefree's intuitive design tools, we will provide new ways for you to close the gap between finding inspiration and creating something valuable from it.

I've always believed that inspiration is the precursor to creation. Seeing a design that clicks with you, that sparks that "Aha!" moment, is crucial. And Really Good Emails has been that source of "Aha!" for many, including myself. Incorporating RGE's treasure trove into Beefree's ecosystem feels like a natural step toward enhancing the creative process for our community.

Bringing Beefree and RGE together

From a product point of view, you will start seeing integrations between RGE and Beefree. We’ll start small and get fancier over time. They will start shipping soon, and we’ll keep you posted. 

While that’s in the future, there are things we can deliver to you today.

  • First, the Pro features on reallygoodemails.com become FREE for all, starting immediately. At Beefree, we love removing friction and agreed with our friends at RGE to start there. So, create new collections, add your favorite emails, and use the Chrome extension. It’s all free now.

  • Secondly, Unspam is back. It was hard for an all-volunteer team to host and grow this special email event. We have zero intention of changing the nature and objectives of the event, but we’re excited to support it and help it grow. Justine Jordan - Head of Strategy & Community at Beefree - took the lead on that, co-hosting Unspam 2024 in her own, authentic way.

  • Third, I'm super excited to welcome Mike Nelson and Matt Helbig from RGE to the Beefree team. They have a lot of innovative ideas around the future of Really Good Emails, and we can’t wait to collaborate with them. Matthew Smith and Matt Cook will help as strategic advisors.

We live in a world where email continues to be the favorite channel for companies to communicate with their subscribers and for people like you and I to hear from our favorite brands (e.g., here and here). In this world, you - email creators - play such a crucial role.

You are the key stakeholders for both RGE and Beefree. Hundreds of thousands of you use our tools every month. Through Unspam and many other initiatives, we want to increase investment in email makers and creators. 

We need to do so to continue building products that make sense and are truly helpful: successful products only come from a lot of deep listening. We want to do so because we are part of the same community, and there’s no healthy RGE & Beefree without a thriving community.

I know it’s cliché to say it, but we truly believe this is a case where the whole has a real chance of being greater than the sum of the parts. Our tools - combined - will deliver a greater amount of value to you. Our efforts - combined - will have a greater impact.

Give us a bit of time to execute all of this, and keep us honest as we do so. If you have questions, we maintain a FAQ here and welcome your comments and feedback by emailing community@beefree.io

With heartfelt enthusiasm, optimism, and anticipation for what’s to come,

Massimo Arrigoni 

CEO, Beefree

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