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Email Design Checklist

 In Email Marketing, Optimization

You’ve just been assigned the task of designing your company’s newsletter. If it’s your first or you’ve lost count as to how many, take comfort that every great newsletter design falls back to three simple elements: Format, Font and Images.

Here is a handy email design checklist, courtesy of the Email Experience Council.

Format
1. Keep your newsletter width between 600-700 pixels to prevent recipients from needing to scroll horizontally.
2. Make an effort to distinguish content sections from one another with design elements like spacing and dividing lines.
3. Keep your newsletters recognizable by maintaining consistent formatting and creative elements across each.
4. Determine your newsletter length according to your primary audience. If your newsletter will be viewed primarily on mobile devices, it may make sense to include entire articles, as clicking through to content is not (yet) easy from mobile devices.

Font
1. Focus on readability. Sans-serif fonts are generally preferred over serif fonts. Popular web-safe sans-serif fonts include Arial and Verdana, and popular web-safe serif fonts include Times New Roman and Georgia.
2. Keep your font size 11 pixels or higher, and consider larger text if you have an older demographic—don’t make readers strain their eyes!
3. Use dark text on a light background whenever possible. Case studies show that this enhances readability and achieves higher performance.

Images
1. Apply brand-appropriate color palettes and consider using a consistent color palette in each newsletter.
2. Use graphics and imagery to help delineate content segments.
3. Consider the balance between text and images that suits your needs.
4. Make use of the “S”-cure. An “S”-curve arrangement of images and text tends to draw viewers’ eyes down the page.

Looking for some inspiration? Browse our portfolio of Email newsletters for ideas and inspiration.  And while design is on your mind, don’t forget to pay attention to your website design. You wouldn’t want your email to look great, only to send people to a lackluster website. Refer back to our articles on what to do when your Email looks better than your website, and our  Top Ten Elements of Good Web Design.  We’re always happy to discuss your email and website needs, contact us any time.

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