The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and user preferences are at the forefront of this change. One prominent trend gaining significant traction is dark mode. This user interface setting prioritizes darker backgrounds and lighter text, offering a better user experience in low-light environments and potentially reducing battery consumption on mobile devices.

The rise of dark mode interfaces across devices presents both challenges and opportunities for email marketers. While dark mode offers an enhanced readability option and makes the user experience better, it can also disrupt your carefully crafted email designs. With a strategic approach, you can ensure your emails continue to render beautifully and remain readable in both light and dark mode settings.

This comprehensive guide dives deep into the world of dark mode email design, addressing key considerations, best practices, and potential pitfalls to help you navigate this evolving landscape.

What is Dark Mode?

Dark mode is a user interface setting that swaps the traditional light background with a darker one, often accompanied by lighter text and UI elements. This provides a more comfortable viewing experience in low-light conditions and can potentially save battery life on devices with OLED screens.

The popularity of dark mode has surged in recent years, with many operating systems, applications, and websites offering the option to switch between light and dark interfaces. This trend has naturally extended to the world of email, prompting marketers to adapt their strategies for optimal user experience.

Benefits of Dark Mode for Email

There are several benefits to embrace dark mode email design:

Enhanced User Experience

Dark mode offers a more comfortable and user-friendly experience, particularly in low-light environments. Studies suggest it can reduce eye strain, making it ideal for users who spend extended periods reading emails on their screens.

Improved Readability

The high contrast between dark backgrounds and light text in dark mode can improve readability for some users, especially those with vision impairments.

Reduced Battery Consumption

For devices with OLED screens, dark mode can potentially help conserve battery life as displaying dark pixels requires less power.

Different Dark Mode Targeting Methods

Unfortunately, there's no single "magic bullet" for ensuring perfect rendering across all email clients with their varying dark mode implementations. Here's a breakdown of the different dark mode targeting approaches:

Media Queries

For advanced users familiar with coding, media queries can be implemented within email code to deliver specific styles catering to dark mode settings. This allows for granular control over how your email renders in different lighting conditions.

Predefined Styles

Some email service providers (ESPs) offer pre-defined styles specifically designed for dark mode. While less flexible than media queries, they can provide a simpler option for achieving basic dark mode compatibility.

Partial Dark Mode Correction

It's important to consider that some email clients might only partially invert light-background emails in dark mode. In such cases, optimizing your design for readability even with partial inversion can be helpful.

How Does Dark Mode for Email Work?

Dark mode functionality can vary significantly between email clients. It depends on clients if they choose predefined styles or partial dark mode correction. Additionally, some email clients might offer users the ability to toggle between light and dark mode for their entire inbox, while others might only offer dark mode at the operating system level.

Here's a breakdown of some of the key differences:

Inversion Levels

• Full Inversion: Some email clients, like certain desktop applications, might invert all email content when dark mode is enabled. This means backgrounds turn dark, text turns light, and images might also be inverted (though this isn't always ideal for maintaining image clarity).
• Partial Inversion: Other clients might only apply dark mode to specific elements. For instance, the background color might change, but text color, buttons, and images might remain untouched.

User Control

• Global vs. Inbox-Specific: Some email platforms offer a system-wide dark mode setting that applies to the entire interface, including the inbox and individual emails. Others might offer dark mode as an option specifically for the inbox view, leaving individual emails unaffected.

User Activation

• Client-Level Settings: Typically, dark mode is enabled or disabled within the settings menu of the specific email client you're using.
• Operating System Control: On some devices, dark mode might be controlled at the operating system level, automatically applying to all applications, including email clients.

See this example of email in light and dark mode. Here, no custom selection has been done but it changes the color scheme completely:

What Email Clients Support Dark Mode?

While the specific implementation varies, dark mode functionality is becoming increasingly common across important emails. Here's a general overview of support across different platforms:

Desktop Email Clients

Many popular desktop email clients like Apple Mail, Outlook, and Mozilla Thunderbird offer dark mode options.

Mobile Apps

Most mobile email apps, including Gmail and Yahoo Mail, offer dark mode functionality as part of their overall app settings.

Web Email Clients

Web-based email clients like Gmail in a web browser also offer dark mode options depending on the user's browser settings and the client's specific implementation.

How Do Email Clients Handle Dark Mode?

As mentioned earlier, the way clients handle dark mode can vary. Some might invert all email content, while others might only adjust specific elements. It's crucial to test your emails across different email clients to understand how they render in dark mode settings. Here’s why:

Ensuring Readability

If some email clients only partially invert emails, like with partial dark mode correction, you'll want to design your emails with sufficient contrast between text and background colors even without full inversion. This ensures your message remains clear regardless of the client's specific dark mode implementation.

Image Visibility

Since some clients might invert images, it's important to avoid using light-colored text or logos directly on images. Consider using transparent PNGs or adding dark outlines to text elements within images.

Does Dark Mode Affect Email Deliverability?

The good news is that embracing dark mode email design practices shouldn't negatively impact email deliverability. However, it's still essential to prioritize best practices for email deliverability, such as maintaining clean email lists, avoiding spammy content, and ensuring proper authentication measures are in place.

How to Code and Design Emails for Dark Mode

While the focus of this guide is on practical strategies that don't require extensive coding knowledge, here's a brief overview of some code-related considerations for dark mode email design:

Media Queries

Media queries help you add the style for dark mode settings within your email's HTML and CSS. Here's a simplified example of a basic media query targeting dark mode:

CSS

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {

/* Styles to be applied in dark mode */

body {

background-color: #222; /* Set dark background color */

}

.text-light {

color: #fff; /* Change text color to white for dark mode */

}

}

Importance of Testing

Remember, regardless of the approach you take (media queries, predefined styles, or basic design considerations), thorough testing is important. Test your emails across a variety of email clients and devices in both light and dark mode settings to ensure best possible rendering and user experience.

Dark Mode Email Design Challenges

While dark mode presents exciting opportunities, there are also challenges to consider:

Limited Control

As mentioned earlier, there's no single solution that guarantees perfect rendering across all email clients with their diverse dark mode implementations. This lack of complete control can make it difficult to ensure a perfectly consistent user experience.

Image Rendering Issues

Images are an important element of many email designs. However, in dark mode, images with light backgrounds can blend in with the darker email background, potentially causing them to become invisible or difficult to see.

Color Contrast Concerns

Carefully chosen color palettes can significantly impact email design effectiveness. In dark mode, ensuring sufficient contrast between text and background colors is essential for readability.

Limited Testing Capabilities

Testing email designs across a vast array of email clients and devices with their varying dark mode functionalities can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process.

How to Overcome Dark Mode Email Design Challenges

Despite the challenges, there are effective strategies to optimize your email designs for dark mode:

Transparency and Outlines

• Transparent PNGs: Replace solid-colored buttons and logos with transparent PNGs. This allows the background color (either light or dark) to show through, maintaining design integrity.
• Outlines for Text: Consider adding a thin, translucent outline around dark text elements within transparent PNGs. This improves readability against dark backgrounds.

Prioritize Color Contrast

• WCAG Compliance: Always strive for designs that meet accessibility standards like Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Tools like WebAIM's Contrast Checker can help you ensure sufficient contrast between text and background colors for both light and dark modes.
• Test Color Combinations: Test your emails in both light and dark mode settings to confirm color combinations remain clear and visually appealing.

Leverage Design Systems for Dark Mode Optimization

Email design systems can be a valuable asset for creating optimized emails for dark mode. These systems provide a centralized library of pre-built, reusable components that can be easily adapted for different scenarios, including dark mode. By incorporating dark mode styles within your design system, you can ensure consistency and streamline the process of creating emails that render beautifully.

Stay Updated on Dark Mode Email Design Trends

Staying updated on the latest trends and best practices through resources like email design trend can be incredibly beneficial in the world of dark mode. This can provide valuable insights into user preferences, emerging technologies, and innovative design approaches for dark mode.

Conclusion

Dark mode has become a prominent force in the digital landscape, and email marketing is no exception. While it presents some challenges, by embracing strategic design techniques and staying informed about the latest trends, you can successfully navigate this evolving space. By optimizing your email designs for dark mode, you can ensure a positive user experience for all your subscribers, regardless of their preferred viewing mode.

Ready to take your dark mode email design expertise to the next level? Download our comprehensive Dark Mode Email Design Guide for in-depth insights, practical tips, and valuable resources to help you create stunning and effective emails that render flawlessly.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dark Mode Email Design

1. How do I turn on dark mode in email?

The ability to turn on dark mode for emails typically depends on the specific email client you're using. Many email clients offer dark mode options within their settings menus. Additionally, some operating systems have system-wide dark mode settings that can be applied to all applications, including email clients.

2. Can you make Gmail emails dark mode?

Yes, Gmail offers a dark mode option. You can typically access it through the settings menu within the Gmail app or web interface.

3. How do I optimize my email for dark mode?

There are several ways to optimize your email for dark mode:

• Use transparent PNGs for images and buttons.
• Add thin outlines around dark text elements.
• Prioritize high color contrast between text and background colors.
• Test your emails thoroughly across different email clients and devices in both light and dark mode settings.

4. What is the use of dark mode in email?

Dark mode offers several benefits for email users, including:

• Enhanced user experience in low-light environments.
• Improved readability for some users, especially those with vision impairments.
• Potential battery savings on devices with OLED screens.

By using dark mode email design, you can ensure your emails remain visually appealing and readable for all your subscribers, regardless of their preferred viewing mode.

Maintaining a consistent brand presence is crucial for success in a competitive market. With a growing number of digital assets and the need for smooth collaboration, many organizations are turning to brand asset management (BAM) systems.

This article will explain how brand asset management tools can help your company thrive and why investing in one is a smart move.

Why Use Brand Asset Management Software?

Brand asset management is all about storing, organizing, and handling your brand's assets to ensure consistent representation across all channels. It usually involves a system that lets all internal and external stakeholders of your company easily find, store, and work together smoothly on-brand assets.

Without a proper brand asset management tool, this system can become a real headache.

Challenges of manual brand asset management

Here are some common challenges you might face when managing your brand assets manually.

• Time-Consuming: Managing and tracking assets manually requires a lot of time and effort to ensure everything is well-documented, organized, and kept up-to-date.
• Human errors: Human errors in entering and tracking data can cause inconsistencies and mistakes throughout the asset management process. These could be as simple as typos, putting in the wrong information, or forgetting to update asset information.
• Not-so-smooth collaboration: Without a centralized system, it's hard to coordinate with both your team and outside partners.
• Missing deadlines: Trouble finding and managing assets can lead to missed deadlines for campaigns and projects.
• Resource strains: Tasks like data manipulation, campaign planning, and audits demand a lot of time, effort, and resources. For instance, planning campaigns without an efficient BAM tool can result in disjointed efforts and missed opportunities.
• Lack of real-time updates: Keeping track of brand asset status and changes in real-time can be challenging.
• Inconsistencies & limited accessibility: Maintaining consistent brand representation across all mediums is difficult without a centralized system, which can also limit asset accessibility for stakeholders, hence slowing down workflows.

Given these challenges, investing in a robust brand asset management tool becomes essential.

Benefits of using dedicated software

Utilizing dedicated software to manage your brand assets offers several advantages. Let's see what are those:

Better organization

As a brand manager, you'll often spend time searching for approved assets for your creative, sales, and marketing teams.

Take logos, for instance—they come in various shapes, colors, and file formats. When stored in a shared folder, it can be challenging for your colleagues to locate the exact assets they need. This can lead to wasted time or requests for your assistance.

With a BAM system, you can organize brand assets neatly, making it easier for your colleagues to find files on their own.

Chamaileon offers something resembling a BAM system, where you can store and organize your brand assets - in case of Chamaileon email marketing assets.

Improved brand consistency

Make your brand easily recognizable by customizing and controlling the appearance of your platform. This way, your brand maintains its distinct identity and appears exactly as you envision it.

For instance, with good BAM software, you can adjust colors, fonts, and logos across all marketing materials and digital channels to ensure a cohesive and professional image.

Improved team collaboration

A dedicated BAM software enables seamless sharing of assets across multiple teams, whether they're in-office or working remotely. This integration helps streamline workflows between various teams and agencies, ensuring smooth operations for businesses.

For example, a marketing team can easily share updated campaign visuals with a design team working remotely, ensuring everyone has access to the latest assets without delays. This collaborative approach enhances productivity and ensures consistent brand messaging across all channels.

Learn about Email Design Systems!

Modular email design assets to build (and scale) email campaigns quickly, always on brand. Check it out.

Download Guide

How Do You Create Brand Assets?

Brand assets are the elements that showcase your brand's identity and personality. They include your logo, colors, fonts, voice, tone, images, icons, slogans, and more.

Creating one is crucial for building a consistent brand presence. Creating them as a system is a peace of mind when creating campaigns or other deliverables.

Brand strategy

Begin by crafting a clear brand strategy that defines your values, vision, and target audience. This strategy will be the foundation for developing your brand assets.

Brand identity

With your brand strategy in place, start designing your brand identity to visually represent your brand. It should reflect your strategy and convey your brand's personality and message. Tools like mood boards, brand style guides, and logo makers can help. You can read a lot about this on medium.com or other design blogs.

Create a library

Once your brand identity is designed, create a brand assets library. This organized collection includes:

• A brand guidelines document outlining rules for using your assets.
• A folder with all the files and formats of your brand assets.
• and finally! A brand management platform for storing, sharing, and updating assets online.

This will ensure consistency and quality, saving you time and resources.

Who Should Use Brand Asset Management Software?

BAM software is primarily for brand managers, but it can also benefit other teams in your business.

Brand managers (designers)

Brand managers are the guardians of your brand, ensuring all content and communications align with your brand's identity. A BAM is essential for tracking all created assets.

Marketing teams

Your marketing team will use BAM software for their daily tasks. They can access approved content without needing to ask the brand manager for the latest logo. They can also use integrations to prepare product images and videos for marketing channels.

Brand templates and style guides are crucial. Imagine your email marketing team needs to launch a campaign urgently. They can swiftly access Chamaileon (which isn't a traditional BAM but can function as an email BAM), review guidelines, fetch product images, and seamlessly integrate them into email templates.

One advantage Chamaileon has over its competitors is dynamic updates and version control. Its email design system features components that automatically update across all email templates and pre-saved modules, simplifying asset management.

Freelance Designers

If you're an e-commerce business, you likely rely on Google Drive or Dropbox to receive images from freelancers. However, these platforms can be cumbersome and may not effectively showcase your visual content.

With brand asset managers like Dash, you can create a Guest Uploads folder where freelancers submit design files for review. From there, you can approve designs for use or provide direct feedback to the designer.

Plus, it allows you to share updated brand guidelines with your team, so they stay on tracks from the get go. This helps avoid wasting productive time on unnecessary revisions and back-and-forth.

8 Must-Have Brand Asset Management Tools

When seeking a digital asset management solution that doubles as a BAM tool, there are numerous options available. However, the standout tools are those that provide dynamic content updates and version control, ensuring alignment across culture and organization, seamless integration with marketing workflows, and robust security and access management. Here’s an overview of some of the top brand asset management tools.

Bynder

Bynder's Brand Asset Management (BAM) platform stands out for its intuitive interface, powerful search functions, and smooth integration with various marketing tools.

It centralizes brand assets, ensuring uniformity across all communications, while also offering version control and customizable workflows to boost collaboration and streamline asset management efficiency.

Frontify

Frontify BAM provides centralized storage for brand assets like logos and images, ensuring easy access and organization. Its intuitive interface simplifies the creation and management of brand guidelines and style guides, fostering consistent brand representation.

Also, its integrated workflow tools facilitate seamless collaboration and asset approval processes, supported by robust version control and real-time updates for enhanced productivity and brand integrity across all channels.

Canto

It offers easy organization of assets, strong search capabilities, and tools for seamless collaboration. Plus, Canto provides customizable branding guidelines, version control, and secure access management, ensuring consistent branding and efficient asset management.

Cloudinary

Cloudinary excels in managing media assets like images and videos, offering advanced features such as optimizing images for different devices and automating tasks. This makes it an ideal choice for brands that rely heavily on visual content, ensuring their images and videos are delivered efficiently and in the best quality across various platforms and devices.

MediaValet

MediaValet distinguishes itself with robust security measures and a global presence. As a cloud-based platform, it boasts AI-powered tagging, powerful search functions, and seamless integration with enterprise systems. This makes it a reliable choice for organizations seeking enhanced asset management with advanced technology and worldwide accessibility.

Extensis Portfolio

Extensis Portfolio is crafted for easy use and rapid implementation. It excels in organizing, cataloging, and archiving assets, catering especially to small and medium-sized businesses. This makes it a practical choice for companies looking to streamline their asset management processes efficiently.

Widen Collective

Widen Collective is notable for its customizability and scalability. It serves companies of all sizes and includes essential features like asset analytics, brand portals, and rights management, which are crucial for effective Brand Asset Management (BAM).

Pro Tips for Choosing the Right Brand Asset Management Tool

Consider team size, budget, and specific needs

Start by identifying your business needs and goals for adopting a brand asset management system. Determine which assets you need to organize—like logos, videos, images, and documents—and consider who in your organization will use the software.

It may include internal teams such as marketing and design, as well as potential external agencies.

Assess your current processes, budget, and future goals to prioritize essential features that fit your workflow and team size. This approach will help you choose the best-fitting solution for your requirements.

Look for user-friendly interface and integrations

Focus on choosing a system with an intuitive interface that your team members can navigate easily every day. A cluttered or complicated interface can discourage adoption.

Seek software that offers features such as fast asset search, filtering, and sorting. Mobile-friendly design is crucial for users needing access on the move.

Also, choose software that seamlessly Integrates with existing workflows rather than adds extra complexity.

Ensure scalability for future growth

As businesses expand, their asset libraries grow rapidly. It's wise to select a flexible platform that can scale with your needs. Cloud-based solutions offer unlimited storage without space constraints and automatically adjust to handle more users and assets.

On-premises options may require hardware upgrades as your business grows. Choosing scalable software safeguards your investment and supports long-term business growth.

By carefully assessing these features based on your goals, you can select a brand asset management solution that enhances your workflow. The right platform enables teams to easily access refined brand assets, ensuring consistent and high-quality creative outputs.

Conclusion

Investing in a robust brand asset management (BAM) solution is essential for businesses committed to maintaining a consistent brand presence and optimizing workflows.

Selecting the ideal BAM tool tailored to your requirements—whether it's fostering collaboration, maintaining brand consistency, or scaling with growth—empowers teams to effectively handle, access, and utilize brand assets across all platforms.

This strategic investment enhances productivity and creativity, as well as reinforces your brand's identity and competitive edge in the market.

Learn about Email Design Systems!

Modular email design assets to build (and scale) email campaigns quickly, always on brand. Check it out.

Download Guide

Frequently asked questions about brand asset management tools

What are the different types of brand asset management tools?

Brand Asset Management (BAM) tools encompass various types, such as Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems, Brand Guidelines and Style Guide Tools, Workflow and Collaboration Tools, Email Design Systems, and Content Management Systems (CMS).

How much does brand asset management software cost?

The cost of asset management systems varies depending on the quantity and types of assets you handle, ranging broadly from $20 to over $1,000 per month.

Can I use free brand asset management tools?

You can find free brand asset management tools, but they usually have fewer features than paid options. These tools may offer basic features like storage and organization of assets, but might lack advanced customization, integrations, or strong security measures.

What are the benefits of brand consistency?

Ensuring your brand maintains a consistent identity across all platforms fosters trust and recognition among your audience, strengthening your marketing efforts. It establishes a cohesive brand image that resonates with customers, fostering brand loyalty and facilitating long-term business growth.

How can I get my team on board with using brand asset management tools?

To get your team excited about using brand asset management tools, highlight how they streamline workflows, boost collaboration, and maintain a consistent brand image. Show how these tools make accessing assets easier and increase productivity, making daily tasks more efficient, and helping everyone stay aligned with the brand's guidelines and standards.

Efficiently streamlining your email creation workflow is crucial for maximizing productivity. By establishing an "email factory", you can rapidly deploy campaigns and marketing assets, ensuring swift delivery and optimizing return on investment (ROI).

That's why we've put together essential tips to help you streamline your email creation process aka the email production.

Importance of a Streamlined Email Creation Workflow

The email creation workflow is the art of moving emails from idea to completion in an organized and efficient manner, then seamlessly starting the process again for the next one.

This organized series of steps reduces team stress, boosts cross-team collaboration, and improves the quality of your emails. It also minimizes mistakes and enhances the quality control of your email campaigns.

Simply put, establishing an email production process is essential to reap the benefits of email marketing fully.

Benefits of an Efficient Workflow

Saves Time: Once the workflow is set, it frees up time for other tasks.

• Automates “Everything”: Efficient email workflows automate everything including micro processes like scheduling, personalization, and segmentation, reducing manual intervention and streamlining operations
  
• Nurtures Leads Better: Provides relevant information to make leads more receptive to sales contact. Companies with efficient workflows see a 451% increase in qualified leads, showing the effectiveness of lead nurturing efforts in accelerating subscriber progression through defined segments and personalization stages.
  
• Increases Brand Affinity: Efficient email workflows build stronger brand loyalty by consistently delivering content that resonates with recipients' interests and needs, often utilizing pre-built elements or a modular design system to enhance brand consistency.
  
• Personalization: Efficient workflows leverage data to segment audiences effectively and automatically deliver personalized content to subscribers based on their preferences, enhancing overall personalization efforts.
  
• Reduces Errors: Workflows built on pre-built designs and a siloed system leverage automated checks and standardized processes to minimize mistakes. Hence, they reduce human errors and ensure consistency across campaigns.
  
• Reduces Costs: An efficient workflow cuts costs by freeing up creative time. It also empowers sales and CRM/marketing teams to handle email tasks independently, reducing dependence on technical and design support for routine campaigns.
  
• Boosts Revenue: It boosts revenue by optimizing assets and enabling more tests within the same timeframe, leading to improved campaign performance and higher conversion rates.
  
• Speeds up Sales: It speeds up sales and go-to-market by streamlining processes, allowing for higher frequency in campaign execution. This means more campaigns can be launched within the same time period, maximizing outreach and accelerating sales cycles effectively.

However, there are still hurdles in the email creation process that require attention to improve efficiency.

Common Challenges in Email Creation

• Deliverability issues: A major challenge in email creation workflow is getting your emails into recipients' inboxes. Spam filters, blacklisting, and incorrect email addresses can all affect deliverability and thus time spent with resolving the issues.
• Personalization and Segmentation: Setting up email workflows can be tricky, leading to errors. These mistakes can cause incorrect email sequences or missed triggers. Personalizing and segmenting emails can be tough too. Generic emails often fail to engage recipients. Optimizing emails or build flows that are meaningful enough take more time obviously.
• Rendering Problems: Email client rendering tests also prolongs send time and we all know how tricky those Outlooks can be.

Agile Email Creation Guide

Learn the “Agile Email Creation” method to streamline your processes and enhance conversions.

Download Guide

5 Tips and Best Practices for Improved Email Production

Managing your email workflow shouldn’t be complicated. Little adjustments can work wonders for your team. So, let’s look at a few simple tips to help you improve your email production process.

Tip 1 Establish clear objectives Free Up Time Where You Can

Knowing your strategic goals before changing tidbits in your usual way of creating emails is important. What would you like to improve? Time spent on a single campaign to scale efforts? CTR%, creatives or, other performance-boosting magic? Reduce communication ping-pong? Or simply make the email process less stressful?

Note down what you feel is wrong now. Look for a solution that solves that. To avoid being productivity-Coelho, here is our tip:

Most problems can be solved by giving yourself more time, so Tip Number #1 - free up time where you can: automate what you can, reduce the number of tools, or search for a centralized tool, and dump processes that are leading to no change in results like rendering tests (when using a bulletproof visual builder) or email code dev if you are still doing it manually.

Tap to AI for repetitive tasks like writing templating language snippets for dynamic content.

Tip 2 Organize & Prioritize

A successful email workflow starts with organization and prioritization. Begin by mapping out your workflow on paper, then gradually implement each component. For instance, segment your audience strategically, automate repetitive tasks, schedule email campaigns in advance, and create a feedback loop for ongoing insights to refine your strategies promptly.

It all becomes simpler with an email design system or a centralized tool that seamlessly integrates and streamlines these processes. Read more about it later in this article under the headline "Building Your Dream Email Creation Workflow".

Prioritize the tasks

Prioritizing tasks in the email creation pipeline is crucial because it ensures that the most important and time-sensitive emails are addressed first, preventing delays and bottlenecks.

It helps maintain a clear focus, increases efficiency, and ensures that all team members know what to tackle next, leading to a more streamlined and effective email marketing strategy.

Tip 3 Craft the perfect content for your target audience - forget the cliches

It’s paramount that you tailor your content to each customer throughout their buyer's journey. Focus on delivering value and building rapport gradually. This is what marketing influencers and school teachers say, at least. But how do you achieve perfect content in reality?

To create content that aligns with both your customers' needs and your business goals and make it easy for customers to progress to the next stage of their journey without obstacles stands on a key step: collecting relevant information from your leads and customers.
Simply put: talk to them. Or mimic it.

Here’s a workflow to inspire you:

Read customer support tickets. Try to answer them in their style but not for the single customer who reported but to a segment that is created based on their profile. Give them stuff they said they need or emphasize their problems and offer solutions. Repeat.

Tip 4 Ensure your customer database is always up-to-date

This connects directly to analyzing your leads/subscribers/recipients/addresses and can be done before or after sending your emails.

Maintaining an up-to-date database helps you confidently identify qualified leads based on your company's offerings. It ensures your emails stay current and perform at their best.

In addition to these you save time by doing it as part of campaign optimization and not as a standalone process. Our tip is to do list-management when you analyze a campaign’s performance - a few days later after a send. If you send sequences, then go back every month to see performance and make list/filtering changes beyond the usual A/B tests of content.

Tip 5 Establish an email design system with a modular approach instead of full-email templates

An email design system, built on modules and components or brand variables, offers flexibility and simplifies the process of exploring new ideas, making work faster, easier, and more enjoyable than using full-page or full-email templates.

Pro tip:

Establish a modular email design system with Chamaileon in just a few simple steps.

• Use Brand Variables: Set up default values for colors, fonts, logos, and frequently used text snippets as Variables to maintain brand consistency.
• Define Components: Save elements like text, images, and buttons as Components for easy reuse and consistency across emails.
• Create Blocks (Modules): Structure emails using Blocks (Modules) to organize content sections that can be saved, reused, and easily modified.
• Utilize Templates: Save finalized email designs as Templates to ensure consistent layouts and simplify the creation of new campaigns but do not stick with them too much.

Read more about it here.

Building Your Dream Email Creation Workflow

One overlooked aspect of a good email creation workflow is its role in streamlining efforts to establish a true "email factory." Here are a few steps to help you create your own email production factory.

Despite the challenges, you can still create your ideal workflow to achieve the best results. Here’s how!

Identify your email roadblocks

Take the first step and identify the primary obstacles in the way of your email production process.

Here are the common roadblocks in email workflow management that hinder team productivity.

Lack of collaborative tools and centralized processes

Not having a centralized tool for creating email assets isn't just a team challenge; even solo marketers benefit from a unified platform where everything—design, copy, code, and data for personalization—is readily available for a streamlined email creation workflow.

However, with a comprehensive tool such as Chameileon, there's no need for coding as well  thanks to its drag-and-drop email builder.

The main issue arises when components for the next email campaign are scattered across different systems or stored on your computer in separate folders, undermining the establishment of a single source of truth. This fragmentation leaves marketers and teams grappling with incomplete systems.

Delays caused by inefficient approval processes

Two major slowdowns that hinder any team’s progress are gathering feedback and getting approval from all stakeholders.

Delays often stem from too many approvers and fragmented review processes.

Version control and tracking changes difficulties

Depending solely on your inbox and messaging apps to track feedback and changes for every email campaign can become overwhelming as your team and workload grow.

Informal version control methods might suffice initially for smaller teams, but they can cause issues as your workload increases.

Difficulty integrating with other marketing systems and tools

If you feel isolated in your email marketing efforts, you're not alone—only 24% of email programs are well-integrated with other marketing channels. Manually transferring information between tools is time-consuming and error-prone.

Plus, you might miss valuable insights if your marketing tools don't integrate.

Tedious manual tasks and repetitive processes

While a single grain of sand is insignificant, together, they form a beach. Similarly, small manual tasks and repetitive processes may not seem like issues individually, but their inefficiencies accumulate.

With 62% of email marketing teams spending two weeks or more on each email, even minor time-savings per message can make a significant difference over the year.

Map out your email creation journey

Creating a roadmap for your email journey helps streamline your workflow. Steps involved in email creation from concept to launch typically include:

• Conceptualization: Ideate and conceptualize! Set clear goals and objectives. Develop a strategic content plan and messaging strategy to ensure smooth sailing throughout the email production process.
  
• Content Creation: After setting clear objectives, write a compelling copy that will engage readers. Plus, you must incorporate relevant multimedia such as images, video, or GIFs to enhance engagement.
  
• Design: Designing an email goes beyond creating eye-catching layouts. Email design systems are crucial for their dynamic components and modules, offering flexibility that traditional templates lack, making it easier to repurpose them for new content.
  
• Coding and Development: A streamlined email creation workflow eliminates the need for coding in 2024, saving time and company resources. To centralize email creation across multiple platforms (ESP + CRM), invest in an all-in-one visual email builder platform like Chamaileon. These tools ensure responsive emails across devices and clients without requiring coding skills.
  
• Testing: Today, testing focuses less on rendering issues thanks to advanced visual builders and email-specific design systems with pre-built modules and templates. However, thorough testing remains crucial for personalization, dynamic content, links, landing pages, and tracking to ensure seamless campaign performance across all aspects.
  
• Approval and Review: After testing, it's crucial to gather feedback from stakeholders and team members, as even a quick "health" check could uncover issues that someone working on an asset might miss. This practice ensures that even one-man marketers benefit from external reviews to enhance clarity and effectiveness.
  
• Deployment: Then comes the big moment: the launch! Schedule the email launch at the optimal time for maximum impact. Moreover, segment and target the audience strategically to improve relevance.

Improve Collaboration and Communication - not for teams only

Tips for Effective Communication

To foster smooth collaboration in email creation;

• Prioritize regular meetings to track progress and goals - find someone to talk through results/performance even if you are the only one doing those. Feedback is always appreciated.
• clearly define roles,
• use collaborative tools with real-time updates, and work or at least plan together
• encourage feedback loops, (see point one)
• maintain open communication channels for idea sharing, but restrict communication for approval to a tool/channel.
• and document processes for clarity.

These strategies enhance accountability and efficiency across the email workflow.

Assigning Roles and Responsibilities

When everyone knows their tasks, they can focus and avoid duplicating efforts. Start by writing out your current email process and making sure everyone understands their role. This helps identify any gaps that might be causing delays.

To simplify things, create a pre-send email checklist and assign tasks to team members.

Moreover, manage permissions in your email creation software to keep everyone focused on their responsibilities.

Establishing a Review and Approval Process

Before sending your message to your entire list, getting a fresh perspective is crucial. However, the approval process can become unwieldy. Focus on including only necessary stakeholders and consolidating comments and questions in one place.

Here's a suggestion:

Move email design feedback away from the inbox and adopt a unified method. Few tools currently offer this feature, allowing flexibility before finalizing assets.

For instance, if your team approves campaigns in Google Docs, it's only for the copy. However, changes often occur when creating emails from this approved copy.

Commenting on Figma files faces similar challenges as they're not final assets. A better solution involves commenting on test-email screenshots from an inbox view, though this process can be tedious for longer emails.

Ideally, use a tool that enables direct email preview commenting for smoother feedback.

Limit reviewers to 2-3 people to streamline the process.

Tools for Team Collaboration

Effective collaboration is made simpler and faster with the right tools. General task-management apps such as, Jira, Asana, and Trello help teams manage and assign email tasks efficiently BUT for God’s sake do not overuse them or put every single asset creation into them. Most of these are pretty bad when handling repetitive tasks like a weekly newsletter.

Therefore, work within a tool that centralizes efforts rather than fragmenting them.

You should be able to manage copy, design elements (if applicable), combine them for approval, and send them out via ESP/CRM. Task management tools can’t help with these needs.

Consider these tips:

• Utilize Chamaileon's email creation workflow.
• Reflect on your recent email campaigns to identify repetitive tasks. Can you automate these tasks or reminders using your project management software?

Testing and Optimization

Next up, you need to test and optimize email assets and creatives.

Establish Clear Design Standards

Creating clear design standards for email templates in your workflow can save you up to an hour on every campaign. For this, set up an email design system. Tools like Chamaileon can help you build effective email design systems.

Clear design standards are crucial because they make it easier to test and optimize your emails. With consistent design, you can quickly identify what works best for your audience, ensuring your emails not only look great but also perform well.

This consistency helps maintain brand integrity and improves the efficiency of your email marketing efforts. By using an email design system, you can streamline your workflow, reduce errors, and focus more on crafting engaging content.

Quality Assurance

Email testing is essential and shouldn't slow you down. Start with a simple QA checklist for quick reference, or automate parts of the process like spam filter tests and device rendering.

No need to mention that systematic and well-planned tests save a lot of time.

Testing today focuses less on rendering issues due to improved visual builders and email-specific design systems with pre-built modules and templates.

To narrow down test cases and save time, use email analytics to determine the most popular devices among your audience. Focus your testing on those devices.

However, rigorous testing remains essential for personalization, dynamic content, links, landing pages, and tracking to ensure seamless campaign performance across all aspects.

Optimization

From the perspective of boosting an email creation workflow, it's best if performance optimization is integrated into the process.

For instance, allocating a dedicated time slot for this purpose is ideal. It's advantageous to plan a campaign or sequence segment with test options from the outset. For example, I typically draft 2-4 subject lines and a couple of headline versions when planning an email, providing material for A/B testing right from the start without additional deliberation.

You can also use A/B testing for performance optimization of your emails. Focusing on components like personalization and dynamic content is more critical than mere rendering tests.

Also, customize your testing workflow to fit your team and marketing environment, such as using project-specific test email addresses.

Continuous Improvement Strategies

Every campaign offers a unique opportunity to learn and improve. Analyze email performance to understand your audience better and create more effective emails from the start. Regularly review your email creation workflow as well to identify areas for improvement.

Monitor the time spent on email creation from start to finish and track how it changes over time.

Conclusion

Streamlining your email creation workflow is essential for saving time, reducing errors, and enhancing the quality of your campaigns.

By implementing clear design standards, utilizing automation tools, and fostering effective collaboration, you can create a more efficient process.

Regular testing and continuous improvement will ensure your emails consistently engage and convert your audience.

Learn the “Agile Email Creation” method to streamline your process and enhance conversions.

Download Guide

Frequently asked questions about the email creation workflow

What are some common workflow mistakes email marketers make?

Common email marketing workflow mistakes include not segmenting the audience enough, which results in generic messages that don't connect well with recipients. This is a time-related issue in most cases because marketers usually are overwhelmed and overworked.

Another issue is forgetting to optimize emails for mobile devices, missing out on engaging a large part of the audience.

Additionally, poor testing practices can result in deliverability issues and lower engagement rates.

How can I measure the success of my email creation workflow?

You can measure the success of your email creation workflow by tracking key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, unsubscribe rates, etc. AND time needed to create a single campaign/email.

Analyzing such metrics over time provides you with valuable insights on how your workflow is performing, helping you identify areas for improvement and optimization.

Moreover, monitoring the time it takes to create and deploy emails can gauge the efficiency of your workflow.

What are some tools that can help me manage my email creation workflow?

Some of the best tools to help you manage your email creation process are Chamaileon, Litmus, and Knak.

Why is A/B testing important in email marketing?

A/B testing is crucial because it helps you find out which campaigns, messages, or call-to-action buttons resonate best with your audience. It's a way to experiment and discover what works most effectively in your emails.

How can Chamaileon.io specifically help me improve my email creation workflow?

Chamaileon.io simplifies your email creation process with its user-friendly platform for designing and managing templates.

It offers collaborative features that streamline feedback and approval processes, ensuring smoother team collaboration.

Plus, Chamaileon.io supports responsive design, so your emails will always look fantastic on any device, all without requiring advanced coding skills. This saves time and ensures your email campaigns are both effective and visually appealing.

Imagine this: you open your inbox, flooded with generic emails pushing the same tired offers. Yawn. But then, something catches your eye. A subject line that speaks directly to you, addressing a specific need or referencing a past interaction. Intrigued, you click.

This, my friend, is the magic of personalized email marketing. In a world saturated with digital noise, it's the key to unlocking engagement and driving results for marketers. Ready to ditch the generic emails and create something that will engage your subscribers or clients? Let's dive in!

What is Email Personalization?

Email personalization is the practice of crafting unique email experiences for each subscriber on your list. This goes beyond simply including a name in the salutation. It involves strategically leveraging data about your subscribers to create targeted email campaigns with personalized content, offers, and visuals.

There are three key aspects to consider in email personalization:

Objective

What is the goal of your email campaign? Is it to generate leads, drive sales, nurture existing relationships, or raise brand awareness? Understanding your objective will guide the type of data you collect and how you personalize your emails.

Collected Data

The effectiveness of your personalization strategy hinges on the data you gather about your subscribers. This can include basic demographics like name and location, purchase history, website behavior, and engagement with previous email campaigns.

Level of Personalization

The level of personalization you implement can vary. Simple personalization might involve using a subscriber's name, while more advanced strategies could involve crafting entire email experiences based on individual preferences and past behavior.

Segmentation vs. Personalization

It's important to distinguish segmentation from personalization. Segmentation involves dividing your email list into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, like industry, job title, or company size. This allows you to tailor your email design and content to resonate more effectively with each segment. Personalization builds upon these segmentation strategies by creating highly targeted content within each segment, tailored to the individual subscriber's unique needs and preferences.

Walt Disney World email example which targets only passholders.

Why is Email Personalization Important?

The benefits of email marketing personalization are undeniable. Studies by Campaign Monitor show that emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened, and messages with personalized content can deliver 5.7 times higher revenue. Here's a breakdown of some key advantages:

• Increased Open Rates: Personalized subject lines and email content pique reader interest and encourage them to open your emails.
• Improved Click-Through Rates: Content relevant to the recipient's needs is more likely to prompt them to click through to your website or landing page.
• Enhanced Engagement: Personalized emails feel more relevant and valuable to subscribers, fostering stronger engagement with your brand.
• Higher Conversion Rates: By targeting specific needs and wants and creating personalized email content can drive a significant increase in conversions and sales.
• Boosted ROI: Increased open rates, click-through rates, and conversions translate to a higher return on investment (ROI) for your email marketing efforts.

Challenges of Email Personalization

While the rewards are substantial, implementing email marketing personalization also presents some challenges:

Data Collection

Gathering the necessary data about your subscribers requires strategic planning and clear opt-in options during sign-up forms. Consider offering incentives for users to provide additional details beyond just their email address. This could involve offering downloadable resources, exclusive discounts, or early access to new product launches in exchange for information about their industry, job title, or areas of interest. Additionally, you can get website data in Google Sheets while collecting necessary data to make it more effective and successful.

Segmentation Complexity

Creating and managing segmented lists can become complex as your email list grows.  However, several email marketing platforms offer built-in segmentation tools that can help automate this process. Utilize these tools to categorize subscribers based on various criteria, such as demographics, purchase history, website behavior, or email engagement for targeted campaigns.

Technical Expertise

Integrating personalization features and managing dynamic content within your email marketing platform may require some technical know-how. The good news is that many platforms offer user-friendly interfaces and drag-and-drop functionality that make personalization accessible even for those without extensive coding experience. Additionally, many platforms provide comprehensive documentation and support resources to guide you through the process.

Privacy Concerns

Striking a balance between personalization and respecting user privacy is important. Ensure you have clear and explicit consent for data collection from your subscribers. Furthermore, provide them with easy options to manage their information and unsubscribe from emails if they choose. Building trust and respecting user privacy is essential for long-term success.

Time Investment

Developing and executing effective personalization strategies requires upfront planning and ongoing monitoring to optimize results. While there will be an initial time investment, the long-term benefits of increased engagement, conversions, and ROI make it a worthwhile endeavor. Consider setting aside dedicated time for planning, content creation, and campaign analysis to ensure your personalization efforts are continually refined and delivering optimal results.

Best Practices for Email Marketing Personalization

The foundation of successful email personalization lies in gathering the right data. Look to capture information that allows you to segment your audience and tailor content accordingly. Not just name and address but purchase history, browsing behavior, demographics, and even interests gleaned from social media interactions (with permission, of course) can all be valuable data points for crafting personalized experiences.

Here are some best practices to help marketers leverage the power of email personalization:

Collect Data Through Sign-up Forms

Craft clear and concise sign-up forms that encourage users to provide relevant data points like industry, job title, and areas of interest.

Use Marketing Software

Many email marketing platforms offer built-in personalization features like segmentation tools, dynamic content tags, and A/B testing capabilities. Use these tools to automate personalized email journeys.

Add Personalization Tags

Utilize personalization tags within your email templates to insert dynamic content like subscriber names, previous purchase history, or location-specific offers.

Segment Your Audience

Divide your email list into targeted segments based on demographics, interests, behavior, or purchase history. This allows you to send emails that resonate more deeply with each recipient group.

Use Behavior Based Automation

Leverage automation tools to trigger personalized emails based on subscriber behavior. For example, sending a welcome email series to new subscribers, re-engagement campaigns to win back inactive users, or abandoned cart reminders to nudge customers towards completing their purchases.

Personalize Beyond the Basics

While using a subscriber's name is a good starting point, go beyond simple greetings. Personalize email content with product recommendations based on past purchases, highlight relevant industry trends based on subscriber interests, or offer educational content tailored to their job title.

Personalize Visuals

Don't limit personalization to text. Consider using dynamic images or videos that change based on subscriber data. This could involve showcasing products from their preferred categories or using visuals that resonate with their industry.

Optimize for Mobile Devices

A significant portion of emails are opened on mobile devices. Ensure your personalized emails are responsive and render perfectly across different screen sizes.

Test and Refine

The key to success lies in continuous improvement. A/B test different personalization tactics and monitor campaign performance to identify what works best.

Types of Personalized Emails

There are many ways to leverage email marketing personalization to achieve your marketing goals. Here are some common types of personalized emails:

Welcome Emails

Welcome new subscribers with personalized greetings that mention their area of interest and offer resources relevant to their industry.

Birthday/Anniversary Emails

Send personalized birthday or anniversary emails with exclusive discounts or special offers to show appreciation for their continued engagement.

Product Recommendation Emails

Utilize purchase history and website behavior to recommend products or services that align with the subscriber's specific interests and needs.

Abandoned Cart Reminders

Send personalized reminders to subscribers who have abandoned carts, highlighting the benefits of completing their purchase.

Re-engagement Emails

Craft personalized emails to win back inactive subscribers with exclusive offers or content relevant to their industry.

What Does the Ideal Email Personalization Process Look Like?

The ideal email personalization process goes beyond simply using a subscriber's name. It's a strategic and data-driven approach that ensures your emails are relevant for individual recipients. Here's a simplified breakdown:

1. Define Your Goals: The first step is to identify the clear objectives you want to achieve with your email campaigns. Are you aiming to drive sales, generate leads, nurture existing relationships, or raise brand awareness? Understanding your goals will guide the type of data you collect and how you personalize your email content.
2. Collect Relevant Data: Data is the fuel that powers personalization. Implement strategic methods for gathering valuable information about your subscribers. This can involve signup forms that encourage users to provide details like industry, job title, and areas of interest. You can also leverage website behavior tracking to understand their browsing habits and preferences.
3. Segment Your Audience: Don't treat your entire email list as a monolith. Divide your list into targeted segments based on shared characteristics. This allows you to send emails that are more relevant and engaging to each recipient group.
4. Craft Personalized Content: Once you have segmented your audience, create email content tailored to the specific needs and interests of each segment. Instead of generic messaging, personalize greetings, product recommendations, industry trends, or educational content to resonate more deeply with each recipient.
5. Design Engaging Emails: Personalization isn't limited to text. Incorporate personalization elements into the visual aspects of your emails as well. Consider using dynamic images or videos that change based on subscriber data. This could involve showcasing products from their preferred categories or using visuals that are relevant to their industry.
6. Test and Optimize: Personalization is an ongoing process. Continuously monitor and test your emails to identify what resonates best with your audience. Utilize A/B testing to compare different personalization tactics and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to refine your strategies over time.

Biggest Email Personalization Mistakes

Personalization holds immense potential to boost engagement and conversions, but it's crucial to avoid these common risks:

• Over-personalization: Striking a balance is key. Don't overwhelm subscribers with excessive or irrelevant personalization that feels intrusive. Imagine receiving an email with your home address or details you never shared – it can feel creepy and invasive. Stick to relevant data points and personalize greetings, recommendations, or offers in a way that feels natural and adds value.
• Neglecting Data Privacy: Always prioritize data privacy. Ensure you have clear and explicit consent for data collection from your subscribers. Provide them with easy options to manage their information and unsubscribe from emails if they choose. Building trust and respecting user privacy is essential for long-term success.
• Neglecting Mobile Responsiveness: A significant portion of emails are opened on mobile devices. Failing to optimize your personalized emails for mobile can significantly hinder your efforts. This means ensuring your email design renders properly across different screen sizes, buttons are easy to tap, and text remains readable. A frustrating mobile experience can quickly lead to unsubscribes.
• Focusing Solely on Features over Strategy: Technology is a powerful tool, but it's not a substitute for a solid marketing strategy. Don't get bogged down in implementing fancy personalization features without a clear plan. Ensure your personalization efforts are aligned with your overall marketing goals and provide real value to your audience.

Conclusion

Today, email marketing personalization is no longer an option; it's a necessity to grab your audience's attention. By leveraging data-driven insights to create targeted and relevant email experiences, marketers can capture audience attention, drive engagement, and achieve tangible business results.

Ready to simplify your email creation process and implement effective personalization strategies? Download our free guide, "The Agile Email Creation Method" to discover efficient workflows and practical tips for crafting high-performing email campaigns.

Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing Personalization

1- What are the 7 email marketing strategies?

There isn't a single definitive list, but the seven most common email marketing strategies include segmentation, personalization, A/B testing, automation, mobile optimization, engaging content creation, and clear calls to action.

2- How do you use personalization in email marketing?

There are many ways to use personalization in email marketing. Some examples include using subscriber names in the emails and triggering automated emails based on subscriber behavior.

3- What is personalization in marketing strategy?

Personalization in marketing strategy involves tailoring your marketing messages and experiences to individual customers or audience segments.

Today, the digital landscape is much more competitive and digital marketers are constantly striving to create better strategies for a greater brand impression. This greater brand presence can be built by providing the right messaging through different mediums including visually appealing and engaging email campaigns.

But have you ever considered the impact of your font choices in these emails? Believe it or not, the fonts you select can significantly influence your email's effectiveness.

Selection of the best fonts for emails goes beyond aesthetics. It's about ensuring your message is clear, readable, and resonates with your target audience. However, many brands have custom fonts with different font sizes and styles in their design guidelines that can be difficult, if not impossible, to implement directly within email service providers (ESPs) or marketing platforms. It's crucial to understand the impact of various font sizes and styles on the overall design and effectiveness of your emails.

The good news? Don't despair! While using your exact brand font might require a workaround, there are plenty of fantastic alternatives that can maintain brand consistency and enhance your email design. This blog post will introduce you to the world of email fonts, equipping you with the knowledge and resources to make informed decisions while creating the next email campaign.

Why Do Fonts Matter?

Fonts play a crucial role in establishing brand identity and shaping the overall user experience within your emails. They act as visual representatives of your brand voice, conveying professionalism, trustworthiness, or even a sense of fun, depending on your chosen style.

However, the challenge for many IT marketers lies in the limitations of ESPs. These platforms often restrict the use of custom fonts due to compatibility issues. But keep your hopes high, as there's a vast selection of web-safe fonts that render consistently across different email clients and devices.

Key takeaway: While you might not be able to use your exact brand font directly, there are numerous web-safe alternatives that can closely resemble your brand's style and ensure optimal readability across the board.

Email Font Families

Before diving into specific fonts, let's explore the concept of font families. Just like biological families, fonts have groupings that share similar characteristics. These groupings are called font families. For instance, Arial and Arial Bold are both part of the Arial font family.

Understanding font families is important because you'll often choose a font family and use different weights (like regular, bold, or italic) within that family to create visual hierarchy and emphasis within your email.

What is an Email Font Category?

Choosing the right fonts can make a world of difference, but with so many choices out there, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Let's first simplify things. Email fonts can be broadly categorized into two main groups: web-safe fonts and web fonts.

What are web-safe fonts?

These are fonts that are pre-installed on most computers and mobile devices. This ensures consistent rendering across different email clients, making them a reliable choice for emails.

What are web fonts?

These are fonts that aren't pre-installed and need to be downloaded by the recipient's device when they open your email. While web fonts offer a wider variety of styles, there's a chance they might not display correctly if the recipient's device doesn't have the font installed.

10 Best Fonts to Use in Emails

Understanding the fundamentals is a right way to move ahead in order to build a successful marketing campaign, let's explore 10 fantastic web-safe fonts that can elevate your email design in 2024 and best font for emails according to different email requirements:

Serif Fonts:

Serif fonts are those that have small decorative strokes at the ends of their characters. They are often considered classic and elegant choices, ideal for conveying a sense of tradition or authority.

1. Open Sans: A highly versatile and readable sans-serif font, Open Sans is a popular choice for emails. It offers a clean and professional look, making it suitable for a wide range of email marketing campaigns.
   
2. Georgia: A classic serif font with good readability, Georgia is a great option for emails with a touch of formality.
   
3. Times New Roman: This timeless serif font is instantly recognizable and conveys a sense of tradition. However, due to its over familiarity, consider using it subtly to avoid a dated look.

Sans-serif Fonts:

Sans-serif fonts lack the decorative strokes of serif fonts, resulting in a cleaner and more modern aesthetic. They are generally considered easier to read on screens and are perfect for conveying a contemporary feel.

4. Verdana: A widely used sans-serif font known for its excellent readability, Verdana is a dependable choice for email body text.

5. Helvetica/Geneva: These two fonts are very similar and offer a clean, professional look. Helvetica is technically not a web-safe font, but most email clients render it similarly to Geneva, a true web-safe alternative. Both are excellent options for emails requiring a modern and clear aesthetic.

6. Arial: Another highly recognizable sans-serif font, Arial is a safe and reliable choice for email body text and is often considered as the best font for emails. It offers good readability and complements a variety of design style

7. Tahoma: A clean and professional sans-serif font, Tahoma is a popular choice for email design. It offers good readability on both screens and print, making it a versatile option for emails.

Other Font Categories:

8. Fantasy Fonts: While generally not recommended for email body text due to readability concerns, fantasy fonts can be used sparingly for headlines or specific design elements to add a touch of personality or whimsy, depending on your brand and campaign goals.

9. Monospaced Fonts: These fonts have a fixed character width, making them ideal for displaying code snippets or data tables within your emails. A popular example is Courier New.

This is how Whereby uses a stylized monospace font for the two-factor login code their system sends in a transactional email:

10. Cursive Fonts: Similar to fantasy fonts, cursive fonts can be challenging to read on screens and should be used cautiously, if at all, in email body text. However, they might be suitable for signatures or short decorative elements.

3 Worst Fonts for Email Design

While many fonts can work well in emails, some are best avoided due to readability issues or overuse:

1. Comic Sans MS: This playful font might seem like a fun choice, but its informality can detract from the professionalism of your marketing emails.
   
2. Curlz: The loopy nature of this font makes it difficult to read, especially on smaller screens.
   
3. Trajan: While visually striking, Trajan's bold, decorative style can overwhelm readers and isn't ideal for email body text.

Best Practices to Use Email Fonts

Now that you have a strong foundation in email fonts and you are able to differentiate between worst and best fonts for email, let's explore some best practices to optimize their use:

Font Size

For optimal readability, aim for a font size between 14px and 16px for body text and slightly larger sizes (16px-18px) for headings.

Line Spacing

Maintain adequate line spacing (around 1.5 times the font size) to improve readability and prevent your email content from appearing cramped.

Line Height

Line height refers to the vertical space between lines of text. Ensuring proper line height complements good line spacing for optimal reading comfort.

Text Alignment

Left-aligned text is generally the most readable format for email body content. Center alignment can be used for headlines or short call-to-action buttons.

Email Signature Font

Choose a professional and readable font for your email signature. Sans-serif fonts like Arial or Verdana are popular choices.

Font Pairings

Experiment with combining two web-safe fonts for a more visually interesting design. A good rule of thumb is to pair a serif font for headings with a sans-serif font for body text to create a clear hierarchy.

Font Colors

Maintain sufficient contrast between your font color and background color to ensure readability. Black or dark gray text on a white background is a safe and reliable combination.

Links Formatting

Clearly differentiate your email links from body text. Underline them and consider using a contrasting color to make them easily identifiable.

Call to Action Buttons

Use a clear and concise font for your call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Ensure the font size is large enough to be noticeable and complements the overall button design.

How Can You Use Web Fonts in Your Emails?

While web-safe fonts are the most reliable choice, you might still be curious about using web fonts for a touch of extra design flair. Here are a few options to consider:

ESP Support

Some ESPs offer limited support for web fonts, allowing you to embed the font code directly into your email. However, this functionality may not be available on all plans or might come with limitations.

Email Design Services

Certain email design services can help you embed web fonts into your emails using various techniques. These services often involve additional costs.

Fallback Fonts

If you choose to use a web font, always include a fallback web-safe font in your code. This ensures that even if the recipient's device doesn't have the web font installed, your email content will still display using the fallback option.

How to Use Web Fonts in Chamaileon?

If you're a Chamaileon user, you can easily create stunning email designs without putting much effort. This platform makes it easy for you to explore adding custom fonts through the platform. Here's a simplified guide:

• Locate the menu icon in the top left corner of your Chamaileon workspace.
• Within the menu, find and select the "Custom Fonts" option.
• Select your desired font source, such as Google Fonts or another website.
• If you’re selecting Google Fonts, browse it’s font library and choose the font that aligns with your design goals.
• On the chosen font's page, locate the "Get embed code" option and copy the URL link.
• Within the "Custom Fonts" section, click the "Add Font URL" button.
• Enter the font name, paste the copied URL link, and save the information.
• You can now combine your custom font with other fonts within Chamaileon to create unique font stacks for your email design.

How to Choose the Best Fonts for Your Email?

Choosing the best font for email depends on several factors:

Brand Identity

Consider fonts that align with your brand's overall aesthetic and voice. For instance, a tech startup might choose a clean and modern sans-serif font, while a law firm might opt for a more traditional serif font.

Target Audience

Think about your ideal recipient and the kind of tone you want to convey. Sans-serif fonts tend to be more casual and contemporary, while serif fonts can appear more formal and traditional.

Email Purpose

Is your email a promotional newsletter, a transactional update, or a personalized message? The purpose of your email can influence your font selection. For example, a welcome email might benefit from a warm and inviting font, while a technical update might prioritize clarity and readability.

Readability

Above all else, prioritize fonts that are clear and easy to read on all devices, especially mobile devices. Avoid overly decorative or complex fonts that might strain readers' eyes.

Conclusion

Fonts play a critical role in shaping the user experience within your IT marketing emails. By understanding the different font types, best practices, and available options, you can make informed decisions to enhance the visual appeal and readability of your email campaigns.

Remember, the ideal fonts are clear, professional, and align with your brand identity. Don't be afraid to experiment and find the perfect font combination to beat the email design trends in 2024 and capture the attention of your target audience.

Ready to take your email design to the next level?

Frequently Asked Questions about Best Fonts for Emails

1. What is the best font for professional emails?

There's no single "best" font for emails, but some popular choices for professional emails include Arial, Verdana, Georgia, and Open Sans. These fonts are clear, readable, and convey a sense of professionalism.

2. What font size is best for emails?

For optimal readability, aim for a font size between 14px and 16px for body text and slightly larger sizes (16px-18px) for headings.

3. Which font is used in Gmail?

Gmail uses Arial (from Sans-Serif font family) as its default font for both body text and headings.

4. What is the No 1 style font?

There's no universally agreed-upon "No. 1" style font. The best font choice depends on the specific context, brand identity, and target audience.

In today's email marketing landscape, visual storytelling has emerged as a crucial component. With consumers bombarded by a sea of information, brands are innovating to seize their attention amidst the inbox chaos. Through the integration of visuals, businesses can craft compelling and interactive email campaigns, offering subscribers a more immersive experience.

Join us as we discuss how you can use visual storytelling in emails to your advantage. This will help your emails stand out and make more people interested in what you're offering.

What is Visual Storytelling?

Visual storytelling involves conveying narratives through visual mediums like videos, photos, illustrations, infographics, and animations. It can be a single person's perspective, a sequence of images, or glimpses into a topic that stirs powerful emotions, ultimately inspiring action.

As our focus is on building captivating emails for marketing campaigns, visual storytelling in email layout involves simple yet effective techniques to engage readers and deliver brand messages.

This can include:

• Using attention-grabbing hero images.
• Organizing content into easy-to-scan grids.
• Integrating interactive elements like buttons or tabs.
• Personalization tailors the layout based on subscriber data.
• Building a visual hierarchy to guide attention to key elements like calls to action.
• Incorporating imagery that tells a story or conveys emotions to enhance the overall impact.
• Adding a frame to the content using brand identity (like backgrounds, shapes, decorators, etc).

These strategies collectively create visually appealing and compelling emails that resonate with subscribers, driving engagement and action.

The Role of Visual Content and the Psychology of Perception

Visual content has a special knack for grabbing attention, sparking emotions, and boosting engagement, unlike any other type of content. But why does it work so well? It all comes down to the psychology of perception behind it.

Visual content grabs our attention for a reason. Our brains are wired to perk up at the sight of it. We're naturally drawn to images and videos because our brains are super good at processing visual stuff.

Research suggests that after three days, we remember around 65% of what we see compared to just 10% of what we read.

It’s because visuals hold the special power to evoke emotions. They can make us laugh, cry, or feel motivated, often better than words can alone.

When we see something, our brains go into overdrive, figuring out what it means in a flash. That's why visual content sticks with us longer and feels more exciting than just plain text. And when it comes to email marketing, understanding this psychology of perception is the secret to crafting effective campaigns that really hit home with your audience and drive conversions.

Examples of Visual Content

Now that we understand the psychology of perception behind visual content let’s look into its types.

Photos

Images are like the stars of visual content marketing. They grab attention and make your message pop. Just pick top-notch images that match your brand's tone and personality. And remember, a picture can say a lot, so choose wisely.

Graphics

Graphics are the champions of visual storytelling, spanning from basic icons to intricate illustrations. They're perfect for adding flair to your emails and making information easy to digest. Whether it's a playful doodle or a sleek chart, graphics help your message stand out and grab attention.

Videos

Videos are incredibly captivating. They're versatile, allowing you to narrate stories, highlight products or services, and stir emotions in your viewers. Surveys indicate that 68% of consumers opt for brief videos to discover new products or services. Just keep your videos short and sweet, as most subscribers do not like to watch a stretched-out video. So, keep them snappy and to the point. Shorter videos not only hold attention better but also help control video production costs.

Illustrations

Illustrations are just like graphics. You can add simple sketches or detailed artwork to make your email content stand out. Unlike images or videos, illustrations offer a customizable and creative approach to conveying information. They have the power to captivate your subscribers and simplify complex ideas or messages in a visually appealing manner.

Memes

Memes are all the rage lately. They're a fun way to add humor and fun to your emails and connect with your audience. Just remember, use them intelligently because if a meme doesn't land right, it could turn people off in a snap.

Infographics

Infographics are like magic tricks for sharing complicated info—they're eye-catching and easy to get. You can use them in emails to show off data, explain things step by step, or even tell a story. Just aim for infographics that anyone can follow along with, and make sure they're visually engaging.

GIFs

GIFs can instantly add fun to your email content. They can convey emotions, showcase products, and bring humor to your message. The right GIF can make your message go viral, but pick one that matches your brand and makes sense.

Gamification elements

Gamification elements enliven emails by adding game-like features to boost engagement. Think of spin-the-wheel games, quizzes, or puzzles that tempt subscribers to dive in for cool rewards. It's all about making emails interactive and fun! Plus, when subscribers play along, they get instant feedback and a clear path to unlocking more achievements.

Best practices for visual storytelling in email

Here are a few tips to nail visual storytelling in emails, helping you boost your marketing efforts.

Explore different media formats

It takes time, experience, and effort to perfect the art of storytelling. In email visual storytelling, mix it up with images, videos, GIFs, or infographics to keep things interesting and engaging. But remember, don't bombard your audience with too much media at once. With Snapchat, you can keep it balanced to avoid overwhelming them.

Experiment with different formats to see what resonates best with your readers while staying true to your message, brand identity, and the emotions you want to evoke.

Segment your audience

Segmenting your audience is key to the success of your email marketing efforts. Customizing your visuals to specific audience segments ensures that your content is relevant and resonates with each group's interests and preferences.

By understanding your audiences’ demographics, behaviors, and preferences, you can craft tailored visual narratives that directly address their needs and desires.

This personalized strategy boosts engagement and enhances the impact of your email marketing campaigns.

Optimize your layout

We cannot stress enough on the importance of optimizing your email layouts across email clients and devices. So, ensure your visuals look great on all devices and email clients.

Keep your design clean and easy to navigate so it's a breeze for people to see and understand your message. Place your visuals strategically next to short, attention-grabbing text to make your point quickly.

When you optimize your layout like this, you make your emails engaging and easily accessible, helping your visual storytelling shine.

Stick to your brand voice/identity

Visual storytelling is an incredible way to captivate your subscribers and share your brand story. Choose images that really connect with what your brand stands for. For example, if you're all about sustainability, show off eco-friendly products or scenes of nature. These pictures don't just look great; they also strengthen your brand message.

Therefore, pick images that match your brand's vibe and values. Keep your visuals consistent, whether it's the type of photos you use or the style of illustrations or graphics. This makes sure your subscribers always know it's you and makes your emails feel like a natural extension of your brand.

Make your email header compelling

A captivating email header is essential for successful visual storytelling in emails. It's the first thing recipients see, so it needs to grab their attention instantly. A compelling header establishes the email's tone and encourages readers to delve deeper.

Whether it's through striking imagery, intriguing graphics, or clever typography, a well-crafted header sets the stage for an immersive email experience.

Moreover, it serves as a reflection of your brand's essence and distinguishes you from competitors, enhancing the likelihood of your email being opened and your message being conveyed effectively.

Choose the right images

Selecting the right images is paramount for effective storytelling in emails. Each image should match your message and brand voice, sparking the right emotions and grabbing your readers’ attention.

Consider using high-quality, relevant photographs or illustrations that complement your content and capture attention.

Plus, make sure that the images are properly sized and optimized for quick loading across various devices and email clients.

Break down big chunks of text into smaller, digestible pieces

Visual storytelling is ideal for busy audiences who tend to skim through content. Our advice to clients is to simplify complex topics into bite-sized pieces and incorporate visuals to highlight key elements of the narrative. For more on this, check out our insights on email storytelling.

By breaking up text and interspersing visuals, readers are drawn in and can easily connect the dots, even when skimming.

Take the example of Domino, they have paired short descriptions of text with images to help subscribers immediately grasp the intent and message of their email.

Identify the desired emotional reaction

To make visual storytelling effective, begin with the main message you want readers to remember. Then, think about the emotions you want to evoke: Do you want them to feel concerned? Motivated to act? Simply informed?

Once you've answered these questions, pick the strongest points to visualize. Remember, less is more. Too much clutter makes things forgettable.

Don’t forget colors and typography

To create a story that inspires action, aim to evoke emotions in your audience. Colors play a big part in this. Pick a palette that sets the right mood for your story if you don’t have specific brand colors. Clear typography is also key—it helps your message come across easily.

Make the CTAs stand out

To make your call-to-action (CTA) buttons pop, try using contrasting colors that catch the eye and prompt your audience to take action. When you optimize these buttons for mobile, you make it easy for people to engage and convert, boosting the impact of your visual story in emails.

Conduct A/B testing

A great way to see how your visual content is affecting your email campaigns is through A/B testing.

You basically send out two versions of an email with different looks, such as imagery, color schemes, or layouts, to different groups of people. Then, you compare the performance of each version.

This helps you figure out which design elements your audience likes best and makes your brand story more powerful.

Track key email performance metrics

After testing, track key performance metrics to see the impact of your marketing campaign. These metrics involve;

• Monitor click-through rates: See how many people click from your visuals to your website or landing page. A high rate means your visuals are driving traffic and boosting brand awareness.
• Watch conversion rates: This shows how many people take action, like signing up or making a purchase, after seeing your visuals. It's crucial for generating leads and driving sales.

Create visually-appealing email designs with Chamaileon

Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of creating eye-catching email designs? Fret not! With Chamaileon's drag-and-drop email builder, crafting visually stunning, responsive emails is a piece of cake.

You can bid farewell to the hassle of manual coding and embrace a seamless design experience. Just unleash your creativity without the technical headache and create emails that actually convert.

Frequently asked questions about visual storytelling in email marketing

How do you engage your audience in storytelling?

Bring your email stories to life with images, videos, and visual content to captivate your audience. Infuse emotions—stories that strike a chord are irresistible. With visuals and emotions combined, your email storytelling becomes a magnetic force for engagement.

How do you draft better emails with storytelling?

Creating a compelling story for your email begins with a straightforward structure that flows logically and evokes emotions. Start strong with a hook that instantly captivates your readers, whether it's a thought-provoking question, a gripping statement, an intriguing quote, or a surprising fact. This draws them in and ignites their curiosity, compelling them to dive deeper into your narrative.

How do you use visual storytelling?

Building trust with your audience is vital. Visual storytelling in your email content boosts this trust by making it more relatable and engaging. Adding images, infographics, or videos that fit your message will make it clearer and more impactful.

What is the strategy for visual storytelling?

To nail visual storytelling, first, know your audience and goals. Pick stories that hit home emotionally and visuals that match. Craft compelling narratives with clear structures and consistent branding. Stir up emotions for lasting impact. Keep testing and refining your approach to optimize engagement and derive desired results.

Did you know that while 77% of marketers agree that email accessibility is important for their brand, only 8% actually stick to email accessibility best practices? Why the gap? Many think making emails accessible is tough, but it's not as daunting as it seems.

In our Ultimate Guide to Email Accessibility, we'll show you:

• Why email accessibility is crucial and how it impacts your business.
• Tips for writing and designing emails that everyone can enjoy.
• Easy HTML and coding tricks to ensure your emails are accessible across all devices and assistive technologies.

What is email accessibility?

Email accessibility means making sure everyone, including people with disabilities, can easily read and understand your emails. It involves considering diverse needs of subscribers such as those outlined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Sometimes, technical stuff can make parts of your email hard to access.

For example, links are usually blue, but what if someone can't see that color? They might not know where to click. So, you could underline the link or use a different color or style to make it stand out.

Also, Outlook (web) can't handle fancy features like AMP for emails, but Gmail on Android can. So, if you send an email with AMP to someone using Outlook without a backup plan, they might not be able to see your email at all.

Why does accessibility matter?

Modern scenarios accessibility is used

Ensuring email accessibility is crucial, especially with the increasing use of voice assistants and AI tools:

• Alexa reads the entire email but skips image alt texts.
• Siri reads the sender’s name, subject line, and preheader.
• Microsoft Copilot Pro for Outlook can only read emails from Outlook.
• Google Assistant doesn't support email reading at all.
• CarPlay reads emails out loud to you while you’re on the road.

Why is this important and how does it work?

When an email lacks proper text versions linked, meta-tags, alt-tags, and adherence to accessibility standards, it becomes inaccessible to these tools. Here's why:

• Voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and tools like Microsoft Copilot Pro for Outlook rely on text to read and interpret the content of an email. If an email is composed entirely of images, or if it lacks proper HTML structure, these tools cannot decipher the content accurately.
• Tools like CarPlay read emails aloud while individuals are on the road. In such scenarios, accessibility is not just a matter of convenience but also a safety concern. If an email is not accessible, it may pose challenges for individuals relying on these tools to stay informed while driving.

Statistics on disabilities and accessibility

Email accessibility is crucial because many users live with various types of disabilities.

It's possible that some of your users have disabilities you might not be aware of. Let's explore some statistics related to the prevalence of these disabilities:

• Over a billion people have some kind of disability, according to the WHO.
• About 2.2 billion people have trouble seeing.
• Color blindness affects 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women.
• Around 15% of people struggle with reading due to dyslexia.
• By 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people might have hearing loss.

So, if your emails aren't accessible, you're missing out on reaching a big group of folks and giving them a not-so-great email experience.

Types of Disabilities

By prioritizing accessibility, you're catering to a range of disabilities and impairments. From vision and auditory challenges to cognitive and physical limitations, your email design can make a big difference.

Ensure clear contrasts, readable fonts, and keyboard navigation for vision impairments; captions and transcripts for auditory issues; simplified layouts and instructions for cognitive difficulties; easy navigation and action for neurological conditions; and options beyond phone calls for speech impairments. Plus, ditch the no-reply email address to encourage inclusive communication.

The 4 WCAG Email Accessibility Guidelines / ADA Email Compliance

Email accessibility traces back to the ADA email compliance guidelines from The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. However, these guidelines lacked clarity. Then came WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) in 1999, specifying that emails should have a logical order, use headings, ensure enough color contrast, provide alt text for images, use meaningful link text, and include descriptive subject lines.

Additionally, WCAG introduces four principles crucial for improving email accessibility across organizations.

Perceivable

From an email accessibility perspective for people with disabilities, consider these elements for your emails:

• ALT text for images
• Good color contrast
• Email design that functions without relying solely on colors
• Subtitles for embedded videos, if included

Operable

Operable emails ensure users can interact with them using alternative methods. To achieve this:

• Make navigation easy with the keyboard (using tabs).
• Use descriptive links to clarify their purpose.
• Ensure elements, especially animated GIFs, are displayed for an adequate duration.
• Avoid visuals that may trigger seizures or other unwanted physical reactions.

Understandable

To ensure your text is clear for screen reader users:

• Start by indicating the language at the beginning of the email.
• Follow familiar writing styles for consistency.
• Above all, focus on making your text easy to read, both in terms of design and content.

Robust

Your content should be strong enough to work well with various user agents and assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. For us, this mostly involves screen reader apps, which aren't always easy to use.

Role of Email Accessibility in Enhancing Marketing Efforts

Overlooking accessible emails not only disregards subscribers with disabilities but also means you're missing out on opportunities and could face problems in your marketing. Here are seven reasons why making emails accessible boosts your brand's marketing efforts:

Increased Reach

Accessible emails ensure that everyone on your list, whether they have permanent disabilities or temporary impairments, can receive your message. If your emails aren't accessible, you're leaving some of your audience out and limiting your reach.

Enhanced Engagement

If subscribers can't read your email or click your call-to-action (CTA) buttons, they can't really join in the fun. Plus, they might not stick around for more emails later. This hurts your email game and increases your unsubscribe rate.

Improved Brand Reputation

Understanding your audience is key to great marketing. When you make your emails accessible to everyone, you're really tuning in to what they need and showing you get their daily grind.

Seeing your subscribers as real people, not just entries in a list, proves you care about them. According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), a whopping 92% of consumers want brands to show empathy. That means crafting emails that work for everyone, whether they're dealing with temporary or permanent impairments, and truly understanding how they connect with your brand.

Regulatory Compliance

Website accessibility lawsuits surged by 12% in 2022 compared to the previous year. And that's not all—there were likely many more unreported cases and out-of-court settlements. Lawsuits pose a serious threat to companies that don't cater to their entire audience. Beyond the financial impact, they can damage brand reputation when customers hear about them, even if they lack merit. Hence, ensuring regulatory compliance is crucial in mitigating these risks and maintaining trust with your audience.

Enhanced User Experience

Many of the top strategies for boosting accessibility in email marketing also enhance the overall email experience for all users. It’s because such emails look good on any screen size, use fonts that are easy to read, and have alt text to images understandable for everyone.

Higher Conversion Rates

Accessible emails are key to enhancing conversion rates as they ensure inclusivity and maximize engagement. By enabling all recipients to access your content, you widen your audience reach, driving more conversions. Take seasonal promotions, for instance; accessible emails enable everyone to participate, resulting in increased sales and campaign success.

Competitive Advantage

Imagine you're comparing two emails from different brands. One you can easily read and interact with, while the other is a struggle. Which one do you think you'd click on? Who do you think would win your business?

Even if you've been loyal to the other brand, if their emails are hard to engage with and understand, you might start leaning towards the more accessible option. Accessible emails often win the race, even against long-time competitors.

HTML Email Accessibility Standards for Copywriters

At Chamaileon, we're all about email design, but we know that killer design needs killer content to truly succeed. It all starts with the words.

But before we get into that, let's talk about what gets your email opened in the first place: the sender's name, subject line, and preheader. These need to be interesting and trustworthy to grab attention. And remember, Siri and Alexa will read these out loud, so they need to sound good even when spoken.

Plus, if you follow some simple accessibility rules, you're already ahead of the game. These rules aren't hard, and they'll make your emails better overall.

Write a readable email copy

Writing easily understandable copy is the first step towards creating accessible email content that everyone can enjoy.

So, keep your sentences short. Long ones are tough to read. Short ones are easier to understand.

Moreover, avoid jargon and big words. Shorter words are better as they're easier to read and understand.

You can test how easy your email is to read with the Flesch Reading Ease test. Aim for a score of 60-70. That's plain English, easy for teenagers to understand. Likewise, you can use tools like Readable.io, Grammarly, or Yoast to check your score for free.

Use headers & hierarchy

Using different header levels helps subscribers using screen readers understand your message's structure more easily.

Besides, if you're building your email design system, it's wise to stick to specific headings and text styles.

Avoid all caps

Not only does it appear you’re SHOUTING online using all capital letters, but it also makes it tough for people with dyslexia to read. About 5 to 15% of people are living with dyslexia, and all caps make it hard for them to tell letters apart.

Avoid justified text

Justified text might seem nice for design, but it's tough for readers with dyslexia as well as those without dyslexia. That's because it creates uneven spaces between letters and words. When these spaces line up, it can create distracting gaps in the text.

This can make it hard for readers with dyslexia to keep track of where they are while reading. To avoid this, use left-aligned text instead of justified text for your paragraphs.

Use left-aligned text and use short center-aligned text (e.g., headers)

Center-aligned text affects accessibility, especially when it's used for paragraphs rather than headlines. Litmus suggests that if the text spans more than two lines, it's best to align it to the left.

While center alignment is common in email designs, it's often overused. Brands like Starbucks, Disney, Airbnb, GoPro, and Nike sometimes disregard this rule, making their emails hard to read for people with and without dyslexia.

It’s preferable that you use left-aligned text for readers with dyslexia if it is more than three lines. In the case of Arabic, use right-aligned text.

Always break up large blocks of text

Break up big blocks of text to make it easier for users to understand. Short sections are much easier to read than one big chunk. See the example below.

It's a good idea to keep paragraphs short, ideally no longer than five lines each.

Emphasize with bold text styles

Use bold text to emphasize important words and phrases. It doesn't just look better; it also helps people with dyslexia to understand the text more easily.

So, choose bold text for emphasis rather than using italics or underlining.

Use ALT text for images

ALT text in emails is crucial because it's read out loud by screen readers, and images can be blocked in some email clients. Writing the right ALT text can be tricky, but here's what you need to know:

• Avoid repeating ALT text.
• Keep it descriptive and short, ideally under 100 characters.
• Remember, ALT text isn't the same as title text.
• Leave ALT text empty for illustrations.
• Add style to your ALT text.

Don't use ALT text like "Please enable images for your email." Screen readers often read both ALT and title text, which can be annoying for users. Here's what to avoid:

Avoid using ‘click here’ link copy

Instead of using "click here" for your links, give them context. Screen reader users often scan emails by tabbing through content. Contextual links help them decide if they want to click or not.

Here's an example: Instead of using "click here" for a link to a product listing of shoes, use something like "See more shoes." This makes the link clearer for screen reader users and benefits all subscribers. It saves them from having to read around the link, especially for those who scan emails.

Plus, moving away from "click here" links makes your email content work better across different devices. While "click here" might be okay for laptop or desktop users, it doesn't make sense for mobile or tablet users who tap instead of click.

Email Accessibility Best Practices for Designers

To design accessible emails, consider the following best practices.

Don’t use (light) gray as your text color

Always prioritize readability over design aesthetics when choosing text colors for your emails. Remember, using excessively light gray can hinder readability.

When it comes to choosing gray text colors, a good rule of thumb is to avoid shades lighter than:

• #959595 for text size 24px or 19px when bold.
• #767676 for smaller text.

Optimize call-to-action size and spacing/make them tappable

Ensure your email buttons are just the right size and spaced out well. According to accessibility guidelines, the ideal size for a call to action is 44x44 pixels, but Google suggests going a bit bigger to 48x48 pixels.

Also, for spacing, Microsoft suggests 8px, while Google recommends at least 32px. We're inclined towards Google's advice because it's more eye-friendly. For example, here's how a checkbox in an email might look:

In this email, the checkbox is 28x28 pixels, with margins of at least 20 pixels around it. This gives the button an overall size of about 48x48 pixels, ensuring it's clear and easy for any reader to see and interact with.

Make CTAs distinguishable from other email elements

Ensure your clickable links and buttons stand out from other email content. Simply changing the color won't help users with color blindness. Here's what to do:

• Make links and buttons larger for easy identification.
• Avoid generic CTAs like "click here" or "learn more." Instead, use descriptive text like "Read our email accessibility guide."
• Add a hover effect using the :hover pseudo-selector to show users that a link or button can be clicked.

Optimize the contrast ratio

Ensure that the contrast ratio between text and its background meets accessibility and inclusive design standards. For smaller text, aim for a ratio of around 4.5:1, and for larger text, aim for 3:1. Use tools like contrast-ratio.com to check.

Remember, don't round up if you're close to the standard. For instance, if your ratio is 4.45:1, make adjustments for compliance. Here's an example for better understanding.

This GOPRO email aligns with accessibility guidelines. The main GIF in the email boasts a high contrast ratio of 13.57:1.

The call to action button in the email maintains a strong contrast ratio of 9.88:1 with its blue color against the black background. However, the white text on the blue button doesn't meet the contrast ratio requirement, measuring only 2.12:1.

Use colors intelligently

Don't rely solely on color to convey information in images or charts. Instead, consider adding distinctive patterns to each section. This approach ensures that people with disabilities can understand the content even if they can't distinguish between colors. Patterns and clear labels make information more accessible to everyone.

Use legible typography

Good typography matters for email legibility. Here's how to nail it:

• Stick to easy-to-read fonts like Sans-Serif.
• Choose font sizes that work across screens and for everyone, like 18px for headlines and 16px for body text.
• When you want to emphasize something, go bigger instead of using all caps.
• Keep letter-spacing just right; fonts that are too close together can be tough to read.

Keep email layout simple

To make emails easier for everyone, especially those with disabilities, keep the layout simple. Too many images, tables, and links can overwhelm readers. Stick to a single-column layout—it helps users find and understand content better. Plus, it's mobile-friendly.

Avoid image-only emails

Avoid simply dropping images into your emails—it's not the best practice. Some email clients block images, and alt text doesn't fully describe them. Plus, screen readers only read the alt text. So, don't turn your emails into infographics. Instead, lean towards text-based emails, keeping a balance of 80% text to 20% images.

Treat white-space as your friend

Don't cram all email elements together; it makes things tough for users, especially those using screen readers or keyboard navigation. Leave enough white space around elements so they're easy to grasp.

Make emails responsive

Since users read emails on various devices like mobiles, tablets, and PCs, it's vital to ensure your emails look great on all screen sizes. Therefore, embrace responsive email design for better readability and engagement.

Keep in mind dark mode emails

Overlooking dark mode when designing emails can seriously affect how readable your content is. For instance, light text on a dark background strains the eyes and makes reading tough, especially for those with visual impairments.

Code HTML Emails with Better Accessibility

While your subscribers won’t see the code, email developers can do a lot to improve accessibility behind the scenes. Some practices rely on coding techniques. For example, using inline CSS ensures a minimum font size of 16px.

It's important to start with basics like adding alt text for images and coding bulletproof buttons with live text. These steps make the email experience better for screen reader users. But there's more to do.

Semantic HTML adds meaning to your email code, helping assistive technology understand it better. For instance, using <em> or <em> tags for italicizing text serves different purposes.

Using <p> tags for paragraphs is preferred over line breaks <br> because it adds structure.

Using <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc., for headings organizes content logically and aids keyboard navigation for subscribers using assistive technology.

While ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes aren't fully supported in email clients, they still have value. For instance, role="presentation" tells screen readers that a table is for layout, not for presenting data.

Another useful ARIA attribute is aria-hidden="true", which hides certain elements from screen readers, like decorative graphics or duplicative content.

Tools to Help You Conduct an Email Accessibility Test

Use accessible-email.org to check the accessibility of your emails. It's a useful tool created by Maarten Lierop & Jordie van Rijn.

All you have to do is paste your email HTML, and it'll quickly analyze:

• Headings
• Link labels
• Image ALT texts
• Document title, language, encoding
• If role="presentation" is used to show which tables are just for layout.

Checking color contrast can be a bit of a hassle. There's no magic tool that automatically analyzes font and background colors in your email. You'll have to input the color codes into a Contrast Ratio Checker and make sure the ratio is above 4.5:1.

It's crucial to test the contrast ratio thoroughly, especially when building your email design system. Once you've got it sorted and your email blocks defined, you won't need to worry about contrast ratio checks all the time.

Frequently asked questions about email accessibility

What's one way you can make your email more accessible?

Ensure there's a good contrast between the text and background, making it easy to read. Avoid relying solely on color to convey meaning and keep animations minimal to prevent distraction. Additionally, provide ample white space around text to support readability and comprehension. These adjustments can significantly enhance the accessibility and overall experience of your emails.

How is email accessible?

Making emails accessible means creating emails that anyone can understand and interact with, no matter what challenges they face. This includes making sure people using assistive technology can easily access and use your emails.

What are the best practices in accessibility?

Make sure your emails are accessible by incorporating alt text for images, descriptive subject lines, and semantic HTML structure. Pay attention to color contrast and ensure text alignment is clear. Additionally, use appropriate emoji and font sizes and opt for accessible font colors to enhance readability.

Does WCAG apply to emails?

Ofcourse! One of the fundamental principles of WCAG is to ensure that text content in emails is clear and easy for everyone to read and understand.

What are the 5 accessibility standards?

The 5 accessibility standards, based on the WCAG, ensure digital content is perceivable, operable, understandable, robust, and consistent. They aim to make content accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, by providing guidelines for design, navigation, and content presentation.

Ever noticed how colors can instantly shift your mood? It's not just some random observation—it's science! And guess what? Harnessing the right colors in email marketing campaigns can do wonders for your business.

Your emails are like little canvases, and the colors you splash on them can make a huge difference. They can attract leads, bump up your conversions, and make your brand shine brighter than ever before.

Nearly all initial impressions, up to 90%, are influenced by color. Also, color can boost brand awareness and recognition by a whopping 80%. Plus, an overwhelming 93% of people rely solely on visuals when making purchase decisions.

But hold on, you don't need to be an artist or spend ages tinkering with your email builder. We've got you covered with a foolproof guide on using colors to optimize your emails across all email clients and devices, whether they’re set on dark mode or not.

To start, let's delve into the significance of each color typically used in email marketing campaigns.

The meaning of colors

Colors carry meaning! And we humans attach subjective meanings to different colors. It affects us in three main ways: biologically (like how red might evoke fear), culturally (for example, in some Eastern cultures, red symbolizes wellbeing), and personally based on our own experiences.

Emails marketers can tap into this symbolism to craft emails that not only inspire trust but also captivate the attention of subscribers.

Here’s what each color symbolizes.

Black

Black typically embodies sophistication, formality, boldness, elegance, and mystery.

While black is technically the absence of color, it can still pack a punch in your emails. Using it in headers or backgrounds can give your emails a sleek and professional vibe while making them easier to read.

White

White typically conveys positive vibes, like purity and innocence. Plus, it's the perfect blank slate for all your colorful content to shine on!

However, relying too much on white can make your email seem dull or uninspired, so if you're using a white background, spice things up with some tasteful color combinations to make your email stand out.

Red

Red is scientifically linked to dominance and urgency. That's why it's perfect for buttons like "Buy Now" or "Click Here" that need to stand out and prompt action, as well as promotional emails.

Blue

Blue, known for its calming associations with water, is a great choice for instilling a sense of reassurance. In email marketing, incorporating blue in your designs can create a soothing atmosphere, making subscribers feel comfortable and at ease when engaging with your content.

Green

Green, along with blue and white, brings a sense of tranquility and calmness to email marketing. It signifies relaxation, protection, freshness, and improvement, making it perfect for health-related and "green" products.

This nature-inspired color not only soothes but also boosts positive associations and can even uplift mood. Additionally, green's association with money makes it a go-to for expressing financial wealth and growth.

Yellow

Yellow is linked to joy, playfulness, and creativity, making it an excellent choice for infusing positivity into email content. In email design and marketing, incorporating yellow can evoke a sense of happiness and energy, capturing the attention of recipients and leaving a memorable impression.

It's particularly effective for promoting cheerful messages, offers, or products, helping to create a vibrant and engaging experience for subscribers.

Purple

Purple usually stands for beauty, royalty, luxury, and wealth. As it is historically reserved for royalty, purple brings an element of prestige and sophistication to your email design and marketing.

Incorporating purple into your emails can create a sense of exclusivity and luxury, appealing to subscribers who seek high-quality products or services.

Whether it's through using purple accents in visuals or highlighting key offers with the color, leveraging purple can help your brand stand out and leave a lasting impression of elegance and refinement.

Brown

Brown, a warm and earthy color, is often associated with stability, reliability, and comfort. Brown signals trust, especially for finance or security brands. Moreover, it can also hint at natural, organic, and eco-friendly values in your emails.

It can feel fancy and cozy, making people comfortable and eager to connect. Acting as a neutral backdrop, it helps other colors pop, making it a versatile choice for creating visually appealing and credible email marketing content.

Pink

Pink represents different emotions and concepts depending on its shade and context. Overall, it's linked to femininity, love, kindness, and sweetness.

Pink's ability to catch attention, along with its connection to breast cancer awareness, makes it great for highlighting important parts and backing meaningful causes. This enhances overall engagement and brand perception.

Types of color schemes

Monochromatic colors

Monochromatic colors in emails use different shades of one color, making them easy to read and visually appealing. Choosing the right color can add depth and make visuals pop. With a clean and simple design, these emails grab attention and boost conversion rates. Take Aēsop's email, for example, where they use various green tones to create a cohesive look, perfect for promoting their natural skincare products.

Triadic color palette

A triadic color scheme in emails means using three colors equally spaced on the color wheel. Typically, these colors are opposites, creating a balanced mix of warm and cool tones. You can choose two warm colors and one cool, or vice versa, to strike that balance.

This scheme helps emphasize your message by focusing on the dominant color. A neat trick is to use this dominant color where you want your subscribers to look first, like in headlines, call-to-action buttons, or special offers.

Complementary colors

Complementary colors are like perfect opposites on the color wheel. Think yellow and purple, blue and orange, or red and green. You can pick the pair that suits your campaign or audience best.

When using these colors in emails, make sure to highlight important stuff like CTAs, links, or headers. Just use them smartly to catch your readers' attention.

Creative ways to use colors in emails

Besides those three color combos, here are a few more things to keep in mind when designing your email:

Check Pantone colors

Every year, the Pantone Color Institute selects a color that reflects global trends and feelings. This year (2024), the chosen color is “Peach Fuzz.”

This gentle color between pink and orange, celebrates Pantone's Color of the Year program's 25th anniversary. It's a soft, heartfelt hue that symbolizes kindness, compassion, and connection, bringing a cozy feeling as we strive for a peaceful future.

Combine shades of the same color

Another creative way to make your email pop is to stick to one main color with different shades of it. Even though it may not have much contrast, it gives your email a sleek and refined look. Brands love it because it makes their emails minimalistic, classy, and stylish.

Combine opposite colors

Contrary to common belief, mixing opposite colors can create beautiful outcomes. When it comes to color psychology:

Experiment with dark shades like black alongside vibrant ones such as orange or yellow. Also, consider pairing opposing colors like red/green or blue/yellow. Just remember to balance their brightness and intensity. For instance, matching a subdued green with a bright red can feel like a misstep rather than a deliberate choice. The same applies to blending light pastels with deeper tones.

Get this template here.

Use mood boards

Another fun and creative way to mix colors is by using mood boards or color boards. Originally from fashion and interior design, they're perfect for experimenting with color combos and seeing how different shades play off each other.

To find the perfect palette for your design, try searching on Pinterest, Google, or Instagram. Nature photos are a great choice because they naturally blend harmonious colors.

Use colors to highlight important content

Colors are a powerful tool for getting your message across in emails. That's why choosing the right bulletin colors is crucial as they make important messages in the email text pop and grab attention. Moreover, highlight key points in your copy by using different colored fonts.

For example, if you're promoting a new mascara, make words like "clump-free" or "long-lasting" stand out with a different color.

To ensure clarity, use white font on dark backgrounds and vice versa. This way, your subscribers can quickly spot the important info in your emails.

Use colors to differentiate between different sections

Using colors to divide sections in your emails is a great way to help your readers navigate through different parts. This is particularly useful for email newsletters.

Likewise, choosing appropriate border colors around images and important sections can add a pop of visual interest while keeping everything neat and tidy.

Check out this example from Google Store where they use colors to distinguish between sections. It's a smart way to keep things organized and engaging for your subscribers.

Use colors to make the CTA prominent

Picking the right color for your CTA button is crucial because it can determine if users will click through or not. You might need to experiment with different colors to find what suits your brand best.

Common choices like red, green, yellow, blue, and black are often used. For instance, black might work for a travel company, while yellow might be better for a SaaS company, depending on how your audience reacts to these colors.

Take a look at this email from Athletic Brewing Company. They use different colors to divide sections, and the CTA buttons stand out in contrasting colors. It's a smart way to catch attention and encourage clicks.

How to create your email’s color palette

Use your brand colors

Your brand colors should be your anchor. Brand guidelines are designed to ensure that your brand stays consistent and recognizable across all channels and campaigns.

Sticking to the same color scheme in your emails boosts brand recognition. It's like embedding your brand in your subscribers' minds so they can spot you in their inbox without even reading the message or checking the logo.

Check out these four email campaigns from Everlane. Notice how they rock the same colors and style in each one? They're sticking to their signature look no matter what.

Holiday-themed color palette

Another tried-and-tested approach is to use popular combinations. For instance, think about Halloween – black and orange are a no-brainer. Or Valentine's Day, where red and pink reign supreme. By using these classic color combos, you’re not just designing emails but creating holiday vibes that everyone loves and enjoys.

Check contrast

Contrasting colors, also known as complementary colors, come from opposite ends of the color wheel.

Incorporating contrasting colors into your email design adds excitement and makes your content stand out. It's a great pick for playful emails aimed at younger audiences.

Plus, it is crucial that you check the contrast ratio between your email text and background colors as it can affect readability, accessibility, and usability of your emails.

Draw inspiration from nature/art

Nature is a goldmine of color inspiration. Take a peek outside, and you'll find tons of vibrant combos, like those in fruits or the sky. These colors naturally make us feel good and cozy. So, why not sprinkle some of that natural magic into your emails to leave a sunny impression on your recipients?

Keep a balance

Creating a balanced color palette for your emails is key. You don't have to stick to just light or dark colors – mix it up! Make sure you've got at least one light and one dark shade for contrast. Once you've got those, the rest is all about what looks good to you.

Keep dark mode in mind!

When picking colors for emails, think about dark mode because it changes how your content looks to users. Light colors pop on dark backgrounds, but dark colors might fade away. Good contrast between text and background makes emails easier to read, especially in dim lighting. And matching colors with dark mode keeps things looking smooth for everyone, enhancing the overall user experience and engagement with your emails.

Conclusion-How to create beautifully designed emails with Chamaileon

In short, colors are a game-changer in email marketing. They affect mood, boost brand recognition, and capture attention. By understanding color meanings and considering factors like dark mode, marketers can create emails that stand out and resonate with subscribers. So, whether it's using classic combos or drawing from nature, thoughtful color choices make all the difference in crafting compelling email campaigns.

And Chamaileon sets the stage for top-notch email creativity: with its streamlined workflow, you can craft stunning emails while still having time to tweak messages, understand your audience better, experiment with new ideas, and boost your return on investment. Learn more here.

Frequently asked questions about colors in email marketing

What are the best colors for email marketing?

Pairing colors that complement each other can make your emails pop. Basic complementary colors include yellow with purple, blue with orange, and red with green. You can mix and match these based on your campaign or who you're targeting. Be smart about it though—use them to make important stuff stand out, like CTAs, email headers, and links.

What do the colors in email mean?

The colors you use in emails can make people feel different things, shaping how they see your message. By understanding the meanings behind different colors, you can strategically use them in your email designs to evoke specific emotions, capture attention, and reinforce your brand identity.

What is the best color for email text?

Black and white are popular choices for email text because they create clear contrast and are easy to read. While they're great for most situations, don't feel limited—there are plenty of other color options to explore.

What is the best background color for emails?

Opt for a single background color throughout your email. Choosing a consistent, non-white background color is effective because it makes the contrasting text and links easy to read. Lighter shades give the email a light and airy feel, similar to a white background.

Which color attracts the most attention?

Red, orange, and yellow bring the heat, stirring up urgency and excitement—perfect for flashing those limited-time deals. Meanwhile, cool colors like blue, green, and purple chill things out, fostering trust and calmness. They're your go-to for building loyal customers and sharing helpful info.