Email marketing is an important part of digital marketing, but writing a good email is easier said than done.
Good email marketing design is essential if you want to catch readers’ attention and make your emails easy to read. Not only do you need to make sure you’re including the right content in your emails, but you also need to incorporate other elements of design.
If you’re not quite sure how to design marketing emails, a few design tips can be a big help. The best email designs have elements of simplicity, but they also contain enough content and details to provide the reader with some value.
First, you catch their eyes, then you deliver your important message.
Keep reading to find out more about how to design eye-catching marketing emails and why email design is so important.
What is email marketing design?
Despite how easy it is to write an email, email marketing is more complicated than you may have thought. When you send an email out, there’s a chance some people won’t see it because it will go to their spam folder.
Even if your emails make it to readers’ inboxes, people might not click those emails if they don’t see a subject line or something else that grabs their attention. Email marketing design is the process of carefully crafting and designing emails to make sure they’re eye-catching, easy to read, and not full of fluff.
For the most part, email marketing design is about the actual appearance of your emails more than the content. There are lots of different ways you can lay out text, images, and other important information, and the way you design your emails determines how quickly they catch the eye, how readable they are, and more.
There are tons of benefits of learning email marketing design, especially if you have an email newsletter or another email campaign you’re working on. People don’t spend a lot of time reading emails, especially if those emails aren’t personal or expected.
A well-designed email helps you convey all the important information and highlight that information so that it’s easy to read. A good email design guide can help you learn how to use email marketing to boost your brand, attract new customers, and build rapport with customers.
Email marketing design fundamentals
Just because you’re not an email marketing master doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. There are tons of great resources that can help you learn email marketing design, including guides and courses you can follow along with.
Even learning some of the basic email marketing design fundamentals can help you craft better emails that are attention-grabbing and easy to read.
Stick to your brand
First and foremost, your emails should sound like they’re coming from your brand. The goal of email marketing is to strengthen your brand and build a list of subscribers who are interested in your products or services.
Don’t be afraid to use your brand’s voice and tone, make sure you include your company logo, colors, name, and anything else that helps solidify your brand.
Write a good subject line
If you want your emails to catch readers’ attention, you need to make sure you’re starting with a catchy subject line.
Your subject line should be short and sweet, but it should also be attention-grabbing and give the readers an idea of what your email is about. This is your very first chance to grab people’s attention, so always make sure your subject line is good before you send an email.
Personalize emails
People don’t want to feel like they’re being spammed or sold to, so try to add a personal touch to emails.
Even simply including customers’ names instead of using “valued customer” or a similar term makes your email feel more personal. And with email automation tools that allow you to automatically include customers’ names in emails, this is a lot easier than it sounds.
Include visual elements
Staring down a wall of text can be intimidating, so it’s important to find ways to break up your emails and make them a little easier to read.
Including visual elements such as graphics and videos is a great way to break up the text of an email. Even better, you can use graphics to contextualize your email, such as including a chart or graph that shows how much better your new product or website is going to perform.
Just remember, you don’t want to overload your emails with visual elements that hinder readability. Keep it simple, but spice things up a bit when you can.
Be clear and concise
Most people have a lot of emails to deal with on a daily or weekly basis, which means people don’t have time to thoroughly read long emails.
As tempting as it may be to include as much information as possible, try to keep your emails clear and concise so you’re not losing readers’ attention. Introduce the topic of the email, tell readers what they need to know about that topic, then use a call to action to close out your email.
Short and sweet is the way to go when it comes to email marketing.
Use responsive designs
Bad email design can make your emails nearly impossible to read on some devices, but you can avoid that by using responsive designs that can adapt to fit different devices and resolutions.
One easy way to make sure your designs are responsive is to use email templates, which you can customize to fit your content without sacrificing responsiveness.
End with a call to action
At the end of your emails, you should include a call to action that encourages the reader to take action.
You can encourage readers to contact you to learn more, visit your store to check out a new product, or sign up for the new program you’re offering. While a call to action is a good way to encourage readers to take action, you don’t want to sound too pushy.
Include an unsubscribe button
As important as a call to action is for business emails, the unsubscribe button is just as important.
In fact, FTC law states that you must include a clear unsubscribe link or button when you’re sending commercial emails. This allows readers to stop receiving emails if they’re no longer interested. Make sure your unsubscribe link or button is easy to find.
A/B test your emails
Even the most experienced marketers can't always predict which design elements will resonate with their audience, which is why they A/B test their emails.
By testing different design choices, you can see what actually works instead of guessing. With A/B testing, you can send one version of your email with a specific layout, color scheme, or visual element to half your list, and a different design to the other half.
Once both versions go out, compare the results. Look at open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to see which design performed better. Maybe your audience prefers a minimalist layout over one packed with images, or perhaps a bold header color drives more clicks than a subtle one.
How to design the perfect email
The best email designs share common traits: they're visually appealing, easy to scan, and optimized for how people actually read emails.
Whether you're creating a newsletter, promotional email, or product announcement, following email design best practices will help you create beautiful emails that get opened, read, and acted on.
Start with a clear goal
Before you open your email template and start designing, take a step back and define what you want to accomplish.
Are you driving traffic to a blog post? Encouraging recipients to shop your latest collection? Promoting an event? Your goal should influence every design decision you make, from the email header to the final call to action.
When your design aligns with a single, focused objective, your email marketing message will be clearer and more compelling.
Choose the right layout for your message
The layout you choose sets the foundation for your entire email. A single-column layout works well for mobile device viewing and keeps the design simple, while a multi-column design can showcase multiple products or features at once.
Think about the structure of your email content and how you want readers to move through the information. The first thing people see should naturally lead them to the next element, creating a visual hierarchy that guides them toward your goal.
Balance text and visuals
Effective email marketing campaigns balance text and visuals. Use visuals to support your body copy, not replace it. Add white space around your images and text blocks to give your email room to breathe.
Prioritize readability and scannability
Most people skim emails rather than reading every word, so make it easy for them to grasp the key points quickly. Break up your email content with descriptive subheadings, use short paragraphs, and highlight important information with bold text or color.
Your color palette should create enough contrast between text and background that everything is easy to read at a glance. Think of your emails as a guide that walks readers through the basic information they need without making them work for it.
Use color and contrast intentionally
Color does more than make your emails look good. It directs attention, reinforces your brand's personality, and helps important elements stand out. Use your brand colors consistently, but don't be afraid to use a contrasting accent color for buttons or key information.
Additionally, if you're including social media icons or other small elements, make sure they're large enough and colorful enough to be noticeable.
Optimize for different devices and screen sizes
Test how your email appears on phones, tablets, and desktop computers before hitting send. Make sure buttons are large enough to tap easily, text is readable without zooming, and images scale properly. Include your contact details and address in a format that's easy to read on smaller screens.
Test and preview before sending
Even experienced designers preview their emails multiple times before sending them out. Check how your email content looks in different email clients, since they all render HTML slightly differently. Click every link to make sure they work.
This final check catches formatting issues, broken links, or design elements that don't display correctly, ensuring your email looks professional when it reaches your subscribers.
Email design trends to watch
Email design keeps evolving as new technologies and user expectations change.
Being aware of current email design and marketing trends can help you create emails that feel fresh and engaging. While you don't need to adopt every trend, incorporating a few modern touches can make your campaigns feel more current and keep subscribers interested.
Interactive emails (carousels, polls, and GIFs)
Static emails are giving way to more dynamic experiences. Adding interactive elements like image carousels, clickable polls, or animated GIFs can boost engagement and make your emails more memorable.
Dark mode optimization
With more people using dark mode on their devices, it's important to think about how your emails will look against a dark background. Design with both light and dark modes in mind to ensure your emails remain readable and visually appealing regardless of the recipient's settings.
Minimalist layouts with bold typography
Clean designs with plenty of white space continue to grow in popularity. Paired with bold, eye-catching typography, this approach makes emails easier to scan and helps key messages stand out without overwhelming readers.
Data-driven personalization and dynamic content
Modern email marketing uses data to show different content to different subscribers based on their behavior, preferences, or demographics, making each email feel tailored to the individual recipient.
How Mailchimp helps you test and refine email designs
Creating professional email designs doesn't require a design degree or coding knowledge. Mailchimp gives you the tools to build, test, and improve your email designs so you can work on connecting with your audience instead of wrestling with technical details.
Built-in templates and drag-and-drop editor
Choose from a wide range of pre-designed templates that work for newsletters, promotional emails, announcements, and more.
The drag-and-drop editor lets you customize these templates by simply clicking and moving elements around. Add images, adjust colors to match your brand, and rearrange sections without touching a single line of code.
A/B testing and content optimizer
Not sure which design will perform better? Test different versions of your email to see what resonates with your subscribers.
Compare subject lines, layouts, images, or call-to-action buttons to find out what drives more opens and clicks. The content optimizer also helps you fine-tune your emails by suggesting improvements before you send.
Analytics to measure design performance
After you send your email, track how your design choices impact results. See which links get the most clicks, where readers stop scrolling, and how long they spend reading your email. These insights help you understand what's working and what needs adjustment so your next email will perform even better.
Mailchimp also makes it easy to deliver personalized emails through automation, helping your messages feel more relevant to each subscriber. If you want to learn more about email marketing design, Mailchimp Academy offers webinars and courses to help you get the most out of your campaigns.
Design attracts more customers
It’s no secret that internet marketing can be incredibly lucrative for businesses, and that includes email marketing. With a solid email marketing design and an effective campaign, you can attract more customers, inform current customers about new products, and build a list of subscribers that you can use to grow your business.
If your emails are missing the mark a bit, Mailchimp can help. With Mailchimp Academy, you can learn the basics of email marketing design and how to design better emails.
Mailchimp design tools such as our classic builder allow you to find templates and edit them to fit your needs. If you want to take your email marketing campaign to the next level, try Mailchimp today.
Key Takeaways
- Good email design balances visual elements with clear, concise copy while staying true to your brand and personalizing messages for recipients.
- Effective emails start with a clear goal, use layouts that guide readers naturally, and optimize for mobile devices with strategic use of color and contrast.
- Testing variations of your email design shows which elements your subscribers respond to best, leading to stronger campaign results.
- Mailchimp's templates, drag-and-drop editor, and analytics tools make it easy to create, test, and refine professional email designs without coding knowledge.