A lot of marketers do understand the need to create visual assets and dedicate a few hours a week for that. And quite a few marketers treat it as high priority. This demonstrates the huge role aesthetics play in all marketing materials, and emails aren’t any different.
The post below goes over the benefits that different kinds of visuals in email marketing can bring to ensure your emails catch the attention of your newsletter subscribers.
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The Role of Visuals in Email Marketing in 2024
Properly chosen and well-designed visuals make your emails more attractive, and allow users to immediately make sense of the message that your email is trying to convey. They will also leave a lasting impression on your subscribers and boost conversion chances.
Images help ensure the reader remains engaged. Given how flooded the average inbox is, your subscribers are far likelier to glance and skim through their emails instead of attentively reading each one. As such, it’s important to ensure the visual email you send is impactful enough to capture the recipient’s attention and prompt them to respond to the included call-to-action.
Appropriate visuals help elevate the user experience to a new level. By adding visually appealing images to your emails, you improve the customer experience while also increasing the chances of your emails being shared or forwarded to other users.
1. Images: To Attract Attention
With the help of HTML technology, users can format the text, apply different background colors, and add various images and tables to their emails. Static images are the most widely used type of visuals in email marketing.
The usage of appropriate images will allow you to forgo using endless bland paragraphs of text. Additionally, a well-chosen image makes it far likelier that your email will be clicked on and read, the same as with featured images on social media.
The photos you add always have to be of the highest possible quality, which is why it’s a great idea to use special photo editing services. Thanks to being enhanced with the help of professional retouching techniques, your images will have improved brightness, saturation, and clarity while having a far bigger impact on the viewer. High-end image retouching services will ensure your marketing emails look more enticing than the competition.
2. Videos: To Receive More User Engagement
The video can be very short since even a brief thank you clip included in an email can already have had the necessary effect. Similar to infographics, videos can present advanced topics in a simpler form while also employing visuals and sound to engage the recipient.
If your business doesn’t employ a videographer, you can still get high-quality results with your smartphone. There’s also an array of web-based video editing solutions that you can use to enhance your footage or add transitions. Alternatively, you can download a tool such as Adobe Premiere Pro to combine clips and apply various effects and stylish transitions.
Note: Even though videos are highly engaging, they aren’t supported by several popular email clients. If the video you’ve included can’t be played by the recipient, it will sour them on your content. It might be a good idea to develop basic video editing and graphic design skills and add images with a link to the video. While such an approach takes the reader away from your email, they will still end up interacting with your content, which is a conversion objective.
3. Infographics: To Present the Information More Creatively
About 70% of businesses dedicate a part of their advertising budgets to developing visual marketing strategies. Infographics are among the most efficient types of visuals in email marketing, as they allow you to present complex concepts and data comprehensively.
They usually contain pictures, charts, and graphs and can serve as a great tool for engaging readers and prompting them to find out more information about a specific subject.
Infographics and animated infographics are perfectly suited for presenting detailed or statistical data in a conveniently digestible manner. They generally act as efficient learning aids that make sure none of the provided data gets lost in translation.
4. GIFs: To Add More Movement
Whenever a user reads an email and notices movement, their attention is instantly drawn to it and they are encouraged to check out the rest of the newsletter. This is the attention-grabbing power of including a GIF file in your email. Animated images can be used for conveying different emotions, showcasing your product in action, or telling a brief narrative.
Add GIFs that are appropriate for the rest of the email and serve to get the desired point across. Consider employing platforms like Giphy or Ezgif to generate GIFs that you directly embed into the email body.
Note: Keep in mind that your GIFs should be as small in size as possible. If the file is very large, it will increase the email load time and significantly lower the chances of it being read. It’s recommended to keep all embedded files below 1MB.
5. Illustrations: To Explain an Abstract Concept
Sometimes you might find yourself in need of breaking down an abstract concept or understanding that a product photo, GIF, or video isn’t going to cut it. For such situations, it’s a good idea to employ icons and illustrations to convey your message.
Illustrations not only look aesthetically pleasing but can also ensure the key points of your email are more memorable and presented more engagingly.
When choosing an illustration for an email, make sure it complements the text layout, other images, and background without overpowering them or creating an unappealing clash of styles.
6. Customer Testimonials: To Build Trust
Customer testimonials are an efficient tool for establishing a trust-based relationship with potential clients. Customer photos can be used to make your emails come across as more personal and relatable.
For instance, you can add a testimonial next to the picture of the client who left it. Such an approach will make your email more credible and trustworthy.
When employed as visuals in email marketing, client testimonials can efficiently advertise your products or services, boost sales, and earn the trust of potential customers. That said, it’s crucial to ensure the added testimonial is relevant to the reader and is left by a client from the same field as the recipient.
7. User-Generated Content: To Add Authentic Visuals
User-created content shouldn’t be restricted exclusively to your Instagram feed. Such content can also be used as a part of your email newsletters to garner trust and credibility.
User-generated visuals bring terrific results because they feel authentic, original, and engaging. They act as social proof and can affect purchase decisions.
Such content can be featured in your email newsletters in multiple ways: add product photos next to client reviews, include several testimonials in the shape of pictures or videos, manage a rundown of best-selling products, and add photos of clients using your product.
8. Image Maps: To Create Clickable Images
Image maps are a category of visuals in email marketing that can be employed for adding clickable images. As such, they are fantastic tools for advertising your products and services, prompting readers to take action, or just presenting additional information about specific subjects.
For instance, you can add an image map to produce an interactive product catalog or shop location map. Image maps are the most interactive type of email visuals that actively encourages user engagement.
9. APNGs: To Impress Potential Clients
APNGs are largely similar to GIFs. The key distinction is that the former offers a superior resolution and picture quality.
Even though APNGs have better quality, they don't increase email loading speed, which is why they are generally the superior alternative to GIFs.
Another benefit to using this type of visuals in email marketing is that they are supported by nearly all leading email platforms other than Outlook (Windows) and Gmail.
10. Screenshots: To Get a Visual Preview of the Services
A visual email can include screenshots to let your subscribers preview your products or services. Such images are also employed for emphasizing specific features and advantages or just adding a bit of character to the message.
For instance, if you want to advertise a new piece of software, you can add a screenshot of the UI to let your subscribers know what it looks like. Alternatively, if you're advertising a new site, you can add a screenshot of the landing page.
Screenshots are efficient at both engaging readers and providing them with a better understanding of what you have to offer. The key here is to use such images sparingly to avoid overwhelming your subscribers with nonessential information.
Conclusion
Employ visuals in email marketing wisely while continuously adjusting your usage strategy by referring to email analytics and relevant KPIs. The fact that most businesses include visuals in their emails doesn’t automatically mean that this is the optimal solution for your brand as well. It's actually about how good you get at crafting attractive emails that catch the attention of your target audience, relay crucial information, and tell a compelling story.
Determine the optimal approach for your specific email marketing strategy. Unleash your creativity and design emails that will enable you to obtain the desired open, click-through, and conversion rates.
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