Design

The arrival of fall not only brings a change in the weather but also opens a window of opportunity for email marketers to tap into the sales season.

Did you know that according to OptinMonster, a striking “47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone?” This makes your email subject lines a key player in your autumn marketing strategy. 

Let’s dive into a world where creativity meets strategy, exploring a variety of fall email subject lines designed to captivate your audience and boost your autumn sales.

Fall email subject line tips

Let’s explore some pivotal tips that will elevate your fall email subject lines and ensure they capture the essence of your message and the season.

1. Personalize with a touch of seasonal warmth

Utilizing data like past purchases, location, or browsing history allows you to craft subject lines that speak directly to the individual, enveloping them in a personalized experience that feels inviting.

2. Avoid the spam trap with thoughtful wording

Crafting a subject line that avoids the dreaded spam folder is akin to carefully stepping through a patch of crunchy fall leaves – it requires thoughtfulness and precision. Steer clear of using all caps, excessive exclamation points, and words that are commonly associated with spam, such as “free” or “buy now.” Instead, focus on creating a natural, conversational tone that gently guides your subscribers into your content.

3. Incorporate timeliness and urgency

Infusing your subject lines with a sense of timeliness and urgency, such as highlighting a limited-time offer or a flash sale, can encourage subscribers to open your email promptly. Ensure that the urgency is genuine and the offers are valuable to maintain trust and engagement with your audience.

4. Highlight your brand’s personality

Fall is a season that comes with its own array of playful language and puns. Whether it’s playing with phrases related to leaves, pumpkins, or cozy sweaters, a clever pun can add personality to your communication.

5. Embrace A/B testing for your subject lines

By testing two variations of your subject lines you can gain insights into which phrases, keywords, or emojis resonate best, enabling you to send the more effective subject line to your list. 

60 Best Fall Email Subject Lines 

From the allure of sales and the unveiling of new collections to the playful charm of puns and the festive joy of holidays, each of these subject lines is a pathway into the heart of your subscribers. 

Fall sale or discount subject lines

Incorporating the seasonal charm of fall into your sale subject lines not only enhances their appeal but also creates a timely and relevant context that can resonate with your subscribers, inviting them to explore your offerings and, ultimately, make a purchase.

Subject line examples:

• "🍂 Fall Into Savings: Up to 50% Off Starts Now!"
• "Harvest the Savings: Exclusive Fall Discount Inside!"
• "Sweater Weather, Sweeter Deals: 30% Off Fall Fashion!"
• "Unbe-leaf-able Deals: Your Exclusive Fall Sale is Here!"
• "Autumn Exclusives: Enjoy an Extra 20% Off Sale Items!"
• "Fall in Love with Our Autumn Sale: Up to 40% Off!"
• "🎃 Spooktacular Savings: Frighteningly Good Deals Inside!"
• "Cozy Up to Exclusive Fall Discounts – Limited Time Only!"
• "A Cornucopia of Savings: Shop Our Fall Sale Now!"
• "Rake in the Deals: Your Fall Discount Awaits Inside!"

Real-life example:‍‍

• ‍Brand Name: Hay‍
• Subject line: "Crisp, cozy, colorful (and 15% off)"‍
• Purpose of the email: Announce their “Autumn Sale.” 

Fall subject lines to introduce new collections or products

Introducing new collections with fall-centric subject lines seamlessly blends the anticipation of the new with the comforting familiarity of the season, crafting a delightful and enticing invitation to explore, discover, and shop.

Subject line examples:

• "🍁 Fresh Picks for Fall: Explore Our New Arrivals!"
• "New Season, New Styles: Shop the Fall Collection Now!"
• "Autumn Elegance: Discover Our New Fall Jewelry Line!"
• "Wrap Up in Style with Our New Fall Outerwear!"
• "Fall Flavors Have Arrived: New Seasonal Menu Inside!"
• "Step into Fall: New Boot Collection Just Dropped!"
• "Cozy Up with Our New Fall Home Decor!"
• "Sip into Autumn: New Fall Beverage Line Launched!"
• "Fall Beauty Unveiled: Explore Our New Makeup Line!"
• "Fresh Fall Reads: Discover Our New Book Releases!"

Real-life example:

• Brand Name: Juvee
• Subject Line: “Bringing You a Taste of Autumn” 
• Purpose of the email: Promote the launch of their Caramel Apple drink.

Subject lines with fall puns

Fall provides a fertile ground for playful wordplay that can bring a smile to your subscribers and create a lighthearted, engaging entry point to your email content.

Subject line examples:

• "Orange You Glad It’s Pumpkin Season? 🎃"
• "Nuts About Our New Fall Collection!"
• "Oh My Gourd, These Fall Deals Are Unbe-leaf-able!"
• "Squash Your FOMO: Fall Sale Now On!"
• "Leaf Your Worries Behind: Fall into Relaxation!"
• "Yam-tastic! Sweet Deals on Our New Fall Menu!"
• "Apple-y Ever After: Fall in Love with Our New Arrivals!"
• "A-maize-ing Deals Just for You This Fall!"
• "Harvest the Fun with Our Fall Festival Lineup!"
• "Spice Up Your Wardrobe with Our Fall Collection!"

Real-Life Example:

• Brand Name: FitVine Wines
• Subject Line: "No tricks, just treats 🎃🍷🦇”
• Purpose of the email: Promote their FitVine.

Holiday-specific fall subject lines

Crafting holiday-specific subject lines allows your brand to resonate with the festive spirit and sentiments that naturally permeate through the season. By aligning your messages with the holidays and celebrations that your audience holds dear, you create a bridge of relevance and shared joy, enhancing the connectivity and appeal of your emails during this festive fall period.

Halloween

• "No Tricks, Just Treats: Spooktacular Deals Inside!"
• "Unmask Frighteningly Good Offers This Halloween!"
• "Boo-tiful New Arrivals to Spook and Delight!"
• "Witching You a Happy Halloween: Special Treat Inside!"

Thanksgiving

• "Gobble Up the Savings: Thanksgiving Deals Inside!"
• "Grateful for You: A Thanksgiving Treat Inside 🦃"
• "Feast Your Eyes on Our Thanksgiving Specials!"
• "A Cornucopia of Thanks: Exclusive Offer Inside!"

Veterans Day

• "Honoring Heroes: Special Veterans Day Sale!"
• "A Salute to Savings: Veterans Day Exclusive!"
• "Celebrating Courage: Special Offer for Veterans Day!"
• "Thank You for Your Service: Exclusive Veterans Day Deal!"

Black Friday

• "Black Friday Bounty: Unbeatable Deals Inside!"
• "Sneak Peek: Black Friday Deals Unveiled!"
• "The Black Friday Sale You’ve Been Waiting For!"
• "Unlock Black Friday Savings Early: VIP Access Inside!"

Real-Life Example:

• Brand Name: Carhartt 
• Subject Line: "Black Friday: Early Access"
• Purpose of the email: Promote their Black Friday early access sale. 

Fall subject lines that reference fall weather

Subject lines that reference the weather crafts a narrative that is immediately recognizable and engaging to your subscribers, inviting them to explore your offerings with the comforting, familiar backdrop of the fall season.

Subject line examples:

• "Fall Breeze, Autumn Ease: Wind Down with Our Cozy Picks!"
• "Rainy Day Rescue: Stay Dry with Our Stylish Raincoats!"
• "Sweater Weather is Better Weather: New Arrivals Inside!"
• "Crisp Air, Don’t Care: Explore Our Fall Essentials!"
• "Stay Cozy in Our Must-Have Fall Layers!"
• "Chilly Days, Stylish Ways: Warm Up with Our Collection!"
• "Embrace the Chill: Hot Deals on Cool Styles Inside!"
• "Leaf the Cold Behind: Warm Up with Our Hot Picks!"
• "Autumn Showers, Stylish Hours: Waterproof Favorites Inside!"
• "Warm Hues, Cozy Shoes: Step into Fall Comfort!"

Real-life example:

• Brand Name: Hotel June
• Subject Line: "Feels Like Fall"
• Purpose of the email: Encourage travelers to book a stay at Hotel June by promoting new fall specials. 

Fall subject lines about autumn activities and events

From apple picking and leaf-peeping to festive gatherings and holiday preparations, these subject lines evoke anticipatation of these cherished moments. By aligning your messages with the activities that define the fall experience, your emails become a celebration of the season, intertwining your brand with the warmth and nostalgia.

Subject line examples:

• "Harvest Happiness with Our Fall Collection!"
• "Leaf-Peeping Essentials: Gear Up for Autumn Adventures!"
• "Apple-Picking Season is Here: Grab Your Fall Favorites!"
• "Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice: Fall Flavors Have Arrived!"
• "Get Festive: Everything You Need for Fall Gatherings!"
• "Fall Crafting: Create Your Cozy with Our DIY Kits!"
• "Bake Up a Storm: Autumn-Inspired Baking Essentials Inside!"
• "Cozy Campfires Await: S’mores, Stories, and Styles Inside!"
• "Haunted Happenings: Spooky Styles and Decor Inside!"
• "Thanksgiving Prep Starts Now: Get Ready to Feast!"

Real-Life Example:

• Brand Name: HomeAway
• Subject Line: "Get in the fall spirit with a cabin stay”
• Purpose of the email: Encourage customers to book a cabin stay. 

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Elevate your fall email campaigns to new heights

The harmony between a captivating subject line and a visually engaging email design is where the true magic happens.

With Beefree’s fall email templates, you gain access to a curated selection of designs that encapsulate the warmth and vibrancy of fall and perfectly compliment your captivating subject lines.

We’ve teamed up with Really Good Email’s Matt Helbig and a group of email experts for a roundup of the hottest email design trends.

How can you incorporate email design trends into your brand? 

“You have to know what's right for your audience, your brand, and your company. Don't just adopt a trend because it's the cool thing to do. 

Focus on the foundations, what makes a really good email is this email is customer-centric and solves a problem that someone might have. 

A lot of the time, company emails are very self-serving, but keep in mind that the person at the other end is not just a dollar sign; they are people as well. Use human language and not corporate gobbledy. 

Be clear about what you are making, why, and who it's for. Its really important to communicate your message clearly and tell people, you know, come to our site, come visit us. Send emails with a purpose and think about, “How can I make this person's day better?”

Accessibility is always a big thing. At Really Good Emails, we see a lot of all-image emails and that’s rarely ever accessible. You want to meet your readers where they are, whether it's on a mobile device or they have a disability and can't access your email. 

Beyond just including something like alt text, it's making sure your email is available on all devices that they might be reading on.

Lastly, just treat the inbox as a sacred, personal, and safe place. It is a safe place and you have some responsibility behind what you're sending to your audience. Your email should be a delight and a nice surprise in an inbox filled with annoyance and filtered spam emails. People should look forward to receiving your email in their inboxes.”

_{Matt Helbig, Integrated Manager at Beefree & Really Good Emails}

Email design trends for 2024 & beyond 

#1: Raw & unfiltered 

“As an amateur photographer myself,  I'm always excited to see that this trend continues to gain momentum. It's all about capturing images in their most natural state with minimal to no editing or retouching.

Unlike traditional stock photos or marketing images, which are often very produced, very stylized, very polished – raw and unfiltered embrace imperfection. This style, this trend, shows real people, real environments, and it captures genuine moments.

It's often characterized by natural lighting, minimal post-production editing, and authentic expressions and scenarios, which makes it feel very spontaneous and very candid. 

This trend is becoming popular largely due to social media. We're very used to seeing what at least appears to be authentic situations and with consumers demanding more transparency from brands we are kind of skeptical of overly polished images or images that we may feel are too photoshopped. 

Another plus of “raw and unfiltered” is that it can evoke a sense of nostalgia and help to strengthen the connection with your audience. 

Finally, and one of the most important, I think, is that it can be very cost-effective. You don't have to pay for the big production, the expensive photographer, or all the editing.”

_{Kristy McCarley, Founder & Managing Director of Pure Firefly.} 

#2: Chunky text

“This trend of oversized text is really dominating the visual space. If you're a design geek, this can be super fun to experiment with to add a sense of playfulness and grab a reader’s attention as soon as the email is open.

This trend is really popular because of the rise in appreciation for minimalism and the need to create quick digestible content. It allows you to convey that message in a really concise way. 

If you're trying to decide whether to experiment with this or if it's right for your brand, just keep in mind that you don't want it to be overwhelming. There should be a balance between the size of the text and its chunkiness so that it doesn't affect readability.” 

_{Kristy McCarley, Founder & Managing Director of Pure Firefly.} 

#3: Deep & dark

‘’This trend was sparked or spurred by the prevalence of dark mode, but think we've moved way beyond that now. 

I just love the spectrum of dark colors that I see brands bringing into the inbox to create this kind of mood instantly within their email. 

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My cautionary tale is to test the heck out of it beforehand. For a few email clients with some partial color inversion, darker tones turn into a salmon pink, which can strain the eyes. You obviously don't want to accidentally serve the audience that wants dark mode, something that's way outside of your brand guidelines.’’

_{Laura Sullivan, Head of Brand & Marketing at Inbox Monster}

#4: Color blocking

"These big, bold areas of color usually help you differentiate visual hierarchy in emails or make a section in an email stand out.

If you do a little bit of Googling on the history of color blocking, apparently this is a big fashion trend coming back from the 1960’s which is what gives color blocking a little bit of a retro feel."

_{Justin Jordan, Head of Strategy & Community at Beefree}

#5: Longing for Dial-up

"This trend combines old-school nostalgia with some of the new fun trends we’ve mentioned previously. This is all about the nineties being cool again. 

This summer, I have gone to so many concerts with 90s bands coming out and playing. For example, I saw a Green Day show, and they played the entirety of Dookie because it was Dookie's, I think, 25th or 30th anniversary of being released. That night, I felt like I was 18 again. The next morning, maybe not so much. But I was totally willing to relive 18 for an evening. 

If you've got that demographic, then take advantage of it. This is not for every brand; you really have to know your audience, know your style, and see if it works."

_{Justin Jordan, Head of Strategy & Community at Beefree}

#6: Ticker GIFs 

"Ticker GIF also known as the repeating text, usually at the top of the email, really grabs attention and makes the email feel lively and energetic. It can add playfulness similar to the chunky text, and it's eye-catching.

I’m kind of on the fence about ticker text because I'm affected by movement in email. So sometimes, if it's a little too fast or if it just feels like too much, I will look away, but I know there are other subscribers, the audience that loves it and really get into it.

I say be very thoughtful about the use of it. Make sure you have enough contrast. If you're using it to highlight a key message, it can be great. Or a sense of urgency for like a promotion or limited time offer. Just be aware that it can overwhelm some subscribers and it may be distracting and sometimes it's just not the right fit for the campaign."

_{Kristy McCarley, Founder & Managing Director of Pure Firefly.} 

#7: Styled letter 

"This trend is leading in popularity because it approaches email with a human voice instead of a product or brand. With the rise of AI, people’s spidey sense is up for things that aren't authentic and real and this approach helps tackle that. 

Style letter is a good balance between using plain text and brand elements like fonts and colors to make it feel a little bit more personalized.

In the example below, which is written by Justine, is all written in her voice, like when I read it, I could hear her reading it.

This trends is relatively low effort. You don't always need a designer to do something like this. You can make things stand out by using bullet points or adding a GIF. 

I like to think of email almost like as a tool belt, you know, you can use a plain text email or you can use a well-designed email. It doesn't have to be one or the other. 

You just know that your reader has this problem that they’re trying to solve, and you can use different types of content to make your email get the job to be done"

_{Laura Sullivan, Head of Brand & Marketing at Inbox Monster}

#8: Hover effects

We are seeing brands do some really cool, fun hover effects in email. It's a good way to tell people that something's clickable.

I think it's catching on because it's interactive. I think it catches your eye when you're scrolling, especially on like a desktop environment where it's supported. And some of these, especially hover effects, are little things you can add at the end of the email that may not change the whole design, but they show that you are spending the time and attention on your email designs and your marketing.

_{Matt Helbig, Integrated Manager at Beefree & Really Good Emails}

Honorable email design trend mentions: 

Typography: Weird fonts

Typography: 3D Text

Shapes: Waves

Imagery: Hand models

Interactivity: Choose your own adventure

Movement: 360 rotate

Messaging: Sustainability

Final hot take: 

"It’s important for me to share the disclaimer that trends are not going to save your business; however, they can help you better communicate your message. 

I've mostly been on the B2B side of things for my entire career. And so every time I look at what all the cool things that retail and e-commerce brands are doing, I'm reminded that B2B doesn't have to be boring.

While all of these trends may not not be totally a “hot” for your brand,it cool to at least be informed about what other brands are doing in the space and maybe one of them will work for you.

This is not an endorsement for any trend in particular. Choose your trends responsibility. Don't use it if it might not be for your brand. 

And finally make sure that whatever you do, you continue to be really good and make some really good looking emails."

_{Matt Helbig, Integrated Manager at Beefree & Really Good Emails}

‍You can watch the entire live event with Q&A here. 

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Newsletters are more than just digital letters; they're a bridge, connecting brands to their audience in the most personal way. In the vast sea of online content, creating a newsletter that stands out and resonates can be a challenge. 

Dive into this blog, and you'll discover 60 captivating newsletter ideas that readers absolutely adore. Whether you're a seasoned newsletter professional or just starting out, we've got the inspiration to help you craft content that not only informs but also engages and inspires your audience. Let's get started!

Why are newsletters important?

Newsletters are like the unsung heroes of email marketing. Not only do they keep your audience informed and engaged, but they also play a pivotal role in building and nurturing relationships. Think of them as a regular touchpoint, a friendly "hello" that reminds your subscribers of your brand's value. 

From sharing company updates to spotlighting new products, newsletters organize key information in a digestible format, ensuring your audience stays connected and in the loop. In essence, they're a bridge between your brand and its community, fostering trust and loyalty.

What to include in a newsletter

Crafting a newsletter? It's not just about filling space; it's about delivering value. The key is to provide content that resonates with your audience's interests and keeps them eagerly awaiting your next update. 

For instance, if you're focusing on business, perhaps share some behind-the-scenes insights or company milestones. Looking for something light-hearted? Fun trivia or seasonal highlights might be your go-to. From monthly recaps to themed specials and educational deep-dives, the possibilities are vast. 

Dive into this article, and you'll discover a treasure trove of newsletter ideas, whether you're in the mood for business insights, seasonal tidbits, or educational gems.

60 newsletter ideas to elevate your campaigns

So, you're on the hunt for newsletter content ideas that not only captivate but convert? You're in the right place! With a wide range of topics and themes at your fingertips, the challenge isn't about finding content—it's choosing which pieces of content to spotlight. 

Whether you're aiming to inform, entertain, or inspire, the right idea can transform your newsletter from a mere email into a must-read. Dive into these 60 ideas, spanning business insights to themed wonders, and watch as your campaigns soar to new heights. Ready to elevate your email game? Let's dive in!

Interactive newsletter ideas 

When it comes to newsletters, who said business can't mix with fun? Fun newsletters are the sprinkle of joy in your subscriber's inbox, offering a delightful break from the usual. They're not just about entertainment; they're about forging a deeper connection with your audience, showing the lighter side of your brand, and making your emails the ones they genuinely look forward to. Let's explore some ideas that'll infuse your campaigns with a dose of fun!

1. Trivia quizzes

There's something inherently engaging about quizzes. They challenge, entertain, and offer a moment of playful competition. Including trivia quizzes in your newsletter can boost engagement rates and encourage interaction. Plus, they're a fantastic way to highlight product features or company milestones in a fun manner.

We recommend initiating these emails with a direct and inquisitive questions about the topic. Not only does this challenges the recipient's knowledge but also establishes a personal connection, making them feel as if they're part of an exclusive inside joke only they know about.

2. Behind-the-scenes

Let your subscribers in on the backstage magic. Whether it's a sneak peek into your office culture, the making of a product, or a day in the life of your CEO, these glimpses humanize your brand and foster a sense of community.

3. Memes and GIFs galore

Who doesn't love a good meme or GIF? Incorporating these into your newsletters not only adds a touch of humor but also makes your content more relatable and shareable. It's a modern way to comment on current events or industry trends with a light-hearted twist.

4. Customer spotlights

Shine a light on your loyal customers. Share their stories, testimonials, or fun ways they use your product. It's a win-win: you get engaging content, and they get a moment in the spotlight.

5. Interactive polls

Engage your subscribers by seeking their opinions. Whether it's about a new product feature, industry trends, or just a fun "this or that" choice, polls can drive interaction and provide valuable insights.

Dipping into newsletters like the one below, you'll see a masterclass in sparking customer interaction. Interactive polls not only spark email engagement, but it give your audience a voice, making them feel important and valued by your brand. Additionally, these emails are a goldmine for gathering genuine feedback about your offerings. It's a win-win: your subscribers feel heard, and you gain priceless insights. Talk about a conversation starter!
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6. Themed playlists

Music connects people. Share themed playlists related to your industry, season, or just for fun. It's a way to set the mood and offer something extra to your subscribers.

7. DIY tips and hacks

Everyone loves a good hack. Share DIY tips related to your products or industry. It's not just informative but also showcases the versatility of what you offer.

8. Jokes and puns

A little humor goes a long way. Share industry-specific jokes or puns that resonate with your audience. It's a simple way to bring a smile to your subscribers' faces while building a bond and brand recognition! If you want to go beyond using funny email copy, consider offering a pun-y sale to go along with the joke. Now that's how you serve up a memorable newsletter!

9. Virtual scavenger hunts

Engage your subscribers with a virtual scavenger hunt. Hide clues in your website or social media channels and let them embark on a digital adventure. It's interactive and can be a unique way to highlight features or products.

10. Caption contests

Challenge your subscribers' creativity with a caption contest. Share an intriguing image and ask them to come up with a witty or humorous caption. It's interactive, fun, and can lead to some hilarious results. These types of newsletter ignite a two-way conversation between your brand and customers. By weaving in a playful caption contest, you're not only keeping subscribers engaged, turning passive readers into active participants. 

Business newsletter ideas

Navigating the business world requires a blend of strategy, insight, and communication. Business newsletters serve as a bridge, connecting your brand with clients, stakeholders, and employees. They're not just about sharing updates; they're about showcasing your brand's journey, achievements, and vision. 

Whether you're celebrating milestones, introducing new initiatives, or sharing industry insights, these newsletters position your brand as a thought leader. Let's explore some ideas that'll infuse your campaigns with professionalism and purpose.

11. Company milestones

Celebrating achievements, big or small, fosters a sense of pride and community. Sharing these moments in your newsletter not only keeps your audience informed but also builds trust and showcases growth.

12. Employee spotlights

Your team is the backbone of your business. Highlighting their stories, achievements, or unique skills humanizes your brand and showcases the talent behind the scenes.

This employee spotlight newsletter is a stellar example of how businesses can really humanize their brand. By highlighting new employees and their roles, they are setting the tone for collaboration and building a company culture of acknowledgment. It's not just about showcasing numbers and achievements; it's about celebrating the individual and showing that there's a genuine people behind the impressive work they will go on to do. This not only fosters a sense of community and camaraderie within the company but also strengthens trust and connection across teams.

13. Case studies

Showcase real-world applications of your products or services. Case studies provide tangible proof of your brand's impact and can drive conversions.

14. Upcoming events

Whether it's a webinar, product launch, or networking event, keep your audience in the loop. It drives engagement and offers opportunities for face-to-face interactions.

15. Industry trends

Stay ahead of the curve by sharing the latest industry trends and insights. It positions your brand as a knowledgeable player and provides value to your subscribers. The following template showcases the most recent Color of The Year as it relates to this fashion brand.

16. Product updates

Keep your subscribers informed about the latest features, improvements, or launches. It's a way to drive excitement and showcase continuous innovation.

17. Testimonials and reviews

Word of mouth is powerful. Share genuine testimonials or reviews to build trust and showcase the positive impact of your brand.

By spotlighting endorsements from customer who know the ins and outs of your offer, you can brilliantly broadcast the wide-reaching wonders of your product. Pair each testimonial with a candid snapshot to add an additional a personal touch, making the brand feel less like a distant entity and more like a trusted friend sharing success stories.

18. Business tips and advice

Share valuable advice or tips related to your industry. It positions your brand as a helpful resource and can drive engagement.

19. Expert interviews

Bring in industry experts for interviews or guest posts. It provides fresh perspectives and boosts your newsletter's credibility.

20. CSR initiatives

Showcase your brand's commitment to social responsibility. Sharing CSR initiatives resonates with ethically-minded subscribers and highlights your brand's values.

Monthly newsletter ideas 

Consistency is key in communication, and monthly newsletters are the embodiment of that principle. Serving as a regular touchpoint, they offer a curated snapshot of the past month's highlights, ensuring your audience stays informed and engaged. Whether you're recapping events, sharing insights, or previewing what's on the horizon, monthly newsletters are a reliable way to maintain a steady connection with your subscribers. Let's delve into some ideas that'll make your monthly updates eagerly anticipated.

21. Monthly recaps

Think of monthly recaps as your brand's highlight reel, capturing all the noteworthy moments, wins, and stories from the past 30 days. It's like giving your subscribers a VIP pass, ensuring they're always in the loop and never miss a beat. Picture this: a vibrant timeline dotted with key events, achievements, and news, making your subscribers feel like they've been right there with you every step of the way. 

22. Featured blog posts

Highlight the top-performing or most insightful blog posts from the past month. It drives traffic to your website and offers added value to your readers.

23. Customer of the month

Celebrate a loyal customer by sharing their story or experience with your brand. It fosters community and showcases real-world brand interactions.

24. Monthly poll results

If you run regular polls or surveys, share the results. It's a way to show subscribers that their opinions matter and provide insights into popular opinions or trends.

25. Upcoming promotions

Give your subscribers a heads-up about any special deals, discounts, or promotions coming up in the next month. It builds anticipation and can drive sales.

26. Spotlight on success stories

Dive into the transformative journeys of your customers or clients. Each month, highlight a success story that showcases the real-world impact of your product or service. Share challenges faced, solutions provided, and the outcomes achieved.

27. Monthly challenges

Engage your subscribers with a fun challenge or goal for the upcoming month. It can be related to your product, industry trends, or just for fun.

28. Voices from the community

Dive into the conversations happening around your brand. Each month, curate a mix of shout-outs, stories, and feedback from your community, whether it's on social media, forums, or direct messages. It's a way to show you're listening and value every voice.

29. Sneak peeks

Offer a glimpse into any upcoming product launches, events, or initiatives. It builds excitement and keeps your audience in the loop.

30. A personal note

Add a personal touch by including a note from the CEO or a team leader. It humanizes the brand and fosters a deeper connection with the audience.

Seasonal newsletter ideas 

As the seasons change, so do the interests and needs of your audience. Seasonal newsletters tap into the current mood, offering content that's timely, relevant, and resonates with the spirit of the season. Whether it's the festive cheer of the holidays, the rejuvenation of spring, or the warmth of summer, these newsletters capture the essence of the moment. Let's dive into some ideas that'll make your seasonal newsletters a breath of fresh air in any inbox.

31. Holiday gift guides

During the festive season, everyone's on the lookout for the perfect gift. Curate a list of top products or services that make for great presents, tailored to your audience's preferences.

32. Seasonal recipes

Share recipes that highlight the flavors of the season. Whether it's a summer smoothie or a winter stew, it's a tasty way to engage your subscribers.

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33. Seasonal DIY projects

Engage the crafty side of your subscribers with DIY projects that align with the current season. It's a fun and interactive way to celebrate the time of year.

34. Seasonal discounts and promotions

Offer special deals or promotions that celebrate the season. It's a timely incentive that can drive sales and engagement.

35. Event recaps

If your brand hosts or attends seasonal events, share a recap with highlights, photos, and key takeaways.

36. Seasonal trends

Highlight trends or popular items for the upcoming season. It keeps your subscribers in the know and positions your brand as a trendsetter.

37. Fundraising initiatives

During seasons of giving, showcase any charitable initiatives or partnerships your brand is involved in. It resonates with the spirit of the season and highlights your brand's values.

38. Seasonal challenges

Engage your subscribers with challenges that align with the season, whether it's a winter fitness challenge or a spring cleaning spree.

39. Decor and styling tips

Share tips on how to style clothes, homes, offices, or events in line with the season's theme. It's a creative way to immerse in the seasonal vibe.

40. A personal seasonal note

Add a personal touch with a note reflecting on the season, sharing personal stories, or looking forward to upcoming events.

Themed newsletter ideas 

Themes can be the creative spark that ignites interest in your newsletters. They offer a cohesive narrative, making your content more engaging and memorable. Whether it's celebrating a global event, tapping into pop culture, or exploring a specific topic in-depth, themed newsletters stand out in an inbox and offer a fresh perspective. Let's explore some ideas that'll give your newsletters that thematic flair.

41. Cultural celebrations

Celebrate global events or cultural festivals, showcasing diversity and inclusivity. It's a way to educate and engage subscribers about different traditions and customs.

42. Pop culture moments

Tap into trending pop culture moments, whether it's a hit TV show, a viral meme, or a blockbuster movie. It makes your content timely and relatable.

43. Historical throwbacks

Take a trip down memory lane by highlighting significant historical events or milestones related to your industry or brand.

44. Eco-friendly focus

Dedicate a newsletter to sustainability and eco-friendly practices. It's a way to showcase your brand's commitment to the environment and offer green tips.

45. Tech and innovations

Highlight the latest tech trends, innovations, or gadgets related to your industry. It positions your brand as forward-thinking and in-the-know.

46. Book or movie recommendations

Share curated lists of books or movies related to your industry, season, or any theme. It offers added value and positions your brand as a curator of good content.

47. Art and creativity

Celebrate the world of art, design, and creativity. Showcase artists, design trends, or creative projects that inspire.

48. Travel and exploration

Take your subscribers on a virtual journey, exploring destinations, cultures, or travel tips. It's a way to inspire wanderlust and share unique experiences.

49. Health and wellness

Focus on well-being, sharing health tips, recipes, or fitness challenges. It's a way to promote a balanced lifestyle and offer valuable advice.

50. Hobby and passion projects

Highlight hobbies or passion projects, encouraging subscribers to explore new interests or dive deeper into existing ones.

Educational newsletter ideas 

Knowledge is power, and educational newsletters are the torchbearers of that power. They serve as a platform to enlighten, inform, and provide value to your subscribers. Whether you're breaking down complex topics, sharing industry insights, or offering tutorials, these newsletters position your brand as a trusted educator. Let's explore some ideas that'll make your newsletters a treasure trove of knowledge.

51. Industry deep dives

Offer in-depth analysis or insights into specific industry topics, trends, or challenges. It establishes your brand as an authority and provides valuable content to your subscribers.

52. How-to guides and tutorials

Break down processes or tasks with step-by-step guides. It's a practical way to offer hands-on knowledge and assist subscribers in mastering new skills.

53. FAQ sessions

Address common questions or misconceptions related to your industry or product. It's a way to clarify doubts and offer direct value.

54. Webinar recaps

If you host webinars or online sessions, share key takeaways, highlights, or recordings. It extends the reach of your content and offers a recap for attendees.

55. Research and studies

Share the latest research, studies, or surveys related to your industry. It keeps your subscribers updated and offers data-driven insights.

56. Guest expert columns

Invite industry experts or thought leaders to contribute to your newsletter. It offers fresh perspectives and boosts the credibility of your content.

57. Book summaries or reviews

Offer summaries or reviews of influential books related to your industry. It's a way to promote continuous learning and offer reading recommendations.

58. Interactive quizzes

Test your subscribers' knowledge with interactive quizzes related to your industry or recent content. It's engaging and offers a fun learning experience.

59. Resource roundups

Curate a list of valuable resources, tools, or articles that can benefit your subscribers. It's a way to offer added value and save them research time.

60. Learning challenges

Encourage continuous learning by introducing monthly or weekly learning challenges. It can be related to a skill, topic, or habit.

Bring your newsletter ideas to life with Beefree

We've journeyed through a galaxy of ideas for a newsletter, from the fun-filled to the educational, and from the seasonal to the thematic. But, as we all know, even the most captivating content needs a stellar design to truly shine. That's where Beefree steps in. With Beefree’s intuitive email editor, you can effortlessly pair your top-notch content with equally impressive designs, ensuring your newsletters aren't just read, but remembered.

Whether you're crafting a monthly recap or diving deep into industry insights, Beefree ensures your vision translates perfectly into the inbox. With customizable templates, user-friendly tools, and a plethora of design options, you're equipped to create newsletters that resonate, engage, and inspire.

Ready to elevate your newsletter topic game? Dive into Beefree for a world of design possibilities. Get started with a free account and let's make your next newsletter one readers will love! 

This year, Pantone celebrates its 25th year of its unique and inspiring Color of the Year program. While many people find the Color of the Year to be simply an entertaining announcement, for marketers, this color can be a gateway toward better connecting with your customers and audiences.

Let's discuss how email marketing pros can stay ahead of the trends and effortlessly infuse the Color of the Year 2024 in your email campaigns.

What Is the Color of the Year 2024?

Each year, Pantone selects a "Color of The Year" that depicts and illustrates the state of the current culture and recent trends. This year's color is Peach Fuzz, Pantone 13-1023.

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‍According to Pantone's reasoning for selecting the color Peach Fuzz, they state that it serves as an expression of the kindness, tenderness, warmth and togetherness that our culture is seeking and driving for in 2024. As Pantone explains, “Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz captures our desire to nurture ourselves and others. It’s a velvety gentle peach tone whose all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body, and soul.” For many, this color embodies a vintage feel, creating a sense of honoring the past while welcoming the opportunities of the future.

How is the Color of the Year chosen?

For Pantone, choosing the Color of the Year is a long and comprehensive effort. Its team of color experts is continuously at work observing the global culture and the expressions of color across fashion, art and design, lifestyles, travel destinations, imagery on media platforms, and so on.

The Color of the Year is both an expression of our present culture at the dawn of a new year and a result of trend forecasting for colors, attitudes, and social movements that will be pervasive in the year ahead. It’s decided by the emerging popularity of the color itself as well as the emotions and concepts associated with the color.

Why does the Color of the Year matter in email marketing?

The Color of the Year can be an excellent asset to your email marketing (and your other 2024 marketing channels) in multiple ways. First, this color is representative of the present culture, which means it’s likely relatable to your present-day audience. It embodies a mindset that your consumers are likely to share - one of warmth, wellness, and interpersonal kindness - which fosters the connection between your brand and the consumers.

Second, the Color of the Year is in keeping with current color and fashion trends. By incorporating this color into your email marketing, your brand looks to be trendy and up-to-date. Even if consumers don’t know what the Color of the Year is, they notice that your emails have a modern, on-trend look.

Ways to use the Color of the Year 2024 in your email marketing

As we step into the vibrant realm of 2024, the Color of the Year takes center stage as a powerful tool for marketers seeking to infuse their strategies with contemporary flair.It serves as a language of its own, capable of communicating emotions, evoking reactions, and establishing a unique visual identity for brands. By incorporating the Color of the Year into marketing initiatives, businesses can align themselves consumer sensibilities, fostering a connection and positioning themselves as forward-thinking.

Use imagery with the Color of the Year 2024

Peach Fuzz doesn’t have to be the core color of your email design for you to benefit from it. When selecting images to include in your

email campaigns, consider looking for images that have Peach Fuzz or a similar color. For example, this royalty-free images from Unsplash each contain peachy hues that have the same mood and essence as the Color of the Year 2024. You’ll notice that the color isn't too prominent, but still stands out and plays well with the other colors in the image. This is a great depiction how you can incorporate Peach Fuzz to pair well with your brand identity.

Align your messaging with the Color of the Year 2024

As we’ve noted, the Color of the Year isn’t just a color; it’s a concept and an embodiment of our culture. You can use this to inform the messaging in your email marketing. In the case of Peach Fuzz, infuse your messaging with a sense of kindness, compassion, and warmth to speak to our current culture and appeal to your audience’s mindset in the present time.

Add the Color of The Year to your seasonal and trendy campaigns

By infusing the Color of the Year into seasonal and trendy campaigns, you not only stay relevant and timely but also capitalize on the cultural and emotional resonances associated with the chosen color, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for your audience. Here are some ideas:

Align the color with changing seasons

Embrace the changing seasons and incorporate the Color of the Year into your email campaigns that align with specific times of the year.

Capitalize on fashion and design trends

Stay attuned to fashion and design trends that feature the Color of the Year. Incorporate the color into email campaigns that showcase how your products or services align with current style preferences. Additionally, highlight new arrivals or product collections that prominently feature the trending color, catering to the fashion-forward interests of your audience, such as the template below:

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Create a sense of urgency and exclusivity

Create a sense of urgency and exclusivity by tying the Color of the Year to limited-time promotions or exclusive offers. Use the color to highlight special discounts, early access to products, or exclusive content, encouraging your audience to engage promptly with your email campaigns.

Develop themed content and storytelling

Develop themed content around the Color of the Year, telling a story that resonates with your brand and the significance of the color. The email template below serves as a perfect starting point to share share narratives, testimonials, or behind-the-scenes content that emphasizes the emotional and cultural aspects associated with the color of the year.

Does the 2024 Color of the Year suit your brand?

Evaluating whether the 2024 Color of the Year suits your brand involves a nuanced exploration of the color's characteristics and your brand identity. Begin by examining the psychological and emotional associations of the chosen color. Peach Fuzz has a warm, welcoming, and peaceful air that can align well with many brands’ voices and messaging. Consider the values, personality, and messaging of your brand; does the color align with these elements, or does it pose a potential contrast that could enhance visual appeal and captivate your audience?

If the color resonates with your target demographic and aligns with your brand's narrative, it may offer an opportunity to play around your visual identity. However, remember that a balance between staying on-trend and maintaining a unique brand identity is crucial.

Strengthening your 2024 email marketing with the Color of the Year

Embracing the Color of the Year in your email campaigns is more than just a visual choice; it's an opportunity to remain competitive and provide users with something new. By strategically incorporating the Color of the Year, you can create visually appealing and emotionally resonant emails that stand out in crowded inboxes.

The easiest way to experiment with the color of the year in email campaigns is to start with a pre-designed template. Beefree’s "Color of The Year" template collection is a perfect place to start. Our user-friendly email editor makes it easy to customize all templates with your brand identity and effortlessly make a few simple changes to bring Peach Fuzz into your design.

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Today, digital interactions dominate, and gamification has emerged as a powerful tool to capture and maintain audience attention. More than 70% of businesses included in the Global 2000 have adopted gamification as a key strategy.

In this article, we'll explore the significance of gamification in email marketing, understand its core concepts, delve into the psychology behind it, and provide insights on implementing and overcoming challenges in your gamified campaigns.

The psychology behind gamification in email

At its core, gamification in email marketing revolves around incorporating game-like elements to enhance user engagement.

This strategy involves understanding human behavior and motivation and leverages the psychological aspects that make games inherently appealing, such as competition, achievement, and rewards. Together, these insights help email marketers determine the best use of gamification to help drive engagement and shape consumer responses.

Here are the 3 key psychological drivers in gamification:

Intrinsic motivation

Gamification triggers users' desire to participate by incorporating challenges, rewards, and competitions. As a result, this creates a sense of achievement in users brought on by the idea of "winning" and reinforces positive engagement.

Operant conditioning

By strategically designing gamified elements that reward specific actions, marketers create a positive association between user engagement and valuable incentives. This conditioning strengthens the likelihood of users repeating desired behaviors, establishing a cycle of ongoing engagement.

Cognitive biases

‍Leveraging cognitive biases like scarcity bias allows marketers to prompt quicker responses by offering exclusive rewards or limited-time promotions.

In short, by appealing to individuals' inherent need for achievement and recognition, gamification becomes a powerful tool for capturing and maintaining their attention.

How to use gamification in email marketing

The concept of rewards and incentives helps amplifies the gamification strategy. Offering tangible benefits like exclusive discounts or access entices users to not only engage with emails but also to seek out additional interactions. Let's delve deeper into how you can use gamification to create a competitive edge and engage users in your next email campaign:

• Points, Badges, and Leaderboards: Creating a competitive edge by rewarding users with points, badges, or leaderboard positions based on their interactions with your emails. This not only helps promote a feeling of accomplishment in users, but also helps foster a sense of community and competitiveness that leads them to climb leaderboards and stand out.
  
  
• Rewards and Incentives: Offering tangible benefits such as discounts, exclusive access, or special promotions to incentivize user participation. This exclusivity makes users feel valued and special, fostering a stronger connection with your brand.
  
  
• Interactive Elements: Enhancing user experience by introducing interactive features like quizzes, polls, or challenges within email content. These elements not only enhances engagement but also provides valuable insights into customer preferences, helping you tailor future content and offerings.

By tapping into users' motivations, whether it be competition, a desire for recognition, or the pursuit of exclusive benefits, you can create dynamic emails that help build a loyal and active audience for your brand.

Benefits of gamification in email marketing

Gamification transforms the user experience from a passive act of scrolling through emails into an interactive and dynamic journey where each click or purchase brings them closer to a tangible reward.

Increased customer engagement:

By turning the email experience into a game-like, subscribers are encouraged to engage with the content, spending more time exploring and interacting with the messages. This heightened engagement not only improves the chances of users absorbing the information presented but also creates a memorable and enjoyable experience, setting the brand apart in the minds of the recipients.

Enhanced brand loyalty:

One of the significant benefits of gamification is its ability to create deeper connections between a brand and its audience. When users consistently engage with gamified email content, they become active participants in a brand experience, leading to stronger brand-customer relationships and increased loyalty.

Higher conversion rates:

Gamification can be a powerful motivator for users to take desired actions. Whether purchasing, sharing content, or subscribing to newsletters, the gamified elements provide incentives and rewards for these actions. This motivational aspect drives increased participation, as users are more inclined to interact with emails, complete tasks, and actively engage with the brand, contributing to a more dynamic and participatory audience.

Improved data collection and analytics:

Gamification allows valuable user data collection through interactions and participation. Users willingly provide information while engaging with challenges, quizzes, or other gamified elements. This enriches your customer database and provides insights into user preferences and behavior. Improved analytics enable marketers to tailor future campaigns based on a better understanding of their audience.

5 Best practices for using gamification in email marketing

Embarking on a successful gamified email marketing campaign requires meticulous planning and strategic considerations. The following strategies and tactics can transform your email campaigns into immersive and rewarding journeys, making a lasting impression on your audience and optimizing your marketing efforts.

1. Define campaign objectives: Clearly outline the goals of your gamified campaign to align with your overall marketing strategy. Use data-driven insights to identify the objectives and strategy for your emails. This means regularly tracking key metrics such as open rates and click-through rates. Once your campaigns launch, assess the effectiveness of your gamification elements to refine future campaigns.
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2. Identify target audience: Personalization is key to creating a more engaging experience. Understand your audience's preferences and tailor gamification elements to their interests. By leveraging data and what you know about your unique audiences, you can create better segmented gamified content that tailors to individual preferences. This includes personalizing challenges, rewards, and interactions, making the entire experience more relevant and appealing to different audiences.
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3. Choose appropriate gamification elements: Select elements that resonate with your brand and align with customer preferences. Ensure rewards align with audience interests. Go beyond generic incentives by offering enticing and meaningful rewards such as exclusive discounts, early access, or special promotions. It is crucial to adhere to data protection laws, like GDPR and CCPA, in your gamification practices. Communicate clearly how user data will be used and ensure compliance to build trust with your audience.
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4. Integrate gamification into email design: Ensure a smooth transition to gamified content for an intuitive and enjoyable experience. This means visually appealing emails with a user-friendly interface that offers a seamless transition from the email to the gamified elements.
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5. Develop clear calls-to-action (CTAs): Encourage user participation by crafting compelling CTAs that drive desired actions. Clearly communicate what action you want the user to take and highlight the benefits of doing so. Whether it's clicking a link, participating in a challenge, or making a purchase, the CTA should be persuasive and aligned with the gamification goals.

Overcoming challenges in gamified email marketing

When using gamification in email, it is important to find the right balance between gamification elements and the core message of the email. It's essential to integrate gamified features seamlessly without overwhelming or distracting recipients from the primary content. This lack of harmony brings forth two main challenges:

User fatigue

With the increasing use of gamification in various digital platforms, users risk experiencing fatigue or disinterest in engaging with gamified content. If not managed carefully, this fatigue can decrease overall participation and effectiveness.

Mitigation Strategy: To counter this, marketers should introduce variety and novelty in gamified content, keeping users engaged with fresh challenges and incentives. A/B testing is a great way to experiment with different gamification elements to identify what resonates best with your specific audience.

Lack of brand recognition

Maintaining consistency and alignment with your brand image while implementing gamification can be challenging. If gamified elements feel disconnected or misaligned with your brand identity, it may create confusion or a lack of authenticity among your audience.

Mitigation Strategy: Regularly analyze performance metrics and gather user insight to continuously improve your gamification strategy. Actively seeking insights from your audience about their preferences and perceptions allows you to adapt and iterate on your gamified content.

Unleashing the power of email gamification with Beefree

In an era where consumer attention is a prized commodity, the integration of gamification has emerged as a dynamic strategy to captivate and engage audiences within the realm of email marketing. It's important to remember that the essence of success in this area is rooted in persistent experimentation and creative thinking. Embrace the opportunity to try fresh gamification techniques in your email campaigns to maintain a competitive edge.

No-code solutions like Beefree simplify this process by providing an intuitive and user-friendly solution that empower marketers to seamlessly incorporate interactive and gamified elements into their email designs.

So, create a free account and start infusing some fun and interactivity into your email marketing efforts. Here's to the exciting gamification journey – may it bring you great results and enjoyment!

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We have a unique holiday on the horizon that doesn’t come around often: Leap Day. This special occasion only comes up every four years, and it’s simply a fun and quirky holiday that your customers enjoy celebrating. Getting in on the fun with them is an excellent way to connect with your customers through a shared experience.
But how? Explore these creative ideas for Leap Day email marketing campaigns.

Why Leap Day is a special occasion for Email Marketers

The origins of Leap Day are purely practical. We align our yearly calendar with the sun’s orbit around the sun, but it actually takes 365.25 days for that orbit, not 365 days. Adding a day every four years puts us back on track. Leap Day started showing up on calendars as early as 45 BC with the calendar Julius Caesar introduced.

The beauty of Leap Day is that it’s a holiday everyone can agree on. It’s not related to or excluding any religions or cultures, it doesn’t have painful or negative historical origins - it’s just lighthearted and fun. Sharing this experience with your customers through festive email marketing can help you grow your emotional connection with customers. These customers spend twice as much on brands they’re emotionally connected to, so Leap Day can be a lucrative opportunity.

Creative Leap Day campaign concepts for B2B marketers

Targeting businesses with your Leap Day email marketing campaigns? Try these ideas for campaigns that can build your relationship with customers and appeal to their bottom line.

Run the Numbers

Use enticing statistics in your emails about how businesses will benefit if they sign on with your services, using Leap Day as a vehicle. For example, perhaps you have data that your customers save an average of $100,000 per year when they use your services. Use messaging such as: “By the next Leap Day, you could have saved $400,000 if you sign up today.”

On the flip side, you could also use this as an opportunity to express gratitude for their support over the past four years. Highlight how much your revenue has grown since the last Leap Day and thank them for being part of this growth.

Help Them Appeal to Their Customers

Your customers are businesses and they want to take advantage of Leap Day as a revenue opportunity too. Depending on the product or service you offer, launch a campaign that tells them how you can help them reach their own customers for Leap Day. For example, if your business is a print shop, encourage them to print flyers or signage for a special Leap Day sale.

Feature Testimonials

Trust is paramount in B2B sales, with 92% of B2B buyers saying they’re more likely to buy from a brand after reading a trusted review. For Leap Day, grow your customers’ trust by highlighting the most compelling reviews and testimonials you’ve received in the past four years.

Engaging B2C Leap Day campaigns that stand out

While there are plenty of ways to appeal to B2B customers on Leap Day, it’s a rich opportunity for B2C sales too. Engage your audience with these fun Leap Day email campaign ideas.

Appeal to Tradition

There aren’t a lot of traditions that are specific to Leap Day, but there is one that’s well-known: women proposing to their boyfriends. This unique flip on the convention of men proposing to women can be a vehicle to have some fun with your audience. You could center your campaign on the concept of women taking charge or on the ideas of proposals and commitments.

Offer a Themed Sale

Leap Day gives your consumer an extra day in their year, so help them take advantage of it by offering a one-day-only sale. You could offer them a free gift with their purchases or a free trial for their “free” day. Or, you could offer promotions based on the number 4 or the number 29.

Play with Words and Images

It might seem simple, but simply having fun with the holiday in your messaging and imagery can be endearing to customers. Make a play on the word “leap,” like leaping puns or images and gifs of dancers leaping through the air. Frogs are associated with Leap Day too because they leap and jump, so have fun with cute frog imagery too. As simple as this might be, it shows you have a sense of humor, and 49% of consumers say funny content is the most memorable and interesting content.

Innovative Strategies for Leap Day

Technology has come a long way since the last Leap Day or two, so use it to your advantage! Check out these advanced strategies for your Leap Day email marketing.

Go interactive

Interactive content garners 52.6% more engagement than non-interactive content like text and images. There are plenty of ways you can harness the power of interactivity in your Leap Day emails.

For example, you could include a poll asking how people are spending their Leap Day (try offering an incentive for them to engage too, like a discount for those who complete the poll). If recipients are familiar with your staff, you could even take a poll of who they think can leap the farthest and then reveal the winner at the end of the day.

Use personalized nostalgia

Leap Day is a great opportunity to appeal to customers’ nostalgia because it’s been four years since the last Leap Day…and a lot can happen in four years! Try including snapshots of some of the products the customer was buying four years ago as a fun way to connect. You could also do a non-personalized version of this by highlighting the products that were your best sellers four years ago.

Offer a discount for a quiz

Invite consumers to win a discount on Leap Day by scoring points on a themed quiz. Make sure it’s information they can’t just Google, like how many new customers your company has brought on in the last four years, how many 5-star reviews you’ve gotten in these four years, or what your top-selling product was four years ago.

Designing captivating Leap Day emails

The ideas above can get you started with your Leap Day campaigns, but how do you pull them off in the most impactful way? Check out these design tips.

Start with a professionally designed template

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for your next email campaign. Beefree’s template library is packed with over 1,600 templates that span a wide range of styles and structures. Each one is designed by a professional and is easy to customize with your messaging and branding. You can expect a more efficient email design with a professional look every time.

Connect your marketing channels

Email marketing is a strong marketing tool in its own right but you can take it a step further by integrating it with your other marketing channels. For example, include links to your social media profiles or call-outs of your Leap Day social media posts. Or, embed a video you’ve posted on your YouTube channel. Any of these will invite customers to engage further with your brand.

Make sure it’s not a Leap for customers to convert

Whatever your Leap Day campaign’s goal is (making a purchase, filling out a contact form, signing up for a trial, etc.), make it as easy for consumers as possible. Have a clear and simple call-to-action button that leads to a matching landing page on your site where they can make that conversion quickly and easily. Pro tip: Beefree has matching templates for emails and landing pages so you can do this quickly.

Measuring your Leap Day campaign’s impact

How do you know if your marketing campaign hit the mark? It all comes down to metrics. To gauge how successful your Leap Day campaign is, look for these metrics:

• Open rate - shows whether your subject line was enticing people to open the email
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• Clickthrough rate (CTR) - shows how many of your recipients were compelled to engage with your content
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• Conversion rate - shows how many recipients made a purchase, requested a consultation call, or whatever your conversion is
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• Sharing/forwarding rate - shows how many recipients sent the email along to someone else
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• Return on investment (ROI) - compares the revenue you brought in from campaign recipients vs how much you spent

Kicking Off Your Leap Day Email Marketing Campaign

Ready to turn this Leap Day into a revenue-making opportunity? Now that you have all the ideas you need, get the tools you need from Beefree. Sign up for free to experience this advanced email design tool.

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When it comes to making your customers feel special, nothing says "We're glad you're here" like a personalized birthday email. Not only that, but they are great sources for driving up engagement and strengthening brand loyalty.After all, who doesn't love a freebie or a discount to spoil themselves with?Whether you're currently sending birthday emails or want to start, below you'll find some of our best strategies for crafting and optimizing birthday messages that delight your recipients.

What is a Birthday Email?

Birthday emails are powerful automated email campaigns brands use to provide a more personalized customer experience. While on the surface, they might seem like a simple gesture to brighten your customer's day. These emails are strategically crafted and inserted into every big e-commerce brand’s email marketing efforts.

What is the Purpose of a Birthday Email?

Birthday emails have multi-purposes. While they are created to help celebrate a subscriber's special day, they also drive up email engagement and brand loyalty. Here’s how:

• Deepen Subscriber Connection: A personalized birthday wish can strengthen the bond between a brand and its subscribers. A simple message can make your subscribers feel important, keeping you at the top of their minds the next time they purchase. 
• Drive Sales: Exclusive birthday discounts or offers can incentivize subscribers to purchase. 
• Boost Engagement: Birthday emails often see higher open and click-through rates than regular promotional emails.

Do Birthday Emails Work?

Absolutely! When it comes to engagement metrics, birthday emails are the party animals of the email marketing world. In fact, according to Experian, birthday emails generate “179% more clicks, 481% more transactions, and 342% more revenue per email.”Our educated hypothesis is that everyone loves a little extra attention on their birthday, and when brands deliver that in the form of tailored offers and heartfelt messages, subscribers are more likely to engage (and buy)!

10 Happy Birthday Email Examples (and  their strategies)

Birthday emails are a unique blend of celebration and strategy; finding the right balance is important. We've scoured the email universe and handpicked 12 of the best birthday emails. Each example showcases a different approach, from heartwarming messages to irresistible offers.As we unwrap each one, you'll discover what makes them stand out and drive results. By the end of this list, you'll be brimming with ideas and ready to craft birthday emails that resonate and convert.

Make your offer stand out 

This birthday email example from Chipotle showcases a brilliant marketing strategy. The "Gift of Guac" is not only quirky and engaging but also entices the receiver with a tempting offer on one of Chipotle's delicacies. Not only that, but the offer is applicable anytime during their birthday month, which promotes return visits.In addition, the call-to-action button attracts the reader's eye and offers clear instructions for the next steps.

Keep it Simple and Stay on Brand 

When it comes to birthday emails, Outdoor Voices nails it by embracing the beauty of simplicity.A common mistake with birthday emails is that it is really easy to go overboard. Outdoor Voices does a great job of embracing the “less is more” approach to design and copywriting, which aligns with their overall brand identity.Another differentiating factor, when compared to Chipotle’s approach above, is that the offer is not the star of the email. Instead, the customer is. This strategy is great for strengthening connections with readers as they often feel less “sales-y. ”Regardless, they do a great job of ensuring the offer is still noticed by adding an on-brand CTA that stands out.

Nike's birthday email also beautifully embodies its athletic and dynamic brand essence. Featuring an athlete surrounded by playful hand-drawn elements, the email captures attention and reinforces Nike's iconic image. The straightforward offer of a 10% discount on a $100 purchase, combined with the exclusive feel of 'Member Access,' effectively incentivizes the recipient to shop.

Use a Humorous Approach

The following birthday email from Markiplier incorporates humor to create a memorable and light-hearted message. The message feels personable as it makes a joke about aging that a friend would make, yet emphasizes genuine appreciation.The offer for a discount on Markiplier store items adds an incentive to the comedic touch. If there's a lesson here, it's this: a good laugh can reel 'em in, but pairing it with a genuine offer? That's the cherry on top!

Exclusivity For The Win

If you're an avid Sephora shopper, you'll know their birthday mini sets are (unfortunately) not curated for the individual; however, this email makes you feel like it is.While using your reader's name is a great example of personalization, in this case, it isn't the star of the show.Sephora's unique layout, design, and use of high-quality images exude the feeling of "these were hand-picked just for you." The use of supersized imageslaid out was intentional to make these "minis" feel larger (and, in turn, more exclusive) than they are, which likely makes "Mary" feel special.They also subtly hint with a subtitle that "Mary" is receiving this exclusive offer because they are part of their "beauty insider" program, further promoting the feeling of exclusivity and encouraging customer loyalty.

Time Is Of The Essence? or Not? 

The following two emails offer a different approach to birthday offer expiration dates.PixelBoosts offers a 30% discount to be redeemed within three days. Crafted for those looking to renew their subscriptions, this birthday email does a good job of blending the personal touch of a birthday email with a gentle nudge toward "stick around with us!"

On the other hand, the email below extends the festivities and gives the reader the entirety of their month to redeem their discount. The phrase "pick your own present" offers a sense of autonomy and personalization.

There are pros and cons for both strategies.While offering limited-time offers such as PixelBoost can be a great way to encourage urgency and conversion, finding the right time to send this email is important. According to Campaign Monitor, 55% of birthday emails are sent on the recipient's birth date. For limited offers such as 3 days, the challenge comes with not knowing whether the recipient will open the email in time as they might be taking some much-needed R&R.For birthday emails with a much longer deadline, while they offer recipients ample time to open and purchase, you risk them forgetting about your offer. In this case, reminder emails will be essential, turning birthday emails into birthday campaigns.As always, we recommend testing and monitoring what works best for you and your organization.

Personalized Product Recommendations

According to Epsilon, "80% of consumers say they're more willing to purchase when provided with a personalized experience." While, a birthday email alone is a strong example of this, Rachel Jackson's birthday email takes it one (or ten) steps further. 

While we usually see product recommendations being personalized with the power of dynamic content and consumer behavior, Rachael Jackson takes a unique, maybe simpler, but still impactful approach using the recipient's birthstones. 

The use of high-quality images and meaningful descriptions engages the recipient to learn more about their birthstone, which only further helps promote the feeling that "this was made for me." 

Use Interactive Elements 

When done right, videos, gifs, and polls are great ways to catch your readers' attention and guide them toward the desired action.While the email below is simple, the animated birthday cake and candle GIF catches the reader's eye and embodies the essence of celebration, warmth, and festivity. Again, while simple, the GIF enhancesthe user experience, making the offer more enticing and the email more interactive.

Loyalty Points Boost

Simons' birthday email effectively leverages a loyalty program by offering double points on the largest purchase made during the birthday month. The CTA "treat yourself" is strategically used to encourage a larger-than-usual purchase, possibly enticing the reader to buy something they might have been eyeing for a while. The double points incentivize the consumer as they are more willing to buy, knowing they will receive something in return.

Simon isn't just sending out birthday wishes but making it a win-win for everyone.

Best Practices for Engaging Birthday Email Campaigns

The best birthday emails are more than just a celebratory message; they're an opportunity to deepen your connection with your subscribers. To make sure that your birthday wishes stand out in a crowded inbox, it's important to follow some tried-and-true best practices.From creating an automatic birthday campaign to the art of the perfect call-to-action, here are our top secrets to crafting unforgettable birthday emails.

Automation is Your Birthday Campaign BFF

No one is to be left behind. Setting up an automated birthday campaign ensures subscribers feel acknowledged on their special day. It's not just about convenience; it's about consistency.Automation permits timely and personalized gestures that say, "We remember, and we care."

Send More Than One Birthday Email 

One email is great, but why stop there? Celebrating a subscriber's birthday isn't just about the day itself; it's about the anticipation and the afterglow.Start with a warm pre-birthday greeting, followed by the main birthday wish, and perhaps a gentle reminder or a thank-you note a day or two later. It's a prolonged celebration that keeps the connection alive and makes your brand memorable.

Ensure a Smooth Redemption Process 

If you're gifting your subscribers a birthday treat (and we highly recommend you do!), make the redemption process a breeze. The last thing you want is for them to jump through hoops on their special day. Whether it's a discount code, a freebie, or exclusive access, ensure they can claim it effortlessly.Part of this is ensuring a clear and compelling CTA. Whether you're nudging them to shop a birthday sale, read a special message, or claim a gift, your CTA should stand out.

Design Unforgettable Birthday Emails with Beefree

Whether it's a heartfelt message, a special discount, or an exclusive offer, it is proven that birthday emails strengthen brand-consumer relationships. And with only 31% of retail email marketers sending birthday greetings, there's a huge opportunity for you to stand out.As shown above, playing with color, layouts, images, and interactive elements is the name of the game. And while it might seem challenging and time-consuming at first, it doesn't have to be.With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface and a catalog of over 1,600 templates, Beefree makes designing birthday emails a piece of cake ;).Not sure where to start? Try this free birthday email template.

When it comes to digital marketing, the tried-and-true email newsletter has proven to be a reliable communications tool for businesses of all sizes. Today, 41.5% of companies use email as a critical component within their marketing plans, and 81% of B2B marketers send email newsletters as part of their content strategy. Email is a proven marketing standard, and a newsletter is an easy way to communicate with customers, prospects, partners, or subscribers.

Despite the growing preference among consumers for receiving information via SMS and social media, email still reigns supreme, with 55% of consumers choosing to stay up-to-date with their favorite businesses via this channel. Email newsletters are one way to deliver engaging content through attractive designs while sharing valuable information with customers.

In this guide to engaging email newsletter design, we offer ten expert tips for designing engaging, creative, and thoughtful email newsletters to optimize engagement and elevate your brand.

How to Craft an Engaging Email Newsletter Design

Constructing an engaging email newsletter design requires a thoughtful blend of creativity, strategic know-how, and a basic understanding of best practices. Let's explore the world of email newsletter design and the elements that can make your campaigns stand out in a crowded inbox.

1. Newsletter layout and format: The Foundation

An email newsletter's layout and format serve as the foundational elements of your digital design. A clutter-free, well-structured format for newsletters helps improve readability and engagement with the content. The most crucial information in the newsletter should be at the top, with the lower body text neatly divided into sections using bullet points, headers, and sub-headers. We recommend a good amount of whitespace to improve readability and lend your newsletter a modern, minimalist feel. 

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

The template newsletter uses a structured, clean format to highlight its content effectively, while eye-catching headings, colorful buttons, and well-spaced sections ensure a seamless reader experience. 

2. Go Mobile or Go Home

Smartphones are everywhere and almost certainly in the hands of your email subscribers. Nearly half of all emails are opened each day on a mobile device, so ensuring compatibility is a must. Be sure your email newsletter is optimized for mobile with designed content, fonts, and CTA buttons that work effectively on a smaller screen for the best user experience.

To improve the reading experience on a mobile device, consider these design tips:

• Use a single-column layout to avoid the awkward side-scroll
• Keep the copy simple because no one likes to read a book on their tiny mobile screen
• Use standard fonts that are easily read on a hand-held device
• Keep colors limited and on-brand to avoid unnecessary eye strain

3. Typography Appeals to Readers

Fonts are essential in enhancing your email newsletter's visual appeal and readability. It’s best to stick to two or three fonts maximum – one for headlines, one for subheadings, and another for the body text. This approach ensures legibility and creates a sense of visual harmony.

When choosing fonts that readers will view online, experts recommend using a sans serif font like Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana. These fonts are the easiest to read and are most compatible with digital programs.

When designing an email newsletter for a desktop, it’s best to keep header text in the 22-24pt range and body copy between 14-16pt. Design your email using a responsive program, so the font size will adjust for a comfortable reading experience on mobile as well. We’d also recommend limiting the amount of text in your newsletter as much as possible so as not to overwhelm the reader. When you have a longer article to share, consider linking a teaser on your newsletter to the full article on your website.

Read more: How to Choose the Best Font for Email

4. What Your Colors Convey

Color psychology is a unique way to understand how colors can impact how someone feels. Did you know that your brand colors may have a certain emotional appeal to people? For example, research shows that black symbolizes power and status, green conveys wealth and relaxation, and yellow can make you feel optimistic or youthful.

It's essential to choose a color scheme for your email newsletter that resonates with your target audience psychologically. It’s also important to understand how your color choices could impact accessibility for those with vision impairments. However, you want the color scheme you choose for your emails to be consistent with your brand identity. This is important to ensure brand recognition and consistency.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

The email template above is for a gaming audience. Notice how the use of color evokes a playful feeling and, alongside the layout, helps guide and engage the reader throughout. You can also see how the use of typography catches the reader’s interest.

Read more: 10 Creative Ways to Use Color in Email

5. Visual Perception is Everything

"A picture is worth a thousand words," even in email newsletters. Including relevant, high-quality images can enhance engagement levels and draw readers in. Make sure the images you choose thoughtfully reflect your brand identity and the message you are sharing. It’s also important that your email design is accessible and inclusive, staying consistent with your branding and themes. For example, the higher education template below uses images and icons to provide further context for the message and provides useful information about what the email is about with just a glance.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

6. Capture Your Brand Through Tone and Copy

Beyond the look and feel of your newsletter, engaging copywriting is at the heart of your newsletter. Marketers should always strive for content that is not only valuable to the reader but interesting and personable. Use a tone that echoes your brand’s personality and write as though you’re speaking directly to the reader, making your content more relatable and human.

Read more: The Non-Marketer’s Guide to Writing Emails Like a Copywriter

7. Call Readers to Action 

Well-crafted call-to-action (CTA) buttons guide your readers toward taking a specific action and engaging them deeper. Be sure your CTAs stand out, are compelling, straightforward, and meet accessibility standards. This includes making clickable areas large enough to be easily tapped and providing labels for links that screen readers can read. The email template below is an excellent example of how a prominent, clear CTA button can capture attention and invite action.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

8. Consistency is Key

Consistency is the key to growing ongoing readership, from colors and fonts to imagery and sending schedules. The best times and days of the week to send your email are determined by when your audience is most active. Try testing a variety of times and days to see if one is better than another. Being consistent helps your readers to recognize your newsletters, fostering trust and brand loyalty.

9. A Newsletter Can Be Personal

It might surprise you that we suggest personalizing email newsletters, but the results speak volumes about why. Personalization can substantially improve engagement rates, with open rates improved by as much as 50%. Leverage your subscriber data to tailor content, subject lines, or images to individual readers, making your newsletters more relevant and engaging.

BONUS: Use Email Newsletter Design Templates to Get Started

If you're overwhelmed by the idea of starting an email design from scratch, Beefree's email newsletter design templates are a quick and efficient solution. These templates provide a great starting point for designing engaging newsletters with proven structures and designs you can customize to suit your brand, or they can be used for newsletter design inspiration or newsletter format ideas.

An engaging email newsletter design blends style, content, and user experience. With Beefree, you can customize email newsletter designs to your heart's content, mixing your creativity with the best practices discussed in this article.

Why wait? Start designing today with Beefree, and let your newsletters do the talking.

First impressions are powerful, and that’s just as true when you’re marketing your brand as it is when you’re getting dressed for a job interview or getting ready for a first date. When you send a welcome email to new subscribers, that email is a first impression and a first step in creating a strong customer relationship, so it’s imperative that you get things off on the right foot. A welcome email campaign can start to build credibility and loyalty, showing benefits long past that initial message.Want to create lasting customer relationships? A strong welcome email should put your branding front and center, let subscribers know they’re valued, and give readers an idea of what they’ll receive as subscribers. To guide your welcome email design, here are a few welcome email examples and tips from our email marketing pros.

What is a welcome email?

A welcome email is simply the email you send to people when they first subscribe to your email list. These emails are usually brief and straightforward but they serve several purposes:

• Confirming for subscribers that their sign-up was successful
• Giving a warm welcome to new subscribers
• Building on subscribers’ excitement about your business by telling them what they can look forward to from your emails so that they stay engaged with your brand

In these ways, your welcome email will set the tone for your future relationship with this new subscriber, so make it count!

15 Examples of great welcome emails 

Where do you start when crafting an effective welcome email that sends the right message and nurtures lasting customer loyalty? While every welcome email will be unique because it should be true to your brand, there are plenty of ideas and techniques you can use. We’ve curated 15 stellar examples of welcome emails to inspire your design process.

1. Sprouts

Type of welcome email: Brand introduction

One approach you can take to your welcome email is to use it to introduce the subscriber to your business. Give them an overview of who you are, why you’re a fantastic partner for them to have, and why they’ll love being a subscriber and customer. Check out how the grocery chain Sprouts tells new subscribers what makes them special in their welcome email.Subject line: Hey Hailey, welcome to Sprouts!This welcome email from Sprouts makes it as easy as possible for you to go shopping. The message gives you a peek inside the store complete with photos and an explanation of symbols used on their signage. For customers who have never shopped at Sprouts before, this welcome email example makes it simple to get started.Why it works:

• Introduces the brand’s shopping experience and what it has to offer
• Invites readers to engage further with text alerts
• Tells subscribers what to expect from future emails
• Makes the branding prominent by featuring the brand colors

2. Le Prunier

Type of welcome email: Discount code

A discount code is a great component to add to your welcome email design. They give subscribers an incentive to shop while also making them feel appreciated as subscribers. Welcome emails with offers can boost revenue by 30% per email compared to welcome emails without offers. Try sending a simple 10% off discount code, like Le Prunier does here.

Subject line: Welcome to Le Prunier!Le Prunier uses the 10% discount to thank the reader for subscribing and to prompt them to shop the site, but its welcome email goes beyond this too. It puts its welcome message front and center so subscribers feel like they’ve been warmly embraced and it gives a brief elevator pitch too, introducing subscribers to the brand’s core product.Why it works:

• Features a simple design that’s easy to understand and doesn’t overload the reader with information
• Gives the subscriber the high points of the core product and its benefits
• Offers enough of a discount to encourage subscribers to shop

3. KIND Snacks

Type of welcome email: Product features

We’ve already talked about using welcome emails to introduce a subscriber to your business, but you can also take a more detailed approach by offering an overview of your core products. This serves the purpose of not only introducing the subscriber to what you have to offer but also attracting their attention and enticing them to click through and shop. KIND Snacks does this by showing off some of its most mouthwatering snack bars.Subject line: Welcome to the KIND familyThis welcome email example provides a nice overview of KIND’s products. In a simple single-column layout, KIND lists four of its most popular products, providing a photo, simple description and CTA button for each. At the end of the email, readers also have the option to “Shop All Snacks” via a separate CTA button that leads to the entire store.Why it works:

• Uses clever puns and relatable messaging to build familiarity with subscribers
• Features high-quality images that are appetizing and appealing
• Offers a discount to give subscribers more of a reason to click on their appetizing featured products

4. Yard House

Type of welcome email: Free gift

Customers can unsubscribe from your mailing list just as quickly as they subscribed, so it’s important to keep them engaged from the start. One way to do this is to reassure them that they have made the right choice by welcoming them with a free gift. Check out how restaurant chain Yard House has used this technique to generate enthusiasm from their subscribers immediately.Subject line: You’re officially a House Insider!After giving subscribers a warm welcome, Yard House lays out the perks for subscribers,like inside peaks at new menu items and an updated list of the latest beers on tap, but the main draw is a free appetizer for their next visit.It’s also important to note that Yard House sends this welcome email as soon as somebody signs up for the company’s newsletter. It’s best not to wait too long to send a welcome email to a customer. When they opt in to your emails, your brand is on their mind — they’re expecting to receive a message. So your welcome email is more likely to be opened and read if you send it right away.Why it works:

• Features an appealing and on-brand design
• Clearly articulates why the subscriber should be glad they signed up and should continue to subscribe
• Encourages subscribers to visit the restaurant with the special offer of a free appetizer

5. Sephora

Type of welcome email: GIF

Many of your subscribers get dozens or even hundreds of emails every day. You want your welcome email to stand out so it delivers the message that you have carefully crafted. One clever and fun way to do this is with an eye-catching GIF. The movement of the GIF grabs readers’ attention and draws them in so they’re more engaged in the introduction to your brand.Subject line: Welcome to Sephora! 🎉Sephora uses the cute GIF at the top of the welcome email to snag the subscriber’s attention and then it uses other techniques to welcome the subscriber and tell them what the brand has to offer. It highlights a few of its exclusive products and its free rewards program. And we absolutely love the checklist at the bottom of the message: The “Your Sephora Welcome Series” lets readers see what’s coming to their inboxes next.Why it works:

• Uses a GIF that’s attractive and engaging but isn’t so complex that it makes the email download slowly
• Gives subscribers an incentive to take a step further and join the brand’s rewards program
• Recommends products to encourage readers to shop

6. Monday.com

Type of welcome email: Social confirmation

Showcasing that other people are using a product is a great way to encourage new customers to sign up because they think, “if that many people use this, they must be enjoying it!” That’s an excellent strategy for a variety of different marketing projects including your welcome email. Let subscribers know that they’ve now joined a popular club (or could join it by taking the next step and becoming a customer). One brand that does this well in its welcome email is Monday.com.Subject line: Welcome to monday.comIn this welcome email example from Monday.com, the company includes a user statistic, tapping into the bandwagon effect to get more people to jump on board. To add even more reasons to enjoy the brand’s product, it provides a bulleted list of features, shining a light on the benefits of Monday.com’s services and letting you know how the platform works.Why it works:

• Speaks to users’ desire to find out why the product is so popular
• Keeps the email short and to the point, serving as a true introduction without overwhelming readers with information
• Encourages ongoing engagement with a clear call-to-action to take subscribers to their accounts and explore the platform’s features

7. Purina

Type of welcome email: Getting to know you

Your welcome email doesn’t just tell subscribers about your brand - it can tell your brand about subscribers too. When you strategically use your welcome email to ask for more information, you can better serve your new customers. You’ll be able to use that information to segment your emails, sending each subscriber relevant, personalized content they want to read.You can create segments based on geographic location, purchase history, or other information about your customer. It’s all a matter of what you’re able to learn about your subscribers, and your welcome email is an excellent place to start. Take a look at Purina’s welcome email and how they use this strategy.Subject line: Bee, welcome to the Purina familyIn this welcome email, Purina asks new customers for more information about their pets. The “tell us about your pet” CTA button takes you to a page where you can check off whether you have a dog or cat and input their name, birthday, and size. All of these questions provide Purina with more opportunities to specifically market to individual customers.Why it works:

• Uses a clear CTA to direct subscribers toward the customer profile
• Maintains a simple design so the CTA doesn’t get lost in the clutter of too much information
• Builds familiarity with the brand by highlighting the brand’s values with the three icons and statements at the bottom

8. Warby Parker

Type of welcome email: Keeping it simple

A welcome email doesn’t have to be overly detailed and complex. In fact, a simple, straightforward design with plenty of white space will allow your subscribers to take in your core message without being distracted by other information. One brand that does an excellent job of using strategic white space is Warby Parker:Header: "You're all signed up"

The brand also grabs their subscribers’ attention with a clever GIF:

Warby Parker‘s mission is to make shopping for glasses simple, easy, and fun. The company’s welcome email reflects that brand mission with a simple message that’s easy on the eyes—clean and modern-looking with lots of white space—but still exudes a fun energy with the animated graphic right at the top. There is good support for GIFs in email clients (see this Litmus report on the subject), and they are a great way to put some fun in your messages.

Why it works:

• Uses a simple design to keep the core message from becoming choked by clutter
• Creates a positive association with the brand through happy and lighthearted messaging
• Provides a CTA that invites subscribers to start shopping
• Uses a GIF to engage readers and stand out

9. Rolling Stone

Type of welcome email: Social media engagement

Your welcome email is an introduction to your brand, so it’s an excellent place to let subscribers know where they can learn more about you. When you feature your social media pages in your welcome email and link to them for an easy user experience, you encourage the subscriber to become more invested in your brand and be part of your community. Check out how Rolling Stone does this:Header: "Thank you for signing up for the Rolling Stone Newsletter!"Rolling Stone doesn’t inundate subscribers with content right away. Instead, the magazine’s message is simple: “Thank you.” It confirms for subscribers that the newsletter will be on its way, and in the meantime lets them know where to connect with Rolling Stone on social media.Why it works:

• Simplistic design keeps the focus on welcoming subscribers and highlighting the brand’s social media pages
• Social media icons are recognizable but still within the brand’s color scheme, keeping them consistent with the brand’s image
• Let subscribers know what they can look forward to in the newsletter

10. Everlane

Type of welcome email: Strategic imagery

Some new subscribers are learning about your brand for the first time while others might have been familiar with your brand for years before subscribing. In either case, using the right photography or imagery can immediately build more familiarity between the subscriber and your brand. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so featuring one powerful image in your welcome email can set the tone for the way new subscribers see your brand.Everlane knows the power of one fantastic photo and they put this to work in their welcome email.Header: "Hello"Everlane has one of the simplest top navigations we’ve seen, allowing the eye to go straight to the brand’s beautiful black-and-white photography. The photo is right at the top, with barely any overlaid text. Subscribers who want to shop or read more can click through to the website, but for those who can only spend a few seconds, photography sends an immediate message about the style of the brand and what to expect.Why it works:

• The featured photo takes up most of the email and clearly communicates the chic yet simplistic nature of the brand and its products
• The introductory offer in the header navigation stands out because of the design’s simplicity
• Email is straightforward and to the point without trying to push subscribers in too many different directions

11. Lord & Taylor

Type of welcome email: Value proposition

When a customer subscribes to your mailing list, you get a more engaged customer who will see your brand routinely and will be more likely to buy frequently and become a loyal long-term customer. But what does the subscriber get? You can answer that question in your welcome email by listing out the perks and the value the subscriber is getting. This encourages them to not only stay subscribed but to open your emails when they come in. Check out how Lord & Taylor does this:

Lord & Taylor welcomes subscribers with a list of the three things you can expect from their emails: trends, brands, and deals. It’s the value proposition behind their campaigns, the “why” you made a good move by signing up. The message is coupled with great photography, a pop of brilliant yellow, and one takeaway: shop now. There’s no need to scroll on and on; in fact, there’s barely any reading to do. The shortlist says it all quickly and beautifully.

Why it works:

• Articulates subscriber perks clearly and cleanly
• Features on-brand styling and imagery
• Grabs attention with a banner announcing free shipping

12. Bumble and bumble

Type of welcome email: Exclusivity

Everyone wants to feel special and feel like they’re part of something unique. You can give subscribers that validation in your welcome email by making them feel like they’ve joined an exclusive club. Whether or not your subscriber list or your rewards club actually is exclusive or limited, you can use messaging and imagery that makes subscribers feel like elite insiders. Take Bumble and Bumble’s welcome email for example:

Header: "You Made The List"

The “you made the list” headline immediately makes subscribers feel wanted and included. Bumble and Bumble continue in that vein by showcasing the perks of being part of the club, like exclusive offers and backstage access. Subscribers feel more like a part of the community and more invested as a result.

Why it works:

• Positions mailing list as elite and desirable so subscribers want to stay on the list
• Uses imagery from the backstage of a fashion show to enhance the idea that the subscriber is now an insider
• Guides subscribers toward the next step of shopping or visiting a salon with an online discount code and an easy way to find the nearest salon

13. Moo

Type of welcome email: Inviting entertainment

When a customer subscribes to your mailing list, it’s (hopefully) the start of a more engaged, active relationship with that customer. While many brands aim to encourage that added engagement in their welcome email by incentivizing the subscriber to go shop, you can also do it by enticing the customer to come to your site for entertainment. Intrigue them with the content you have to offer and beckon them to your site for an enjoyable read.

To see this in action, take a look at Moo’s welcome email:

Header: "Thanks for singing up to the MOOsLETTER!"

Moo does a great job of covering a lot of ground without overwhelming readers. They intrigue the reader with the promise of inspiring stories and helpful tips right off the bat. By using a large, easy-to-read font, keeping messages brief, including great images, and allowing for white space and breathability between sections, Moo also squeezes in multiple calls-to-action (go to the website, get 10% off, connect on social) without it feeling like too much.

Why it works:

• Appeals to subscriber’s desire for entertainment and enjoyment rather than just pushing them to make a purchase
• Uses a clean and simple design so the CTA and the promise of great content aren’t lost
• Includes an appealing discount but doesn’t push a purchase as the only goal of the email

14. Mario Batali

Type of welcome email: Exclusive content

When someone signs up for a mailing list, there’s always still a question in their mind about whether the emails will actually pay off and be the right choice. Even if your mailing list is free, customers have to ask, “Is the content I’ll get worth the burden of having more emails crowding my inbox?” You can show them immediately in your welcome email that they made the right choice by giving them exclusive and exciting new content right away. Chef Mario Batali, for example, does this in a seamless way:Header: "Thanks for signing up for Mario Mail!"Mario Batali doesn’t mess around with his welcome email. Open it up and readers find their first Mario recipe, front and center. By diving into quality content right away, Batali makes an instant connection with readers and provides them with exactly what they are looking for. Plus, the photography is gorgeous, the text is easy to read, and there’s no clutter.Why it works:

• Presents valuable content without delays or making subscribers jump through hoops
• Gives subscribers a preview of what they can expect to see in future emails and why they’ll be glad they signed up
• Uses a navigation bar in the header to subtly invite subscribers to check out other types of content from the brand

15. West Elm

Type of welcome email: Urgency

So much of marketing can be described as capitalizing on opportunities when they arise, and your welcome email is an excellent opportunity. The subscriber is already engaged enough to sign up so you know they’re interested in your brand, making this the perfect time to offer a discount to encourage them to shop. But you can take advantage of this opportunity even more by creating a sense of urgency for that discount.A limited-time discount makes customers want to shop and save right away because, if it slips their minds later, they might miss out on the savings altogether. Check out how West Elm uses this strategy in their welcome email:West Elm truly motivates readers to jump over to their site and get shopping: they offer a coupon right at the top and a noticeable alert that the discount is only valid for one week. They also make it easy to take advantage of the deal by including a simple, clickable menu reflecting the offerings of their site (furniture, bedding, etc.). By using gorgeous photography and keeping the email simple and full of links, readers almost can’t help but wander right over to its website.Why it works:

• The combination of a discount code and a very obvious time limit on that code prompts subscribers to shop now
• Beautiful and inviting photography is visually appealing and makes subscribers envision how the brand’s products could give their homes a similar look
• The email design is simple and straightforward, with enough detail to catch subscribers’ eyes but not so much to lose sight of the message and CTA

Welcome Email Examples Key Takeaways and Tips

The examples above are all effective welcome emails but they each use their own strategies and designs to make subscribers feel included, encourage sales and conversions, and nurture long-term subscriber relationships. Any of these designs can inspire your welcome email development, but your design isn’t the only factor in your emails’ success. Use these tips and takeaways to make your welcome emails even more effective:

Put thought into your subject line:

Your subject line should be appealing and eye-catching but it should also make the intention of the email clear. Try customizing subject lines like these:

• Welcome to ! Here’s a little treat.
• You’re in! Welcome to the club.
• Thanks for subscribing! Here’s 10% off to show our appreciation.

Be quick:

You want your welcome email to go out as soon as possible after a customer subscribes - ideally, you should set up automation that triggers the welcome email immediately when a new customer subscribes. This will capitalize on the subscriber’s engagement with and interest in your brand at that moment.

Consider a welcome email series instead of a single welcome email:

You could start with an immediate email that confirms the customer’s subscription and gives them a discount code to shop. A day or two later, you could follow it with a more thorough introduction to your brand or the features of your site, and another follow-up email could encourage further interaction by highlighting your social media pages and other ways to engage with your brand.

Quality counts:

Even if a customer already knows your brand well by the time they subscribe, your welcome email is an introduction to the value your mailing list brings. Use only high-quality images and valuable, interesting content to show subscribers that you’re worth the sign-up.

Personalize your welcome emails:

For example, you might have one design for the core of your welcome email but you can add personalized product recommendations or content recommendations at the bottom based on what the subscriber has viewed on your site. This both prompts the subscriber to shop and also makes the email feel more relevant to them.These tips and best practices can help you take your welcome email from a simple subscription confirmation to an excellent tool for strengthening your customer base.

Create welcome emails easily with a template

Now that you have all the secrets to creating an effective welcome email, let’s get to work! When you use the right tools, it’s simpler than you think. With the Beefree email editor, welcome email design is made easy. Our HTML email editor allows you to either create your own welcome email from scratch (with no HTML knowledge needed) or to start with one of our skillfully crafted templates. Find one of our welcome email templates that works for you, like this “Thanks for signing up!” template by Martin Nikolchev.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

…or the “Hiring Simplified” email by designer Navid Nosrati.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Editor’s Note: This post was updated on September 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

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On Thanksgiving Day 2022, Americans spent $5.29 billion online shopping. That’s a lot of money flying around. Did your business rake in your share?Email marketing is a powerful way to capitalize on holidays like Thanksgiving and make them profitable days for your business or your client, and that’s true for e-commerce and other industries alike. It all comes down to technique. How do you construct a masterful Thanksgiving email newsletter that grows your relationship with customers while also making use of this kick-off day for the holiday shopping season? We have the tips and tricks you need to know.

Does email marketing top your gratitude list this year? Take a look at these Thanksgiving email marketing ideas that every email marketer will be grateful for.

Thanksgiving Email Newsletter Ideas

What type of Thanksgiving email content could you include in your email newsletter? On holiday like Thanksgiving, you want to strike a balance between advertising to prompt sales and relating to your customers in a genuine way. Consider these possible paths you can take in your Thanksgiving emails.

Express Gratitude for Your Subscribers

Your email subscribers are an important part of your organization. They’re typically loyal customers who continue to trust and patronize your business time and time again, and they have contributed to the community you have built. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to let them know how much you appreciate them with a heartfelt thank you, potentially with a peek at your business family too.Take this example from Outerknown for instance. We love how Outerknown introduced its employees with a photo (including what seems to be the office dog). It’s always a good idea to put faces with a brand. And there’s no better time than Thanksgiving to welcome your customers into the family.Subject line: "A Thanksgiving Message from OK."

Create a Festive Design

One of the trickiest parts of marketing is anticipating your customers’ mindsets and creating content that relates to them. Holidays make that easy - on Thanksgiving, you know your readers will have Thanksgiving on the brain. An email with a Thanksgiving-themed design will catch their eyes and feel familiar and relatable to them. Thanksgiving imagery and color schemes can go a long way in your email design.Leesa does a great job of connecting its products with the holiday in this Thanksgiving email marketing campaign. The copy is minimal but effective, and the CTA buttons are descriptive and well-placed, enticing you to click. Finally, Leesa tops it off with adorable fall leaves dancing across the screen. This Thanksgiving email is a hit!Subject line: "A Thanksgiving Treat for Kelly."

Include Relevant Products or Services

What might your customers want or need to buy on Thanksgiving? Which of your products or services may align with their mindset on Thanksgiving? Selecting and highlighting those products in your Thanksgiving email is an excellent way to both benefit from the holiday financially and offer convenience to your customers.Terrain knows how to do Thanksgiving email marketing. This email starts with a simple message wishing customers a happy Thanksgiving. Then it seamlessly transitions into sales mode, showcasing product photos with simple frames for readers to explore. Terrain does an excellent job of combining a Thanksgiving newsletter with a promotional push.Subject line: "Happy Thanksgiving from Terrain."

Promote a Thanksgiving Sale

After the turkey and mashed potatoes have been eaten, and the family has enjoyed quality time together, Thanksgiving is an excellent time for customers to relax on the couch and enjoy some online shopping. You can take part in this tradition with your own Thanksgiving sale, and your Thanksgiving email newsletter is an excellent place to prompt customers to check it out.This colorful Thanksgiving email from Paper Source tells readers to hurry — the discounts will be gone soon! Colors and patterns catch your eye: The email is busy without being overwhelming.Subject line: "Hurry! Set the Thanksgiving Table at 20% OFF."

Share Impact and Highlights From the Year

Thanksgiving is a sentimental holiday and one that leads many people (including your customers) to reflect on the positives in their lives and embrace gratitude. Customers love to see organizations reflecting in this way too. Your Thanksgiving email is an excellent place to share some of the highlights from the year that you’re most grateful for and to talk about the impact your organization has had. For instance, you could share some statistics about your charitable initiatives and the effects they have had.

Be Empathetic and Inclusive

Thanksgiving is a time for not only shopping and commercialism but genuine human-to-human connection. Make sure your Thanksgiving emails don’t focus purely on sales but also have an empathetic and authentic touch that makes your customers feel seen and appreciated, and be sure that this is inclusive of all customers.This Thanksgiving email marketing message from Ethan Allen looks like a handmade paper card, with one main image and a few lines of text wishing the reader a happy Thanksgiving. Ethan Allen acknowledges that everybody has different family structures, and everybody celebrates this holiday in a different way.Subject line: "A Thanksgiving Wish."

Showcase Black Friday Promotions

The run-up to Thanksgiving isn’t too early to start advertising for Black Friday. In fact, many shoppers start buying before the turkey is served. Many retailers start advertising their Black Friday deals as early as Wednesday, and consumers are getting used to the deals being a multi-day event. So it’s not inappropriate to advertise your Black Friday discounts in a Thanksgiving email. Tarte sent this colorful email on Thanksgiving Day around noon, hoping to catch customers before they sat down at the table.Subject line: "Before Thanksgiving Dinner Starts." 

Thanksgiving Email Marketing Design Tips

The ideas above can help you develop your Thanksgiving email marketing strategy, but then it’s time to do the boots-on-the-ground work of designing and creating your emails. We’re here to help you dream up an impactful, memorable Thanksgiving email design that is both relatable and lucrative, thanks to these design tips.

Keep your Thanksgiving message simple

Sometimes simplicity is your best friend. The more concise and straightforward your message is, the more clearly it will be received, and the more likely customers are to actually read it rather than skip it.Check out this email from Publix, for example. It’s short and to the point, but the simple design makes it easily digestible and visually appealing.

Create Personalized Thanksgiving Emails

You know you’re not the only email list your customers are subscribed to. They’re likely seeing dozens of Thanksgiving emails, so how do you make yours stand out? An excellent way is by making the email personalized and relatable to them specifically. Not only does this help customers feel seen and understood, but it makes your email more relevant to them in a practical way, so it’s more likely to grab their attention and their time.Check out this email from Hayneedle. While it leads with a sweet Thanksgiving sentiment, it goes into a specially curated section that sends personalized product recommendations based on the customer’s previous searches and purchases. Customers are more likely to see something they like, and that will make them stop scrolling and take notes.

Thanksgiving email templates

The easiest way to create beautiful Happy Thanksgiving newsletters is to use a Thanksgiving email template. Check out some of our favorite professionally designed Thanksgiving email templates to get started:

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Or give thanks with this colorful Thanksgiving Day email template.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Standing Out with Thanksgiving Email Marketing Made Simple

Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity to grow your relationship with your customers and subscribers, along with capitalizing on a popular shopping day. It’s not easy to both encourage purchases and offer genuine relatability in the same email, but the strategies and tips above will help you do just that and make the most of this opportunity.Want to do this as simply and efficiently as possible? Our Thanksgiving email templates give you an easy and quick way to customize the perfect Thanksgiving email newsletter. Check out Beefree and our email design tools that will help you make an impression on customers on Thanksgiving and beyond.

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Editor’s Note: This post was updated on August 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

How do you add visual interest to your emails? If you’re like most brands, you probably rely heavily on product images and graphics. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you might be overlooking an easy way to create more engaging marketing emails: Email background colors!Background colors can organize content and establish hierarchy. When they’re used behind images, they can even reinforce your design when image-viewing is turned off. In fact, color can improve audience comprehension by 73% and, according to the same study, marketing with color is read 42% more often than marketing in black and white. Plus, HTML background colors render across all inboxes and are easy to create.

Email background colors can organize content and reinforce your design. Plus, they're easy to create!

Many emails will maintain a white background and reserve color blocking for headers and footers. This visually separates intro and outro content from the body of the email. Here’s an example from Crate & Barrel that uses a white and gray background in the body of the message, but includes a pop of red in the header.

Using a simple color palette and incorporating plenty of white space are best practices in email design. But there are also emails that pull off background colors in a fresh and inspiring way — and not just in headers or footers.

Tips for selecting email background colors

Here are a few key tips for using email background colors creatively in email, with inspiration from brands that aren’t afraid to go bold with color.

#1 Select a color scheme 

You want your email to look visually appealing and professional, so instead of simply choosing one background color, you want to choose a full color scheme of 3-5 coordinating and contrasting colors. There are a few things to keep in mind for your color scheme:

• Keeping your email’s image inline with your branding
• Creating the feel you want for your email (e.g., an exciting feel vs. a formal, corporate feel)
• Matching colors to your content (e.g., bright colors for a summer sale or colors that align with the holiday or event your email is highlighting)

Consider how put-together this email looks because of its color scheme:

#1. Combine images and background colors

Emails that are made up entirely of images (with little to no plain text) are problematic. Some people won’t be able to see an image-only email at all because of their email client settings. Image-only emails often end up in spam folders or don’t get fully downloaded. And they aren’t mobile-optimized, either. That’s why we always insist that effective emails have a balance of images and plain text (at least 500 characters of text).Check out this email from Moo, a website that helps you design and print business cards, first with image-viewing turned off:

And then with images turned on:

Once the images are viewable, we can see that most of the top portion of the email is plain text, while the second half is an image of a stack of business cards. But put together, it looks like the email is a single, solid image. The two modules of the email seamlessly flow into each other through the use of the deep purple email CSS background color.

This design tactic is clever. It allows Moo to use color in a simple, striking way to build an email that has a single visual focus (and looks like one cohesive image or module). But it simultaneously allows Moo to avoid sending an image-only email.To pull off this kind of message, three elements of the email need to match:

1. The background color of the photos
2. The HTML background color of the plain text section
3. The background color of the ALT text when images don’t appear.

If you don’t know the HTML color code of an image or graphic, a web tool like HTML color codes will let you upload a photo to determine the colors used.Moo’s email is also optimized with email-safe text and bulletproof buttons that will always render. And the styled ALT text background upholds the structure of the design, even when images aren’t viewable. It’s a great way to make background colors work with your product photos to create a bright, bold email that’s eye-catching and a change of pace from a sterile white background.

#2. Use a single background color for the entire email

It can be tough to break away from the typical white background, and using a background color throughout your email can significantly change the impact it has on readers. So when you’re using color in a way that can potentially be pretty overpowering, like top-to-bottom in an email, it’s wise to think about the feeling you want to evoke first. Brands that do this well often choose a branded color that’s a light shade.Here’s an email from Chobani that uses its pale tan brand color as the background:

A uniform non-white background color works well here (and looks great) because contrasting font and link colors are used so all text is easy to read. Plus, the pale shades act similarly to a white background: They help the email feel light and airy.

#3. Separate content sections with background colors

One of our favorite ways to use vibrant email CSS background colors in email is section by section. It’s one of the most effective organizational uses of color, making clear where one section ends and another begins. We recently received an email from Draper James that’s a great example of this. The blue, white and pale peach sections clearly stand out. The colors are on-brand and complement each other, and it’s easy to navigate the message to find what you need.Similarly, Otherwild uses bold background colors to separate different modules of its email. The blue, green and orange match the products shown in the photos, helping the merchandise stand out. Incorporating email CSS background colors in sections is a great way to visually break up long emails and keep the reader scrolling.

The blue, white and pale peach sections clearly stand out. The colors are on-brand and complement each other. And it’s easy to navigate the message to find what you need.Similarly, Otherwild uses bold background colors to separate different modules of this email:

#5. Design an inclusive and accessible-friendly color scheme

Your color scheme can make or break the accessibility of your email in ways you may not realize. For example, people with visual impairments will have a hard time reading your email if there isn’t enough contrast between the background color and the text color. Another important consideration is how your color scheme will look to people who are colorblind. While there are different types of colorblindness that will impact readers in different ways, some general rules to follow include:

• Avoid a color scheme of reds and greens - especially placing green text on red backgrounds and vice versa.
• Blue and red hues contrast well for most people with colorblindness, so this is an excellent starting point for your color palette. The same is true for yellow and orange.
• Include a combination of light and dark colors - while people with colorblindness may not see the same hue, they will see the same darkness as others, so this can help them understand your email.

Remember that chances are that you have people on your email list who have either color blindness or visual impairment - color blindness affects an estimated 300 million people worldwide and 2.2 billion people globally have visual impairment. Always design your colors with inclusivity in mind.

#6. Use an email editor to add HTML background colors without coding 

Using HTML to create background colors in your email is an industry-wide best practice. Each email program your recipients may be using (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) interprets email data differently, but HTML background colors will translate properly in all mainstream email providers so more readers see what you want them to see. Don’t know how to code HTML? No problem! An email editor gives you a user-friendly design interface and translates your design into HTML so you get the benefit of HTML background colors without the coding work.

FAQ: Email background colors 

Have some questions about how to implement background colors into your emails and inboxes? We’ve got answers! Check out these commonly asked questions.

How do you change the email background color in Outlook?

Outlook is designed for sending individual emails rather than mass emails such as email marketing. Still, you can customize your Outlook emails by changing the background color. With the draft message open, click on “Options” at the top of the window and click “Page Color.” This will let you customize the background color.

How do I change my Gmail email background color?

Gmail doesn’t allow you to set a background color in an email you are sending. You can, however, change the background color of your Gmail interface. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner and click “See All Settings.” In this menu, click “Theme” and choose a background image or background color.PRO tip: Beefree is compatible with both Gmail and outlook. That means you can easily design email assets in Beefree and effortlessly export them to Gmail or Outlook. 

Get started with free HTML email templates

Using strategic background colors is one of many best practices you can use to make your emails more effective. You can implement this and other email design practices with ease using Beefree’s HTML email templates. Explore our variety of templates designed for different purposes and audiences and start building more buzz for your business today.

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Editor’s Note: This post was updated on July 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Email marketing is one of the marketing techniques with the highest potential for revenue - for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect a return of $42. But that word “potential” is important - some email marketing campaigns will rake in the big bucks and others will flop. It largely depends on one thing: skillful and strategic email design.To thrive and cook up a campaign that’s worthwhile, you have to keep up with the ever-changing email design best practices. As long-standing experts in the email marketing field, we’re here to help. We’ve created this guide of the top email design best practices for 2023.

What is email design?

Email design is the development of an email through strategic designing that ultimately engages and resonates with your business’s target audience. Your email design should be eye-catching and optimized for all email subscribers. Effective email design can be the difference between an email that wastes away unread in inboxes and one that compels readers to click and make a purchase. At the risk of sounding dramatic, the revenue potential of a well-designed email is practically limitless.

Benefits of effective email design 

Strong email design has the ability to significantly impact your email marketing metrics. An engaging, attention-grabbing email brings plenty of benefits to your business including:

• Increasing audience engagement and excitement
• Building brand awareness and recognition
• Establishing credibility with the audience
• Boosting conversion rates

Strong email design is a win-win, bringing your audience a more engaging and useful email and bringing your business more revenue. But how do you make your email design effective, exactly? Let’s dive into practical tips you can start using today.

Email design best practices

Expert graphic design skills aren’t needed to create impactful email designs and templates, simply follow along with these best practices, and you’ll be on your way to reaping the benefits that we shared above.

Choose an email layout that suits your email’s goal

The way you lay out your email will depend on what type of message you’re sending. A transactional email, an email newsletter, and a DEM email (direct email marketing) are all very different, and your layout for each one should create a visual flow that leads readers toward the goal of that email.While every email’s layout will be unique, there are several common types of layouts that can each suit specific purposes and goals. These include:

• Inverted pyramid layouts

• Gutenberg diagram email layouts

• Z-pattern email layouts

• F-pattern email layouts

There’s no singular email layout that’s more effective than the others; it all depends on the situation and what you’re trying to accomplish. Let’s talk about each of these layout types and what they can do for your email design.

Inverted pyramid email layout

An inverted pyramid email uses an upside-down triangle as its guide: It grabs your attention with a broad headline, explains more with a few lines of copy and then narrows in on the main CTA. This MealPal email showcases an inverted pyramid layout.

‍Subject line: STOP waiting in line and get 40% off

Gutenberg diagram email layout 

The Gutenberg diagram divides your email layout into a grid with four sections — primary optical (top left), strong fallow area (top right), weak fallow area (bottom left) and terminal area (bottom right). People’s eyes generally move in this pattern as they read, so using the Gutenberg diagram can ensure your email is easy to skim.

Z-pattern email layout

The Z-pattern email layout is effective because the zigzag pattern follows the path most readers’ eyes will take. Z-pattern messages are a great option for simple emails without much copy where you’d like to highlight the CTA. Here’s an example of a Z-pattern:

‍Subject line: Load up on all your grooming essentials

F-pattern email layout

Another common scanning pattern is the F-pattern, in which readers’ eyes move across the page in the shape of an F. With this pattern, people tend to catch the top headline, any bullet points on the left side of the page, and subheadings across the page.‍

Subject line: New arrivals | Sets to love

Email layout is an essential step in email design best practices. Choosing the right layout can make an enormous difference in how likely your customers are to convert.

Additional layout tips

Here are a couple more tips to keep in mind as you consider your email layout options:

• Modular structure. An email with a modular structure is mobile responsive and adaptable. It ensures that recipients can view the message on any device.Pro Tip: Your email should also be no more than 600 pixels wide so people don’t have to scroll horizontally.

• Rule of three. Another way to keep your email layout simple and skimmable is to focus on three main email design elements.

Coordinate each element of your email structure

Each element of your email’s structure will play a part in how effective your email design is. They need to all coordinate with each other to create the on-brand, compelling effect you want. Let’s look at each element in a well-structured email and how to optimize them.

Subject line and pre-header

Your subject line is the bold title of your email that readers see in their inbox, and the preheader (AKA preview text) is the text readers see below or next to that bold subject line. Depending on the email program a reader is using, it will look something like this:

As you can see, the subject line and pre-header are the only pieces of information (other than your name) that a user has when they decide whether to open the email. These pieces need to be enticing and clear, grabbing readers’ attention and giving them a reason to click. Think about who your audience is and what appeals to them most.

Body

The body text of your email should be engaging and personal, accurately representing your company’s personality and making a connection with the reader. Be clear about what you’re asking the reader to do and stay focused on your main message.

Remember, your reader is bombarded with messaging all day every day. If you want to stand out in their memory, make your email body creative and relatable while keeping it concise and on-brand.

CTA

The header and body of your email should lead the reader straight to the CTA button. Create a sense of urgency if you’re having a sale, and prep a specific landing page for this CTA. When you design your CTA button, make sure it’s bulletproof so it will render correctly in any inbox.

As much as possible, stay focused on the message you want to send with your CTAs. Multiple CTAs in an email can actually hurt your conversion rate — having too many choices is overwhelming. Think about your primary goal for conversion (is it most important to you that people visit your website or social media?) and use that as your CTA.

Keep in mind that using descriptive CTA text instead of a generic phrase (“click here”) can encourage readers to act. Moleskine uses the words “Personalize now,” which helps the reader envision themselves purchasing the customized product.

‍Subject line: Unique notes

Footer

For brands, an email footer usually includes social media links and the business’s physical address, as Groove Life does here. Solopreneurs or CEOs might craft their footer as more of an email signature with personal contact information. The footer of your email is also required by law to include a visible unsubscribe link.

Learn more helpful footer tips in our blog post outlining best practices for email footer design.

Be strategic with visual design elements 

When the structure of your email is ready to go, it’s time to consider what design elements to include.

Typography

Typography is an important part of your company’s visual branding. For the body of your email, use a font that’s easy to read. Consider font color, spacing, and size. Don’t use more than two fonts in order to keep it on-brand so customers read it as professional. If you decide to use a custom font, make sure to preview the email on multiple devices. We love the simple but effective typography in this Tuft & Needle email.

‍Subject line: Save 10% on new sheet covers

Color

Color is essential when it comes to how your customers view your brand. Use a non-white background color to make your email look like one cohesive image. Then choose accent colors (such as the shade of your header or CTA button color) based on your brand colors and the email’s overall color scheme. For example, MealPal uses a pale blue background and adds a pop of color with the orange CTAs (which match the company logo at the top).

‍Subject line: NEW: groceries for 40% off with MealPal Market!

Animated content

GIFs and videos are popular when it comes to email design best practices. Animated GIFs can grab a reader’s attention with humor or they can demonstrate how to use your product. If you choose to include video in your emails, create educational content and post it on your website or YouTube. Many ESPs don’t allow videos to play in messages, so sharing the video link in the email is best.

Optimize Your Email Design 

Your job doesn’t end once your email is structured and designed. You must also optimize your email settings, test your emails, and check that they are accessible to everyone.

Personalization

It’s natural for your customers to pay more attention to information that is more relevant to them, and you can signal that your email is relevant by personalizing the design. This doesn’t mean you have to hand-customize every email that goes out - there are ways to automate this in a practical way.You can use simple strategies like adding the customer’s name in the email and including suggested products in the email based on the customer’s purchase history. You can also create several versions of your email designed for different segments of customers, like one version for customers ages 18-30, another for those ages 30-45, another for those who are 45-60, and so on. Adjustments like these make your emails more personalized and relatable.

Responsive email template design 

A responsive email template design ensures that your message will change size to be viewed on any device. Since nearly half of all email opens, take place on a mobile device like a smartphone, creating responsive emails is essential. Here at BEE, we have hundreds of responsive email templates that you can use to make sure your email design is mobile-first.

Test emails

Don’t send your email without testing it first to make sure you catch any mistakes. Testing your email can confirm whether your message is mobile-responsive. It also gives you a final chance to take in your color choices, images, and text all together. When you design with the Beefree, you can easily test your email when you’re through designing by sending it to yourself or previewing it on mobile (both found under the “Actions” tab in the upper left-hand corner of the editor). Most ESPs have built-in testing options too.

A/B test

In addition to testing your email with an internal review, consider running A/B tests where two groups of subscribers receive slightly different emails. By doing this, you can see which variations of the message get the highest open rates, conversions, and other performance metrics.A/B testing is a powerful strategy because no two audiences respond the same way to the same emails, so these tests can show you what works best for your specific audience. You can conduct A/B tests on nearly any element of your emails: the subject line, the preheader, the body, the CTA, and so on. Just be sure to only have one differing element in each A/B test so you know what caused one version to perform better than the other.

Accessibility

Many people consume online information in different ways due to varying physical, mental, or developmental abilities. For example, someone might use a screen reader that verbally reads the text on the screen. To make your emails accessible to everyone, use real text instead of images and structure the layout of your message so it’s simple and easy to read. Use these tips to ensure accessibility:

• Size all text to 14px or larger
• Add alt tags to your images to accommodate anyone who might not be able to see the photos or graphics; this text describes your images and is visible when the image cannot be shown (as shown in the image below). 
• Keep your contrast high so it’s easy for readers to distinguish the elements of the messages. Who Can Use, a tool that shows you how people with visual impairments view different colors can be a huge help in making your emails accessible.

One other email accessibility best practice is to keep your image size small (around 600px). You don’t want your email to be too “heavy,” with large images that might not load on all devices and ESPs. Small images are best.

Enhance inclusivity in email design

An inclusive email is one that takes into account the many ways in which your audience is diverse — from gender and race to ability, culture, age, and more. Your customer base isn’t made up of just one type of person, so your marketing emails shouldn’t address only one type, either. Do your photos show people of different races, genders and abilities? Does your language reflect the reader’s location and any potential cultural differences?

If you’re not sure, find someone who can look over the emails and let you know.

Your company can also focus on hiring people with diverse backgrounds to help create content that’s truly made for everybody. In addition to testing your email with an internal review, consider running A/B tests where two groups of subscribers receive slightly different emails. By doing this, you can see which variations of the message get the most opens.

Optimize your email design with Beefree

Ready to create effective marketing emails? Try Beefree. Our thousands of drag-and-drop, customizable email templates can give you a launchpad. Or opt for a blank template to design your own email from the ground up — no coding knowledge required. Put the email design best practices you’ve learned into action and start designing today.

Editor’s Note: This post was updated on July 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness.