The Worst Types of Graphics to Use in Email Campaigns

Here are five examples of graphics that you SHOULD NOT include in any of your email marketing campaigns. Trust us, we’ve made plenty of email marketing mistakes. We found this out the hard way so that you don’t have to.

Avoid Using Graphics That Don’t Fit Your Brand Colors

It may sometimes be a little tempting to use just any eye-catching image. While it may catch an eye (or two), it won’t keep the subscriber engaged long-term. It won’t catch an eye for your brand. Graphics are a GREAT way to portray your brand and message. This is definitely something you don’t want to miss out on when sending emails!

Using your brand’s color scheme within a graphic is a great way to spark brand recognition, which is very important in this day and age. Doing this (in every campaign) keeps an ongoing connection between your emails and the minds of your viewers. Using any old run of the mill stock image/graphic may catch an eye for a second. But if you don’t jazz up your email template with branded, professionally executed images, viewers may lose interest and you may lose that ongoing connection with them.

Customers Can Spot Boring Stock Photos a Mile Away

In the world of digital marketing, you need to avoid being or becoming boring. And that means that using boring stock photos is a no-no. Using low quality images is not the best look either. There are two main ways to avoid this.

1. Take your own original images.
2. Invest in purchasing higher quality images.

At the end of the day, both of these options will end up being an investment in the overall quality of your email newsletter. And like most investments, this one will definitely pay off. Whatever you may choose, just remember that high quality images are crucial to email marketing graphics.

If you don’t have the capacity to take your own images quite yet, here’s a short list of high quality image sites we recommend checking out.

Graphics That Never Feature Animations Don’t Stop the Scroll

While there’s not much wrong with standard email graphics (besides these five points to avoid), there can be faults in lack of variety. One way to add variety to your email content is to add animation every once in a while. Animation can be used to catch the viewer’s attention. And on top of that, they can be used to direct viewers to email elements such as a CTA button.

Graphics That Never Feature a CTA Don’t Earn Clicks

As your overall/main goal should always be at the forefront of your mind, it should also be at the forefront of your email design. If you want to include a call to action in your email, don’t just add it in the footer. Create a CTA button (whether that be a link to your shop or course, etc.), and add it into the graphic in some shape or form.

If you don’t have a call to action, how will your subscriber know what action to take? By not using a CTA, you are missing out on the chance to direct your viewers to viewing more of your content as a brand.

Graphics That Don’t Convert to Mobile Platforms Well Make Your Newsletter Look Amateur

Creating marketing email graphics that convert to mobile platforms well is important. Avoid sending emails with graphics that don’t convert. Half of all email opens come from mobile devices. Make sure your graphics convert well. Otherwise, half of your viewers could potentially lose interest or be unable to view your graphic at all.

It is essential to always preview your email marketing campaign on a mobile device before clicking that send button. Your subscribers will view your email newsletters from a variety of devices. Make sure your graphics are adaptable to all devices equally.

Avoiding these five email design mistakes will ensure that your road to success in email marketing is a smoother one. It will save you a heck of a lot of time and money down the road.