Most people are bombarded with emails daily, and many spend between 10 and 20 seconds scrolling through each email. This means that your emails need to be impactful and get your message across quickly. A great email template is an easy way to ensure you get this right – every time.. Making sure that your email templates are designed with the reader in mind can mean the difference between converting or losing a customer. 

But what are the key features of great email templates? 

Responsive Design

Great email templates are ones that are adaptable across devices. Approximately 50% of email users use a mobile device to access their email on a daily basis. This means that traditional emails designed for desktops may not load correctly, or not at all on some devices. 

Having an email template that adapts to a variety of device screen sizes and across different modes (e.g. dark mode) is imperative. This ensures that your message actually reaches your customer in a readable format. 

Ultimately a responsive design can determine the screen resolution of the users’ device and adjusts the content to fit appropriately.

Be Aware of The Fold

You may have heard the term “The Fold” used in blogs about landing pages or emails. You may wonder what that means. The term ‘the fold’ goes back to the days of newspapers. People were more likely to pay attention to what was on the front page, above where it was folded. The same thing applies to landing pages and emails. Your most impactful information, news or promotion should be above the point where users have to scroll. 

This links very closely to prioritising the information you want to include and where you want to include it. Ensuring that your primary graphics and text are above the fold means that anyone who opens your email will see the message you want to get across immediately. 

Use Tables 

If you want anything to look organised, a table will help you achieve that. The same applies to great email templates. By using tables to keep your images, information and design where you intended it to be, you can help ensure your message is received correctly. 

Using tables is the best way to ensure that your email elements look professional and beautiful. It also ensures that your email elements guide the reader’s eye to the information you are presenting them with in the way you want them to view it. 

Ultimately great email templates use a grid or table to ensure the content stays where it is meant to be. 

Use a Considerate Layout

There is nothing more frustrating than receiving a text heavy email. Another email pet peeve is the use of so many images that bombard the user without giving them any information. Great email templates have the user experience in mind. They balance the use of images, text and white space to help get your message across in the most effective and efficient way. 

While there are some occasions when you could send your customers text heavy emails, it is important to remember that pictures are “worth a thousand words”. It is important to ensure that your email contains appropriate images that convey your message well. You can ultimately use images cut back on text that most users won’t read anyway. 

As with all online business, keeping your user experience in mind is vital for success. 

Include Contact Information

It is so important to ensure that your customers can contact you with any questions or queries. Including your contact information (telephone number, address, website, email address etc) is vital. It ensures that if your customer has a problem, compliment or suggestion they are able to reach the right person within your company. 

Having a section at the bottom of your email template with all the details a customer would need to contact you is important. It conveys a message that you are approachable, trustworthy and responsive. 

Additionally, email users do not tend to read emails from ‘no-reply’ email addresses – unless they come from the bank. While not necessarily part of a template, sender email addresses should show customers:

• Who is emailing them – e.g. Jess
• The company they are emailing from – e.g. JessMakesJewelery 
• And the reason for the email – e.g. Newsletter 

This can help build trust in your brand, while humanising your business. 

Conclusion

There are a variety of elements that make up great email templates. Make sure that your email message is readable across devices and prioritises the important information is a great place to start. Additionally ensuring that your email is presented neatly, takes user experience into account and has ways for customers to reach out to you helps your email build trust and a relationship with your customer.