Users often make purchasing decisions based on the appearance of newsletters. Stylish and neat emails get more clicks than unkempt and complicated ones. And mistakes in design and layout can also hurt deliverability – a crooked template is more likely to end up in spam.
Where to Start
If you’ve never dealt with design and layout (especially in email), we recommend that you read the article below. It contains basic information on design elements, layout rules, and useful services for creating emails.
What emails are
Globally, all emails can be divided into 3 types: HTML, AMP and Plain text.
HTML is the most popular type of email. Almost all the newsletters you see in your mailbox are created with HTML. It is a special markup language that can be used to add pictures, animations, additional columns and hyperlinks into an e-mail.
AMP is an interactive email newsletter format. The technology came to email marketing in 2018, but hasn’t gained universal popularity yet. With AMP, you can add polls, carousels, interactive menus, and even videos to your emails.
Plain text – emails that consist of plain text. They resemble personal correspondence and that’s why many users like them.
What are the elements that make up a letter?
Let’s focus on the elements that provoke the most questions: pictures, animations and videos.
How to compose a letter
Usually, the algorithm for assembling an e-mail is as follows: you write the text → the design is prepared for the text → the design is transferred to a layout → the e-mail can be sent.
If you use a mailing service or letter designer, many of these stages are collapsed. For example, you can write text, work through the design and evaluate the layout in a single interface. And you don’t need to be a great designer or layout designer to do this.
How to send a ready-made layout
The letter is ready – now you need to send it. It’s a good idea if you compiled the layout in a mailing service – then the message can be sent immediately. But if you use a third-party email builder, problems may arise.