Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. We're seeing a steady supply of festive, summer-themed emails filling up in our inbox since the long weekend holiday is a great opportunity for retailers and brands to reach out to customers.Don't worry if you haven't sent an email campaign yet, there's still time to create one! Here are five Memorial Day email design trends we tracked down to motivate you.
Trend #1: Good things come in threes
As Memorial Day approaches, brands are doing their best to predict what their customers will do. Guessesrange fromgoing to the beachto gathering with family and friendsto celebrating outside. E-commerce brands, in particular, want to help their customers celebrate in style. This year, it seems that three is the lucky number in emails. Here's one example from J.Crew. The email presents "three easy outfit equations":
Pulling together outfits is a creative way for fashion brands to inspire and potentially up-sell, too. Eloquii takes a very similar approach with this three-outfit Memorial Day email design:
Eloquii organized content by a numbered list, but other brands chose to organize by theme, like in this email from Rent the Runway:
And Kate Spadetook a bold guess that their customers would be near water, offering three swimsuits to relax in:
Each of these emails is a great length, providing neither too much content nor too little. Plus, grouping content into three sections also provides an opportunity to get playful with layout (think modular design and mobile-responsive photo collages). So when it comes to email design, three makes sense.
Trend #2: Single-story inverted pyramid layout
For newsletters andpublishers who aren't pushing product deals this Memorial Day, a simpler approach to email design works. We saw a few emails that follow the time-honored inverted pyramid approach: a great image, followed by a header and text, followed by a compelling CTA button. Here's an example from PureWow:
The inverted pyramid layout highlights a single, focused piece of click-worthy content, which is the perfect way to drive readers to a website. Plus, the email is easy to put together, too. Acarefully-selected stock image, a block of text, and acustomized button are all you need. Thissponsored emailalso closes with a Smirnoff ad, which is well-placed after the CTA; it's visible to subscribres but doesn't interfere with the email organization. Be sure to check out our Publishers' Guide to Email Advertisingfor everything you need to know about ads in email.The Honest Company also uses an inverted pyramid layout, offering a photo of a mouth-watering recipe:
If you elect to use this simple approach, having the perfect photo iskey. This vibrant, colorful, high-quality image from Honest is a great example of how the right photography can make or break the appeal of your content. But, there's some room for improvement: we would increase the font size and make sure the CTA button sounded a bit more enticing!
Trend #3: No photos? No problem!
Not all brands rely on photography for their Memorial Day email designs. Sometimes, companies that want to emphasize discounts and sales opt to forego product pictures. Instead, the biggest part of the email is the numbers themselves, andillustration and HTML background colors can go a long way in making those numbers pop. Here's an email example fromSperry. No shoes or clothing items are on display, but eyes land immediately on the number 40.
This email from Wayfair takes a similar approach, though more than one discount is featured.
The message above is clear: there isa loton sale. Even if one particular item doesn't catch the eye, the message conveys the overwhelming extent of a limited-time "mega sale."
Trend #4: Grid design shows but doesn't tell
We spotted quite a few Memorial Day emails featuring an array of products. Sometimes, a long email with plentyof eye candy can engage users. (After all, you know your audience best!) To prevent clutter, content-rich emails should always be designed on a grid—and be mobile responsive. Here's an example from Jetsetter:
A photo "collage" like this is the perfect way to advertise multiple productswhile avoiding the pitfalls of a single-image email. CampSaver uses a similar design:
Read more about designing on a grid and creating responsive infographics for email in our tutorial, How to Create a Responsive Email Infographic.
Trend #5: Interactive elements catch the eye
No holiday-themed email design roundup would be complete without emails that include interactivity. Special occasions lead to crowded inboxes, and crowded inboxes mean there's pressure in having emails stand out. So it's no surprise that more brands are taking their email design to the next level by includinginteractive elements like GIFs, countdowns, product tours, live shopping carts, and more. Memorial Day is no exception.This email from the mattress company Leesa includes an interactive countdown timer (it's no longer running, though, since this email is from last year!)
Countdown timers are attention-grabbing, and they encourage subscribers to snag last-minute deals before the time's up. Plus, they're easy to include! You can add a dynamic countdown timer to your email without coding. Find out how in our tutorial,How to add a countdown timer in email.To close our round-up, here's an email fromRover, with a cute and simple animated GIF:
It's not too late to design your Memorial Day email!
Design your next email campaign in our easy-to-use, drag-n-drop BEE editor. No HTML knowledge is required, and your email will be mobile responsive. Sign-up for a BEE Pro free trial!
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