How Brand Design Can Improve Your Email Marketing Engagements

Email marketing is a way for businesses to talk directly to their audience by sending out relevant content to the recipient that fits their consumer behavior. Email engagement isn’t a new concept. In fact, 81% of companies use email as part of their marketing strategy. 

So, with so many crowded inboxes and spam folders, making your emails stand out is beyond difficult. 

This is where brand design plays a crucial role. Having a strong brand image reflected in your marketing emails can make your campaigns far more memorable in the long run. 

Read on to dive into how brand design can improve your email marketing engagements to boost your marketing success. 

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is all about sending out targeted emails to your email list (i.e., your list of subscribers) with the aim of building closer relationships with customers and boosting overall sales. It often falls into broader marketing strategies, like for the purposes of B2B demand gen.

Think of it as one of the most direct ways that you can communicate with your customers.

A salient email strategy will utilize a combination of different types of content:

• Newsletters: Provide interesting updates about your business, any industry news, and valuable content.
• Promotional emails: Any special offers, discounts, and promotions specifically for each customer. It’s designed to drive more sales.
• Transactional emails: Confirmation emails when placing an order or receipts from a physical store purchase. 
• Re-engagement emails: Campaigns that actively try to reactive inactive subscribers and turn them into customers again. 
• Personalized emails: Personal email messages using data gathered from purchase history or browsing behavior. It’ll usually include the first name of the customer to drive loyalty. 

Remember that effective email marketing is about more than just sending messages. You should be combining compelling and personalised copy with stunning visuals that match your brand image. 

What Does Brand Design Have to Do With Email Marketing?

Brand design is the visuals that make up your brand’s identity. It includes your logo, color scheme, typography, and overall aesthetic. Here’s why including these elements in your email programs is crucial to avoid the dreaded spam inbox. 

Helps You Stay Consistent in Your Messaging

Consistent branding across all marketing channels, including email, helps reinforce your brand’s identity. This consistency will help your customers recognize your brand immediately, which naturally builds more trust. 

More Easily Recognizable

Having a strong brand design incorporated into your messaging means your emails will be easily recognizable as soon as they hit the inbox. This alone will make customers far more likely to click, boosting your email engagement rates. 

Makes Your Emails More Visually Striking

Well-designed emails are far more visually appealing. A good design attracts far more attention, making recipients far more likely to interact with your content. 

Gives You a More Professional Look

A polished and professional email design will, in turn, make your brand seem far more credible. This can lead to higher levels of trust and boost your overall engagement. 

Bolsters Your Brand Image

Your brand design should always align with your overall messaging strategy. When your email content and design work well together, you can portray a far more cohesive message.

How to Use Your Branding to Improve Your Email Marketing Engagement

You’ve already got a strong brand image in place, so why not take advantage of this and use it in your email marketing messages? If you’re ready to create compelling emails that receive more clicks and engagement, follow our detailed guide below. 

1. Try Making Your Own Branded Email Templates

Develop email templates that incorporate your brand’s visual elements. Use your brand colors, fonts, and logo to create a cohesive look. Branded templates will help you maintain consistency and make your emails easily recognizable.

Keep your template clean and uncluttered. Use your brand’s primary colors for key elements like headers and buttons. Ensure that your logo is placed at the top of the email, but is not too overwhelming.

2. Write Compelling Subject Lines

The subject line is the very first thing recipients will see when your email hits their inbox.

Having a strong, brand-aligned subject line can capture attention in seconds and improve your open rates. Use your brand voice to create subject lines that resonate with your audience, using brand-specific language or themes.

Keep it concise and intriguing to encourage opens. You might want to test different subject lines to see what works best for your audience.

3. Use Your Brand Elements in Your Email Content

Your email content should reflect your brand’s visual identity. Make sure to use your brand colors, fonts, and imagery throughout your email to reinforce your brand’s presence.

Content tips: Use high-quality images that align with your brand’s aesthetic. Your text formatting, including headings and bullet points, must be consistent with your brand’s current style guide. That way, your target audience will recognize you as the sender immediately. 

4. Use Personalized Email Designs

Personalization isn’t just about addressing the reader by name in the subject line, though this is a good idea! Instead, try to create different types of email designs depending on your audience segments. 

Think about their preferences and behavior and what they’d prefer to get out of your email campaign. You might want to take inspiration from your ABM strategy to personalize your communications. 

Different email templates for your audience segments could include new subscribers, loyal customers, or people browsing for your products. Try to use dynamic content, and display your relevant offers or recommendations at the top of the email.

5. Optimize for Mobile

41.9% of emails are opened on mobile, so you need to make sure that all of your email designs are mobile-friendly. They must be responsive and able to adjust to all different screen sizes. This could make all the difference between the recipient reading what you have to say vs. sending your email to spam. 

Try to test your emails on different devices and with a broad range of email clients. 

6. Enhance Calls to Action (CTAs)

Your CTAs are perhaps the most important element of your email. It actively encourages recipients to do what you want them to do. 

It could be subscribing to a newsletter or redeeming a voucher. Whatever it is, make sure your CTA button is distinct from the rest of the email. Try using contrasting colors that stand out against your email background. 

For guidance on what CTAs to write, you should learn how to calculate TAM. Your total addressable market will help you better understand your different segments and the overall aim of each of your targeted email campaigns. 

7. Try Using Social Proof

Including testimonials, reviews, or user-generated content in your emails can inject more credibility into your content. 98% of consumers read online reviews to learn about a business – adding it to your emails saves them from having to search for you online. 

Five Examples of Brand-Heavy Email Marketing Campaigns

Here are just a few examples of businesses that weave their branding throughout their email marketing campaigns. Use these to get inspired for your own email communications!

1. Airbnb

Airbnb’s email campaigns are known for their clean design and high-quality visuals.

They use their coral pink brand colors throughout and showcase images of their destinations and properties instantly. All of this aligns with their brand’s focus on travel and adventure. 

• How they do it: Airbnb incorporates its signature red and white color scheme and uses minimal text to let the visuals speak for themselves. Each email highlights travel inspiration and even personalized recommendations based on past trips.

2. Apple

Apple’s email design reflects its world-renowned brand aesthetic.

Their emails feature large, high-resolution images of new products, with a minimalist layout that emphasizes the product’s features.

• How they do it: Apple uses a lot of black or white space and simple typography to create a clean and sophisticated look. Their emails always include compelling visuals and clear CTAs. 

3. Spotify

Spotify’s emails are vibrant and dynamic, reflecting its fun and youthful brand personality. They use bold colors and engaging visuals to highlight their new music and playlists. Emails also encourage free users to switch to a premium account, as you can see above. 

• How they do it: Spotify’s emails include eye-catching graphics and dynamic content that align with their brand’s energetic and music-centric image. They often feature recommendations depending on the user’s listening history.

Final Thoughts

Your email marketing strategy will only do its job if you make your designs memorable. When you send emails that are visually similar to your brand’s identity, you’re more likely to receive more clicks as they recognize your unique style. 

The more familiar people become with your branding, the easier it is for them to trust what you say and regard your messages as reliable and worth reading. 

If you want to achieve higher engagement rates, you should invest in creating email template designs that reflect your branding. Also, think closely about creating compelling subject lines to grab attention quickly. 

In order to shine amid crowded inboxes and foster deeper relationships with readers, you need to create branded emails combined with effective copy that work cohesively together.