Baking email templates since 2008

The MailBakery Blog

How to Design Creative Emails: 4 Examples to Inspire You

Reading Time: 5 minutes

When you’re in a rush to create email marketing campaigns, it can be challenging to maintain a sense of creativity. However, in an age where your subscribers are inundated with an average of 320 emails per day, you must continue to surprise them with innovative content. Once you have the right subject line to spark interest, your campaign must deliver its promise with a gorgeous design

Luckily, there are plenty of tactics that you can use to keep your audience on their toes. To design creative emails, don’t be afraid to experiment with color and animation to keep your subscribers engaged. Then support your design elements with an organized layout and ensure that your email template is as simple as possible to help your message pop. Voilá, you’re one step closer to email marketing success!

And if balancing each element of your campaign seems overwhelming, you can always enlist the help of email design experts to design creative emails that embody the spirit of your brand.

Either way, looking at other successful examples can help you get inspired and re-energized for your next set of emails. Ready to create your most innovative email campaign yet? Let’s dive in!

 

Leverage the Power of Color

When you’re creating an eye-catching email marketing campaign, don’t underestimate the power of effective color usage. The right colors can emphasize essential details of your campaign and increase the likelihood that your subscribers will respond to your call to action. A pop of color can enhance the overall message and have a significant impact on the mood that your creative emails evoke.

However, approach this technique with caution. Splashes of color in the wrong places can also distract your subscribers and decrease your conversion rate. Be sure to choose colors that align with your brand’s image rather than what suits your personal tastes. If you choose the wrong color scheme, it can have a negative impact on your subscribers’ overall experience and your click-through rate.

The email below from Stylist Live expertly uses bold color and demonstrates how bright colors can work together in perfect harmony:

Colorful Email Example by Stylist

 

Experiment with Animation

Adding a touch of animation is an excellent way to design creative emails for a fun and successful marketing campaign. Emails that include animation in the design have been shown to improve conversion rates by 103%, as animation draws subscribers’ attention from the moment they open your email.

Part of what makes animation so effective is the fact that you can use it in so many different ways. You can use animation to guide the viewer throughout your email, create a humorous effect, or reveal a special surprise to your subscribers.

A little animation can transform a lackluster email marketing campaign into an eye-catching masterpiece! But when you’re incorporating animation into your campaign, take great care to ensure that you don’t overdo it. You don’t want your animation to overwhelm your subscribers or keep your campaign from loading properly when they open it. A little touch will do. The campaign below from Headspace perfectly demonstrates how a small amount of animation can elevate your entire marketing campaign:

Get creative emails with GIF animations

 

Simplicity: Sometimes Less is More

In the realm of email design, minimalism is the gold standard. When you learn how to use the art of simplicity in your email marketing campaigns, it gives the content of your email the space to breathe. When trying to design creative emails, it’s easy to become overzealous when applying different artistic elements. But if you overwhelm your design with excessive animation, awkward color choices, paragraphs of text, or too many images, it will drown out your message. Keep things simple to ensure that your audience understands the email’s purpose and what action you want them to take.

As you create your email campaign, remember that your space is limited. Furthermore, 40% of people typically check their email on their mobile devices, meaning that your email campaign must be able to load correctly on a small screen.

The ability to use space efficiently is a huge part of what makes you a good designer. The concept of simplicity doesn’t only apply to the email elements, colors, or fonts that you use. It is also applicable to the amount of text and images that you use. For an example of an effective minimalist email design, take a look at the Nike campaign below:

Nike's example of simplistic email

 

Keep Your Campaign Organized and Engaging

No matter the occasion, well-organized email marketing campaigns that are pleasing to the eye and easy to read will always be in style. You must organize your content in a way that is easily digestible for your subscribers. Consider the journey your subscribers will take from the moment they open your email until they click through to your website.

Websites like Pinterest have increased the popularity of the “card layout.” As more e-commerce brands use this layout, they discover that it is one of the prime strategies to increase their click-through rate. But using this style of email design requires using blank space efficiently to ensure that your text and images don’t overwhelm the reader. Used properly, you can communicate your message in a concise and visually stunning way.

Keep in mind that an organized campaign is not synonymous with a dull campaign! With an eye for design and the proper strategy, you can simplify your email marketing campaign while keeping it exciting. Use a small amount of text and bold, clear images that support your overall message. The campaign below from DesignModo expertly displays their knowledge of effective campaign design by communicating their message with stunning graphic design and concise text:

 

Creative Emails from MailBakery

MailBakery - Designing and Coding Creative Emails

When you’re constantly churning out email marketing campaigns, it can be difficult to find new, exciting ways to create engaging content. If you’re struggling to find an innovative way to create your campaign, why not leave it to the experts?

If you need stunning email templates to seal the deal, MailBakery provides all the help you need to get started. We partner with your business to design and code jaw-dropping, brand-specific email templates that are sure to convert.

Want to create something great? Contact our team today, and let’s work together to cook up the creative emails of your dreams.