Did you know the average person reads only 20 percent of a webpage but will view every image? Utilizing images and visuals is important for successful marketing campaigns. The crucial consideration when including these elements is finding a balance that benefits your email’s effectiveness without distracting from it.
Below are a few best practice do’s and don’ts that we apply to our clients’ email marketing campaigns:
DO use relevant images.
Does your email state that you have the best customer service in town? Use a staff picture to convey your friendliness and familiarity. Don’t forget to be creative with your images. You have the power to creatively choose pictures, so ensure the images you put in your emails aren’t just placeholders, but that they serve a purpose.
DO use them to break up text.
Nobody wants to read an email that’s just a chunk of copy. Using images to break up content-heavy emails increases the readability of the message and makes it more appealing to the readers. Use images to separate the copy and to tell a complete story in your emails.
DO use SEO methods like alternative text.
When you hover over an image online, you’ll notice an HTML box appears. This is called alt text. If your images don’t load in an email, your customers will still be able to read the alt text. It’s crucial to utilize this feature to convey your message in the event your image doesn’t load. For example, rather than typing “Image” for the alt text of a photo of a house for a mortgage campaign, write out a call to action like “Click the link in the email to apply for a loan with the best mortgage brokers around.” This method can be applied to any industry to increase the effectiveness of images in marketing emails.
DON’T use too much embedded text on images.
While putting text on an image looks clean and professional, it could send the email straight to the spam folder or could make the images in the email appear as a big blank box. Not all email providers will display the images in your emails due to user preferences and deliverability, so it’s important to consider this when creating emails. And, of course, send yourself preview emails to test the images and format of your emails. If you choose to put text over an image, always use descriptive alt text.
DON’T use too many (or too few!)
In general, allow images to take up no more than thirty percent of your space. This gives you enough space to appeal to your customers without getting sent straight to their spam folders or risking the images appearing as blank spaces. Regardless of how many images you choose to use, make sure you use them intentionally.
Images have the power to make or break the effectiveness of your emails, especially because 90 percent of information sent to the brain is visual. Applying these best practices will increase the effectiveness and deliverability of your emails, which will ultimately benefit your business.
