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!

[ScottR0223]

I am not sure why it is not letting me link, here is a screenshot! 

[Abigail_S]

I love the look of this @ScottR0223! Well done! 👏 I'm so glad you were able to implement the advice and it turned out great! Keep us posted on if you also hear or see great results from doing so.  

[ACTIVATE]

@ScottR0223 Nice job! Branding is solid and it clearly communicates what your company does.

Some tips:

-Consider using the white space at the top for more than just your logo. Not that it doesn't look nice, it's just a lot of "real estate" (pun intended haha) in case you want to feature anything else up there. Maybe a contact button or something?

-Your images are great and your explanation of the point of the email is great, but maybe add an official Call to Action and a matching button "Click to See Your Options" or "Click to Reach Out..." and then a button that opens to a link or that opens a new email to you.

-Nice work on your footer!