You’ve written a punchy headline, you’ve created the perfect message and your email campaign is almost ready to be sent. But wait – what about the images?
The images you select for your emails can be the make or break point when it comes to achieving click-throughs and making your email campaign successful. Images inspire action, attract attention and ultimately evoke emotion from the recipient.
Here are our 5 top tips to help you make sure you’re using images to their full potential in your email campaigns:
1. Consider the size
One of the most important factors to consider when you’re using images in an email is the size of the image. Every email platform uses different dimensions for images, and there are usually loads of different templates that allow images to be inserted within the text in smaller formats. Here are a few tips to make the images you pick work for your layout:
– Set the resolution to 72 pixels per inch (ppi) – this is the standard resolution for images to be used on the web
– Make sure your images are at least 600 pixels wide
– Use photo editing software like Photoshop to resize the image to fit the dimensions of your layout
– Use an image that’s big enough for your layout – using an image that’s too small would mean you’d need to upsize it which can damage the image quality and make your email look less professional. Using an image that’s too big for the project can increase the email’s load time, overwhelm the viewer when they open the email and reduce the likelihood of people clicking through and engaging with the content.
To learn more about image file sizes head over to our file sizes page.
2. Use relevant and eye-catching images
Images are processed by the brain quicker than words, so if your picture supports the text in your email, this will help to engage your readers add a visual element to your message.
When you’re choosing the images for your emails, make the most of bright colours to capture the reader’s attention. Injections of colour make your content stand out and add vibrancy to the email.
3. Pick images with a focal point
There’s very little point in using a vibrant image that doesn’t actually draw the reader’s eye to a certain point – a generic image that doesn’t draw the eye in won’t do anything to add to the success of your email campaign and could result in the reader glazing over it. Pick your images so that they tell a story of their own and captivate your audience to click through.
Top tip: Check your image has your intended focal point by showing it to a colleague and asking them what the first thing they notice is.
4. Get the balance right
This is where emails differ from other online content such as blog posts and web pages – to keep the audience interested you should make sure your emails aren’t too wordy, using snippets of text as a taster of what you’re offering. With that being said, you also need to get the number of images right, and this will all depend on the template you’re using and the industry you’re in. Some emails will only need a hero shot at the top, whilst other email layouts will call for a variety of images to be used – you need to figure out the optimum number of images for your campaigns.
One definite mistake to avoid is sending image-only emails – these are often associated with spam and bulk email sends, so steer clear!
5. Use high resolution images
Whether you take the images yourself, commission a photographer or buy your images from a stock image library, the key to delivering high quality and professional emails is to use hi-res images. Images that appear blurry or pixelated won’t give off a good impression and definitely won’t help with conversions. Using a stock image library like 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß will not only mean you own a hi-res image, but it’ll also mean you have all the right permissions to use the image.
For more great tips on using images online, take a look at these:
How to share images without breaching copyright