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Email Marketing Guide 2: Email design & content

3. Email newsletter layout

There are several elements that should be in every issue of your email newsletter. These ingredients encourage interactivity, sign-ups, give the readers confidence and ensure familiarity - all leading to loyal readers. They help build a relationship between you and your subscribers - which in turn leads to sales and increased brand loyalty.

• Contact points - Your subscribers should be aware that there is a real business and people behind the information they are receiving. It assures your readers that you really do exist (and is generally part of legislation requirements.) Plus, if you offer an easy way to initiate contact, readers are more likely to give you valuable feedback on your email newsletter and/or pick up the phone to ask for more information about a product or service - the next step could be a sale for you.
• Navigation - Emails are generally read online on a computer screen, so a simple layout with clear navigation is imperative. A table of contents is important to encourage subscribers to read more once they've finished reading one section of the email newsletter.
• Test the layout - An important part of creating a template is to test how it appears in a wide variety of email software, such as Outlook, Gmail, etc. Also take a look at how it appears in the preview pane of relevant email software.
• Navigation - Unless your publication is specifically in-house or closed, you should have a subscribe box prominently featured on both your email newsletter layout and website.
• Privacy policy - You should have a clear privacy policy in which you state how you use any information the subscriber gives you relating to the mailing. It should be separate from your website's policy and should deal specifically with your email communications. This is also best practice in line with Data Protection Laws. Have a link to your policy near your Subscribe Box on both your website and in your email newsletter.
• A description of your email newsletter - Somewhere in your email newsletter layout you should have a clear explanation of what the reader is receiving: who you are, why they are receiving it, what you are sending them and how often you will be sending it.
• Feature a prominent link to the online version - One thing that marketers must take into account is that some software and web-based email accounts block images by default (unless they are set to show images by the user) and some don't render the HTML message properly in the preview pane. Try to accommodate all formats in your design. Include a link at the very top of your email newsletter layout which says something along the lines of "If you are having trouble viewing this newsletter, click here to see it on the web" - with a direct link to the email newsletter online.

Related article: Designing for preview pane and image blocking.

Areas covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Email newsletter subject lines
• > Email newsletter layout
• Email newsletter content
• Personalised email newsletters
• Email call to action