Bring More Prospects To Your Business With These 18 Innovative Email Designs

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Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies. One of the ways to acquire subscribers through email marketing is by creating captivating email designs. Technological advancements give email designers more chance to dig into innovative and customized email content for the large number of subscribers worldwide.

To stay ahead of competitors in the market, you need to create a good system for your business, and keeping up with current trends of email designs is one sure way to accomplish this. The more enticing the trends, the more captivating they become to the subscribers and so, better prospects for you.

Below are eighteen creative email trends that are bound to make a huge difference in your email marketing campaign.

Email GIF

GIF is both a video and a static image, occupying much less space than a JPEG image and utilizing lighter resources than a video.  GIFs come in animated frames, and their main purpose is to grab subscribers’ attention. The humor and gimmicks in GIFs persuade subscribers to click on the email’s landing page. However, some GIFs are powerful image tools, used to bring products to life. Linking the GIFs to YouTube videos or as call-to-action in the emails produces more response.

Flat Email Design

Designed for consistent maintenance of UI (User Interface) changes in iOS and Android, the Flat design is an approach that gives two-dimensional illustrations, converting real-life objects into tiny, realistic illustrations. These illustrations are neat, with bright colors and cool patterns that grab the attention instantly. The designs are user-friendly, and bound to receive positive feedback from anyone viewing them. A good example of a company using flat design is Fitbit.

Email Content Compression

The average concentration span of humans is very low, and reading large volumes of emails does not augur well with many of them. It is sometimes necessary to reduce the content of the email, and the size of any pictures attached to it. Compressing the pictures in the file, or just the ones you deem fit, is one way of reducing content. Roll several files into a single file, and save it as a zip file or compressed PDF. The good thing is that the recipient has to open the compressed file to read through and see the attached pictures, which is a brilliant way of delivering your intended message.

Conversational Emails

If you really want to engage with your subscribers, using conversation copy in your emails does the trick. You do not have to write the exact way you speak, but make it more of a conversation than a written copy. Your readers feel like you are talking to them, not at them. This keeps them interested and engaged, especially if the conversation is more about them than it is about you. Ask as many questions as you possibly can, and follow up with answers.

Master Templates

To maintain the connection between you and the subscriber, brand your products consistently across all your different emails. The easiest way to do this is by creating master templates. They come in handy when you do not want to design a new email every time you have a new campaign. With master templates, you can easily edit or remove some sections, and fix the emails you need to send out.  When doing this, be careful to follow the brands’ guidelines and keep them consistent throughout the campaigns. Master templates influence the turnaround time and efficiency of marketers, thus growing the brand.

If you have no idea how to go about making a master template, hire expert email designers from freelancer.com, and make your brand stand out.

No More Spongy Layout

Usually, developers encode messages without using any media requests. This is due to the lack of support for media requests, especially when using Gmail. Referred to as Spongy layout, this means rejecting some animations and elements in order to maintain flexibility. With this barrier removed, designers can now create the best email messages.

Say Bye to Desktop in Gmail

In the past, Gmail automatically altered message fonts when opening an email on a mobile device. This seriously affected the design, and did not go down  too well with subscribers because it was not fun to read. This problem has been solved, and now it is possible to create separate templates for mobile devices and desktop.

Unsubscribe Ribbon to Feature on Top

Apple Mail features the unsubscribe ribbon on the top. This is a big challenge to marketers, as there has to be enough creativity to keep recipients from unsubscribing immediately. Designers need to come up with advanced subject lines and pre-header texts to keep subscribers’ attention away from the unsubscribing ribbon. Without enticing designs and mind capturing content, the subscribers tend to unsubscribe from the marketer, which ultimately affects the brand.

Video Playback

Between reading a long text and watching a visually attractive message, subscribers would rather choose the latter. Many companies have embraced the popularity of video marketing, and are inserting videos in letters. In 2009, there was an introduction of emails with embedded videos. These emails supported many devices. However, iOS 9 stopped playing embedded videos in emails. iOS 10 started playing embedded videos again, greatly improving and growing the number of subscribers.

Keyframe Animation

Keyframe, currently supported by Android and Apple devices, gives a smoother animation with fewer changes in frames as compared to GIF. The images are smoother and do not change very dramatically. Vertical and horizontal movements, or the hover-effects, make this design both memorable and attractive.

Cinemagraph

In the advancing email world, GIFs containing a cinematic effect are more likely to prompt subscribers to attach to the marketing content without unsubscribing. This will greatly affect subscribers’ experience, and give an assurance to the marketers about the increasing growth of the brand.

No Restrictions in 600PX Email Width

New devices in the market are resolutions enabled, supporting 2K and 4K. Many clients no longer use PC design, but prefer using horizontal orientation. With more computers having bigger screens these days, forgetting the standard width of 600px is no surprise.

Backgrounds that are Live

Creative backgrounds tend to capture the reader’s attention. For even more mind relaxation, looped videos and timed out live backgrounds need more infiltration into the market. With something playing in the background, subscribers’ attention will focus on opening the mail.

Discovery of Advanced Email Elements

Email clients supporting CSS have increased gradually, thus increasing the use of collaborative elements such as Integrated forms, Sticky CTA, Accordions, Menus, and Countdown timers. This ensures that subscribers maintain their dedication towards the brand, instead of searching for better options from competitors.

Search Tool Segment

Email designers have adopted the future of email marketing by using high technology tools.  The search tool segment saves the client from going through an entire email folder, searching for one particular email.

Advanced Email Features

Clients’ privacy is the priority of every service provider. Emails have also stepped forward to protect the privacy of clients, and defend their brands. These days, privacy information, such as purchase history, location, age, gender, device information, and user engagement is well-protected to enhance the subscriber's experience.

Creative use of Fonts

Once you have your well-designed background and features, it is important to consider the appearance of your text. You can modify your text by implementing different font styles, which communicate different emotions and are effective in conveying a precise message to the audience. Well-chosen fonts also add an appealing look to the email. You could consider using different font colors for your text.

Use of Emojis and Icons

The world of communication has greatly embraced the use of emojis, which are graphics that communicate different messages quickly and easily. An emoji is much more effective than words, and is a fun way to communicate. These emojis help to make the text more enjoyable and fun to read. They should be used with caution, as they are not always welcome in formal content. Overuse of emojis also renders the content monotonous.

Conclusion

Staying tuned with the email design trends of 2017 helps marketers know what else to add to the brand to keep their existing subscribers. It also helps to keep the brand reputation and image growing. The latest designs ensures more subscribers prefer your brand to others, fulfilling the goal of outshining your competitors.

Have you learned anything new from this article? If you have, we welcome your comments and any questions you may have. Feel free to use the comments box below.

 

Posted 27 September, 2017

TomCoulter

Designer // Writer // Creative

Tom is a Design Correspondent for Freelancer.com. He is currently based in Melbourne and spends most of his non-work moments trying to find the best coffee.

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