Many marketers overlook the importance of incorporating images in their email campaigns. While the text may be an intrinsic part of your email campaigns, one must not ignore the benefits of using images in email. Striking, eye-catching images are pleasing to readers, and visual appeal goes a long way when it comes to making an impact on your target audience. In this article, you’ll see a guide to using images in your email campaign.
If you want to upgrade your email campaign and want it to stand out, you need to use relevant images alongside the text. Interestingly enough, research from Venngage found that 49% of marketers actively use visual content on business blogs, websites, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Moreover, the best part about using images in email is that you can customize them as you wish. You’ll have a massive variety to choose from too if you’re planning on using stock images, for instance.
In this article, you’ll learn how you can use images in email marketing. But know how they can benefit your email campaigns first.
How Can Images Help Your Email Campaigns?
Impactful, engaging images are the backbone of your email campaign. Moreover, many people prefer reading content with images as opposed to lengthy texts. Using images in email also adds a personal touch to them, and it can positively help reinforce your brand image and values. Images are undoubtedly the best way to gain control over the aesthetic appeal of your email marketing.
Looking for inspiration? Consider the following image:
In the image above, the company Slack uses popping colors and emojis in their eye-catching pictures, adding a whimsical touch. Not only have they simplified their message using images, but they have also managed to engage their readers’ attention.
However, to get the most out of your images and avoid making email marketing mistakes, you need to ensure that they are correctly sized. Large images, for instance, can take longer to load and your readers will not like that. Moreover, you need to ensure the images are truly relevant to your email marketing message and align with the products or services you are trying to promote.
4 Tips on Using Images for Email Marketing
There are several tips you need to keep in mind when using images for email marketing. You want to ensure you don’t lose track by using images that don’t sit well with your target audience.
1. Decide on your image style and be consistent – Guide to using images in your email
Deciding on brand identity is a key part of any business development strategy as it helps you create a unique voice. If you want to reach a wider audience, you need to customize the images in your email marketing campaign accordingly. Your image must be in sync with your brand voice and overall content. For instance, you may be tempted to use bold images but if they don’t merge with your brand, then they won’t elicit the desired response from customers.
On the other hand, if your email campaign consists of complex information, you may simplify it by using infographics and then be consistent with them. Research has found that around 41.5% of marketers believe infographics and graphics lead to maximum customer engagement.
National Geographic, for instance, is known for its crisp, journalistic natural images and they seamlessly incorporate them into their email marketing campaigns. Consider the example below:
In the example above, you can see how they’ve used stellar images combined with engaging texts. One can easily connect this with National Geographic and what it stands for just by looking at this email.
Remember that the best way to ensure consistency in an email while using images is to keep a uniform email design across all your emails. The content may change, but the colors, header sizing, fonts, among others, must remain the same.
2. Use images that capture attention: Guide to using images in your email
To effectively use images that capture attention in your email campaign, you need to be committed to finding the ones that illustrate something unique about your company. If they don’t stand out, they won’t matter to your online community.
While stock images are plentiful in variety, you might not require them if you’re looking to promote specific company products. However, one of the biggest challenges you can face is not capturing images that are visually appealing and top-notch. Consult with in-house photographers and graphic designers and explore stunning color, design, and size options that would make your product images catch the eye.
Check out this example from Dazadi. The company knows that a child driving immediately gets anyone’s attention. So, they used it as an image concept in one of their marketing emails. No one’s going to miss this email for sure.
You may also take photos of people in your company to add an authentic feel to your emails. Or you can insert pictures of customers who have purchased your products with quotes about their experience with them. The varieties are endless if you choose to be creative and not follow the crowd.
A past study for the Nielsen Norman Group found that when images of people were used in email marketing campaigns, they generated better results and more engagement from email users.
3. Don’t overuse imagery
We all know how pretty images look, and it can be tempting to overuse them. However, keep in mind that doing so will decrease the quality of your email. Image-only emails will make your brand lose its credibility, as some information needs to be demonstrated via text. Remember that striking the right balance is key. It is particularly important if you plan on sending recurring emails to your subscribers, as an overload of images may take away from the main content of the email sequence.
Moreover, image-only emails can also end up in the email users’ spam folders, defeating the purpose of you sending them. You need to include a pre-header text in your email or customers won’t be willing to view it.
The image below is a good example of using images in email correctly:
The email contains several, perfectly sized images that don’t look overcrowded. They are coupled with decent-sized texts, and the preheader is engaging as well. All the components of the email seem like they are in the right place, and an ideal image to text ratio has been established.
4. Focus on image size and format: Guide to using images in your email
Before sending out your emails to your email list, it is a good idea to test them out first on different devices. Sending emails with inadequate image sizes and formats can drive away potential customers.
If you want to reduce the image’s file size, you must ensure you use a quality cropping tool as doing so yourself can make them appear distorted. Extremely large-sized images can also take longer to load, which can be frustrating for users.
The following image is a great example of a company that has used correct image sizes in its email newsletter:
Not only are the images stunning with their colors, but they also align with the rest of the components of the email in terms of size.
Moreover, it’s also vital for you to familiarize yourself with the notion of image formatting. Popular image formats include, but are not only to, JPEG, PNG, GIF, among others. JPEG formats, for instance, are to have the lowest quality but are the easiest to compress.
They don’t take up an ample amount of space in your emails. If you have photos that include text, however, PNG formats would be a viable option. On the other hand, if you’ve got an animation to show off, GIFs are your best idea.
Bottom Line
Email marketing has become increasingly popular over the years. Countless companies are actively incorporating it into their marketing schemes. So, you need to find ways to stand out.
Focus on aesthetics and what speaks to your customer. Images can significantly improve the overall quality and impact of your emails, and you can use them to highlight your best products.
Consistency is as important as not overusing images, and so is maintaining a healthy text-to-image ratio. Do your research beforehand and keep an eye out for details. Get your team on board, and see what incorporating images into your email campaign can do for your company.
The post A Guide to Using Images in Your Email Campaign appeared first on Visualmodo.
0 Commentaires