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Email Design: 9 Best Practices for 2021

Beefree team
Beefree team
Apr 26, 2016
Email Design: 9 Best Practices for 2021
Email Design: 9 Best Practices for 2021
Originally published on April 25, 2016. Last updated August 13, 2021.

Never overlook the value of your email marketing strategies. While some may say email is dead, the data shows otherwise. Over 306 billion e-mails were sent and received every day worldwide in 2020, and it continues to be one of the most effective communication channels available to marketers. Now is the time to level up your email design. Design components make your email more engaging, with the power to increase both open rates and click through rates. Quickly enhance your emails and increase your open rates with these 9 email design best practices:

1. Optimize for mobile

We love to stress this best practice because it’s so vital to creating your best email design. About 50% of email opens occur on mobile devices. This means responsive email designs are no longer a “nice to have” —proper rendering is a must. The good news is that email editors like BEE Pro allow you to build a fully responsive mobile email without specialized coding or designing skills.

weblow-compare

Desktop and mobile versions of Webflow’s well-designed responsive email.

In addition to using a responsive editor, you can optimize your messages for smaller screens by implementing these bonus design best practices:

  • Minimalistic design (no complex headers, extra CTAs, or clutter)
  • Large, easy-to-view content
  • Clickable links and bullet-proof buttons
  • Small image file sizes (allow for quicker load times)
  • High-contrast design for mobile screens set to low brightness
  • Proper balance of images and plain text (ALT text used for images)

2. Format text to improve readability

If you send newsletters, feature launch emails, or other text-heavy emails to subscribers, you’ll want to have a consistent, balanced approach to formatting text. As you build your email, make sure to:

  1. Stick to 1-2 email-safe fonts. Arial, Georgia, Verdana and Helvetica are popular email-safe fonts. They are reliable, classic, and easy to read. Once you’ve established your font, create structure and improve readability with styling techniques (bold, caps, size, color, and spacing).
  2. Include headers. Headers establish structure and break up sections of content. Generally, using a font size that’s 2-3 times the size of your body text will make your email easy to scan and clearly show readers when a new section begins.
  3. Use short paragraphs and bullets. Make your email content scannable by giving readers short bits of information. Nobody wants to read a long paragraph.
  4. Don’t over-format. It can be tempting to overdo styling techniques like bold, italicize, underline, color and more -but resist that temptation. A minimalistic approach to body copy is best for readability.
Screen Shot 2015-11-09 at 2.30.06 PM

The Skimm newsletter uses solid font sizes and bold styling to create clear structure.

3. Don't underestimate color

In email, color is used to call attention to content, reinforce your brand identity, improve content organization and more.Background colors are a great way to organize content in email. HTML background colors are a great tool because they render across all inboxes (unlike images) and they’re easy to implement. Using different background colors in your email modules will properly organize your content and provide a seamless reading experience for subscribers.Looking for other creative uses of color in email? Try these quick tips:

  • Labels. Organize long emails with eye-catching color tabs.
  • Match photos. Grab attention with a monochromatic color scheme.
  • Divide content. Use colorful lines and background colors to get organized.
  • Photo collage. Break up images with blocks of color.
  • Text. Use a high-contrast color other than black, like blue or grey.
  • Links. Step away from that boring blue and create branded links.
  • CTA buttons. Make sure they stand out more than any other message component.
  • HTML backgrounds for ads. Improve transparency and make sure ads stand out from other content.
Screen Shot 2016-02-11 at 1.41.56 PM

Refinery29 uses color tabs to organize content in this portion of their newsletter.

4. Create bold CTA buttons

All effective marketing emails have a call-to-action. You can ask your audience to sign up for an event, download white paper, snag a discount on a product or to share content. Whatever your CTA, it’s the driving force behind the entire email campaign. The goal of your email is to get subscribers to click on what you’re offering them, so it’s critical that your CTAs stand out. The best way to optimize CTAs is to form them into buttons. That way they will be clearly seen and clicked more frequently.Buttons written in HTML—also known as bulletproof buttons—will always render across all inboxes. Editors like BEE Pro generate bulletproof buttons with no-coding required on your end. Drag-and-drop your button into your email template, and you’re good to go.CTA button best practices:

  • Write action-oriented, personal and compelling copy for your button. Keeping it direct and clear will ensure readers know exactly why they’re clicking
  • Check that your button visually pops out. It should be quick and easy to find
  • Make sure the color of the button is different than your email background and the copy inside the button is different than the button color - visibility is key
  • Keep the style simple. Avoid gradients and multiple colors
  • Place your button in an easy-to-find spot that fits organically in the story of your email (probably below the fold)
Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 3.18.41 PM

Tastebook’s CTA button is easy to spot and click, and it’s a brand color that contrasts against the white background.

5. Make sure your message can be read with image-viewing turned off

It’s tempting to build your email as one big image or as a series of images, but doing so means you’ll risk encountering a number of inbox and mobile rendering issues. Skip the image-only email and follow these design best practices:

  • Don’t rely on images to be the only visually interesting part of your email. Clean, simple design best. Capitalize on this by using flat design tactics and bold colors to get the attention of your readers and to ultimately create an elegant, interesting email.
  • Find a proper balance of live text and imagery.
  • Bulletproof your buttons. Using HTML instead of an image ensures your call-to-action buttons look great on all devices and always render. (Bonus: With BEE Pro, you don’t have to actively use HTML. Your visual will automatically turn into code and render almost anywhere with the design-suite).
aveda

A side-by-side view of an email from Aveda: on the left, image-viewing is turned off, revealing that most of the message is composed solely of images.

6. Be selective with social media buttons

Social media buttons are secondary calls to action that invite readers to follow your social accounts or to share your content on social media.Because they aren’t usually as important as your email’s central CTA, social media buttons shouldn’t compete with your main content. That’s why they’re typically placed in the header or footer. If they need to be included in the body of your email, along with each featured story, choose no more than two sharing options (e.g., only Twitter and Facebook). Otherwise, an overwhelmed subscriber won’t take any action.Here are some social media button best practices:

  • Social media buttons in email are usually secondary CTAs. Wherever you place them, these buttons shouldn’t compete with your main content. Try the header or footer.
  • Choose a shape, size, color and customization that fits your visual identity. Make sure the buttons are clickable on mobile by including ample white space around buttons.

Decide which buttons to include based on the nature of your content and subscribers’ needs. Don’t overload readers with too many options.

miccheck

Mic includes two social media buttons in its header and two accompanying each story.

7. Incorporate dynamic content

Visual storytelling in email is growing increasingly sophisticated and effective. Animated GIFs are big contributors to that growth. GIFs communicate quickly and break down complicated concepts into a few frames of fluid messaging. To maximize their effect, use them intentionally and follow these tips for GIFs:

  • Make sure your GIF serves a purpose in the story you want to tell. Does it improve your readers’ understanding of your message?
  • Position GIFs to lead subscribers directly to your CTA. Let it show them where to click.
  • Remember GIFs are image files - link them to your website and always use ALT text.
  • Communicate your message in the first frame. There’s no guarantee your GIF will animate for all subscribers. Make sure the first frame is as effective as the whole animation.
  • Don’t send out a huge file size. An enormous GIF may not load and can eat up mobile user’s data.

Like animated GIFs, countdown timers are another great way to call attention to special emails and compel readers to act. Position your timer at the top of your email, giving it room to breathe with some padding. Pair it with a CTA button, and choose a look and feel that aligns with your email and brand.

skillcrush

Skillcrush uses a dynamic countdown timer to urge readers to sign up for a workshop. 

8. Enhance your footer

Even though they come last, email footers shouldn’t be overlooked. They’re often where readers go to find details about your brand, additional perks, and social media links.If you’re sending commercial emails (i.e., messages that sell or promote a product or a service), these pieces of information are typically required by anti-spam laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act of the USA, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), and many others:

  • A link to unsubscribe
  • A link back to your site
  • Your mailing address
  • Contact email address

Footers can quickly become crowded with buttons, icons, links, and fine print. Before stuffing your footer with information, first evaluate what makes the most sense to include, and go with a minimalistic approach. Overwhelming readers with too much information can lead them to skip over the footer altogether. Keep it simple for subscribers.

Screen Shot 2016-01-22 at 7.42.37 AM

This footer from Medium is simple and well-organized.

9. Don't get clipped

Message clipping is especially common for Gmail users, where HTML emails larger than 102 KB get trimmed. The Gmail app for iOS clips messages larger than 20 KB. This can cause an inconvenient roadblock for brands with Gmail subscribers, as their email is not fully shown, but rather clipped with a link to view the entire message.

clipclip

Prevent clipping by:

  • Optimizing for mobile. Don’t overload your emails with content, and be sure to use a mobile responsive design tool like BEE Pro to prevent clipping. Mobile design mode in BEE allows you to edit your email in mobile view while ensuring that your emails will look exactly the way you want them to upon sending.

Create in BEE Pro for long-lasting success with great email design

Enhancing your email design will provide your subscribers with a better understanding of the value you bring to their lives. While email design trends and best practices are constantly evolving, staying up to speed will result in increased email opens and higher conversion rates.Create authentic, eye-catching emails in BEE Pro, and be sure to refer back to this quick guide of design best practices before sending out your next email campaign.

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Now, let's be honest—you’ve likely heard about all of these rotating for the last few years. While email marketing has come a long way and is changing faster than ever, there’s only so much you can do within 600x1,500 pixels. However, there are no limits to where your creativity can take you. 

Let’s get into it.  

#1. Unique, tailored experiences 

Damian Grabarczyk, the co-founder and growth marketer of PetLab Co., says, “We faced the challenge of connecting meaningfully with an audience that expects more than one-size-fits-all communication.” 

When we speak about crafting tailored emails we mean going beyond the recipient's first name in the subject line. We’re talking about optimizing your entire email strategy to design multi-stage touchpoints to nurture leads across the customer lifecycle. As well as, leveraging data to send hyper-personalized, relevant, and engaging emails that feel less like a broadcast message and more like a conversation. 

Many are using AI machine learning algorithms and AI automation to analyze customer interactions, past purchases, browsing habits, website visits, and even social media behavior to curate engaging email content that resonates deeply with the real-time needs of recipients.

For PetLab Co this looked like including content such as an individual’s pet health history or product usage timelines. Damian Grabarzyk expands, “This approach transformed the conversion rate and strengthened customer loyalty. As we look ahead, I see brands in 2025 moving beyond generic personalization to adopt strategies that make customers feel truly understood and valued.”

On the other hand, many are leaning into user-generated content (UGC) for crafting tailored experiences. Customers today are more likely to trust the opinions of peers over branded messages. UGC like customer reviews, testimonials, videos, and photos are the best form of social proof depicting real people using and benefitting from your products or services. 

We see the benefits of using both AI and UGC to get the most out of your email conversions ;). 

#2. AI tools as an addition, not a substitution

Experts at NordPass state, "AI-powered content generation tools are not here to replace email copywriters and marketers. These tools make us more efficient. The smarter the tool is, the better equipped we are to create high-performing email content that drives results." 

AI tools can support us by significantly enhancing the speed, precision, and effectiveness of your emails. For instance while traditionally A/B testing has required a lot of time to analyze small variations with AI you quickly implement and test multiple email elements and make adjustments based on real-time engagement data. There are AI algorithms that can even predict which variations are most likely to resonate with different audience segments, leading to more accurate targeting and faster optimization.

In short, AI tools are revolutionizing the way we craft and optimize our email’s deliverability. There are many different types of AI solutions so we suggest finding the right one for your needs. 

#3. Even more transparency around data

With AI continuing to rise, folks are more and more concerned about where their data is going. That’s where zero-party data collection becomes a key strategy in email marketing, allowing you to gather data directly from customers rather than relying on third-party sources. 

Zero-party data includes information that consumers willingly share, such as preferences, interests, and purchase intentions. This data is often collected through surveys, preference centers, quizzes, or interactive content and is highly valuable because it is shared explicitly, ensuring accuracy and deeper personalization without privacy concerns associated with third-party tracking.

As privacy regulations tighten, zero-party data will empower you to deliver hyper-personalized email experiences while respecting user privacy. This approach will help you build trust, as customers feel more in control of their data, and you gain insights that lead to more relevant and engaging email content.

#4. The death of static emails

With attention span getting shorter day after day, digest-format emails are expected to rise in popularity in 2025. Presenting email content in an easy-to-scan, organized, and minimalistic layout will surely help deliver the most relevant information in a fraction of the time. 

Additionally, interactive emails will allow recipients to directly engage within the email without having to visit a landing page or website. Interactive elements like product carousels, polls, and quizzes create a dynamic experience that keeps subscribers engaged, especially in visually driven industries like fashion brands

So what now? 

You’ve heard these strategies before, but now it’s time to actually put them into action. The brands that win at email marketing in 2025 won’t just be sending emails—they’ll be creating experiences. Whether it’s hyper-personalized content, AI-driven efficiency, zero-party data collection, or interactive emails that break the mold, the key is to stay ahead of the curve.

So, what’s the first strategy you’ll finally implement? Your inbox (and your audience) are waiting.

How to Leverage Email Campaigns to Gather Sincere Product Reviews

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What do customers think about your brand’s products? The best way to find out is to ask them directly, which you can do via strategic email campaigns.

Email makes gathering authentic product reviews quick and easy. By collecting sincere feedback, you can build trust, increase sales, boost loyalty, and innovate product improvements. 

That said, requesting reviews via email requires precise timing, personalized messaging, and lots of engagement optimizations. But don’t worry—we’ll walk you through some key steps to create email campaigns that deliver the valuable feedback you need.

Why product reviews matter

Product reviews do more than confirm that you're meeting customers’ needs. Sincere feedback drives loyalty and sales, offers valuable customer insights, and helps you develop a strategic product development roadmap.

  • Fosters customer loyalty: Requesting and listening to feedback makes your customers feel valued and heard. It demonstrates that you prioritize customer satisfaction, which helps you build stronger, long-term relationships. Review requests also act as re-engagement emails by starting new conversations with customers.
  • Increases sales: Social proof drives sales. According to a recent survey by Power Reviews, 90% of potential customers use online reviews to make purchasing decisions. In fact, reviews have more influence over purchasing decisions than product prices. Turning product reviews into customer testimonials and encouraging reviews on third-party sites can significantly boost sales.
Image sourced from powerreviews.com
  • Builds Customer 360 insights: Customer feedback delivers insights into customer needs and sentiments, enriching Customer 360. Exactly what is Customer 360? It’s a unified, 360-degree view of customer data. It empowers you to tailor products and customer experiences to meet individual needs and preferences. 
  • Drives product improvements: Sincere customer feedback reveals what target customers like/dislike about your products. It provides key insight into their value, functionality, and usability, unlocking large-scale development opportunities.

How to create an email campaign to collect product reviews

Want to unlock the power of product reviews? Let’s explore how to create email campaigns that encourage customers to share their feedback.

Segment your audience

Like promotional emails, product review requests shouldn’t be sent to every subscriber.

If subscribers haven’t had the chance to try your product, product review requests will feel irrelevant and may trigger unsubscriptions. So, only send review email requests to customers recently trying your product.

You can do this by segmenting your email list based on where customers are in the buying cycle. Target loyal customers, recent purchasers, and first-time buyers with tailored email campaigns. This ensures that you’re sending emails to customers most likely to respond with insightful feedback.

Write a compelling email subject line

According to Superoffice, 33% of people open an email based on the subject line. 

Image sourced from superoffice.com

To get the click-through rates you want, your email subject lines should be personalized, relevant, and engaging. Here are some examples:

  • Did you love [product]? Or hate it? Let us know!
  • We value your opinion — help us improve!
  • We want YOU to help us make our product better!
  • Up for a discount? Share your feedback for 10% off! 

Learn more > Tips for writing open worthy subject lines.

Optimize for customer engagement

A successful email marketing strategy relies on customer engagement. Here are some key email elements you need to encourage interactions.

  • An attractive email design: With the right layout, color scheme, typography, and images, you ensure easy readability and promote interaction. Use these engagement-boosting email design best practices to help you create a design that boosts conversion rates.
  • Gratitude and value: Thank customers for reading the email and explaining why their feedback is so important. Also, consider including a personalized Gmail email signature with your content details to build trust and encourage customers to engage with your review request. 
  • Personalized, relevant content: Personalized email content motivates engagement. Use customer data platform (CDP) data to tailor messages to individual customers. What is a CDP? It’s a centralized platform that collects and unifies customer information, building comprehensive customer profiles. 
  • Incentives: Offering a small discount can motivate customers to leave reviews, especially first-time buyers. That said, incentives can (sometimes) generate insincere reviews, so stress the importance of honesty. 
  • A strong call-to-action (CTA): Your CTA should direct readers straight to the reviews submission page. Use clear CTAs with bold buttons and typography to make it stand out.
  • Mobile responsiveness: If your emails are slow to load or don’t display correctly on mobile devices, your bounce rate will spike. Leverage solutions that offer advanced mobile optimization features — such as Beefree— to create responsive emails every single time.

Ask specific, concise questions

Complex, drawn-out questions that are too open-ended can disengage customers. So, get straight to the point with concise, direct questions. Here are some examples:

  • What did you think of [specific product feature]?
  • How often do you use our product?
  • What are your favorite/least favorite features?
  • How likely are you to recommend this product?
  • What could we do to improve our product?

Use a mixture of closed and open-ended questions to increase your chances of receiving meaningful responses.

Make it easy to respond

The easier it is for customers to leave a review, the more responses you’ll receive. So, make the process as seamless and convenient as possible. One way to do this is with survey emails.

Email surveys have high response rates. They can be completed within the email with minimal effort, which is a big plus for busy customers. And, they can generate a wealth of quantitative data and metrics that are quick to analyze, leading to faster improvements. BeeFree has an extensive collection of email survey templates to suit every need.

For longer review requests, include a CTA that directly links to the review submission page. Review forms should use simple, clear language, be optimized for mobile, and have a progress bar. 

You could even provide your telephone contact details to allow customers to leave a review via telephone. It’s the preferred communication method for 55% of Baby Boomers according to Hubspot, so it’s worth considering. 

Leverage small business telephone services from Vonage to access call center capabilities like virtual receptionists and CRM integrations, streamlining processes.

Also consider directing customers to leave reviews on popular review sites, such as Google and Amazon.

Optimize email timings

If you send product review requests too early, there’s a chance your customers won’t have tried your product yet. But if you send them too late, your customer might have forgotten their experience. 

So, when’s the best time to request reviews? 

Aim to send review requests within 7-14 days post-purchase. This gives customers a chance to try the product a few times, leading to more sincere, meaningful reviews. Plan for seasonal surges such as Black Friday and incorporate them into your schedules.

Key takeaways

Do email campaigns work for gathering valuable product reviews that drive improvements, boost trust, and increase sales and loyalty? 

Absolutely — but they need to be strategic.

To generate sincere reviews and valuable data, ensure your marketing emails are personalized, engaging, and optimized for convenience. And, use email list segmentation and marketing automation to ensure they’re sent to the right customers at the right time.

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