Design

Email design can be a lot of fun! Planning an email campaign requires creativity and imagination. But email design can also involve a lot of technical issues that you can’t be overlooked. One of these issues being -- how to properly optimize images for email marketing so that they render quickly and display well. Here are some things to keep in mind.

First, why should optimize images for email marketing campaigns?

If your images aren’t optimized, your email has the potential to look unprofessional and lead to poor campaign results. Heavy images may not download at all, or significantly slow down overall email load time. You don't know where your customers will be when they open your message: they may be experiencing a poor connection while commuting to work on public transportation, for example.Here are a few best practices to follow to optimize images in your email marketing campaign and minimize the risk of a negative impact on campaign results.

How to optimize images for email marketing

Use high-quality images

The first and most important point here should go without being said, but we’re going to say it anyway: Your images need to be high-quality, not blurry or pixelated. This TripAdvisor email wouldn’t have nearly the same effect if the image of those beautiful mountains was blurry — that would make the entire email look unattractive and downright unprofessional. Make sure your images have a resolution of at least 72 dpi and increase the dimensions so the images will be clear and sharp.Subject line: Get away in New York this weekend 

Choose the best image size for email

The best image size for email marketing is 600-650 pixels. This size ensures your emails won't stretch out and get blurry when viewed on a desktop.If your image is the wrong size, it might not come across as high-quality and can potentially look grainy.

Choose the right file format

There are a few different file formats you can choose from as you optimize the images in your emails:

• PNGs. PNGs work for all kinds of images and are more high-quality than JPGs. They don’t compress when uploaded and are also a great choice for any image that includes text. However, PNGs have a larger file size, which means they load more slowly.
• JPGs. Used for photos only, JPG images have a small file size and load quickly. But they don’t work with text, they’re not transparent and they compress when uploaded.
• GIFs. Great for logos and animations, GIFs also have a small file size and don’t compress. The colors you can use are limited, though, and images might look grainy.

You don’t have to commit to one type of file format. Use different formats for different images depending on your goals for a certain campaign.

Be mindful of file size

Images with large file sizes can make an email take longer to load, which is one reason you may want to choose JPGs. If your email doesn’t load quickly, you’re out of luck: Most people will only wait a couple of seconds for the message to appear. Keep your file weight as far under 1MB as possible so readers don’t click away.

Don’t send image-only emails

Image-only emails, or emails that don’t include any text outside of an image, have a lot of negatives. They’re commonly marked as spam. They aren’t accessible. And if something goes wrong with image viewing, your reader won’t be able to understand what the email is about at all.Don’t send image-only emails. Instead, strive for a text-to-image ratio of 80:20, like this Dove email that has a good balance of both images and text. It’s also important to make sure that you don’t put the most important information in images. Include some copy outside of images so your subscribers can read it even if they can’t view the images — like the product information Dove includes in plain text here:Subject line: Save your hands this winter & switch to Dove 

Create clickable images

Many readers will click or tap on the images in your email. So when those images are clickable, it helps increase your click-through rate. For example, when you click the hero image in this Sun Basket email, you’re taken to a special landing page (slightly different from the landing page the CTA leads to) where you can start creating your basket. The smaller images are clickable, too.Subject line: New menu, more Chef’s Choice options

Optimize images for mobile viewing

As you optimize images in email, you can’t overlook mobile users. Mobile is responsible for at least 50% of all opens. And emails that don’t display correctly on mobile are likely to be deleted within three seconds! For best results, make sure your images are twice as large as the width of an iPhone screen and compress your image files.

Wrap-up: Optimize images for email marketing

Looking for a quick and easy way to design marketing emails and edit image size for mobile email? Check out the free BEE email editor to create your messages. You can also use BEE’s “Preview” feature to see how your email looks before hitting send.Optimizing images for email is a necessity. We hope that with these tips and the BEE editor in your toolbox, it will be a breeze.

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest?

Originally published on December 17, 2020. Last updated September 10, 2021.Your font choice plays a large role in how customers perceive your brand. It dictates the appearance and feel to your email or landing page. While there is a long list of fonts available to use, don't let choosing the right one intimidate you.Each font has its own personality. When choosing the best fonts for emails and landing pages, look further than appearances, think about your customers’ motivations, font compatibility and how your fonts work to create a cohesive, readable piece.The perfect font will evoke emotion and leave a lasting impression on your customers, but most importantly it will be web safe.Web safe fonts are fonts that display on any application and are seen on any device. They are perfect for emails and landing pages because they are default fonts found on all computers and devices. They are trusted to clearly get your message across no matter what.Implement these email safe fonts and best practices to leave a lasting impression on your customers.

The perfect font will evoke emotion and leave a lasting impression on your customers, but most importantly it will be web safe.

Web-safe fonts you should use

There are a handful of fonts that render correctly in about any environment. These fonts are called “web-safe” fonts and are guaranteed to be the best fonts for email marketing. Although it’s tempting to choose cursive fonts, Comic Sans MS or Kristen ITC, when designing for email and landing pages, stick to these fonts instead:

• Arial - flexible, simple
• Roboto - certain, distinct
• Georgia - authoritative, formal
• Verdana - clear, direct
• Helvetica - modern, bold
• Open Sans - friendly, minimal
• Tahoma - welcoming, humanist
• Times New Roman - traditional, reliable
• Raleway - elegant, smooth

These fonts have great readability, which means a majority of email service providers will showcase your chosen font in the way you intended it to be seen. Use these fonts freely in all your email and landing page designs. While this collection seems small compared to all the fonts that are out there, it’s important to stick to these fonts to ensure that all emails will be received on all email service providers. To add variety to your designs, get creative with placement, color and other design elements for these fonts throughout your emails and landing pages.

How to choose the best fonts for email

The best font for email marketing should be readable and reinforcing your brand to keep you out of the spam box. Consider how your email or landing page is formatted: Are they more text-heavy or image-heavy? Match a font that is compatible with the format you decide to use; a text-heavy format should use a more simplistic style font while image-heavy will allow for more variety.Remember to keep your fonts consistent between content. The fonts you use for your emails are the same ones you use for your landing pages. This way, customers will begin to recognize your brand style more, ultimately reinforcing your brand identity. Keep this in mind and use these best practices to guide your font choice.

Consider your brand

The fonts you use will depend in part on your industry and the nature of your business. An elegant jewelry brand like Laura Lombardi Jewelry selected Script style fonts that are graceful and stylish:Subject line: It’s here!  ✨  Our annual holiday sale starts now. 

…whereas the sturdy, Serif fonts used by REI are a great fit for this outdoorsy brand:Subject line: Let’s make the holidays as easy as possible

Create a list of words that describe your brand best. Consider how you are going to incorporate those words into your emails and landing pages. Then, when choosing a font, ask yourself:Does your brand carry a…

• Cheerful or serious tone
• Professional or playful 
• Formal or casual  

Decide how you want subscribers to perceive your brand. After pinpointing adjectives to describe that tone, refer back to the web-safe fonts to match-up your desired tone with a few of the font descriptions listed. The best font to use for email marketing is a font that aligns with your brand’s personality.

Decide on how many fonts to use

How many fonts are too many? As a general rule of thumb, stick to a maximum of three fonts. Too many fonts will clutter your email or landing page and distract your subscribers.Limiting your fonts doesn’t mean you have to limit your creativity. Add variety to your designs by changing up the size and typographical emphasis you use. Try bolding or italicizing certain phrases or use all caps for certain words. For example, Golde uses different font sizes and even bolds certain words in that same font. The result is an eye-catching, skimmable email that looks uniform.Subject line: IT’S HERE

Choose header and body fonts

Consider selecting different fonts for the header and body of your email or landing page to make your designs more visually engaging. Header fonts should stand out and be eye-catching to subscribers. Body fonts, however, need to be more legible since they contain important supporting information. In this Joe’s Jeans example, the “Black Friday Sale” text is in a smooth, Script font which stands out and plays into the text hierarchy. The rest of the text is in a more straightforward font making it clear on what this sale has to offer. Subject line: Sweaters, cardigans, and knitwear

Select the best font size for your email

After you’ve settled on your web-safe font, you’ll want to consider the best font size to use for emails and landing pages. We recommend a range of 20-28 pixels for your headings and 12-14 pixels for your body copy for desktop and mobile devices.

Consider color for your professional email fonts

Your font color is another useful aspect to consider when thinking about the typography in your email or landing page. Color has a major impact on how customers perceive your brand. It shares insight on your brand personality and characteristics because color evokes emotion, meaning subscribers will get a feel of your brand values based on your color choices.When choosing a font color, consider what service or product you provide and what emotions you want customers to feel about your brand. Then, decide on a font color that compliments the background of your design. Don’t go overboard — two or three font colors is plenty. Black or grey body copy is always a safe, readable choice. This Dropps message uses blue headers and easily visible body copy.Subject line: Take 30% off our reusable wool dryer balls ?

Use web-safe fonts for your emails and landing pages 

The typography choices you make are crucial to the overall success of your marketing campaigns. Design in BEE Pro to quickly create perfect emails and landing pages with web-safe fonts. BEE makes it easy to pick your font and even set up and save your brand kit to easily access your desired fonts each time you head into the design suite. Start designing from scratch or explore BEE’s template catalog for a fresh look. Get started here.

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

Do you send Get to Know Your Customers Day emails? This fun "holiday" takes place on the third Thursday of every quarter — in January, April, July and October. It reminds brands to reach out to customers and work on developing those important relationships that will help your business grow. And if you design your emails the right way, this holiday can have major long-term benefits for your brand. Here’s what you need to know about Get to Know Your Customers Day, plus some email design ideas to try.

Get to Know Your Customers Day can have major long-term benefits for your brand.

Why send a Get to Know Your Customers Day email?

Get to Know Your Customers Day is a valuable opportunity for brands. Take advantage of this chance to follow up on the main holidays we’ve just passed and develop more of a bond with your customers. Forging stronger customer relationships should always be a priority. Companies that create an emotional connection with their customers outperform their competitors in sales growth by 85%!While marketing is essential too, don’t get so busy seeking out new customers that you forget to work on getting to know the ones you have. As your customer relationships are strengthened, not only will your customers be more inclined to buy from you — you’ll also understand how to better market to them.Check out these Get to Know Your Customers Day email ideas to engage your customers and increase their loyalty to your brand.

Get to Know Your Customers Day email design ideas

Send out a customer survey

Capitalize on Get to Know Your Customers Day by, well, getting to know your customers. This is a great chance to send out a customer survey and get some direct feedback on your brand. Email design best practices for survey invitation emails include providing an incentive, having an engaging subject line and being clear and direct about what you want your customers to do. Chobani displays every one of these best practices in the example below. It’s easy for the reader to take action!Subject line: Chance to win $200 gift card for taking our Chobani Rewards survey 

Start a loyalty program

Use your Get to Know Your Customers Day email to introduce your loyalty program. Loyalty programs have a lot of benefits for businesses: They can be used to attract new customers, re-engage current ones and increase your revenue overall. In this colorful and attractive email from Starbucks, the coffee company plugs its rewards program (dubbed Starland). The email makes it clear what readers will get out of joining the rewards program and includes a CTA for you to join now.Subject line: Deliciously different ?

Dynamic content

Use dynamic content, recommending products to your customers based on what they’ve purchased in the past, and strengthening your relationship with them by helping them feel seen and taken care of. With this approach, everyone gets a tailored-to-them email with products they’d be more likely to buy. Skillshare sent an email with personalized class picks for each subscriber.Subject line: Your personal class recommendations 

Make yourself available

Make yourself available to your customers. This is a simple concept, but all too often it’s something that companies don’t do. Being accessible to your customers is essential to improve customer service and strengthen customer relationships.You can do this by responding to emails, hosting an event (virtual or in-person) or inviting your readers to interact with you. Williams Sonoma even threw a specific customer appreciation event, providing a discount code to say thanks to its customers. The opportunities are endless. Just make sure you’re responsive and willing to talk.Subject line: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

Say thanks

The last of our Get to Know Your Customers Day Ideas is simple, but important: Say thank you. Expressing your genuine appreciation helps your customers feel valued. And when your customers feel valued, their loyalty to your brand will increase. Adding a special discount code like GAP did here only sweetens the deal.Subject line: Code GAPFALL is our way of saying thanks. 

Wrap-up: Get to Know Your Customers Day email design

The first Get to Know Your Customers Day of the year is coming up on Thursday, January 21st! Prepare your emails now using the BEE email editor — a simple, free solution for email design. With these Get to Know Your Customers Day ideas in hand, you’re well on your way to creating better relationships with your customers this year.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

New year, new email design tactics? That’s a yes from us! Many businesses leaned heavily on email marketing throughout 2020. And email design will only continue to be essential into 2021. With the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more brands are relying on digital channels such as email to communicate with their customers.But the face of email marketing has changed. Email design trends are constantly evolving, and the pandemic has altered customer communications forever. By getting ahead of the biggest email design trends in 2021, you can effectively market your business via email. Email marketing is here to stay--but it's your job to stay on top of the latest trends. Here are the email marketing trends for 2021 that can help increase your engagement. (Looking for more email marketing trends? Check out this post from Jordie at Email Monday: The Future of Email Marketing & Marketing Automation. We're proud to be included!)

Email design trends are constantly evolving, and the pandemic has altered customer communications forever.

Minimalist design

Keep things simple by designing minimalistic emails that are uncluttered, visually stunning and get the point across. Minimalistic emails have fewer design elements; they’re less distracting so your reader immediately knows what you want them to do.White space, easily readable typography and muted colors are all components that can go into designing minimalistic emails. This message from Crate & Barrel is essentially just a header and one image. The color scheme is light and airy and it takes the reader just a few seconds to take in the email and CTA — Shop Now.Subject line: it’s on: CYBER WKND SALE

Customer experience

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many customers transitioned to purchasing online instead of in-store. For many shoppers, these online buys may be their first digital shopping experience with your brand. So it’s your job to help them through the process as much as possible. You can incorporate customer experience into your emails by:

• Providing a direct link to open a support chat
• Answering FAQ’s about buying your products online
• Offering tips for navigating your website

That's what VideoAsk does here by providing a link to its Help Center in the email footer. The link takes readers to a landing page where they can search tutorials and articles to find the answer to their question. When your customers have a good digital experience, they’ll return to buy from your site again and again.Subject line: Camera shy? We've got the cure

Broken grid layout

Your email doesn’t have to use a traditional layout where all of your design elements are assembled in neat columns. One of the major email design trends for 2021 is a broken grid layout. Essentially, this type of layout makes it feel as if the email doesn’t have columns at all, switching up the structure for a different look. This BEE template is an example of an email with a broken grid.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Video in email

Video in email was a major email marketing trend we saw going into 2020, and videos will only increase in popularity in 2021. Videos can increase click rates by 65% and reduce unsubscribe rates by 26%! When you add videos to your emails, keep in mind that many big-name email platforms don’t allow video playback within an email (such as Outlook, Yahoo and Gmail). It’s best to embed a link to the video in your message (like GoPro does here) so your reader can open the video on your website, YouTube channel or a landing page.Subject line: Best of 2019 video

Dark mode compatibility

It’s absolutely essential to add provisions for dark mode into your email marketing strategy for 2021. Every day, more people start using dark mode to view email, so optimizing your emails to be read with dark mode turned on ensures everyone will be able to read your messages. Using transparent images, outlining black text in white and testing your dark mode emails are a few ways to make sure your emails are dark mode compatible. This winter-themed message from Litmus showcases dark mode and light mode done right.Subject line: Live Optimization comes to you, more stats than you can shake a stick at, and more

Connection and empathy

2020 has changed many things forever. The way companies communicate with their customers is one of them. This year, brands have learned to connect with their customers on a new level, keeping them informed about everything that’s going on and reminding them we’re all in this together. And that email marketing trend should carry over into 2021 and beyond.This empathetic message from Tuft & Needle’s CEO was sent in mid-March as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated in the U.S. It kept customers in the loop and encouraged them to take care of themselves. But you don’t have to wait for a global crisis to show empathy to your customers. Focus on putting your customers’ needs first at every time of year.Subject line: An update from our CEO

Bold colors and text

One of the final email design trends in 2021 that we’re expecting to see is bold colors and text. Many brands are putting text across their hero image, like this stunning example from The North Face. This tactic is a good way to grab your reader’s attention and start the email off strong.Subject line: Get 30% off gear (and gifts) before they’re gone

Wrap-up: BEE editor

Start off the New Year on the right foot by using the BEE email editor to design your marketing emails and email newsletters. With BEE’s simple drag-and-drop editor, it’s easy to stay on top of the email design trends for 2021 and create emails that will get more engagement. Start designing for free today!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

‍Why choosing the best font for email matters

Selecting a font for your emails can greatly affect how  your message is read and displayed across different email clients and devices. It's a small but crucial decision that can make or break the effectiveness of your communication.

• Readability: A font can make your messaging easier (or more difficult) to read. You want it to be comfortable and inviting for readers, including people with visual impairments.
• Branding: Some fonts have a modern aesthetic, some look traditional, some look more feminine or more masculine, and so on. The aesthetic theme of your font contributes to the overall brand your email cultivates.
• Emotion: Fonts can contribute to the feel or tone of your email. Whether you’re trying to create a fun or corporate vibe your font will impact this. How strange would it be to see a marketing email that was addressing a serious, somber topic using a comic sans font?
• Attention: Using fonts strategically can, along with your overall email design, guide readers’ eyes to where you want them to go. This can improve your conversions as you’re guiding readers toward making a purchase, booking a call, or whatever your call-to-action may be.
• Technical Rendering: One of the challenges with email marketing is that people in your mailing list are receiving your emails on a wide variety of platforms and apps: Gmail, the iOS Mail app, Outlook, and more. Not all fonts will render properly on all these platforms, so if you choose the wrong font, it could look completely different for some readers.

Each of these things on its own might seem minor. But together, they mean that your font is an important factor in how successful your email marketing is, and every conversion matters.

Best fonts for email

Thinking about all the ways your font can affect your email, it’s easy to get bogged down trying to analyze every font you can find online, searching for the perfect one or the perfect combination.

Don’t worry; we’ve done the overthinking for you already.

While your font choice for each email will ultimately depend on your brand and your message, there are certain fonts that work particularly well for emails.

• Courier
• Georgia
• Lucida Sans
• Tahoma
• Times New Roman
• Trebuchet MS
• Verdana
• Arial 
• Helvetica

What is a web-safe email font

A web-safe font is a font that nearly all email platforms and web browsers are able to display properly. Every email app and web browsers can display HTML emails differently, and this is something you don’t have control over on your audience’s end. Using web-safe fonts ensures that your emails are readable and attractive in almost any app or browser your recipients use to view the emails.

All of the nine fonts we listed above are web-safe fonts, but each one also has its own characteristics that make it excellent for email marketing. Let’s break them down.

‍

Courier

Courier is a font people often associate with typewriters. It has a somewhat whimsical, old-timey look that can be perfect if you’re going for a vintage feel.

Georgia

Georgia is a font you’ve probably seen often in books and literature. It’s a popular choice for publishing houses and conveys a professional yet creative look in email marketing.

Lucida Sans

Lucida Sans is a font that is common in marketing emails and sometimes websites, but you don’t see it in many other places. Still, it’s a simple and easily readable font that could be perfect for your next campaign.

Tahoma

You’ve probably seen Tahoma font more often than you realize. It has a very simple but slightly modern look to it, which makes it ideal for some contemporary brands.

Times New Roman

Times New Roman is about as classic as it gets. It spent many years as Microsoft Word’s default font so chances are that you think of it as the font you used for all your school papers in your youth. It’s a font we all easily read and recognize which is perfect for email marketing.

Trebuchet MS

Trebuchet MS font might look familiar because it’s similar to Calibri, a default font in many word processors. It’s standard and clear, without making a strong impression toward any particular style, but it’s straightforward and easy to read.

Verdana

If you’re on the hunt for a font that is clear and readable but has a bit of a fun flair to it, check out Verdana. This popular email marketing font has a youthful but still professional look.

Arial

Arial font is about as simple and standard as it gets. It’s abundantly easy to read and uses fairly minimalistic characters, making it appropriate for a wide range of styles and brands.

Helvetica

As far as web-safe fonts go, Helvetica is the peak of modern chic. This font’s rounded characters and thin line give it a 21st-century look that’s ideal for brands who want the latest in style.

Author's note: Drawbacks of Helvetica and Arial

While all of the fonts above are excellent for email marketing, there’s a specific issue that Helvetica and Arial face: excessive uniformity.

In these fonts, some letters like p, b, q, and d, or i and l, are actually too similar to each other. That can make them tough for readers’ minds to quickly distinguish, leading to misinterpretations. Be mindful of how and when you use them. Avoid these fonts if your company name contains several of these uniform characters, like abode, abide, illicit, or dabble, as it can make your name hard to read and recognize.

Types of fonts

In the world of typography, there are four basic types of fonts: serif, sans serif, decorative, and script. These each have different properties that affect how readable they are and how and when they should be used.

Serif Fonts

Take a look at some text in Times New Roman for a moment. Consider the capital T. You’ll see that it has little lines that come off the bottom of the T, and off the right and left sides of the top line in the T. These little lines are called serifs. You’ll find them on nearly all letters in Times New Roman.Fonts that contain those serifs are known as serif fonts. Not only do these serifs add a bit of an elegant flair but they can make fonts more readable because you don’t have the problem of excessive uniformity. Of the ideal email marketing fonts we listed above, the serif fonts are Courier, Georgia, and Times New Roman.

Sans Serif

While serif fonts are those that contain serifs, sans serif fonts are those without serifs. As far as email marketing fonts go, Lucida Sans, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, and Helvetica are all sans serif fonts.

Decorative

Decorative fonts are fonts that are, well, decorative. They’re highly unique and are usually designed with a niche look that portrays a specific theme. These fonts are designed not necessarily for readability but to catch someone’s eye. For example, you’ll often see these in titles on posters or other design projects, as well as social media graphics and so on.

Script

A script font is a font that looks like cursive handwriting, generally. These fonts, like decorative fonts, are best reserved for titles and other areas in which you want your text to catch a reader’s eye but where there isn’t much text to read, because they aren’t easy to skim at a glance. Script fonts typically have a decidedly elegant, classy look.

Best email fonts for different email use cases

Best fonts for email body text

Your email’s body text and header text have different goals and needs. When it comes to body text, the key is for the text to be easy to read smoothly and quickly. You want readers to be able to read it comfortably rather than struggling to interpret each word. That comes from fonts that don’t just use simple and straightforward lines but that have an appropriate amount of space between each letter and word.

In general, choose a serif font for body text in emails with longer blocks of text - these fonts are perfect for quick reading. Our recommendations are:

• Georgia
• Verdana
• Times New Roman

We tend to scan through emails, and fonts like these have wide enough spacing that we can catch everything even as we skim.

Best fonts for email header text

In your marketing emails, headers are all about snatching a reader’s attention and pulling them in. The fonts need to be readable, sure, but because your headers are brief, they don’t need to be as easy to skim as body text does. You also want to make sure there’s some contrast between your header font and your body font. This allows your headers to stand out and pull in the reader’s eye.

As we noted, serif fonts are ideal for body text. An excellent way to contrast them, then, is to use a sans serif font for your headers. You don’t want two fonts that have so much personality that they clash with each other - you want them to have a natural flow. Any of the sans serif fonts we named above can be excellent for headers, such as:

• Helvetica
• Tahoma
• Verdana 

Note that you also want to distinguish between your header text and body text in other ways. Make your headers a larger font size than your body text, for example, and make them bold. This makes it clear to readers that these headers are telling them what they’ll learn from each section of your email.

Best fonts for newsletters

Email newsletters tend to have more text than, say, promotional emails and transactional emails. For that reason, use fonts that are easy to read quickly. We recommend:

• Arial
• Tahoma
• Oswald
• Raleway

Best fonts for business emails

Every email you create for your email marketing should be designed to appeal to your specific audience. When you’re sending a business email or a marketing email to a business, you want to convey a professional and polished image. Avoid fonts that are casual or potentially silly, like Comic Sans or most decorative fonts. Instead, we recommend fonts with a more buttoned-up look such as:

• Helvetica
• Arial
• Georgia
• Poppins
• Ubuntu

Best fonts for email signatures

Your email signature will be on all of the emails you send to all audiences. That means you want the font to be universally appropriate: just as suitable for business readers as consumer readers. Some top options include:

• Open Sans
• Lato
• Tahoma
• Arial
• Poppins
• Oswald
• Helvetica
• Georgia
• Roboto

‍

Best practices for using fonts in emails

Choosing a font is just one aspect of optimizing your emails for readability. Some elements such as font size and color are also important to keep top of mind.

Size

When it comes to email text, size matters. If your text is too big, you’ll have big blocks of text that turn off readers. If it’s too small, it’s hard for readers to read it comfortably. So what’s the middle ground?

• Fody text: A 14-point font is considered the gold standard, though anything from 10-16 can work depending on the font.
  ‍
• For headers: The rule of thumb is to go no larger than 36-point font. Even adding just 3-4 points to your body text can create large enough headers that stand out, assuming it’s a different font and bold.

Color

The colors you choose for your marketing emails are just as important as the colors you use in any other piece of branded marketing. Ideally, use your custom brand colors and, within your assortment of brand colors, choose colors that embody the feel you want for your email.

Remember that body text is all about easy readability, and headers are all about grabbing attention. In general, it’s best to use color in your headers but not in your body text. The color you use should depend, though, on your email’s background color. There are certain rules for readable color combinations, like using black text on a high-contrast color background or using white text on rich, dark colors.

Bold

Bold font can be an excellent tool in directing the reader’s eye in a marketing email. It’s great for headers, helping these high points stand out.

Within the body of your email, though, you can also use brief bold text to call attention to certain phrases. This can be a smart choice for particularly impactful phrases, like “Our latest webinar is your go-to guide for doubling your sales in the next three months.”

Remember, though, that the more text you bold, the less impact it has because it no longer stands out. Less is more.

Link formatting

Adding links to your email text can be an excellent way to further engage readers and prompt conversions. You don’t need to stick with the standard blue, underlined text for links. You can get creative by bolding links and/or putting them in one of your brand colors. This makes them better flow with the design of your email while calling attention to them. But make sure they’re just as readable (both before and after they’re clicked) as the rest of your body text.

Text alignment

For US-based audiences, their eyes immediately start on the left side of their screen because they read from left to right. It might sound like a small detail, but aligning your text to the left makes it easier to read because it coordinates better with your audience’s natural flow.

How to integrate custom fonts in emails

There are cases when you might want to use custom fonts rather than standardized web-safe fonts in marketing emails. For example, when you make the design for your headline message“Flash sale today!” or “Tickets now on sale!” more engaging.

What’s the best way to do this?

Because custom fonts often won’t render properly on many email platforms, it’s best to use an image instead. Use design software to create an image that contains your message in the custom font and place this in your email body. Then, you can use a web-safe font below the image to go into more detail now that the image has grabbed the reader’s attention.

There are a few caveats to keep in mind here.

First, some of your readers might have images disabled in their email platforms, and in that case, they won’t be able to see that snazzy image with your custom font.

Second, remember that some of your readers may have visual impairments, so they might be using text-to-speech features. Those features won’t be able to read the text in your images, so it’s vital to include alt text for the image that tells these readers what the image says and shows.

Another option is to use an HTML email builder like Beefree. Beefree gives you the option to add custom fonts, like your own brand’s font, for your convenient use.

The New Year is coming up and we’ve never been more ready for a fresh start. We’re guessing many of you feel the same way — and your customers and clients probably do, too. Start the New Year off right by sending a Happy New Year business email to thank the people who’ve made your year a success. Here are a few ideas to help you get started with your New Year’s email design.

Start the New Year off right by sending a Happy New Year business email to thank the people who’ve made your year a success.

Why send a Happy New Year email for business?

The new year is a good time to reflect on everything you’ve accomplished over the last 12 months. And chances are, you didn’t achieve your successes on your own. In one survey, 91% of people said they were more likely to do business with a company that appreciated its customers and clients. That’s why it’s essential to show some love to yours! Use these tips for a Happy New Year business email to set your company up for success in the coming year.

Decide who should receive the email

Consider creating a few different Happy New Year emails to go out to different audiences. Send one to your customers and email list, encompassing anyone who has purchased from or interacted with your brand in the past year. Create another message to go out internally, thanking each of your team members for their contributions during the past year. And you may want to send an email to your suppliers or companies you’ve partnered with as well. This Peet’s Coffee email is directed to customers of the company — a fact that’s clear from the email’s copy and tone.Subject line: Happy New Year from Peet’s

Consider your tone

The tone of your Happy New Year business email will vary based on the audience who will be reading that email. Are you writing to your customers, suppliers or employees? Each group will require a different tone. In this example, Organic Valley is speaking to its customers. The company’s tone is straightforward and direct, recapping the year and saying a genuine thank you to readers.Subject line: Happy New Year! ?

Focus on your readers

It’s nice to recap your company’s year and share the successes you’ve achieved over the past twelve months. But it can also be a good idea to turn the focus away from yourself and onto your clients or customers. Tell your customers that you’ll be there for them to help them achieve their goals and dreams in the new year. You could even invite them to hit reply and share their New Year’s resolutions, creating an opportunity to interact and start off the year on the right foot (then use their replies to create user-generated content later!).

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Set the scene

Even though a New Year’s email comes on the tail end of the holiday season, your readers are probably still in holiday mode. Use your email design to give a nod to the festivities. Try using gold accents or scripted fonts to give your Happy New Year business email a little pizzazz. MealPal added a confetti-filled background in this New Year’s email to set the tone for January 1st.Subject line: Here’s a little New Year treat ?

Personalize your messages

No matter who you’re sending your New Year’s email to — whether your customers, employees or a different segment altogether — make sure to customize the email to that group of recipients. Adding first names and direct, personal copy helps your readers feel valued as you speak right to them.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Wrap-up: Happy New Year email template

The end of the year is busy enough as it is. Don’t create extra work for yourself! Work off of the same base Happy New Year email template, simply tweaking the copy to make it appropriate for each separate email you send. Our New Year’s email templates are easy to customize using the BEE email editor. Just pick your favorite email and add your images and text (plus any brand visuals you desire). Then send your best wishes for the New Year business email off — reinforcing your relationship with your customers and employees as they ring in 2021!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

Are you trying to increase your open rate in email marketing? Your open rate is important — after all, your customers have to open your email before they can click the CTA or make a purchase! Luckily, with a few key changes, improving your open rate isn’t that hard. Today we’re going to break down how to increase email open rate and make more sales. Read on to learn how to improve your open rate in email marketing.

Your open rate is important — after all, your customers have to open your email before they can click the CTA or make a purchase!

What’s a good email open rate?

A “good” email open rate will vary by niche. In general, though, the average open rate across all industries is 17.8%. If your email open rate is 15% or higher, that’s usually an average or good open rate. Of course, the goal is for your email open rate to be as high as it can be. Here’s how to increase email open rate through a few simple changes to your email marketing strategy.

Clean up your email list

Before you do anything else, try cleaning up your email list to help your open rate improve. Open rate (expressed as a percentage) is calculated by taking the number of emails read and dividing that by the total number of emails sent, then multiplying that by 100. So when you delete inactive email addresses from your email list, your open rate is automatically going to improve.You can clean up your email list by removing:

• Duplicate email addresses
• Spam email addresses
• Typo-ridden email addresses
• Email addresses that haven’t engaged with your messages in the past six months
• Email addresses that have asked to be unsubscribed (of course, you should be removing these anyway!)

Once your email list is trimmed down, your open rate is going to improve, even if the same number of people open your emails as before. Revisit your email list every few months to keep it cleaned up.

Focus on deliverability

The next step is to make sure your email deliverability is as good as it can be. After all, your customers can’t open your emails if they don’t receive them! Improve your IP address so your emails won’t go to spam. You should also send emails on a regular basis to improve your email deliverability score. And don't forget to make it easy to unsubscribe so people don’t mark your messages as spam — like this GoMacro email with a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the footer:Subject line: Alexa, order MacroBars!

Optimize your message for mobile

85% of users use smartphones to access their email, so it’s essential that you optimize your emails for mobile viewing. Keep your email short and concise with only the most relevant information. Also, make sure your CTA stands out and preview your message before sending to make sure it looks good. BEE’s email templates are responsive on any device, with the BEE editor’s preview tool allowing you to view your message before sending.

Be mindful of your subject line length

Your subject line acts as a preview of your email, teasing what’s inside and sparking your reader’s interest. So it’s important for the subject line to be as good as it can be. Keep your subject line to 50 characters or so with the most important words at the beginning so it can be read on any device. Don’t use spammy words, but do add numbers, percentages and emojis — all of which have been proven to increase email open rates. Here are a few subject lines we love:

• It’s here! ✨ Our annual holiday sale starts now
• Last call for an exclusive 15% off
• The world’s comfiest party dress ??
• Hot deals from $19.90 go cold tomorrow!
• Don’t miss out — up to 40% off home ends today!

Perform A/B testing

Run A/B tests to help improve open rate. With A/B testing, you send one version of a certain email to one set of subscribers and a slightly different version of the same email to another set. This allows you to test individual design pieces such as your subject line, CTA or email copy to see which ones perform best. Then you can compile the best-performing elements into one stellar email.

Personalize your sender name

68% of Americans base their decision on whether to open an email on the “from” name. For best results, make sure yours is personal. Here are a few examples of what this looks like:

This personal touch is more likely to make sure your email is opened.

Change your timing

What days of the week and times of day are you sending your emails? Revisiting your schedule might help improve your open rate in email marketing. The best time to send marketing emails will vary from brand to brand, so it will take some testing to see what boosts your open rate the most. In general, though, weekdays in the early afternoon are a good place to start.

Follow email design best practices

Our final tip to improve your open rate in email marketing is simple: Design good emails. Following basic email design best practices is one of the best ways to ensure your emails are consistently opened as your subscribers learn over time to expect high-quality content from you. A few key email design best practices include:

• Structure your email so it’s easy to read
• Be strategic with your use of color
• Provide valuable, relevant content
• Add dynamic content (GIFs or videos)
• Write high-quality copy

Here’s a good example from J. Crew. Colorful photos showcase the products that are on sale, and the email encourages shoppers to plan ahead before providing relevant website and social media links. This is a well-designed marketing email that’s a pleasure to read. And when you build a reputation for sending the same, your open rate will improve.Subject line: Cozy on cozy on cozy 

Wrap-up: Increase your open rate in email marketing

Use the BEE email editor to help design emails that will boost your open rate. The BEE editor is a free marketing tool that makes it simple to create responsive, HTML emails by uploading images, adding text and typing directly onto CTA buttons. Use the BEE editor’s user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface to design beautiful marketing emails and increase your open rate!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

As 2022 comes to a close, we're preparing to send our last emails of the year. Among them is a Happy New Year email to clients: sending a Happy New Year message to our customers makes perfect sense: they're the ones that keep us all in business, and they deserve a heartfelt "Thank You!!".To get inspired, we're looking back at some of our favorite New Year's email greetings from the past couple of years. Most of these messages fall into one of these four categories:

1. Personal notes
2. Promotions
3. Short and sweet messages
4. Year In Review emails

Whether you're sending a Happy New Year email to clients, customers, colleagues or friends, there's plenty of inspiration here to make your message beautiful and bright. Scroll on to get inspired and then head over to our template catalog to browse over 30 free new year email templatesand quickly design the perfect message for your New Year campaign.

#1. New Year emails with a personal tone

It’s the perfect time of year to reflect on months past and express your thanks to everyone who supported, followed along and invested in you. To show gratitude, many Happy New Year emails have a personal touch, whether it's a note from a CEO or photos of staff.

Function of Beauty

Subject line: New year, but we’re still doing us

This Happy New Year email from Function of Beauty does a great job of reinforcing brand awareness and putting a face to the brand.

Pursoma

Subject line: A Well New Year ✨

In this personal letter, Pursoma CEO Shannon Vaughn expresses gratitude to her company’s customers and shares what she’s thankful for. This heartfelt message is succinct but impactful, creating genuine engagement that resonates.

Still House

Subject: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's an example of a Happy New Year email that keeps it simple with a thought-provoking quote and a brief Happy New Year message. The pale background color and basic font create a look that’s elegant, yet easy to read (and create).

#2. Promotional New Year emails with a nudge to buy

While some New Year emails take a break from offering deals and promotions, others add an incentive to click.Customers have a ton of momentum to purchase during the New Year and an email is a great way to direct this traction to your website or landing page.These promotional emails have a good balance of messaging that says Happy New Year while also giving readers a reason to purchase.

Indie Lee

Subject line: Don’t *stress* - new year, NEW products

Who doesn’t want to start off the New Year with a healthy dose of zen? Here, Indie Lee highlights a few products that can help readers start off the year in the zone.

J. Crew

Subject line: New year, new sweaters

While the copy in this J. Crew Happy New Year email may not have aged well, this is still a great example of a fun New Year’s promotion. We love the “Wear it with” section, helping customers envision how J. Crew’s sweaters can be paired with other products to create a full outfit.

Eileen Fisher 

Subject line: New year, new blueThis New Year email from Eileen Fisher is a play on the “New Year, new you” concept, showcasing several blue sweaters that are on sale.

#3. Reflective New Year emails featuring a year in review

There's a big window for sending a year-in-review email. We typically see them land in our inbox anywhere from the last week of December all the way through mid-January. Year-in-review emails generally round up or summarize a brand's highlights, achievements or big moments of the year. Here are a couple of examples.

OptiMonk

Subject line: Thank you for being with us in 2019! Here are our favorite moments…

This email from OptiMonk is nicely structured and easy to read with 2019’s high points shared in a bulleted list. The images also add a personal touch.

Linjer

Subject line: Thank you for a wonderful 2018

Linjer recapped its year with a few brief lines of copy primarily focusing on new product launches and products that had been removed.

#4. Short and sweet

Not feeling sentimental, reflective or promotional? That's okay — plenty of brands send short and sweet Happy New Year emails that do the trick. These emails still accomplish the goal of getting your brand name in front of readers over the holidays. Plus, they’re a lot of fun to send!

The North Face

Subject line: Happy New Year, explorers

This email from The North Face is absolutely perfect for the company’s audience and brand. It’s fresh, fun and imbued with a sense of adventure for readers to carry into the New Year.

Michael Kors

Subject line: Happy New Year!

Like The North Face’s email, this message from Michael Kors is perfectly on-brand — it’s elegant, sparkly and refined. We love the handwritten touch.

Wrap-up: Happy New Year email templates

Need to quickly send your New Year's email greeting? Check out BEE's many free Happy New Year email templates. There are over 30 of them in our template catalog and some great Happy New Year landing pages too. You can immediately customize the text, replace images, move or remove content blocks — you name it. It's simple and fast, and all templates are created by professional designers. Happy New Year, and happy email designing!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

Updated December 20, 2022.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas — and after the kind of year 2020 has been, we’re ready for a little holiday cheer! This year, holiday e-commerce spending is projected to be bigger than ever. Prepare for the most wonderful time of the year by creating a Christmas email campaign that will connect with your customers and boost sales! Check out these Christmas email campaign ideas for some inspiration as you design your own Christmas messages this year.

Prepare for the most wonderful time of the year by creating a Christmas email campaign that will connect with your customers and boost sales.

Write festive Christmas email subject lines

Your Christmas email marketing subject lines are among the most important parts of your holiday emails. Emojis are popular, with small Christmas trees, gift boxes and Santa heads peppering our inboxes. We're also seeing the keywords "gift," "holiday" and "Christmas" pop up over and over. Experiment with different combinations of Christmassy words and emojis, testing different Christmas email subject lines to see which ones work best.

Consider your timing

Timing is everything when it comes to Christmas emails. Don’t be afraid to start early; consumers are prepared to see Christmas marketing messages as early as the first weeks of November to promote those early December sales. As we get closer to the holiday, you’ll want to tweak the content of your messages, ditching the early-bird sales in favor of promoting things like fast shipping. Here, Pai Skincare does a great job of plugging its e-gift cards on Christmas Eve.Subject line: ? We can get to you today

Explain your COVID precautions

We don’t have to tell you that this year looks different for retailers and shoppers. Many consumers are planning to shop entirely online to help stop the spread of COVID-19, and the shoppers who are venturing into stores want to be reassured that they’ll have a safe shopping experience. Use your Christmas email campaigns to explain what you’re doing to keep your customers safe. In this festive email, Oshkosh shares three COVID-related messages:

• Encourages customers to shop early to avoid potential shipping delays
• Tells customers they can shop online and pick up their purchases curbside
• Shares how employees are keeping stores clean

Oshkosh makes it easy for customers to shop, even during a global pandemic.Subject line: 8 weeks till Christmas!!!

Choose a different color combo

The pale blue hues in this Christmas email from Snowe provide a refreshing change from the reds and greens our eyes are bombarded with during the holidays. We also love the body copy, encouraging customers to order now so they don’t have to wrap a printout of the gift. And the section of bestselling products at the bottom is easy to customize for each customer based on their browsing history.Subject line: Order by tomorrow, get it by Christmas

Get creative with your sales

When it comes to holiday sales, you might be tempted to slap a 20% off sticker on your entire store and call it a day. But by getting a little more creative with your promotions, you can be more memorable and increase your sales. Draper James hosted a 12 Days of Gifts event where different products were on sale each day. In the email below, the company announced that all plaid items were 30% off with the code MADABOUTPLAID. This is a fun way to add a little pizzazz to a holiday sale and push your customers toward products that they may not have considered purchasing on their own.Subject line: The most Christmas-y dresses ever ?

Offer 12 days of deals

Draper James isn’t the only company offering 12 days of deals — this fun marketing scheme is fairly popular among the brands in our inbox. Here, Boll & Branch shares a secret, special promotion that turns out to be a discount on the company’s sheets. A handy vintage-looking calendar lets customers keep track of where they are in the 12 days of deals.Subject line: It’s Day 1 of our 12 deals of Christmas!

Here’s another example from Lucky Brand Jeans. This brand uses a festive gold color scheme to share its “12 Days of Giftmas” deals.Subject line: LAST DAY: Order and get it now for Christmas!

When it comes to Christmas email campaign ideas, this one is both fun and effective: The more chances for your customers to save, the better.

Be clear about your offer

Don’t fall prey to the temptation of taking up lots of space with flowery Christmas decorations or unnecessary design elements. Keep things simple and clear so your readers immediately understand what’s being offered. In this Christmas email, Yankee Candle’s promotion is immediately stated: All large candles are 5 for $55 for a limited time. Then the email goes into other product photos and less important CTA’s. The important stuff is at the beginning of the message, where it can’t be missed.Subject line: NOW: 5 for $55 large candles — 5 days ‘til Christmas!

Send a holiday gift guide

Here’s another one of the Christmas email campaign ideas that frequents our inbox in December: personalized gift guides to help shoppers find presents for friends and family. Toy brand Melissa and Doug shared an entire blog post on this topic and sent the post to its readers via email:Subject line: Best gifts for toddlers & kids (and why!)

You can categorize your gift guides as broadly or as specifically as you’d like. Lucky Brand Jeans (above) simply shared two sections of products — one for men and one for women. Depending on your industry, the nature of your product and how many products you have available, you might choose to separate out your gift guide into a larger number of sections. KEEN Footwear sent out a holiday gift guide with ideas for hikers, sledders and paddlers (how cute is this illustration?).Subject line: Gift ideas inside

You can also group products by price so budget-conscious consumers can find what they need. Sharing a gift guide via email is a smart way to help your customers make a purchase from you this Christmas.

Use GIFs

There’s no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than a festive GIF or animated illustration! In this cute email from Uncommon Goods advertising holiday e-gift cards, a circle of candy canes surrounds a gift card. As you watch, the candy canes all flip the other way and then back again while snow falls in the background of the GIF.

Here's the full email:Subject line: There’s still time to save Christmas

This Christmas email marketing idea is an eye-catching, fun way to help the message stand out.

Wrap-up: Christmas email templates

Now that your head is spinning with Christmas email campaign ideas, it’s time to create your own! Check out our Christmas email templates to get started. You might like this Your Wish List Is Here message designed by Navid Nosrati:

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Or this adorable Christmas Restaurant Food Delivery email created by Oksana Melis Barsukova.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Happy designing — and happy holidays from all of us at BEE!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

Described as the Black Friday of UK sales, Boxing Day occurs on the day after Christmas each year. It’s a valuable chance for companies to offer one final holiday discount — whether you’re based in the UK or not. Many businesses treat Boxing Day as a way to clear out any extra stock to make space for other products in the new year. Think of your Boxing Day email marketing as the final follow-up to your Black Friday sales, Cyber Monday discounts and other holiday promotions.When it comes to Boxing Day sales, having a strong marketing strategy is key. Let your customers know about your deals through one of the channels where they’re most active: email! Check out these helpful Boxing Day email marketing tips to create emails that will convert this December.

Think of Boxing Day as the final follow-up to your Black Friday sales, Cyber Monday discounts and other holiday promotions.

Create catchy Boxing Day email subject lines

Customers expect good deals, so share your discount in the subject line of your Boxing Day sale email. Give your customers details about where they can shop (online? In-store?) and consider using an emoji to grab the eye.

Use product GIFs

If you’ve read our past blog posts, you know that we’re big fans of product GIFs. Emails with GIFs are more likely to be opened; they have a higher conversion rate, too. And creating your own original product GIFs is a unique and snazzy way to show off your goods.These cute GIFs show Murad’s skincare products sliding in and out of their boxes. The images look like a stop-motion film:Subject line: Today only! 20% off for ? Boxing Day! ?

Incorporate product GIFs into your Boxing Day email marketing to highlight your products and increase your conversion rate.

Get creative with color

Draw on the power of color to help advertise your Boxing Day sales. Color psychology plays a big role in marketing. Red gets attention fast and orange brings an aspect of friendliness and fun, making this combo used by Milligram the perfect choice for a Boxing Day email. And while the majority of the email is composed of a single image, Milligram adds that same red-orange color elsewhere too — like the standout CTA button and the hyperlinks in the body copy.Subject line: Boxing Day sale now on!

Add a countdown timer

Countdown timers are an excellent way to push customers to take action for your Boxing Day sale. Not every company takes the trouble to add a countdown timer to its emails. So by doing so, you can stand out. (And, psst — adding countdown timers really isn’t that hard.) This Boxing Day message from Frank And Oak caught our eye: It provides a countdown timer so you know exactly how much time you have left to shop.Subject line: Ending soon: Boxing Day sale ?

Continue the holiday season

Think of your Boxing Day email marketing as a continuation of the holiday season. That’s what Bodum does here, telling customers not to worry if Santa forgot their wish list — the holiday season isn’t over yet! Using a similar “treat yourself” concept can go a long way in encouraging customers to make a purchase. Bodum also includes a few key products in this email with separate CTA’s for each one — an easy opportunity to retarget customers who have looked at your site but haven’t converted.Subject line: Bodum Boxing Day sale is on! Up to 70% off

Use a play on words

Boxing Day provides some fun opportunities for a play on words (and emojis, like Murad’s Boxing Day email subject line, above, that included two cardboard box emojis). Dr. Roebucks takes advantage by giving customers the code BOXITUP. When you give your customers a discount code, it’s important to choose something simple and easy to remember. BOXITUP is a great example of a fun discount code that’s more memorable than a string of unrelated numbers and letters. Incorporate a similar play on words into your Boxing Day email marketing this year.Subject line: BOXING DAY SALE ENDS TODAY

Wrap-up: Boxing Day Email Templates

Ready to get started on your Boxing Day email marketing? Use the BEE email editor to help! With BEE's user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface and its catalog of 500+ email templates, you don't have to be a professional graphic designer to create professional marketing emails. Sign up for a free account and start designing today!

Share this post with your friends! Pin it on Pinterest ?

Originally published on October 29, 2020. Last updated October 22, 2021.

Cyber Monday is the most significant e-commerce event of the year. It’s the busiest online shopping day, which makes it crucial for businesses to take advantage of the hype. Cyber Monday sales are projected to more than double Thanksgiving sales, reeling in about $11.3 billion this year. Black Friday sales fall a bit short of Cyber Monday with about $9.5 billion in sales.

What’s the best way to boost your Cyber Monday sales? Building a Cyber Monday email marketing campaign. Email is by far the most effective marketing channel before, during and after this day of online shopping.

Focusing on your entire campaign means sending plenty of emails before, during and after Cyber Monday and Black Friday. The “after” is called Cyberweek, and this is when companies big and small extend their Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions throughout the week, and launch big email campaigns to go along with them. Each stage of the campaign is necessary to reach your sales goals.

Here are a quick roundup of Cyber Monday and Cyberweek email marketing ideas to help stand out in the inbox.

What is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The term “Cyber Monday” came into play in 2005. The National Retail Federation noticed a spike in online purchases on the Monday after Thanksgiving — and decided to coin the phrase to take advantage of the increase in sales. Cyber Monday sales have continued to rise annually making this day a well-established event that consumers look forward to.

Why should you participate in Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday shoppers span across varying age and race demographics: No matter who your target audience is, they’re likely to be browsing online stores on Cyber Monday. It’s your job to get your products on their screens.

Since email marketing is one of the best ways to increase your visibility to win over customers (new and old). Start planning your Cyber Monday and Cyberweek email marketing campaign now to be competitive and stand out from the crowd. Here are a few sale-boosting tips, ideas and examples to keep in mind.

Cyber Monday sale-boosting email tips

Crafting your Cyber Monday and Cyberweek emails doesn’t have to be intimidating. Once you craft your strategy and an optimized design, you are smooth-sailing towards increasing your sales. Follow along with these best practices:

Make it exclusive

Consider opening the proverbial doors early by offering a Cyber Monday discount code on Sunday, portraying the early access as an exclusive perk. When you create a sense of exclusivity around a sale, it makes the demand go up and encourages consumers to make snap decisions to get a product before it’s gone. Gap did that here by sending an early Cyber Monday code (applicable online and in-stores) on Sunday morning.

Subject line: We’re giving you code CYBER early (hint: open quick!)

Craft good copy

Skillshare’s Cyber Monday email did a great job with its copy by skillfully addressing the reader’s pain points in a few words, promising to make next year “your most productive and creative year yet.” Skillshare also has one of the best Cyber Monday subject lines, reminding customers that their deal is only available for a limited time.

Subject line: 24 hours only: Get our best deal of the year

Perfect your Cyber Monday email subject lines

Speaking of subject lines, we’ve been seeing a few key trends in the Cyber Monday email subject lines in our inbox. Many brands are working to create urgency where they use pressing language and all caps, they are extending their sales past Cyber Monday itself, and they are using emojis to help grab their readers’ attention.

Try a holiday-inspired design

On Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving is over and brands are transitioning into Christmas and holiday-oriented marketing. Don’t be afraid to tap into the new season and use holiday-inspired design elements in your Cyber Monday email marketing. TOMS created a festive red background for this discount email.

Subject line: Today only! 30% off for Cyber Monday!

Create engaging content

Take a little extra time in your Cyber Monday email marketing to create content that builds your customer engagement. For example, skincare brand Murad created a holiday gift guide arranged by budget (under $50, under $100, under $150) and by person (for Mom, for a friend, for a work friend). This piece of content provides true value to customers who are thinking about what to buy for friends and family.

Subject line:  ➡️ 30% off Cyber Monday savings inside

Jazz it up with GIFs

Don’t be afraid to add a little spice to your emails. Every Cyber Monday email campaign could use a little humor and personality. GIFs are a fun way to help your product stand out. Take it from Kate Spade, which created this marketing email to showcase a discounted product in style.

Subject line: cyber monday special: only $129 for this tote

Use quality images

The North Face created a visually striking Cyber Monday email that works for several reasons: It’s simple, with one primary image and basic black lettering. It’s strategic, with links to the men’s and women’s product pages right up top. And most of all, it’s inspiring — the stunning visual grabs a subscribers attention and excites them to check out your sales. Design your Cyber Monday email with beautiful images that are hard to resist.

Subject line: Cyber Monday sale starts NOW

Craft a strong CTA

Make it easy for people to shop by providing links that will take them directly where they want to go. Puma offers multiple CTA buttons with different product categories — men’s, women’s and kids’ — for each reader quickly finds what they need. Your CTA is a big part of what hooks people into clicking “Buy,” so make it visible, unique and as tempting as possible.

‍Subject line: Snoozed on Cyber Monday? The savings continue.

Offer free shipping

Many Cyber Monday emails advertise their free shipping first, announcing it at the top of the email before continuing on to explain the rest of the deal. Sometimes, free shipping is the equivalent of a 15% or 20% discount, which pays off big time for shoppers with a lot to buy. Try taking the same approach as TJ Maxx and designing your Cyber Monday email with a highly visible free shipping offer.

Subject line: Cyber Monday treat: FREE shipping!

Initiate a sense of urgency

If your goal is to get people to make a purchase, your Cyber Monday and Cyberweek email designs should reflect it. Like Boll & Branch does here, remind customers that time is running out — if they don’t shop now, the deals will be gone for the season. When somebody feels like they’re missing out, they’ll be more likely to buy. Use your subject line, copy and other elements of the email to help improve conversions.

Subject: Missed Cyber Monday? There’s Still Time

‍

Design your Cyber Monday emails with Beefree

Even though it’s an unestablished holiday, Cyber Monday has provided businesses with immense amounts of sales and growth, with email marketing being the key to leveraging that growth. With a well-designed Cyber Monday email sequence and marketing strategy, your business will be in a position to reel in crazy amounts of excited customers.

Get inspired and quickly design using a template from our Cyber Monday collection. Easily customize your template with the necessary copy, logo and images to match your brand identity. BEE Pro helps you get your emails out fast so your customers know about your big promotions sooner than other businesses.

Consistently and creatively using color in email is one of the most important things you can do as an email designer or marketer. Our brains can process visual information 60,000 times faster than text, and color is a major factor in how we evaluate what we’re seeing. Up to 90% of product assessment is based solely on color. In one case study, a company saw a 20% increase in conversions just by switching a call-to-action button from green to red!

It’s clear that color has power. But how can we harness that power in email? Read on for 10 creative ways to use color in email, with design inspiration from brands doing it right.

‍

1. COLOR YOUR ALT TEXTALT

text is the text that shows up when your email’s images don’t appear. This happens because your subscriber has image-viewing turned off or because the images are too large, making them slow to load. It’s an email design best practice to always use ALT text so that readers who don’t see images still get your message. Here’s how ALT text typically looks (on the left) and how the same email appears with images (on the right):

It’s clear to see why it’s not wise to send an email that’s entirely made up of images — it really won’t look good if the images aren’t there. But if you’re sending image-heavy email campaigns, you can style ALT text, too. Check out how much better the ALT text looks in this email (on the left) with background colors added (email with images loaded appears on the right).

Color your ALT text to improve your email’s design, even without images.

2. ORGANIZE CONTENT WITH COLOR TABS

Small color tabs or labels can improve content organization, helping readers skim your email. We’ve seen quite a few brands consistently use this technique to add order to both text and image content. One of the great things about these small splashes of color in email is that they’re not images. Using an HTML background color means they’ll always show up.

In this email newsletter, Robinhood Snacks uses small green tabs of text to categorize each story. “Tappy” and “Aww” denote must-read and adorable content:

These colorful tabs are small and unobtrusive. But they still do a good job of segmenting the stories and giving readers a bit of extra information.

3. GO ALL IN ON A COLOR SCHEME

Complement the photos in your email by reflecting their colors in your headers and CTA buttons. This is a great technique for product emails. The approach unifies the aesthetic of the email and offers a cohesive, contemporary look. You can even match the exact HTML color from an image or graphic by using a quick web tool like HTML color codes. Here’s an example from Draper James:

The product that’s being showcased is a dress in vibrant tones of lilac, lavender, marigold and fuschia. The text below the image is written in the same colors as the dress, helping tie the email together.

4. ADD COLOR BLOCKS TO YOUR PHOTO COLLAGE

Mix up your email’s photo gallery by adding text blocks with flat HTML background colors. The approach breaks up images and adds a sense of cohesion to photos, like in this example from Michael’s.

Make sure the color blocks are plain text with background colors (not images) to improve your text-to-image ratio. And don’t forget to make it responsive!
‍

5. DIVIDE CONTENT WITH COLOR

A lot of emails have a white background. Often, this makes the content feel a little lighter, cleaner and less cluttered. It also makes high-contrasting black text easier to read.

But all that white space leaves plenty of room to get playful with color in email when it comes to separating and organizing your content. We often see this approach when modules of an email have different background colors to visually separate them, like in this email from Melissa & Doug.

It’s clear where the first section of this email ends and the second one starts. The visual separation can help your readers navigate the content.

6. GET CLEVER WITH COLOR IN TEXT

There’s no rule that says the plain text in your email needs to be black. As long as it contrasts enough against your background color, it’s okay to leave the black font behind and play with color. Fusion uses an on-brand aqua-and-purple color scheme to liven up their listicle emails. It’s a nice break from the black font we often see, and it also serves to organize the email. The consistent use of aqua for headers and purple for sub-headers allows the reader to skim this email more easily.

The New Yorker takes a more subtle approach when it comes to color in email by adding red text above each headline. The text categorizes each article and pops just enough to catch the eye.

7. CREATE CONTRASTING COLOR CTA BUTTONS

One of the most powerful ways to use color in email is in your call-to-action buttons. CTA buttons should visually pop out from the rest of your email — a reader scanning your message should be able to instantly identify where the CTA is. And color is a great way to do that! But it’s all about balance. Your button should also be on brand and simply styled.

Most brands choose a color that’s within their brand color palette and matches the aesthetic of the particular email. Often, the button echoes the header design in color. Here’s how Cratejoy uses the same blue color of its logo for many of its CTA buttons:

It’s so easy to spot, and it’s bulletproof — a must!

Another way to use color to make a CTA button stand out is to make the module that contains it a distinct color, like in this example from Can’t Clutch This.

If you’re scrolling through this email, two of the CTA sections immediately stand out because of the pale pink background color compared to the mostly white email.

8. USE A COLOR OTHER THAN BLUE FOR LINKS

Readers don’t need the classic bright blue text to know text is linked. Get playful with color in email. Capitalize on branding your email by using an on-brand color for links. Here’s another Robinhood Snacks email that adds a few green keywords here and there to easily call out links to readers.

‍

Similarly, the Mic Check newsletter uses their brand turquoise color in both headers and for links. Against the otherwise all black-and-white email, the links easily stand out.

In this newsletter, Tech Crunch does the same thing. Against the otherwise all black-and-white email, the links easily stand out.

9. USE BACKGROUND COLOR FOR HEADERS, FOOTERS, AND ADS

HTML colors are a great tool for content organization in email: They render across all inboxes (unlike images), they take up less than one line of code and they’re easy to implement. By assigning different background colors to different modules of your email, you organize content and provide a seamless reading experience for subscribers. Using an HTML background color as your header is an excellent alternative to using an image (which may not render). Here, the New Yorker uses a tan background color to distinguish a paid post from the rest of the email.

‍

10. GO COLORLESS

One final tip on how to use color? Don’t use it, especially if it’s a regular part of your email design aesthetic. Instead, try an all black-and-white email. Without color to help you call attention to links and CTAs and to help you organize content, you might be forced to simplify, streamline and improve your design in ways you wouldn’t otherwise think. Here’s a B&W email from Converse that we love:

WRAP-UP: GET CREATIVE WITH COLOR

Get creative with color in email by using the BEE email editor. Our drag-and-drop editor is the perfect way to play with background colors, headers, CTA buttons and more, cycling through a rainbow of options before you hit send. Use the BEE editor for free today to create beautiful emails for your subscribers!

‍