Best Practices for Designing Email Graphics: Elevate Your Email Campaigns

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Email marketing remains one of the best tools to connect with your audience. However, standing out from the influx of emails in your audience’s inbox is harder than ever. The solution? Captivating email graphics. These not only make your email catchy, but they can help readers understand your message and make it easier for them to convert. So let’s explore why excellent email graphic design is important, and what you need to know to maximize your email visuals.

The Importance of Stellar Email Graphics

When it comes to email, it’s all about first impressions – and graphics are the key to making that impression count. If your emails employ good graphics, recipients will remember your message, and be more likely to take action on it. Graphics distill complex information into digestible visual ‘bites’, making your message more understandable to your recipients. Plus, good-looking emails can give your click-through rates a real boost.

Best Practices for Email Graphic Design

1. Consistency is Key.

Your email graphics should align with your brand’s identity. Сonsistency of colors, fonts, and styles that reflect your brand will not only reinforce brand recognition but also create a cohesive user experience. For instance, choose colors that match your logo and use them throughout the email to create a visually harmonious layout. Estée Lauder’s emails serve as a great example of color consistency within the layout, using the branding’s main color of dark navy blue in the design:

FC Barcelona kept in touch with its iconic colors in the mailing too:

2. Optimize Image File Sizes.

Large images can slow down the loading time of your emails, potentially leading to high abandonment rates. Opt for compressed images that balance quality and file size. Tools or online compressors that can effectively reduce image sizes without compromising quality. Remember, the quicker your email loads, the better the user experience. Keep your emails error-free; rely on our HTML Checker for clean, compelling designs!

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3. Use Relevant Images.

Imagery should be chosen to supplement the email content and should be relevant: badly chosen images will confuse the reader, while images that don’t relate to the content risk diluting the message. A promotional banner needs to connect with the content; an infographic needs to contribute to the email. Take a look at how Hermes did it in their email:

This example from Envato Elements, one of the world’s first subscription services offering unlimited downloads of millions of graphic design assets, clearly demonstrates the use of relevant graphics in an email:

4. Visual Storytelling.

Each graphic should tell part of the story of your brand, revealing a narrative that compels the reader’s imagination – and facilitates a clear path through your communication. Visual storytelling enables you to lead your recipient through your message in a compelling, memorable way, which can be profoundly engaging and enable an emotional connection with your brand. A beautiful example of visual storytelling that leads you through the letter by Scuderia Ferrari:

5. Choose Fonts Wisely.

Fonts are another key aspect of your email graphics. Choose fonts that are legible and web-safe, so the text looks the same on all devices – and don’t use too many different font styles in one email, or your design will look scattered and confusing. Remember that fonts have emotional connotations: serif fonts are considered more formal and serious – more trustworthy than sans-serif fonts, which are perceived as rather modern and friendly. Here, Valentino chose a sophisticated font to reflect the classy energy of their brand, while Creative Market went with a fun and unique font to match the creative atmosphere:

6. Simple and Clean Layouts vs. Dazzling Graphics.Tailoring to Business Type.

The design approach for your email graphics should resonate with the nature of your business. For a corporate or professional services brand, such as a law firm or a financial advisor, a spare, clean layout with minimalist graphics sometimes works best. It looks professional, and it makes it easier for your readers to focus on the message. The brand of Ralph Lauren is known for its elegance, as we can see, such a simple design with muted colors reflects it perfectly.

On the other hand, creative industries such as fashion, entertainment, or digital services might thrive on graphics that appear more vivid and detailed. In this context, a company could leverage GIFs, and brightly colored graphics to showcase its products, amplify emotions, and target a visual-driven audience. This approach allows content to be presented with more dynamism, leaving a lasting impression and replicating the creative identity of the company. Both Football’s Premier League and Formula 1 emails are there to evoke the thriving emotions that are associated with these sports by using bright colors and lots of media:

7. Alt Text is Essential.

Not all email clients automatically display images, and some users may disable them by choice. Use descriptive alt text for every image. This ensures that the message conveyed by the graphic is not lost, regardless of whether the image is displayed. Alt text also improves accessibility.

8. Legal Compliance and Ethical Design.

If you’re building email graphics, then it’s very important that you don’t infringe on any copyright or other intellectual property rights by using images or artwork that you don’t own, that aren’t licensed to you, or that aren’t covered by fair use. Ethically, your designs should also be non-deceptive – avoiding misleading representation or manipulative visual tricks. Always strive to be clear and ethically above-board in your designs, so that your recipients will trust you and view you in a good light. Also, do not forget about compliance with privacy protocols.

The Impact on Deliverability

The design of your email graphics can significantly impact email deliverability. Overly large images or a high ratio of images to text can trigger spam filters, preventing your emails from reaching inboxes. Ensuring that your emails are balanced, with a good mix of text and visuals, is crucial for avoiding these filters. Additionally, optimizing image file sizes helps to reduce load times, which can improve user engagement and decrease bounce rates. Get flawless email delivery; start your journey with GlockApps and get two free tests today!

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Conclusion: Why Care About Good Email Graphics?

In the digital era, where everyone is flooded with information, good email graphics help your message cut through the noise. convey your message faster and help to increase user engagement. Good graphics are also crucial in making a lasting impression on your audience. So by following these best practices, your email will not just make it to the inbox but also attract, engage, and convert.

Good email graphic design isn’t just about making emails look good — it’s about helping them work well for your marketing goals.

FAQ

1. What impact do good graphics have on email marketing campaigns?

Good graphics can make emails better because they make them easier to digest. The more people can understand and retain information, the more likely they are to click through and take action – which is, after all, the reason people send emails in the first place.

2. How can I ensure my email graphics are aligned with my brand identity?

It’s important to keep your email graphics consistent with your brand identity. Use the same colors, fonts, and styles in your emails as in your overall branding. If your logo is blue and white, incorporate these colors into your email designs to maintain a coherent look that reinforces brand recognition.

3. Why is optimizing image file sizes important in email design?

Optimizing image file sizes is crucial because large images can slow down the loading time of your emails, which might lead to higher abandonment rates. Using compressed images that balance quality and file size ensures that emails load quickly, providing a better user experience and improving deliverability.

4. How does visual storytelling enhance email graphic design?

Email graphic design that tells a story with images not only works as a communication strategy to bring vividly to mind the scene you describe but also serves as a mental roadmap that helps guide your audience through your content and makes the message more memorable, which in turn strengthens their emotional connection with your brand.