Email marketing is still one of the most powerful marketing tools for ecommerce businesses. And, the addition of beautiful visuals to your email newsletters makes them even more profitable.
That’s because humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than text, which means they can help you grab your recipients’ attention.
However, you need to use the right visuals and the right way.
Wondering how?
Read this post to learn:
- What types of visuals can you use in your email campaigns?
- How can you create these visuals?
- How will using visuals impact your ecommerce sales?
Are you ready?
The Different Types of Visuals for Your Email Newsletters & How to Create Them
The visuals you use in your email campaigns could be much more than stock photos and vectors. Here are a few ideas to let your creative juices flow in:
1. Impressive Product Photos
Most ecommerce retailers use product images in their email newsletters and encourage recipients to click on the “Shop Now” button.
Something similar to the image below:
For this kind of email newsletter, you’ll need to invest in product photography and create a library of impressive visuals.
Use them to create eye-catching designs. Here’s another example of a fashion ecommerce brand using product images and minimal text to promote their fall collection:
While most graphic designers use Adobe Photoshop, there are many design tools that even non-professionals can use to create their graphic design proposal.
You can create newsletters with easy-to-use templates by Canva, Crello, and other alternative design tools and apps.
Follow the best practices for designing email newsletters such as using a lot of white space, prominent call-to-action (CTA), and minimal but catchy text to drive click-throughs and conversions.
If you don’t want to hire full-time designers and don’t have the time to do it yourself, you can also find freelancers to work for you. Many talented professionals are waiting for the right brands and projects on freelance sites. You just need to give it a try.
Pro tip: Browse through their portfolio of designs and past brand collaborations before you hire a freelancer to create newsletters.
2. Visually-Appealing GIFs
Leverage GIFs to engage users and compel them to take an action.
For example:
In the email newsletter below, seeing the clothes being wrapped up and packed is likely to appeal to the fashion desires of your potential shoppers.
You can leverage similar GIFs to:
- Show your products in action.
- Rotate your product to display it from different angles.
- Draw attention to the parts of your products that you want users to see.
Pro tip: Don’t overdo it. After all, you don’t want the animated GIF to distract users from your product.
3. Motion Graphics
Breathe life into your product images by animating one photo element or two. This will help you entice users and compel them to purchase your product.
For example:
How about sending a newsletter promoting a discount offer on your skirts collection with a motion graphic like the one below?
Creating these graphics doesn’t have to be tedious. Especially, when you’ve got apps like Motionleap (formerly Pixaloop) by Lightricks.
This 3D photo editing app enables you to edit and animate your photos easily using:
- Intuitive arrows to set photo motion direction
- Background changer
- Overlays, sparkles, and other fun effects
- Motion speed controller
And the most important part?
Don’t forget to club these impressive visuals with an irresistible offer.
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4. Videos
Did you know that adding video to an email can increase the click-through rates by 300%?
The visual nature of a video makes it one of the best formats to showcase your product and highlight its key features (especially if it’s beautifully created with good video editing software). You can also share how-to tutorials to educate users about the use cases of your product.
Similarly, videos with music and dialogues can help you tell stories and form an emotional connection with your users.
One brand that is known for its marketing videos is: Dollar Shave Club. Let’s take a look at a newsletter in which they added a video to promote their shower product – Wanderer by DSC.
It’s not necessary to embed videos in your ecommerce newsletters. You can also add a static still shot that resembles a video thumbnail. This method is effective as it tells users to click on it even if they don’t read your email.
You can either add a link on the still shot image or on text close to it. To find out which one is more effective, conduct an A/B test for both versions of your email newsletters.
What type of videos can you add to your ecommerce newsletters?
- A demo video of your new collection
- A video featuring customer testimonials
- A product unboxing video
- A video showing multiple ways to use your product
For example:
TomTom (a consumer electronics company) and Nike used a video in the newsletter to quickly educate customers about the new aspects of their watch.
Other than shooting videos from scratch, you can also use royalty-free videos and customize them with relevant copy.
5. Interactive Content
Using interactive content can increase click-throughs and conversions. It can be anything from quizzes to feedback ratings and message boxes, countdowns, and scratch cards.
Here’s an example:
6. Behind-the-Scenes Images and Videos
Including behind-the-scenes images and videos can help you add a personal touch to your newsletter content. It can give your audience an insight into your brand, work culture, achievements, and future plans.
You can give users a glimpse of your team working on a new collection or product to build their curiosity.
For example:
Tattly, a brand that sells temporary tattoos, sent a fun newsletter to its subscribers. The email shared 5 lessons learned by its founder and promoted a birthday discount code to increase engagement and sales.
7. Branding Elements
Don’t neglect the branding aspect of your ecommerce newsletters.
Finalizing and using branding elements consistently can help you reinforce your brand’s image in the recipients’ minds. Increase brand awareness and engagement!
The branding elements for your email newsletters include:
- Your logo
- A color palette
- Newsletter themes
- Photography styles
- Font choices
- Contact information
Keep them consistent across your email campaigns.
Many design tools such as Canva and Crello allow you to set your own brand colors, fonts, and design elements for your ease.
Measure and Track Performance with A/B Testing
Wondering if investing in visuals is worth it?
The best way to find this out is to conduct A/B testing for email campaigns with and without visuals. You should also A/B test how emails with different types of visuals perform.
Doing so will help you analyze which types of visuals work best for your niche and customers.
Conclusion
Improving the design, look, and feel of your emails is effective. And, visuals can help you do that right!
Adding visuals to your ecommerce newsletters can help you:
- Grab and hold users’ attention.
- Help users process information more easily and quickly.
- Encourage users to engage with your email’s message.
Give subscribers what they want – useful information, appealing visuals, and relevant offers. And, they’ll give you what you want – more click-throughs, conversions, and sales.
Start using beautiful visuals for your ecommerce newsletters today! Connect with me for more questions.
Author bio
Anand Srinivasan is the founder of Hubbion, a suite of free business tools and resources.
