Crafting engaging emails is an art. With the right Email design inspiration, you can transform a simple email into a compelling message that resonates with your audience. Whether it's the layout, color scheme, or fonts, every aspect of the email design has to captivate the reader's attention. Here are some email design inspiration ideas to help you create that perfect email design.
Why Your Email Design Matters
Email design serves as the initial gateway to engagement with your audience. A well-crafted email design can significantly influence open rates—the percentage of recipients who open your email—and click-through rates—the percentage of recipients who click on a link or call-to-action within your email.
Enhancing Engagement with Effective Email Design
A visually appealing layout, compelling imagery, and clear messaging can entice recipients to open the email and explore its contents further. Effective email design guides the recipient's attention toward the primary call-to-action, whether it's to make a purchase, sign up for a webinar, or download a resource.
Optimizing CTAs for Higher Click-Through Rates
A well-designed CTA button that stands out and is easily clickable can significantly boost click-through rates. With the majority of emails now being opened on mobile devices, responsive design is essential. Emails that are optimized for mobile devices not only ensure a seamless user experience but also contribute to higher open and click-through rates.
Building Brand Identity through Email Design
Beyond the immediate metrics of open and click-through rates, email design plays a crucial role in shaping brand perception and fostering long-term customer engagement. Well-designed emails reflect the brand's identity and values, reinforcing brand recognition and trust.
Personalizing Email Design for Enhanced Customer Experience
Consistent use of brand colors, fonts, and imagery across email campaigns helps to establish a cohesive brand identity and fosters a sense of familiarity with recipients. Effective email design goes beyond aesthetics—it incorporates personalization and relevance to resonate with recipients on a deeper level.
Driving Customer Loyalty through Thoughtful Email Design
By tailoring content and design elements to the recipient's preferences, behavior, and demographics, brands can deliver more meaningful and engaging experiences. Email design can be a powerful tool for nurturing customer relationships and driving brand loyalty. Thoughtfully designed emails that provide valuable content, exclusive offers, and personalized recommendations can strengthen the bond between the brand and its audience, ultimately leading to increased customer retention and advocacy.
Plain Text emails are simple, text-based messages that do not include any formatting or visual elements. They are easy to create and read, making them ideal for quick, straightforward communication.
Rich HTML Email Design
Rich HTML Email Design refers to emails that include formatting and visual elements, such as images, font styles, and colors. These emails can be more engaging and visually appealing than plain text emails, making them a popular choice for marketing campaigns and newsletters.
Interactive & AMP Email Design
Interactive & AMP Email Design takes email design to the next level by incorporating interactive elements, such as buttons, forms, and animations, allowing users to interact directly with the email without having to click through to a website. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a technology that allows for the creation of interactive and dynamic emails, making them more engaging and functional for users.
Email Design Categories Based on Campaign Goals
Holiday Email Designs
Holiday Email Designs are tailored for special occasions, such as Christmas, Halloween, or Valentine's Day. These emails often feature festive graphics, colors, and messages to capture the holiday spirit.
Seasonal Email Designs
Seasonal Email Designs can include emails tailored for different times of the year, such as summer, winter, spring, or fall. The design elements, colors, and imagery are aligned with the season to evoke the appropriate mood or theme.
Informative Email Designs
Informative Email Designs are focused on providing valuable information to the recipient. These emails often include educational content, tips, how-tos, or industry insights to engage the audience and build trust.
Promotional Email Designs
Promotional Email Designs are aimed at driving sales or conversions. These emails often highlight discounts, promotions, new products, or limited-time offers to entice recipients to make a purchase.
Re-engagement Email Designs
Re-engagement Email Designs are used to reconnect with inactive subscribers or customers. These emails may include special offers, personalized recommendations, or reminders to re-engage with the brand.
Transactional Email Designs
Transactional Email Designs are triggered by specific actions, such as purchases, sign-ups, or account updates. These emails are typically focused on providing relevant information related to the user's action and may include order confirmations, shipping notifications, or account alerts.
Behavioral Email Designs
Behavioral Email Designs are based on user behavior or interactions with the brand. These emails are personalized and tailored to the recipient's past actions, preferences, or interests to deliver relevant content and drive engagement.
Effortless Email Template Creation with Mailsplash
Mailsplash is an AI-powered tool that empowers users to design and create stunning email templates that convert in minutes. With Mailsplash, you can effortlessly craft personalized, branded email campaigns and flows that resonate with your target audience. Whether you are a freelancer, brand, or agency, Mailsplash offers an all-in-one email solution that streamlines email copywriting and email template design processes at a lower cost than traditional marketing agencies.
Try Mailsplash for free today to unlock the power of personalized, converting email campaigns.
16 Best Free Galleries To Get Email Design Inspiration
1. Mailsplash: All-in-one Email Solution
Mailsplash is an AI-powered tool that allows you to create stunning email templates that convert. With Mailsplash, you can design and create personalized, converting email campaigns in minutes. This tool enables freelancers, brands, and agencies to quickly create personalized branded email templates at a lower cost than traditional marketing agencies.
Really Good Emails is an excellent resource for finding out what industry experts are doing in the realm of email marketing. You can browse a variety of email types, such as abandoned cart reminders or subscription confirmations. This site provides insights on how to polish your email content like a professional.
3. Just Good Copy
When you encounter a block in writing engaging email content, head over to Just Good Copy. Here, you can find inspiration for your email copy by reading what others are writing in their emails. Having access to well-crafted email copy can help you infuse life into your email campaigns.
4. Good Email Code
For a reliable coding resource that just works, Good Email Code is the go-to platform for email marketers. Whether you wish to experiment with new email coding techniques or need assistance with ensuring your email code functions effectively, this resource has your back.
5. Newsletter Search Engine
The Newsletter Search Engine is a fantastic website for the latest email marketing inspiration. Featuring up-to-date examples across different industries and email categories, this platform allows you to search the body copy of any email in its database. This feature can be incredibly helpful for delving deeper into a specific category.
6. Marketing Examples
Marketing Examples is the hub for short, practical marketing examples that can help you gain insights into successful marketing campaigns. By exploring this site, you can find examples of remarkable marketing campaigns, ad copy, landing pages, newsletters, and more.
7. Microcopy.me
In the realm of email copywriting, concise copy often holds more power. Microcopy.me is an excellent source for inspiration on succinct copywriting. The website showcases numerous examples of eye-catching marketing phrases and CTAs from renowned brands like Google and Dropbox.
8. Swiped.co
If you're looking for reverse-engineered marketing inspiration, Swiped.co is the perfect platform for you. This site offers dozens of examples and case studies that provide effective tips backed by research and psychology. Though it's not solely focused on email marketing, you can still glean numerous copywriting and design tricks for your emails.
9. MailCharts Ecommerce
For eCommerce marketers seeking to create engaging, evidence-based email content, MailCharts is a valuable resource. By signing up for a free account, you can explore hundreds of handpicked examples spanning lifecycle emails to Black Friday messaging. While a Pro account offers additional content, the free version is still beneficial.
10. Milled
Milled is a platform that enables you to view emails from brands—especially in the retail sector—that you aren't subscribed to. By following brands on Milled, you can receive updates on 'what's new from brands you follow' via collated email examples straight to your inbox.
11. Email Love
Email Love is a website that can stimulate your design creativity. It offers a curated selection of design-led emails that serve as a wellspring of design inspiration for your email marketing campaigns.
12. OnceDailyPharma
For industry-specific inspiration, OnceDailyPharma is a valuable resource, especially for the pharmaceutical sector. This website contains an entire category dedicated to pharmaceutical emails, providing you with insights and inspiration specific to the regulated pharmaceutical industry.
13. Startup Marketing Examined
If you're involved in startup marketing, consider adding Marketing Examined to your reading list. This website offers a library of startup marketing examples, strategies, and tips presented as actionable case studies. Each case study is concise, taking no more than 5 minutes to read, offering easy-to-digest, in-depth research.
14. Email-gallery.com
Email Gallery is a platform tailored to assist email designers in finding inspiration from emails across various companies and individuals. You can browse email designs based on format, colors, or business type, ensuring you find the perfect inspiration for your next email campaign.
15. Email Inspiration Gallery from Kickdynamic
Kickdynamic's gallery of email inspirations comprises hundreds of fresh examples of direct-to-consumer (DTC) and retail emails. Whether you're seeking inspiration for fashion, travel, or emails with personalized images, this gallery has you covered with a wide array of niche examples.
16. Campaign Monitor’s Email Gallery
Campaign Monitor showcases 97 examples of the most inspiring and effective email campaigns. The gallery allows visitors to filter based on the style of the email, ranging from marketing offers to newsletters and announcements, providing a diverse range of email campaign inspiration.
Complete Step-by-Step Guide On How To Use Mailsplash’s All-in-one AI Email Solution
Getting Started: Uploading Brands and Products
Before you can generate an email, you’ll need to upload a brand and product.
Navigate to the “Brands” tab and select “Add a Brand”. Once you’ve defined the brand’s name, logo(s), font(s), and color(s), you can upload your product(s).
You can do so by simply pasting in the product link, which will auto-populate the product description, name, and images, as seen below. Now you’re ready to design and write stunning emails with Mailsplash.
Design & Write Emails with Mailsplash: A Guide
Generate with AI
Not sure where to start? From your dashboard, click “Generate with AI” to get to ideating. Simply select the brand(s) and product(s) you’ve uploaded and describe the email you’re looking for (e.g. an email campaign promoting new pants on sale for 25% off). You can even define the design style you’re looking for!
If you’re feeling like a pro, click “Advanced Setup” to get more detailed access to other parameters such as your target audience, the type of email, and so on. Once you’re happy, click generate and watch the magic happen! In 30 seconds or less, you’ll have a email custom-tailored to your input.
Start from Template
Already know what kind of email you’re looking to create? You can then click “Start from Template” and browse through our gallery of templates, curated for the most common use cases. We currently support 21 templates for 7 different categories, but will be continuing to update this based on your feedback! Once you select an email type, you’ll be prompted to select a brand and product and be taken straight to the builder.
Sending Emails: Integrate with Any ESP
When exporting your email generation, you’ll be able to integrate with Klaviyo by inputting your API key. It’s as simple as that. We’re working on adding support for other major ESPs!
Now you should be well-equipped to save time and money on your email marketing.
Still confused? Have feedback? Let us know by sending us an email.
You can subscribe to all of your competitor emails and the rest of the big players in the email marketing industry, too. You’ll want to make a list of your top competitors, partners, and major industry players and subscribe to keep an eye on what they’re doing, both for your email designs and so you can better strategize promotional emails, nurture flows, and sales or discounts. Then each week or month, take a look at any trends you notice and report back to the rest of the team.
2. Pinterest boards dedicated to email design
In between unnecessarily detailed kiddie crafts, road trip itineraries, family costume ideas, and DIY decor, you’ll find a lot of great email designs on Pinterest if you know where to look. Most creators on Pinterest add to their boards constantly, so either make yourself a board to pin your own design ideas or add a weekly to-do to search for “email design inspiration” or similar phrases to find emails that pique your curiosity.
3. Dribbble for email mockups
Dribbble has long been a source of inspiration for web, UX, and UI designers. But it’s also a great source of inspiration for email designers, too.
4. Email marketing blogs and newsletters
There are a handful of more email-focused websites that feed my constant need for email inspiration. Whether that’s design, strategy, or things that make me go “hmmm,” these are the newsletters that help keep me on top of my email game.
5. Email marketing reports
Email marketing reports can help you benchmark your own performance, get ideas for future campaign strategies, and provide context for your management team about what’s going on with email today.
6. Pre-designed email templates
Scrolling through a library of free email templates is another great way to generate some ideas. Maybe it’s a color scheme you haven’t thought of before. Maybe it’s how the images and text flow together. Maybe it’s the strategic idea for an email, like sending a re-engagement email to subscribers who may need a little nudge. Either way, a pre-designed email template library is chock full of battle-tested designs that you can drop right into your next email campaign.
3 Important Questions To Ask Yourself While Incorporating Various Design Inspirations Into Your Email Campaigns
1. Brand Consistency is Key
When looking for Email Design Inspiration online, it's easy to be drawn to the bright and shiny designs that seem to pop off the screen. Is a brand, it's important to maintain consistency in your email designs to establish brand recognition. If you're known for a minimalist aesthetic, a flashy design might not be the best fit for your brand.
2. Engaging Visuals
Bright colors can engage the viewer and draw them in, but you want to ensure your brand's message is clearly communicated without causing confusion. Incorporating vibrant colors can make your emails stand out in crowded inboxes and keep readers interested.
3. High-Quality Images
Bright and shiny images can be visually appealing, but they should still be high-quality and relevant to your brand. Using eye-catching images in your email campaigns can help to grab your recipient's attention and encourage them to take action.
4. Interactive Elements
Incorporating interactive elements like buttons or animations can make your emails more engaging for readers. When used strategically, these elements can help to guide readers' eyes to important information or encourage them to click through to your website.
5. Clear Call-to-Action
Bright and shiny designs can attract attention, but they should also clearly guide readers to the next step. Including a clear call-to-action can help to direct readers on what action they should take next, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, or downloading a resource.
6. Mobile Responsiveness
Ensure that your bright and shiny email designs are mobile-responsive. With the majority of emails now being opened on mobile devices, it's essential that your emails look great and function well on all devices.
5 Effective Tips For Generating Original Ideas For Your Email Design
1. Know Your Audience Inside Out
Understanding your audience is paramount to creating email designs that resonate with them. Conduct thorough research to identify your target demographic's preferences, pain points, interests, and behavior. Use this insight to tailor your email designs to their specific needs and preferences, ensuring they find your content relevant and compelling.
2. Draw Inspiration from Diverse Sources
Look beyond your industry and explore a wide range of sources for inspiration. Draw inspiration from art, fashion, architecture, nature, photography, and other creative disciplines. By exposing yourself to diverse influences, you'll expand your creative horizons and discover unique ideas that can be adapted to your email designs
3. Embrace Creativity Exercises
Engage in brainstorming sessions and creativity exercises to stimulate innovative thinking. Encourage your team members to contribute ideas freely, without judgment. Experiment with techniques like mind mapping, word association, mood boards, and sketching to generate a wealth of creative concepts. Collaborative ideation sessions can spark inspiration and lead to breakthrough ideas.
4. Stay Updated on Design Trends
Keep a pulse on the latest design trends and innovations in email marketing. Follow design blogs, attend webinars, and participate in industry conferences to stay informed about emerging trends and best practices. While it's essential to stay current with trends, don't be afraid to challenge conventions and infuse your designs with a unique twist that sets them apart from the crowd.
5. Prototype and Iterate
Don't settle for your first idea—instead, prototype multiple design concepts and iterate based on feedback. Use prototyping tools to create mockups and interactive prototypes that allow you to visualize your ideas more effectively. Solicit feedback from colleagues, stakeholders, and even select customers to gain valuable insights and refine your designs further. By embracing a process of continuous improvement, you'll refine your ideas and create email designs that truly resonate with your audience.
Create Fully-Built Stunning Email Templates That Convert With Mailsplash
Mailsplash, an AI-powered tool, allows you to effortlessly craft eye-catching email templates that drive conversions. This tool is a game-changer for email marketers, providing a simple and effective way to design and send emails. You can create personalized, branded emails for campaigns, flows, and more in just minutes.
Mailsplash works seamlessly with various email service providers like Mailchimp and Klaviyo, ensuring that you can use the service that best suits your needs. By offering an all-in-one email solution, Mailsplash helps freelancers, brands, and agencies create tailored email campaigns cost-efficiently. Whether you need email copywriting, personalized template design, or other services, Mailsplash has got you covered.
Hi! I'm Dan Kwon, a growth hacker and digital innovator who first gained social proof by hitting a million social media followers at 17. I founded an AI writing tool startup, propelling it to $1M ARR and over a million users in just 3 months, leading to a successful exit. My specialty lies in creating viral brand identities and understanding Gen Z’s digital marketing landscape. I'm always ready to share practical, real-world insights in digital marketing.