How To Design High-Converting Email Templates (With Real Examples)

In this article, we’ll also uncover the essential elements of email layout best practices, email templates, common mistakes to avoid, and some top-performing design examples.

Let’s face it – our attention span when checking emails doesn’t last long. In order for your content to stand a chance of being read, email design and overall appearance must be prioritized. Your email needs to hook the reader in, and fast.

The core information should be presented in a logical, easy-to-read fashion, and the email itself needs to be intuitive to navigate through. Don’t give your readers any room to hit the delete button for feeling bored or confused.

Piquing the interest of your reader often comes down to how visually appealing your email is. Plenty of email marketing services provide ready-made, captivating email templates, so all you have to do is customize them to fit your brand’s image. Some actually include email templates in free plans, so you can give your emails a makeover right away and at zero cost.

Last but not least, it is absolutely pivotal that emails are mobile-friendly. Most emails are opened on mobile devices, so don’t fall at the first hurdle with a clunky and poorly optimized layout that’s designed for desktops.

So, what does a high-converting email look like? Check the following key components that must be featured in your email templates:

Whether your email is opened or discarded hinges on its subject line. It must be direct, compelling, and impossible to ignore. If you don’t get this right, everything that follows is pointless.

Once the target audience has opened the email, it’s vital to keep them there with a clear header in your brand colors and design. This will ensure that the reader isn’t confused about who sent the email and what it’s about.

When designing your template, carefully consider which information you deem as most important and therefore should be seen first. Larger fonts and images draw the reader’s eye immediately, so save these stylistic additions for the main messages you seek to convey. Smaller fonts are great for body text – copy that doesn’t carry the core information and is more about the details.

Pro tip: No matter the email content, always pick a font that’s universally easy to read. Keep paragraphs short and ensure that there’s enough white space around them. After all, when you’ve only got a few moments to captivate your audience, you can’t afford to skip out on readability.

The CTA button is the magic portal to conversions. It needs to be easy to find, with a crystal clear action like ‘Try for Free’ or ‘Learn More’. To help the CTA stand out, pick a color that jumps out against the rest of the email – even better if it’s one of your brand colors.

Last but not least, the ever-important footer compliance. Don’t fall into the trap of hiding your unsubscribe link. Making it hard for subscribers to remove themselves from the newsletter list is only going to leave a bad taste in their mouths.

It’s also a legal requirement to include your company’s physical address, and we recommend also adding a link to your privacy policy and social media accounts.

There are plenty of strategies to boost engagement in marketing emails, and making smart layout decisions is one of them. The good news is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel – there are many tried and tested email layout best practices that you can easily implement.

First and foremost, it’s important to choose a responsive email design, as these are optimized for mobile devices.

When it comes to structure, there are a few conversion-focused layout options to choose from:

To ensure that your emails have the highest chance of creating conversions, you need to know about the most common mistakes in email design and how to avoid them.

Pros:

✅ Clearly displayed key information in a larger font

✅ Sense of urgency created in ‘free delivery ends soon’

✅ Clear and engaging CTAs

✅ Seasonal theme appeals to customers looking to stay on trend and update their wardrobe

Pros:

✅ Brand logo takes center stage, the red color bringing out the focal point of the email: ‘outlet event’

✅ Free shipping entices customers, especially as there’s no code required

✅ Three strong and standout CTAs

✅ Single column and vertical flow make email mobile-optimized

Pros:

✅ CTA color matches logo, helping it stand out

✅ Hero image is engaging and showcases the product in action

✅ Free shipping is displayed loud and clear at the top of the email and in caps

Email marketing remains one of the most successful tools for securing conversions, but only if it’s done the right way.

Don’t worry – it’s easier than it seems. A great place to start is leveraging shortcuts like using email templates provided by email marketing solutions and picking one of the layout types listed above to guarantee mobile compatibility. If you’re looking to compare platforms, check out our guide for the best email marketing services.

Other tips, like prioritizing the CTA and carefully considering visual hierarchy, will also go a long way. Use this article as a rulebook for the dos and don’ts of designing email templates, and it won’t be long before your emails are converting leads in the masses.