The Importance of Design in Email Marketing - Part II

This is the second installment of three on the subject of design in email marketing. Last time we focused on how simplicity and clarity add impact to the message. This week we're going to talk about another important design issue - illuminating the call to action.

Given their druthers, every email marketer - whether a Realtor, a department store, or a software company - would have every recipient open and read every email campaign. However, operating from the premise that this is a virtual impossibility, we must make the most of the opportunity we are given when someone does open the email. It's called the 2-Second Rule.

The 2-Second Rule

Typically, you've got about 2 seconds to tell your story; 2 seconds to offer your recipient something compelling enough that maybe they'll give your message a few more seconds. This is almost always something visual. To quote web usability guru Jakob Nielsen on how users read on the web: "They don't. They scan." The same is true for email. So while the finer points of your textual content may be very important, the design of your campaign will determine whether anybody ever bothers to read it.

How Design can Influence Action

For our December issue of House & Home Digest we published two feature stories, one on boosting your home's value, and the other on holiday home decorations. But we also wanted to feature our monthly sweepstakes, which generates the most conversions for our clients each month. We wanted to make everything as attractive as possible in order to maximize click-thru rates. But in order to focus user attention, if one item shouts then the others have to whisper. If your turn up the volume on everything, all you have is noise.

To solve the problem we employed a strategic use of color. Red is always a very eye-catching color, and we used it liberally on both of the feature stories. But then we set our sweepstakes in stark contrast, using a compelling photo against a solid black background. As you can see, all the items on the page capture attention, but they don't compete with one another. In less than 2 seconds you can scan this whole email and quickly decide which item holds the greatest interest for you.

The Upshot

We received very good click-thru rates for both stories, and even better for the sweepstakes. Many readers clicked only on the sweepstakes, and many more clicked first on the sweepstakes and then went back and clicked on the other stories as well. By grabbing their attention with one item, we were able to maximize the impact of the others.

'Til Next Time

I hope you've found value in this article. Next week we'll finish this design series with a discussion of how human interest elements contribute to compelling design. If you have questions or article ideas for this newsletter, please send them to me: . Expect another issue of our best practices email in two weeks. If you don't want it, you can opt out at any time. I thank you for your attention.