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Writer's pictureLiz Maguire

Designing an Email They'll Read.

Designing email for your product or service based business doesn't have to be hard! It can even be fun if you follow a few key rules of function to drive result. Not sure what that means exactly? Litir Marketing is here to help! In this post we'll explore how images, copy and links affect the chances of your subscribers 'reading' (opening and clicking, what you want them to do!) your email.

Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash


Before there's any talk about design let's get one thing clear...what is your point in sending your future email?


There are three types of emails to send: Promotion, Transactional, Informative.


Once you pick one genre your email will come together much easier. Do you want to make sales? Are you educating your audience about a service or product in your business? Defining your 'why' will help you execute the right 'how'.


ProTip: The length of your email is more important than you might imagine. Yes, you have a lot to say -- that's good. But think about your subscribers and the limited time they have to be interested in your email before something else catches their attention. Keep your email short and sweet with the Golden Rule in mind....


Get them out of the email and on to the site ASAP.


Images:


Whether you have 'professional' studio shots of your products or service in action, or you're working with shots from your cell phone you can make it work. An image tells a story!


Remember your purpose for sending the email at all. What is 1 -- yes, ONE -- image that captures the energy and the 'vibe' that you're looking to communicate. That should be your 'lead' image, or the first thing that someone sees when they open an email. This should come before 'the fold' or the break in the email/screen where someone has to scroll to find information. Keep your 'why' in mind and put that front and centre for your subscribers.


Any images that you choose to include in your email should be clear and sized properly. How can you be sure? Work with your email builder and experiment! There are tons of free tools out there to help you make sure that your email looks the best it can (i.e. Canva).


ProTip: If you're using any photo editing software for your emails (like Canva) consider downloading or saving your images as 'compressed' to save on load time for emails.


Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash


When you're uploading your photos to your email builder always remember 'ALT Text' captions on any image that you include. ALT Text is where can essentially caption your image -- and yes, some subscribers will see this before your image loads so keep it brand appropriate and informative where possible. Subscribers using screen-reader devices will receive the description of this image so keep in mind that it should be concise but a clear definition of the image you're including. There's serious chatter in the email space that the inclusion of ALT Text affects deliverability (where and how your email lands in subscriber inboxes) so be sure to make including it part of your email designing routine.


Copy:


Have you ever wanted to make a recipe that you found online? And spent way too long scrolling past the long story the author included about how their grandmother used to make these cookies and how when they got married their partner had never had them so for their first christmas together, the author woke up early and made the cook-....

Photo by No Revisions on Unsplash


Did you drift off? There's a cost to abbreviated attention spans and it's longwinded copy. Copy in your email should be short, sweet and to the point. If you want to write a long form blog post (like this one!) host that on your website and direct subscribers there.


Your email copy should be a sales tool but not without personality. This is where your Brand Bible comes in handy! Being aware of the tone of voice and how you want to portray your brand across marketing channels is very important when you are writing email copy. You are always selling -- while that may not be something comfortable to get used to, it's important. Do you want to make money from your business? Then you've got to sell! And that includes in your email copy.


The first 'chunk' of copy in your email should address the 'why' of your purpose for sending it, at all. It should also relate directly to the choice of image that you are leading with. Your first paragraph of copy can be however long you want to make it but remember the cookies! 3-5 short sentences and you should be good to go. It's much harder to say less than it is to say too much so edit yourself time and again until you're happy with the point that your copy gets across in as few words as possible.

ProTip: Use 'You' and other words that refer back to the subscriber to put them psychologically in the place where they feel the email is written for them. Address their pain points that your product/service solves with examples or relatable language. Yes, you're selling but it doesn't have to be painful to read.


Links:


Do you remember the Golden Rule? Spoiler alert, it's:


Get them out of the email and on to the site ASAP.


But how do you achieve that? With links! Linking your images and copy back to the

relevant topic or product on the website that they reference.


If you scroll back up through this blog post you'll see that along the way there are hyperlinks dotted to blogs that expand on the ideas referenced. This saves time and space for readers that might not be interested in the longform explanation, while also making it easy for those that are, to find it.

The magic of links!


You now know how to choose an image for your email design, congrats! There's no faster way to loose someone's attention than showing them something fabulous and not making it 'one click' to learn more or purchase. Hyperlink the image that you chose to the product or service it depicts to help the subscriber make a purchase decision, quickly.


You can always save the cookie recipe for a blog on the website, not the email! Customers don't necessarily want to read a paragraph of text to find the link for what you're talking about. Keep it short and simple with hyperlinks in the text so that a subscriber can choose to hop out of the email at any time...and go to your website!


Conversion happens on the website and the email helps. Remember this!


ProTip: A 'Call to Action' or CTA button under your copy and image with a link to your primary 'why' for sending the email (product or service page) will help drive traffic to that page on the website. You can use language like 'Click Here' or 'Learn More' to trigger the desired result, i.e. click.

Summary:

After you determine the 'why' of your email -- promotional, transactional, informative --the three things to include in your email design to ensure subscribers will actually read it are: good quality images, effective copy and relevant links.



Get in Touch.

Have an email design question? Let us help! Write to liz@litirmarketing.com today.


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