Why It's Important to Invest in Good Email Templates

Here are five reasons why you should invest in good email templates.
1. Extend Your Brand identify.
Stock templates have their place, no doubt. But if you have a website, catalog, or retail store presence, chances are you have a recognizable brand identity. Your email should be a seamless creative transition from one medium to the next, never leaving your customers to question "who is this company?"

2. Follow Best Practices.
Stock templates may or may not follow best practices, but don't leave it to chance. Or, if you're building an email from scratch, do you know best practices?  If there is any doubt, it's worth hiring professionals to make sure your email creative is helping to drive the most sales possible.

Some of the best practices include:

• At top, including "View online with images" link (avoid the negative tone "Trouble viewing images?")
• Make it easy for customers to share your emails/offers with their social network
• Keep your main messages in text, not wrapped in an image, so it can be seen when images are turned "off" (many are by default)
• Include multiple links as calls to action throughout your email to make clicking easy
• Have a headline that grabs attention and reinforces the subject line
• Make sure your most important content can be seen from the preview pane. Avoid vertical scrolling to see your opening content!

There are certainly more best practices to follow! We'll revisit and expand on these in an upcoming article.

3. Flexibility to Change Content.
Once you have your email templates developed, it should be easy to change content for each email in the future.  You don't want to struggle for hours with image or text alignment, font size or placement issues - that's likely not where you add the most value or where your time is best spent.

Working with professionals will allow you to discuss what you want to do with email in the future, and then build a couple templates that allow you to work efficiently and save time (an often hidden benefit of good design)...because time is certainly money.

4. Differentiate Yourself from the Competition.
While it's easy to choose from hundreds of templates, change a few colors, add your logo, and be done....let's face it, that's what most people do. Every business is unique - does your business' unique value proposition carry through in your email creative?

One way to distinguish yourself is by having a branded email that makes your customers take notice. An email that is clean, easy to read, explains why you sent it, and adds value will certainly make you stand out from the crowd. 
5. Increase Your Conversion Rate and Sales.
For companies that sell products online, your email creative plays a big role in whether customers click and buy your products, or open your email and take a nap. 

To increase conversion: presenting the right amount of product information to attract their interest; use image sizes that clearly depict the product; include easy-to-click links to find more information or purchase directly; make it easy for "the eye" to flow from the top of the email through to the bottom.

Effectively designed emails will help you achieve more conversions and sales. Ineffective emails could make your customers lose interest, and over time you may see a decline in your email performance.

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The Admiral Company can help you design effective email templates! Contact us today.