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.
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.
🗒 Feeling overwhelmed? Download our PDF cheat sheet on The Anatomy of a Perfect Email to design the perfect email faster.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Aaron Wesley Means ACTIVATE Business Solutions Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |
---|
Hi @JenniferS7,
Thanks for sharing! I really like a lot of it! I especially like in the first link, below the big image, you have two sections side-by-side. They're different colors, but then you added a blue divider bar below it so it looks like the right section is closing around the left section. I dunno, it just works for me!
You might already be aware of this, but on your second link, the image with the mechanic says "April is Care Care Month" instead of "Car Care Month."
Otherwise, I think you're in a pretty good spot! How has the engagement been? Do you get a lot of clicks on your links?
Content Manager Elevate your marketing with Constant Contact's Professional Design Services! From eye-catching email templates to custom branding and social media graphics, our professional design services are tailored to boost your business's impact and engagement. |
---|
we get a decent amount of clicks when we send emails out monthly. But sometimes we send out 2 in a month and then we notice the number of clicks drop.
I made a draft copy of an email for the week #2.
https://conta.cc/3Nx43SE
Sheila
@SheilaE816 got it! thank you for sharing your draft concept! This is a really lovely email aesthetically!
Your Logo is clear but could be larger, your branding is solid in color and styling. Your featured image is terrific and warm and inviting and communicates that the message is from you to them.
Suggestions:
Consider increasing the font size to make sure they can read it on a mobile device.
Make your call to action clearer, even if it means re-stating what the button says like this: "Click Below to Join our Facebook Group to access the livestream and submit your questions!"
Your footer has the social buttons, great job, but you could put more info there - your business name, contact info, maybe even a tag line or mini-bio about you.
Overall you are on the right path, way to go!
Aaron Wesley Means ACTIVATE Business Solutions Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |
---|
Great challenge this week! I'm really excited to dive into these 7 design elements. The tips on subject lines and preheaders are exactly what I needed to refine my emails and boost open rates! Using BrandKit has been a time-saver for keeping everything on-brand too.
Just finished designing my latest email with a new layout and some fun GIFs—can’t wait to share it with the community and get feedback. Constant Contact makes the process so much easier, especially with the cheat sheet and BrandKit! 🚀
Looking forward to earning that Week 2 badge!
@user258116 great, can't wait to see it!
Aaron Wesley Means ACTIVATE Business Solutions Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |
---|
Hey @ScottR0223 thank you for sharing your email! There are some strong points and some areas of opportunity for you here. First, you have the logo and I see that you have a brand scheme in play, but not sure if the extra yellow is really a great angle for you. Your website is so much cleaner with the white space, you may want to work that back into the aesthetics. I would also link your logo to your website and all images to something relevant online, a page on your site
I love the clean and easy layout of the email, very nice. Your headline statement does start to explain the purpose of your email, but it's missing a strong featured image. Your three images do a nice job of taking the place of that though, but at the same time the call to action isn't clear stated again below and there isn't a corresponding button. You can actually have contact us/call now be a button that either opens to a website page with a form or dials your phone number direct!
Good job in the footer having some of your company details there, but spread it out a little with som space and breathing room and add social media icons.
I think you are for sure on the right path here, just some adjustments and you'll dial it into gear!
Aaron Wesley Means ACTIVATE Business Solutions Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |
---|
@user625032 Great email! Love the visual nature. And guess what? My wife and I know Plato's Closet and have been customers! I like that your subject line and pre-header are fun but direct. The reader doesn't need to even open to get the gist of how awesome this sale is, and how long it lasts. Nice. I like the branding scheme and the featured image is super - fun and warm and translates all the things a prospective buyer would want to feel shopping with you. Your description and call to action are on the way to being rock solid, but I think you may want to add an actual button the matches. ie: "Click Here to Get them Before They're Gone!" etc.
I can't see the bottom of the email but I'm sure there are a few other great pieces of content, and in your footer be sure to have all your contact info, social buttons, and things that make it easy for the reader to know where you are and how to follow you online, and how to contact you.
Aaron Wesley Means ACTIVATE Business Solutions Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |
---|
@JeannineE8 Some great things to like about this email! I don't know your subject line or pre-header text, so make sure they are eye catching and irresistible. Your branding seems great and solid and your featured image is great and communicates the right message with your headline. I like that you have the class options listed so clearly and each with their own button, but I might suggest having a few less of them and instead having a "view more" option which opens to the whole list of class dates. I see you have that at the bottom, so I'm nitpicking here, but maybe just move it up to reduce the scrolling. You also may consider an actual over-arching call to action like "Click Below to Register for the right class for you!" etc. Your footer is strong with a nice company description and some quick links (I can't quite read the actual content easily since the thumbnail is small but I get the gist of it). Don't forget to add your social media buttons with a note for them to follow/stay connected to your brand online. Happy Halloween 🎃 and High Five!
Aaron Wesley Means ACTIVATE Business Solutions Help others find this post by giving it kudos. Note: I am not a Constant Contact employee. |
---|
We’re here to help you grow. With how-to tutorials, courses, getting-started guides, videos and step-by-step instructions to start and succeed with Constant Contact.
Start Here