Before we get into the nitty-gritty of styling your email template, it’s helpful to understand the basics of how to select and create an email. If you're just getting started and plan to iterate off the same design, consider saving your layout as a reusable template to save yourself time down the road.
Focusing on the Look and Feel
The look of your email says as much about your brand as the words inside. Your audience only has a few seconds to dedicate to their inbox, so organization and visual consistency are key.
Brand Consistency: Let the BrandKit do the heavy lifting! You can quickly scan your website to automatically pull your logo, colors, and imagery into your account to create a cohesive brand theme.
Colors & Patterns: Make sure your email visually reflects your identity. Using the Design tab, you can change the background color of specific blocks, add borders, or apply an overall pattern to add a bit of texture.
Readability: Format and style your text to be crystal clear. A pro tip: avoid using more than two or three different font styles to keep things looking professional and easy on the eyes.
Structuring for Mobile and Desktop
More people than ever are reading on their phones, but you still want a great desktop experience. Fortunately, Constant Contact templates are designed to be fully mobile-responsive.
Mobile Stacking: By default, columns are designed to stack on mobile devices from top to bottom and left to right. This ensures that a multi-column desktop layout remains easy to read on a smaller screen without pinching or zooming.
Spacing & Dividers: Use pre-built layout blocks to give your content breathing room. You can drag and drop dividers and spacers to section off information naturally.
Columns & Menus: Drag standard blocks to sit images and descriptions side-by-side, or use the Layouts section to add a navigation bar of links to mimic your website's header.
Advanced Personalization
Draw your readers in by making them feel like you’re speaking directly to them.
Greeting Tags: Use personalized greeting tags to welcome contacts by their first name right in the body of your email. You can even set up a fallback greeting just in case you don't have a specific contact's name on file.
Dynamic Content: Take it a step further with dynamic content blocks. These allow you to show or hide specific content (like local events) to different readers based on details like their city, state, or custom fields.
Interactive Buttons: Customize your buttons globally from the Design tab so your calls-to-action really stand out, adjusting their size, color, and border radiuses.
Measuring Your Success
Once your email is sent, use our reporting tools to see how you did.
AI Insights: Need help interpreting your results? The AI Assistant can let you know your open and click rates for past campaigns, brainstorm ideas, or help you generate new content.
Proxy Open Transparency: Check your reporting for a breakdown of "Confirmed" versus "Proxy" opens. Thanks to Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), our tools automatically separate human opens from automated bots or privacy proxies to give you a much more accurate picture of your true engagement.
Which of these styling features has made the biggest difference in your campaigns? Let us know in the comments!
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the latest features and improvements to ensure the information remains accurate and helpful.
