Great content and great looking email is key for email readership. Following some basic design and layout principles, building great email is simple.
Vero’s Inverted Pyramid method
Vero is an email service provider that created the Inverted Pyramid Method which is the theory of creating emails that convert. This theory is inspired by the pyramid method of journalism which is about putting the most important information in the top 25% of the page. It is then followed by value focussed copy and than a descriptive call to action. The less important information should go below the most newsworthy material if appropriate.
Reduce information density
To further improve on this theory, Envato’s example of reducing information density will improve the hierarchy and importance of information in your email. As a designer, you will often receive a wall of text as a brief and be asked to put this into an email. Too much copy in an EDM will inevitably lose your reader. You have to remember that an EDM is just a step in the process of closing leads. Let the landing page handle the larger amounts of text when appropriate. So in this example, you can cut and slice the most relevant information for your EDM.
Here are some EDM’s I received from Bailey Nelson, Uber, InVision and Fitbit that I believe look great and put these methods above into practice.
Here are some examples of work that I have done for Careers Australia that follow these methods.
It is important to mention that these methods and principles aren’t the only ways to make great looking email. It will be determined by your marketing strategy and what works best for your brand.