Ready Set Send Challenge Week 2: Designing the Perfect Email

[ACTIVATE]

Drive Results with Impactful Email Design

Now that you've set your goals and have a clear expectation of what you're working towards, it's time for Week 2 of Constant Contact's Ready, Set, Send Challenge! This week, we're turning our attention to the ins-and-outs of crafting the perfect email. A well-written and designed email can make all the difference in engaging with your audience and driving the results you want. Watch the video below, and then share an email you created – either in the past, or a brand new email with BrandKit, to earn your badge and get feedback from our community and coaches. 

I’m Aaron Wesley Means, founder of ACTIVATE Business Solutions, based in Asheville, North Carolina. For more than 12 years, ACTIVATE has served clients of all shapes and sizes from local to national, has trained thousands of businesses through seminars, webinars, and conferences, and is a recurring award-winning solution provider.

In this week’s Ready. Set. Send Challenge, we will tackle a true cornerstone of successful marketing: your emails. The inbox is easily the most powerful and visible strategy in your marketing lineup, so it has to be great! What does that mean? Designing the perfect email starts with the basics of a great subject line, stellar branding, and a handful of critical components ranging from a featured image, font size, a call to action, or social media integrations. Be sure to plug in for Week 2 of Ready, Set, Send for a breakdown of how to execute the perfect email.

The 7 Essential Design Elements

Behind most successful projects, careful planning keeps everything on track and makes sure the results have impact (we love using the word ‘impact’). Crafting an effective email campaign is no different. Check out our 7-step checklist below and try implementing the strategies that make sense to rise above the inbox clutter.

1. Header: This is your From address, your Reply-to address, and your Subject line. These three elements work together to build trust and get those opens. So make sure the email is coming from an expected address - whether it’s your company name or an individual person - then hook your audience with an email subject worthy of being opened! Don’t be afraid to get creative, use a play on words, include any recent trends, or seasonal identifiers. This is also a great spot to release your inner child and include emojis. 
2. Preheader: You’ll want to stand out from the rest with a preheader that’s unique, eye-catching, and intriguing. The preheader and the subject of the email are like the perfect couple. They have to work hand in hand, but one needs to be funnier for the relationship to last. Choose which one has the spice, but know they both equally contribute to the success of the overall email message. 
3. Your Brand’s logo & color: To continue to build trust with your subscribers, your emails should match your brand or aesthetic. So make sure to include your logo front and center, and leverage the same colors you are using across your website, socials, or store. Leverage our BrandKit tool to save yourself time and create consistency across all your campaigns. 
4. Image: Ask yourself if it makes sense to include an image in your email. More often than not, it always makes sense to do this. Include a photo, GIF, or video that caters to your audience best! Did you know, that if you are crafting images in Canva, you can save them directly to your Constant Contact image library to help save you time?
5. Text: You don’t need to be a Nobel-prize winning author to compose the perfect email. Be yourself – and write what your recipients would expect to read from you, or your brand. The goal is simply to convey the main reason for your message.
6. Call to action: After determining what the reason for sending your email is, ask yourself: “What would I like my audience to get out of this email?” Is it to click a link to your website, schedule an appointment, or discover something new? Including a call to action button directs your audience to the next step!
7. Footer: Think of your footer like your signature. You want to include any necessary information to ensure recipients can continue to engage with you or your company, whether it’s your socials, your website, or contact details! 

🗒 Feeling overwhelmed? Download our PDF cheat sheet on The Anatomy of a Perfect Email to design the perfect email faster.

How well do you know Constant Contact's hack to better emails? Take the quiz!

You can spend hours crafting the perfect communications, or you can use Constant Contact tools to cheat your way to more opens, more clicks, and more time saved. Click to see if you know these shortcuts:

• How do you get branded emails in an instant?
  
  Click to see more

  Use the BrandKit feature under Tools to ensure consistent application of your brand. BrandKit acts like a library for your logo, colors and even images, and applies them to our special Layout Templates.

  
  

  To take advantage of BrandKit, enter your URL or upload colors and images, make any tweaks you want, then click Create choose Email, and choose Layout templates. Your aesthetic will be instantly added to emails.

  
  
  

• How do you optimize your subject lines?
  
  Click to see more

  There are several easy ways to make your subject lines pop. When editing your subject line in Constant Contact, check out the “recommend subject line” options to see if AI has any better ideas.

  
  To really catch a subscriber’s attention, click on the Personalize button to include a subscriber’s first name. Adding emojis might also do the trick.

  
  Finally, when you’re scheduling your email, check that A/B Test toggle under Campaign Info and try testing one subject line against another.
  
  

• How can I make an impression with images?
  Click to see more

  We recommend using the free graphic design tool Canva to craft crisp, bold, and eye-catching images. Once you're satisfied with your creations, you can save your graphics, photos, and more directly to your Constant Contact library, making it easy to incorporate them into your emails.
  
  

  Have a lot of Instagram-worthy photos on your phone? Download our mobile app, and save those photos directly to your image library.
  
  

• How can I save myself time writing if I don’t know what to say?
  Click to see more

  Use the AI Content Generator in the email editor toolbar to turn your ideas into a full-fledged email. If you’ve already used BrandKit, it will automatically pick up your voice and tone from your website.
  
  

Your Assignment:

• Use BrandKit to upload your assets, either by scanning your website or manually adding your logo/color/images.
• Review the 7 Essential Design Elements from the Anatomy of a Perfect Email handout. 
• Want extra credit? Challenge yourself to try something new, like using a new pre-built block layout or including a new image that best captures the message of your email.
• Build an email using your assets and the tips outlined in the handout and share it with the Community using the permanent URL. Not sending an email this week? Take a screenshot of your draft and include it in your reply. We'd love to see your hard work and what you’ve learned!

How you’ll earn your badge:

Reply below with your email’s permanent URL or a screenshot of your draft, and you’ll receive the Week 2 badge. It will be proudly displayed on your Community profile, plus keep an eye out in your Community inbox for a larger image to share on your own social channels once Week 2 is finished.

 

Resources:

• Handout: Anatomy of a Perfect Email
• Blog: Email Design Best Practices
• Community: Creating Your First Email

TL;DR

Design the perfect email by following the 7 Essential Design Elements from the Anatomy of a Perfect Email handout and dip your toes into BrandKit. Watch the video, follow the tips, and crank out those emails for greater inbox visibility, improved open rates, and increased click rates galore! 

Not yet a Constant Contact customer but want to start creating beautiful-looking emails? Start a free trial.

We’re excited to see what cool templates you come up with!

[Marc-AndreN]

New email created with our new branding kit!

[Abigail_S]

Awesome job @Marc-AndreN! This is so aesthetically pleasing. One thing I do think it is missing though is links to any of your social media platforms! Consider adding those in and you'll be good to go.   

[user74951]

I'm new so I don't have full reigns to create templates just yet, but here is a past email I designed from (GASP!!) another email provider.  Don't get me wrong: I'm excited to start using Constant Contact! 😀

LIVE URL: https://wfly.co/Di3x8

Thanks!

[Chris-S]

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@user74951 wrote:

I'm new so I don't have full reigns to create templates just yet, but here is a past email I designed from (GASP!!) another email provider.  Don't get me wrong: I'm excited to start using Constant Contact! 😀

---

Cracking me up here @user74951  🤣 appreciate the sense of humor

[ACTIVATE]

@user74951 This email is tons of fun, and I'm sure you'll have no problem creating something as good or better in your new Constant Contact builder!

Your branding is clear, the point of the email is crystal clear, your font is easy to read, your featured image is awesome: energetic, professional, branded, and visually communicates everything the reader would need to know at a glance.

Your call to action and button are great, though you may not need duplicates "Buy Tickets" buttons that close together especially since you have a third under the video (LOVE the video and use of GIF to tease the click).

Your footer info is excellent with the right info and quicklinks that make sense to the reader.

Lastly, I have to make sure my wife does not see this email or we will be packing up for a "quick trip to Minnesota" 😅

[user16441]

https://conta.cc/3Y4Zunx

[ACTIVATE]

@user16441 Great job on this! Your subject line is urgent and interesting, your logo and branding are clear, the point of the email is clear, your featured image (GREAT image!) and call to action match it all. I love the testimonials as well, nothing sells like those. The other critical components are there as well - detailed footer with contact info and social buttons. If I had to suggest a few things I might consider increasing the font ever so slightly on the body text and perhaps add some space at the bottom above and below the social buttons to give them some space, but that's just me trying to find ways to improve. Overall, excellent effort here!

[JohnC53338]

https://conta.cc/481Ct9E

I couldn't tell you how I ended up with these brand colors. Eight years later, I'm still experimenting with how to use them. Thank you for running the challenge. I'm running a little behind on the tasks. I missed the week two email and didn't realize it until I looked at the week three challenge.  

[Chris-S]

There’s no need to hurry @JohnC53338 , feel free to take your time. We understand that life can get hectic. Looking forward to seeing you in week 3!

[ACTIVATE]

@JohnC53338 thank you for sharing your email for feedback, no worries on being late, the challenge is wide open the whole time! What a neat business you have!

✅I think your branding is fun an energetic. I might consider using more whitespace in the email and having your color scheme ride secondary to that, similar to how you have done it on your website, that way the viewer isn't overwhelmed with too much bright backfill like the yellow backing and green exterior border.

✅Your Logo and branding is clear - be sure to link your logo to your website

✅Consider intreating the font, especially on the smaller sections. They are readable but I have to squint on some words, so pump everything up a size or two.

✅You could swap your header about upcoming learning opportunities with the "join the Fierabend Approach". The flow would feel better - one sets the tone of the email, the other matches with the list of events to follow.

✅Consider truncating the list of events - having so many means your accompanying graphics are thumbnail sized, and this doesn't work well on many devices... the list also comes across as slightly repetitious. A solution would be to feature a handful of events in bigger font, with bigger imagery, and then below them have an additional button that says something along the lines of "view all events" so that they can peruse the expanded lineup on your website.

✅Your footer is great, you've included social buttons and all your contact info and details. I'd increase the font, space out the items to let them breathe so they are easy to peruse and easy to click individually. 

[user3583086]

[Chris-S]

Hey @user3583086 

Hey, your email draft looks awesome! The layout is so easy to follow and the icons make it super easy to get the info. I have some suggestions to make it even better before you hit send.

• Instead of saying "Quick News Updates," which is informative but not very exciting, try something more fun like "Get the Scoop with Quilt & Sew: Fresh Updates and Special Deals!" This way, you'll catch people's attention right away.
• Using phrases such as "Limited Time Only!" or "Hurry, While Supplies Last!" in promotions such as "Awesome Furniture Sale" and "Baby Lock Financing" can generate a sense of urgency.
• The quilt pic at the top looks cool, but the words on top might be hard to read. You could try a different color or put a see-through layer behind it to make it easier to read.

You're doing great with this email draft! Just make a few changes and it'll be even better at grabbing attention and getting people to take action.

[user781222]

[Nick_S]

Thanks for sharing @user781222!

Overall, your email is clear and to the point. I think you could organize the visuals and text and a little more, though. I'd increase the size of the video image so it is more prominent, and might even consider moving it to the top (below the logo). Also, maybe a fourth image so you could have the video and one image side-by-side and the other two images side-by-side above or below, depending on what you choose.

I suggest adding another block to the left of the contact info at the bottom and putting the logo there again, just smaller than it is at the top. I'd also reformat the contact info so it reads more like:

Contact Info

Email

Email 1

Email 2

Phone

Phone 1 (Office)

Phone 2 (Cell)

Lastly, is there a webpage that reiterates or expands on the features list that you could link to? Such as adding a button below the text encouraging them to go to the website.

[AmberS21]

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick_S]

Hi @AmberS21!

Thanks for sharing. This looks awesome. I get the vibe it captures a lot of the personality of your brand and is organized pretty well! My only concerns are:

1. What is the main call-to-action? I see the "Enter to Win" button closer to the bottom. I think if you're running a sweepstakes of some kind, you'll want to punt that up to the top. Whatever main action you want people to take, make sure that is as close to the top as possible, because it's not guaranteed they'll scroll that far (even if they're missing out on great content!).
2. The email is on the longer side. Can any of that content be off-loaded to a blog/article on your website and you can call attention to it? Then you can track click rates and see how actively people are engaging with the content.

[LaineA]

I tend to write too much in emails. I liked the breakdown to keep it simple and point people to action steps. 

[Chris-S]

Love this @LaineA 😍

[ACTIVATE]

@LaineA I agree with Chris this is a great email! Simple, clean, branding in place, logo, featured image, call to action buttons, fully developed footer with all critical info and social buttons. Way to go on this!

[PatriciaP871]

[Nick_S]

Hi @PatriciaP871,

This is pretty great. I think the colors work pretty well together. There aren't too many sections competing for time and attention and what is there is relatively short and sweet.

I guess what I could suggest is maybe adding more contact info at the bottom. You have the social icons, which is great, but if your ministry has an address, email, phone number, etc. that you would want to display I'd put that on the bottom right and to the left of it add the logo again, just smaller.