8 elements to designing the perfect marketing email

A high-quality email campaign can encourage customers to buy, increase brand awareness, and show people why you’re a voice of authority in your industry.

The big question is… how do you create an email that delivers the right results?

We have decades of experience crafting persuasive and insightful emails for our clients and have unpicked the eight building blocks you need to be aware of.

Follow this advice, and you’ll be well on the way to writing emails that convert!

Want to know more about the different types of emails you can send? Check out our guide to seven engaging emails to send your customers!

Article topics

1. The subject line
2. The preview text
3. The sender name and email address
4. The greeting
5. The email body
6. The call-to-action
7. The signoff
8. The footer

Element #1: The subject line

Your subject line is the first thing your email subscribers see when your email lands in their inbox.

A well-written, persuasive line can encourage customers to read your email, while a confusing, scammy line can have the opposite effect.

Nearly half of email subscribers will open an email based on what the subject line is.

The perfect subject line can vary depending on what you sell, the purpose of your email, and who you’re targeting. For example, some customers may prefer a direct and to-the-point subject line…

… while others like a subject like that evokes a bit of intrigue.

In our experience, good subject lines share the following characteristics:

• They’re short. Try to keep your subject line under 60 characters; otherwise it may get cut off on mobile
• They’re personalised. Using a person’s name in the subject line or mentioning their needs and interests can yield excellent results
• They have integrity. A spammy-looking subject line with sloppy spelling and grammar can frustrate recipients

Emojis can work in subject lines, again, depending on who you’re writing your emails for. If you opt to use them, keep them to a minimum and avoid using them to replace words, as some mobile devices may not render emojis correctly.

Element #2: The preview text

Your preview text appears next to or below the email subject line and can provide additional information to recipients.

If you choose not to include preview text in your email, the recipient’s email service provider will show the first sentence of the email instead. This might look long-winded and messy, like the example below.

Using preview text can lead to a 7% higher email open rate, which, in turn, can result in more clicks to your website and more conversions!

Like your email subject line, keep your preview text short and well-written.

A good strategy can be to have your preview text complement your subject line. For example, if your subject line is deliberately intriguing, have your preview text clarify what the email is about.

Element #3: The sender name and email address

This element consists of two things – the address you send your email from and the name which appears in the ‘from’ field.

In this case, AppSumo is the name, and support@appsumo.com is the address.

The name and address you use can tell recipients a lot about your business. For example, if you use a ‘no-reply’ email address, this can imply that you’re not interested in engaging with them.

Your brand and email address must be recognisable to your recipients to ensure your emails appear trustworthy. AppSumo has gone the extra mile and added a logo to increase trust even further – you can do this through BIMI.

Element #4: The greeting

Some of your email campaigns may not use a greeting. For example, if you’re promoting your latest sale, you may go straight into showcasing your products.

However, a greeting can tell respondents what your email is about, set expectations, and build a positive first impression. Like the example above, it can even help show your human side.

Your greeting is also a fantastic opportunity to add some personalisation. For example, you can mention your recipient’s name, location, or the company they work for.

72% of customers only engage with messages that feel personalised just for them.

Check out some other ways you can personalise your marketing strategy.

Element #5: The email body

The body of your email consists of everything between your greeting and your signoff. This includes text, images, and videos.

Eye-catching images and videos are fantastic for getting people’s attention, with emails increasing click-through rates by 65%.

If you use images and videos in your messages, be sure they’re well-optimised. Large images and videos can mean your emails load more slowly, frustrating customers.

A good way to personalise the body of your email is through dynamic content. This allows you to customise your email based on subscriber actions and preferences.

For example, you can show specific blog posts based on subscribers’ interests or products they’ve recently looked at on your website.

Element #6: The call-to-action

Your call-to-action is a prompt in your email that encourages customers to convert. By ‘convert’, we mean actions like buying your product, downloading a document, or requesting a quote.

A call-to-action typically appears at the bottom of an email but can appear at the start or in the middle, depending on the type of message you send.

The call-to-action is essentially the ultimate goal of your email: what you want your subscribers to do when they open your message.

As well as the text, you also need to think about the colour, size, and shape of your call-to-action.

The right call to action will depend on what you want customers to do and who your target audience is. If you’re an eCommerce store promoting your latest product range, a simple ‘shop now’ button may be enough.

Alternatively, you may opt for something a little more unusual!

10 ways to write a call-to-action that gets the right results

One of the best ways to see which call-to-action drives the best results is through A/B testing.

This is when you create two identical emails with a different call-to-action. You send each email to half of your subscribers and see which call-to-action gets the most clicks!

Element #7: The signoff

Like the greeting, not all emails you send will have a signoff as standard. In some circumstances, a clear call-to-action will be enough.

A signoff can be a great way to wrap things up and encourage customers to reach out if they have any questions.

This is our signoff from a recent email to clients – it’s friendly, warm, and keeps the channels of communication open.

If you want to encourage customers to get in touch, be sure the email address you use to send your campaigns from is actively monitored and isn’t full. There’s nothing more frustrating than crafting an email, hitting reply, and not getting a response!

Element #8: The footer

Your footer sits at the very bottom of your email and contains additional information that you want to (or must) provide email recipients.

What do you legally have to include in your email footer? It depends on where you are and what type of company you run.

For example, if you’re a limited company in the UK, you must disclose your company name, registration number, place of registration, and registered office address.

Under GDPR, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to unsubscribe from your emails. The best way to do this is through a clear unsubscribe link in your email footer.

As well as your company information and an unsubscribe link, here are some additional items you might choose to add to your email footer:

• Trust signals that show you’re a reliable and credible business. For example, awards you’ve won or accreditations you’ve achieved
• Links to your social media accounts
• Links to important or relevant pages on your website
• A link to download your app
• A link where customers can change their email preferences
• A link to your privacy policy, terms and conditions, or returns policy

Your footer can be as big or small as it needs to be. For example, Jet2.com uses its email footer to not only showcase its social media accounts and mobile app, but also its terms and conditions.

Xigen: Creating amazing emails that people want to open

Now you know what to include in your emails to maximise the chances of people clicking through to your website and converting.

Need a little extra help creating captivating email campaigns? We’ve got you covered.

Our experienced email marketing team will produce a campaign that helps you achieve your goals, and align your campaign with the rest of your marketing channels for a seamless, omnichannel approach.

Take our work for McCarthy Stone, where we generated over 1,300 new leads and increased website visits by over 83%.

Make your email campaigns work for you – contact us today.