In a time where email designers are continuously pushing the boundaries to build awesome email campaigns, creating emails that make a lasting impression can be a challenge.

For many designers, a WYSIWYG email editor is a great solution for easily creating great email content. Not only can you build and test email designs in real time, you'll also save a vast amount of time doing so!

In this guide, we're taking you through the ins and outs of drag and drop email design and sharing firsthand our best practice tips on using WYSIWYG editors effectively.

Jump to:

• • What is WYSIWYG?
  • Benefits of using a WYSIWYG editor
  • Key tips for creating emails with a WYSIWYG editor
  • Using the WYSIWYG editor in Mail Designer 365

What is WYSIWYG?

WYSIWYG (aka what you see is what you get) is a design tool used to build content, such as websites, and in our case, HTML email templates.

When using a WYSIWYG editor, your design will be updated in realtime as you edit, meaning you can check and preview your content as you go along.

Generally, WYSIWYG editors provide you with ready-made blocks and graphics to make the design process easier (e.g. the Mail Designer 365 content library) and making changes to your layout is done by dragging and dropping elements in to your design.

WYSIWYG email editors allow you to create entire HTML email designs by dragging and dropping in elements.

Benefits of Using a WYSIWYG Editor

When it comes to designing emails, a WYSIWYG editor has many great advantages - particularly if you are short on time or don't have a lot of experience with coding.

Even the most experienced designers know the frustration of having to continuously revisit email drafts in order to make minor changes. When working in a WYSIWYG editor, you have full control over what you are creating, down to every last pixel.

Change and edit email content with a few clicks, without having to worry about breaking the email code.

With drag and drop editing, what was previously a largely time consuming job can now be carried out quickly and with ease. This frees up your time to concentrate on other elements of your email marketing strategy.

You've got the design right - now you're free to spend more time crafting an effective subject line, optimizing your email copy, and segmenting your email list.

Due to its intuitive nature, using a WYSIWYG editor allows everyone on your team to carry out complex design techniques without coding knowledge. This way, everyone can become an email pro!

Most WYSIWYG editors provide you with a basic selection of ready-made graphics such as buttons and social media icons that you can conveniently place into your email templates. Especially if you don't have your own graphics available, this can be a real time saver.

Tips for Creating Emails with a WYSIWYG Editor

Although a WYSIWYG editor makes it much easier to create email templates, there are still some important things to be aware of if you opt to design emails this way.

Email size

Because it's so easy to create emails using a drag and drop interface, it's also easy to quickly get carried away when it comes to the amount of content you are adding.

Adding too many elements to your email design will cause the overall file to become too large when you come to send. This can result in slow loading speeds, cut off emails, or your email not being delivered at all.

As well as monitoring the amount of layout blocks in your email design, it's also best practice to optimize the images in your email in order to reduce the overall file size.

Optimize your email's images to ensure the overall size of the exported HTML file is not too big

For more information on this, check out our blog post.

Email compatibility

Compatibility is an important factor of any email design. There are many email clients out there and each one behaves differently. While there is no one size fits all fix, there are steps you can take to ensure your design looks good in all email clients.

One common issue that often arises when creating emails in a WYSIWYG editor is the wrong font being displayed in certain email clients. This usually happens when a font is not available on the recipient's device. Utilising text styles and email safe fallback fonts is an effective way of preventing this.

Defining text styles and adding fallback fonts helps to avoid compatibility issues in other email clients.

Email accessibility

Accessibility is important however you choose to create your email content. A design that looks good to you may be troublesome for your recipients to process. For this reason, it's important to put the right measures in place before sending.

One of the most important accessibility measures is the use of alt text. Not only is this important for when images can't be loaded properly, it also enables screen readers to describe images and other graphics to visually impaired recipients.

Alt text makes your design more accessible for visually impaired readers

Learn more about accessible emails in this post.

Email deliverability

Finally, one last thing to be aware of is spam testing and email deliverability. As well as not reaching your audience, having your emails marked as spam could result in you being blacklisted from certain email clients.

With HTML emails, we recommend taking these three key steps to prevent your email message being falsely identified as spam:

1. Include a mixture of real text and images. Image only emails are more likely to be marked as spam
2. Include a visible unsubscribe link in your email (this is a legal requirement)
3. Avoid using spam-like terms in your email subject line (e.g. "win", "free", "money", "$$$", etc.)

Unsubscribe links are a legal requirement for all promotional emails

This post goes into more detail about how to avoid being marked as spam.

Using the WYSIWYG Editor in Mail Designer 365

Looking for a drag and drop email tool for the Mac? Mail Designer 365 is the best WYSIWYG email editor for macOS.

Alongside a vast collection of ready-made email templates to help you get started, Mail Designer 365 also offers the following great features:

• Over 1000 possible layout combinations, including table layouts
• Integrated smartphone view for creating mobile responsive designs
• Modern preview tools for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more
• Dedicated Testmail service
• Built in web-based Approval tools for easier teamwork (learn more)
• Direct export to Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, and Direct Mail plus compatibility with all leading ESPs

Create mobile responsive designs in minutes with Mail Designer 365's WYSIWYG interface.

Planet Earth is our home and we owe her a lot! What better way to celebrate the world we live in than by creating powerful email content for Earth Day?

Whether you're planning an exciting promotion, sharing sustainability tips with subscribers or raising awareness about key environmental issues, you can use email to make this Earth Day really count.

In this post, we're sharing some of our favorite examples of Earth Day email campaigns, including some best practice tips on how to create your own email template for Earth Day.

Jump to:

• What is Earth Day?
• Tips for Earth Day emails
• Best email campaigns for Earth Day
• Creating an Earth Day email template in Mail Designer 365

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day is a large global movement, founded in 1970, to promote clean and sustainable living on our planet. It is celebrated worldwide each year on April 22nd.

The focus of Earth Day is on protecting the earth for future generations. This includes raising awareness about important topics such as: climate change, saving energy, wildlife conservation, cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and reducing waste.

Today, more and more people are actively aiming to become more environmentally friendly. Earth Day provides businesses with a chance to not only raise awareness of topical issues, but also to demonstrate their role in working towards a better, more sustainable world.

Earth Day takes place every year on April 22nd and focuses on environmental conservation and sustainability

Best Practice Tips and Ideas for Earth Day Emails

If you're creating an Earth Day email campaign for the first time, you might be wondering where to begin. Follow these key tips to get started...

Craft an engaging subject line

The subject line is the first thing your readers will see and often determines whether or not they will open your email - especially in email providers like Gmail and Outlook, where promotional emails are kept separate.

For this reason, it's important you give it your all when it comes to crafting the subject line. Use keywords relating to Earth Day and try including topical emojis to add a pop of color (🌎💚🌲🌱).

Making your email subject as intriguing and interesting as possible helps guarantee your readers will click through to the rest of your campaign.

Write positive email copy

Earth Day is all about encouraging each other to take care of the planet and become more sustainable for future generations. For this reason, it's best practice to adopt a positive, motivational tone in your emails.

As well as general messages of encouragement, this could also include sharing tips and useful advice on how to become more sustainable, plus highlighting positive progress your business and customers have already achieved.

Include earthy tones in your design

Green, teal, blue and neutral tones are all great for an Earth Day email design. Typically, green is most associated with environmental issues, but including a combination of earthy tones is a great way to mix things up and make your design more visually effective.

Share powerful images

A picture speaks a thousand words. Whether it's images of your business actively contributing to conservation efforts, product photos of a new sustainable product line or powerful stock photos, the right image can make the world of difference to your email.

Check out websites such as Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay for access to high quality, license-free stock images to include in your designs. You can also use the image editing tools in Mail Designer 365 to give your images even more emphasis.

Use social media to your advantage

While email is one effective communication channel, you can also use your other social media platforms to continue the conversation online. Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. are all great platforms for connecting with your customers which can be easily cross promoted in your email campaigns.

Make sure all of your emails contain links to your other social media pages and don't forget to use the #EarthDay hashtag for even more exposure.

Our Favorite Earth Day Email Campaigns

Discover email design inspiration for your Earth Day email campaigns from big name brands. Want more great examples? Check out our "Spring" Pinterest board for even more inspiring seasonal designs.

J Crew

Charitable Earth Day email campaign by J Crew

This powerful campaign by J Crew not only gives back to the Earth by supporting local national parks, it also shares practical tips with readers on how to shop sustainably.

Jurlique

"Earth Day every day" is the message in this campaign by Jurlique

In their Earth Day campaign, skincare brand Jurlique inform their customers about their efforts to operate sustainably. An eco-friendly free gift promotion also adds an extra element of flair to this email.

P.S. Love the headline effect created in this email? Use Blend Modes in Mail Designer 365 to recreate this cool, natural lettering in your Earth Day campaigns!

Lou & Grey

This pink design by Lou & Grey perfectly incorporates key brand elements into a seasonal promotion

This Earth Day email design by Lou & Grey is another good example of a themed giveaway promotion. Although it's not a typical design for the theme, we love how Lou & Grey have stayed true to their branding and were still able to spread awareness about this important event.

Adobe

Adobe used this email campaign to celebrate the beauty of planet earth with subscribers.

In this campaign by Adobe Stock, Adobe use powerful imagery to show the beauty of planet earth and promote their dedicated collection of natural images.

Pet Smart

Pet Smart created an email campaign highlighting their most eco-friendly products in honor of Earth Day.

This Earth Day email by Pet Smart showcases some of their top eco-friendly products for customers looking to buy sustainably. The cute dog graphic fits well with the theme and keeps the whole email lighthearted - making the subject matter easier to process and enjoy.

Leesa

Leesa proves their commitment to sustainability with this informative Earth Day campaign

We love the earthy colors and messaging in this Earth Day email by Leesa. In this campaign, they go the extra mile to show their customers how they are actively working to become more sustainable.

Sharing tips and advice with customers is also a great way for them to use their platform for good.

Create Awesome Earth Day Email Templates in Mail Designer 365

Mail Designer 365 has all the tools and resources you need to create powerful email campaigns this Earth Day. From ready-made HTML email templates to eye-catching sustainability graphics, you can build your next email template in minutes - with a little help from the intuitive drag & drop editor.

Share sustainability tips with this eye-catching email template: exclusively available in Mail Designer 365

Not got a Mail Designer 365 plan yet? Start your free trial today and start creating amazing email designs for Earth Day and all year round.

Whether it's a virtual meeting, a webinar or a larger physical function, putting together a great business event takes a large amount of hard work and dedication. For this reason, when it comes to promoting your event, you need to have a good strategy in place to ensure all your hard work pays off.

Why should I use email to promote my business event?

Email is a great tool you can utilise as part of your overall event marketing strategy. In comparison to unsustainable flyers, fleeting social media posts, and expensive ads, sending a stylish HTML email is a cost effective way for you to advertise your company's next big event whilst also including all key information for stakeholders and invitees.

In this guide, we're sharing some key best practices with you that you should consider when working on emails to promote your next big event.

Email Marketing Best Practices for Business Events

Use clear branding

Generally, hosting an event is a way for your business to show its expertise in a certain area, as well as demonstrating professionalism and attracting potential new clients. For this reason, it's critical that your event emails are representative of your corporate identity.

When designing your initial announcement emails, be sure to tie in all your usual branding elements. On a visual level, this includes your logo, typeface, color scheme, email layout etc. However, it's also important that your email copy reflects the tone and standard of the copy used on your website and other marketing literature.

Creating a consistent brand image in your emails will only work in your favor, as both potential and existing clients will be more able to form a connection with you.

Although simple, this email perfectly matches the overall branding and style of F8.

Tip: Mail Designer 365 has all the tools you need to truly customise your email designs for your brand. With support for custom color schemes and over 1000 available web fonts (including easy import options for custom fonts), your emails will be truly reflective of your brand's core identity.

List all key details in the email

No matter the size of your event, the initial invitation / announcement email will be the main point of reference for your invitees.

Ensuring all the key event details are listed in one place is a good way for invitees to know exactly where and when your event is taking place, as well as other important information such as:

• How to register for the event / purchase tickets
• Online events: Where to access the webinar/livestream/meeting/etc.
• Equipment needed
• Travel and accommodation tips
• Contact information for support and questions

Clearly presenting this information in your email will make it much more useful and informative to the recipient.

Create an event agenda

One way to get invitees really excited for your event is by including an appealing event agenda in your email - this is particularly effective for bigger events like conferences, launch events or retreats.

Not only does this help registered attendees plan for the event and know what to expect, it's also a fantastic way of convincing those on the fence that your event isn't one to miss.

Zapier include a useful breakdown of what to expect in this webinar, including the estimated duration.

Tip: Using a bold table layout is a great way to clearly present an event agenda, as shown in this Event Agenda Design Idea -  exclusively available in Mail Designer 365:

Attach calendar event

Most leading calendar services allow users to export events as a practical ICS file that others can import into their own calendars. Attaching this file to your email is a great way to make it easier for invitees to keep track of your event.

Here's how to attach a calendar file or link to your Mail Designer 365 email.

Tip: Include a reminder with the event file to ensure invitees don't forget!

Share exciting content from past events

If your event is a recurring one (i.e. an annual conference or monthly webinar), you may want to consider sharing some highlights from previous years. This could include video snippets, presentations, or podcast recordings from successful events of the past.

Not only does this give those first-time invitees a sneak peek of the kind of thing that's in store, it also helps reinforce the value of your event to previous attendees by reminding them of how interesting and entertaining it was the last time!

Include social media cross promotion

Utilising social media is an effective way to generate a buzz around your event. For example, coming up with a dedicated event hashtag allows attendees, hosts and guest speakers to network before the event and also can help attract the attention of those who have not yet registered or purchased a ticket.

Use your event marketing emails to simultaneously promote your social media platforms and encourage guests to join the online conversation. This will also help you grow your social media following longer term!

Litmus do a great job of cross-promoting their Twitter account with a dedicated event hashtag.

Tip: Mail Designer 365 has all the resources you need to build eye-catching social media call-to-actions and direct readers to your Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

Send out reminders

Even with an automated calendar invitation, sending out a final reminder email is a friendly way to give attendees all the last minute information they may require before the event.

If there were any final details missing from your previous emails (i.e. specific start times, last minute changes), this email is your chance to keep invitees informed and up to date.

CI Radar provide invitees with a really useful overview in this reminder email.

Be sure to include positive phrases such as "we are looking forward to seeing you there...", "can't wait to connect..." in order to generate more excitement around your event and also make guests feel reassured and welcomed.

Tip: Mail Designer 365 supports custom mailto, sms, and telephone links. Utilise these and add your contact information so invitees can easily get in touch. You can even add a pre-filled message and subject line to help your team keep track more easily.

Thank attendees after the event

Especially if events are a regular part of your business strategy - sending a warm thank you email to attendees is an important part of their overall experience with your organisation. A positive experience all round can also help ensure guests will return again for future events.

You can also use your thank you email as a way to gather feedback after the event has taken place. For example, including a simple star rating will give you a good idea of how satisfied guests were overall.

If you want to go one step further, you could even link out to a more detailed feedback form or survey - especially if there are particular elements of the event you wish to optimise. As an incentive for taking part in the feedback, you could create a giveaway or offer a discount or free gift. The more creative, the better!

Build Up Your Event Marketing Strategy with Mail Designer 365

We hope you will find these tips useful when planning the email marketing strategy for your next event.

Mail Designer 365 is an essential tool for creating stylish and functional emails for your business. As well as email templates for events, Mail Designer also offers a wide range of designs for dozens more use cases, including seasonal, sales, automated, and announcements. See all our HTML Design Ideas here!

Want to create your own design from scratch but don't have the time? Thanks to the intuitive drag & drop editor, Mail Designer 365 makes it easy to build flawless campaigns in no time. Try for free today and see what you can create for your business!

With spring fast approaching, now is a great time to take another look at your email marketing calendar and start planning your upcoming campaigns for the next few months.

Spring hosts an array of exciting holidays and occasions that you can easily incorporate into your email marketing strategy and produce exciting email content your subscribers will love.

To help you get inspired for the new season, we've listed 5 major events coming up in spring plus, ideas and examples of awesome marketing emails you can try out in your own spring email strategy.

How do seasonal changes affect consumer behaviour?

Weather and seasonal changes play a great role in the way customers perceive your business and how they choose to spend money. Over the years, many studies have been carried out on the correlation between seasonal changes and consumer behaviour and the general consensus shows a change in season influences many shoppers to start stocking up.

For example, with the first glimmers of spring sunshine often comes:

• a new wardrobe,
• different recipes and food choices,
• the urge to get active or start working out at the gym,
• vacation planning,
• seasonal events and holidays,
• a surge in spring cleaning and DIY,
• a rise in outdoor activities and gardening,
• and much more!

For this reason, the transition from winter into spring poses the perfect opportunity to target customers getting ready for the new season with a fresh, new campaign.

The start of spring encourages many people to start changing their habits, including taking up outdoor activities again.

5 Major Spring Holidays You Need to Plan for

Recognising major seasonal events ensures your email content remains relevant and interesting to your audience. Spring is a great time for new campaigns, as it welcomes a wide range of key events, including major religious holidays and public holidays.

Want to get started? Check out this list of major spring holidays and discover campaign examples to get inspired!

More Inspiration for Spring Marketing Campaigns

Our Spring Pinterest board contains tons of great examples of spring email campaigns, designed by the biggest brands. Follow us on Pinterest today to discover our hand-curated collection of top notch email designs and get inspired for spring and the rest of the year!

Follow us on Pinterest

In particular for fashion brands, having an effective email automation strategy in place plays an important role in determining the experience customers have with your online shop. Setting up automated emails for certain key "trigger" actions is a great way to keep website visitors engaged and personalise their journey with your business.

Although it's great to get creative with your automation strategy, having a solid foundation in place is the best way to ensure you have all bases covered.

In this post, we're sharing 5 essential automated emails every online fashion retailer needs to set up to help boost sales and drive customer engagement.

Why Should I Set Up Automated Emails for My Online Store?

Big name online fashion retailers such as ASOS, Boohoo, Zalando and Missguided have a lot in common, including an indestructible email marketing strategy.

As well as creating a more personalised experience for your customers, automated emails have a number of other advantages:

• Save time: Having an automated strategy in place saves you time in the long run and allows you to focus your efforts on larger campaigns
• Great ROI (return on investment): Building one set of templates won't cost much and will help you maximise sales
• Onboarding made easy: Welcome newcomers on board with a pre-made set of email templates
• Reduce support demand: Provide customers with useful billing and shipping information without them having to ask for it
• Reengage customers: Stop customers slipping through the net by chasing up lost sales and dormant subscribers

5 Automated Email Ideas for Online Fashion Retailers

Here are five useful ideas of automated emails to set up for your online clothing store.

1. Welcome Email

Sending a welcome email is a great way to introduce new customers to your brand. Typically, these emails will be sent following a customer's first purchase or when they first sign up to your email newsletter.

Remember to include a short thank you message to show your appreciation. In addition, a small welcome offer is often the perfect way to start off a new customer relationship on the right foot.

In these examples by Vivienne Westwood, new subscribers are sent two onboarding mails:

The first email is a standard welcome email with a direct pathway to their online store. However, in the second email, new customers instantly learn more about the iconic brand in a brief biography, helping them to quickly form a connection.

2. Abandoned Cart Email

Abandoned shopping carts is one of the biggest reasons for sales falling through. Oftentimes, this is caused by an interruption to the checkout process and not necessarily because the customer is no longer interested in your product.

Some common interruptions to the checkout process include:

• Loss of internet connection
• Entering an incorrect payment method
• Phone battery dying
• Receiving a phone call or message

To make sure you don't miss out on a sale for an avoidable reason, make sure to set up abandoned cart email reminders to draw those customers back in.

When creating these automated emails, remember to make the product placeholder nice and big so the customer instantly notices the product they originally wanted to purchase. Timing is also key, as sending the email too late could result in the customer losing interest.

In this abandoned cart email by Kate Spade, the product takes center stage and draws the reader in straight away. In linking to their new in items, Kate Spade also offer the reader an alternative enticement onto their website:

3. Shipping Information Email

Giving customers peace of mind after they place an order from your store is super important. As well as an order confirmation email - which is standard practice for any online business - providing detailed shipping information is also essential.

Knowing how long an order will take to arrive and being able to plan for the delivery both make things much easier for your customers. For this reason, it's a good idea to include a tracking link to your delivery service as well as an estimated delivery date.

As well as being a useful service for your customers, it will also help reduce the number of support enquires you receive about delivery times, freeing up your team's time for other tasks.

This tracking email by Timberland is a good example of best practice. In addition to including all the relevant information about the order, Timberland also include a prominent tracking link which the customer can use to follow the progress of their order.

4. Feedback Email

Receiving reviews for your store and products is valuable for every business owner. Feedback emails are really easy to integrate into an email automation strategy and can be set up to send after any purchase from your store.

Browse through our top tips for putting together excellent feedback emails

In this example, ASOS sent an interactive feedback email to make it easy for customers to rate items they have recently purchased. Not only does this help the brand learn more about what their customers like, it also helps other undecided shoppers to determine if the product is right for them.

5. Happy Birthday Email

Last but not least is the Happy Birthday Email. This is another really effective email to add to your automation strategy and only takes a moment to set up in your ESP.

Celebrating with your customers by giving them a discount or special offer for their birthday reminds strengthens the relationship and reminds them you appreciate them.

It's also really likely your shoppers will be in the mood to treat themselves to something special for their birthday - whether it's a new outfit for the big day or that one item they've had their eye on for a while - your birthday promotion could be the final push they need to make that final purchase.

In this fabulous birthday email promotion, New Look give their shoppers more than enough time to scout out their birthday treat and get 20% off! The bold countdown at the top of the design also adds a sense of time pressure, encouraging the customer to buy sooner rather than later:

Setting Up Automated Emails for Your Online Clothing Shop

We hope you've been inspired by these automated email ideas. Setting up email templates for your automation strategy is easy in Mail Designer 365:

1. Open Mail Designer 365 or download for free on your Mac
2. Create a new email design with the responsive, drag and drop editor or choose from one of our automated email templates
3. Export your finished design directly to Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor or another email automation tool of your choice. Find a list of all compatible services on this page

Abandoned Cart automated email template - exclusively available in Mail Designer 365

Use Mail Designer 365 to create a stylish range of email templates to use together with your email automation platform.

Until next time!

Your Mail Designer 365 Team

The start of a new year offers you a clean slate and a chance to start looking at your email strategy. With email trends changing so quickly, the last year alone has presented tons of new ideas for emails which you can easily adopt into your own plan.

P.S. Have you got your hands on our 2021 Marketing Calendar and Email Campaign Planner yet? Get yours free here to ensure perfect email planning for 2021.

In this post, we're showcasing 5 must-have marketing emails  for 2021, plus tips on how to recreate them for your own business.

5 Marketing Emails You Need to be Sending in 2021

Freshen up your email strategy right in time for the New Year! Here are 5 inspiring ideas for marketing emails you need to be sending in 2021. Discover examples ranging from automated mailings to standalone campaigns...

1. Abandoned Browse Emails

We all know of the abandoned cart email, but the abandoned browse email takes things one step further. With online shopping becoming a significant part of consumers' everyday lives, your automated sales workflow needs to be taken up a notch.

This abandoned browse email by Vivienne Westwood packs a punch and catches the reader's attention by reminding them about products they've recently viewed. Adding a "you may also like" section gives the customer even more relevant purchase options and can help tempt them back to your online store for another look:

Abandoned browse emails go the extra mile for boosting online sales.

What to consider:

• Timing: Don't wait too long to send these emails, as you risk the customer losing interest or finding an alternative elsewhere.
• Design: A bold CTA (call-to-action) leading to the product page plus eye-catching product images really are all you need.
• Subject line: Mention the product in the subject line or use an emoji to quickly pique interest.

You can easily adapt Mail Designer 365's "Abandoned Cart" email template for an abandoned browse message.

Get this template here.

2. Milestone Emails

Whether it's an anniversary, a significant event, or you've reached a key goal  - sending milestone emails is a great way to celebrate achievements and special occasions with your customers.

Your subscribers opted into your email list because they have a genuine interest in your business. Keeping your subscribers up to date on exciting business milestones gives them a look behind the scenes and makes your brand seem more relatable.

In this email by Casper, the brand celebrate their 2nd birthday milestone with subscribers. As well as a fun design, the email is also great as customers are offered an exclusive $22 discount in celebration of their business anniversary:

Casper use email to celebrate a key milestone by offering customers an exclusive discount.

Here are some more examples of milestones you could celebrate in 2021:

• Donation milestones - $X raised for your charity
• Product milestones - X years of your product
• Customer milestones - X customers served / signed up to your service

All of these milestones could be used as an exciting email promotion, or a simple thank you email to customers.

3. Feedback Emails

Obtaining true, honest customer feedback is majorly important for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Knowing what makes your customers tick, and understanding their habits and preferences allows you to optimise your strategy for them.

Putting together an email survey that readers will respond to is a fine art and takes a lot of trial and error. However, when the valuable feedback starts rolling in, the hard work will certainly pay off.

In this feedback email by Campaign Monitor, customers are given a massive incentive to take part, in the form of a $20 gift card. They are also super transparent in advising how long the survey will take, and make sure to thank their customers in advance:

This feedback email by Campaign Monitor is super inviting.

Other incentives for taking part could include:

• Holding a giveaway
• A discount code for their next purchase
• A free gift

This personalised template gets straight to the point and offers readers an incentive to take part in the survey - exclusively available in Mail Designer 365

Get this template here.

4. Digest Emails

Content marketing is on the rise and more and more businesses are using email to showcase their latest content.

Whether it's a run down of your recent Instagram posts, a selection of relevant blogs, useful infographics or guides - sharing great content with your subscribers is an effective way to drive engagement and increase website traffic.

Wedding website service The Knot regularly share relevant blog content with their customers via email. The emails always come with an intriguing subject line and carefully curated content which is guaranteed to speak to the recipient and get them clicking through to their website:

Using email to share relevant blog posts with subscribers can help drive website traffic.

What to consider:

• Structure: Include a mix of images, article headlines and teaser text to make your posts more appealing - Mail Designer 365 has an array of practical layout options for this.
• Call to action: Entice subscribers to continue reading your post, watch your video, download your eBook, etc. with a bold CTA button.

5. Online Event Invitation Emails

2020 was undeniably the year that online events really took off; with businesses becoming more and more open to digital events, including webinars, online live classes, virtual conferences and trade fairs, and "Zoom parties".

If your business is looking to branch into the world of online events in 2021, you need to incorporate this into your marketing strategy. Sending online event invitation emails is a smart and efficient way to make subscribers aware of what you have coming up. It also provides them with a useful reference of all the key details.

In this email invitation by Litmus, recipients are shown the basics which will be covered in the webinar and the date and time it's scheduled to take place. A vibrant feature image showing the special guests is another way to quickly draw in potential participants:

Litmus tick all the right boxes with this informative and stylish webinar invitation email.

What to consider:

• Email copy: Keep this short and sweet. Discuss the main details of the event and what participants should expect.
• Call-to-action: Use a bold, central CTA button to give readers an easy way to sign up for your event.
• Branding: The event is all about you and your business. Include typical brand assets like your logo and signature typeface.

This email template offers a stylish layout to list the key details and selling points of your online event - exclusively available in Mail Designer 365

Get this template here.

Give your email strategy an upgrade for 2021

We hope these emails have given you some inspiration for your 2021 planning. Don't forget to secure your free marketing calendar and campaign planner for 2021!

Mail Designer 365 has all the creative tools you need to build amazing HTML emails on your Mac. For a full overview of all ready-to-send HTML email templates, check out our online gallery!

Don't have a Mail Designer 365 plan yet? Try it today for free!

Until next time,

Your Mail Designer 365 Team