If you’re looking to design a catchy promo through a personalized email campaign to increase your sales, and if you’ve read Vouchery’s article on getting started with coupons, you’ll have a good understanding of the importance of promotions.
There’s only one problem - you may need help designing the promo so that it stands out from the thousands of other email promotions that people receive every month. Not to worry - by the end of this article, you’ll know everything you need to know about designing a catchy email promo.
I’ll start by providing a very basic unfinished email design as a reference, and as the article progresses, the sample design will develop as we add new strategies. By the end of the article, the email design will be finished, and you’ll be provided with this free template to download. Plus, we have a small bonus at the end!
1. Understand the recipient and stay relevant
You’re an expert on your business’s audience. You know what they like, don’t like, and how to solve their problems. But your audience isn’t just one individual, it’s a group of individuals that make up segments of consumers each with their own needs. It’s important to design a promotion that is relevant to your audience of course, but go beyond that and construct the promotion to be suited to the specific segment of your audience receiving this promotion.
For example, a promotion sent to a customer who has been on your brand’s mailing list for only 1 week should be different than the promotion sent to an active, long-time customer. A promotion sent to someone who tried your free trial but then canceled should be different from someone who attempted to sign up but then never finished creating their account.
Different segments of your audience have different needs and different experiences with your business, and as such, your promotion should be directly relevant to each. That means creating a different promotional email for each circumstance.
2. Personalize, personalize, personalize!
Each person in your audience is a unique individual. Each has their own needs and experiences with your business so show them that you notice and appreciate them. A little heart goes a long way!
At the simplest level, this may mean including the user’s name in the subject line or within the email. The more personalized you get, the better. For example, let’s say you’re a company that sells rugs and one of your visitors clicked a call to action link in your latest email. This link took the customer to your website to view a living room rug, but they didn’t purchase it after spending a few minutes on the page. As a result of this, you can target this action and send them a follow-up email promotion that includes a high-quality picture of that rug in the email.
3. Add urgency
Nothing gets people moving faster than an impending deadline. Capitalize on this by incorporating an expiration date into the email promotion’s design.
4. Bring it to life
You want your email to stand out among the thousands of emails your audience receives each month. One of the best ways to do this is to use high quality and relevant images in your email.
A gif can be a great way to capture your audience’s attention and add personality. Just make sure it’s in a style that your audience will receive well.
The type of imagery you use depends on what you’re selling, who you’re reaching, and the overall brand image you want for your company. If your brand sells elegant, luxurious items that are extravagantly packaged, then your imagery should reflect that. If your brand audience is established professionals, then a simpler, cleaner concept will be more effective. Just because something works for one company, doesn’t mean it will work for yours.
5. Don’t take yourself too seriously
This depends on the business because each company has a unique voice, but if you’re reaching a general audience of consumers, it can often be helpful to add humor to messages.
6. Responsive Design
Emails are read on desktop, tablet, and smartphone, and according to HubSpot, mobile opens accounted for 46% of all email opens. Make sure that your design looks are desktop and mobile-friendly!
7. Strong Call to Action
Lastly, your promotional email must contain a meaningful call to action. The message must have a point after all, and in this case, the point is to persuade the customer to use your promo!
The CTA in your email promotion should lead the user directly to the relevant page to take advantage of the deal. Some ideas include:
Shop now
Get 10% off now
Claim my deal
Save today
Sign up
Try it for free
Upgrade now
Generally, a good CTA will include an action that you want the user to perform (such as “shop”) and a word to encourage urgency (such as “now”). The placement of the CTA can vary, but in most cases, it makes sense to place the CTA early enough in the email in case the viewer doesn’t scroll through the entire email or at the bottom of the email if the offer requires extra details.
The call to action will generally be represented as a button and should stand out. The best way to do this is to use a color that isn’t used, or barely used, in your email. This will help it stand out within your email.
Conclusion - Show, don’t tell
People don’t enjoy reading walls of text - take out the fluff. Capture the user’s attention immediately by following the steps above.
Your email should be easy to read because the truth is that most people will simply skim it. That’s why it makes sense to invest in designing email content, to ensure it is easy to read and stands out.
This article was written with the help of our friends from Delesign.com, an unlimited graphic design source made by your own dedicated designer.
BONUS: Check out more of their FREE email and promo design templates HERE.