Email Marketing Layout and Design - The Template

1 minute read time.

Today we're going to take a brief look at template choice and design. Once you have decided on the design type, this step is important as your template is the architecture that will hold your email content. There are no rules to say that one template is a better model than the next, however you need to keep in mind how the template fits your design type. The goal is to get the right mixture of image and text. For example the below newsletter has an editorial approach and this basic template was chosen to reflect this*.

Below (Fig.2) are some more sample templates that form the basis of most email marketing layouts.

Fig. 2

A good tip that works for me, is when I find an email marketing newsletter or promotional email that I like is to simply highlight everything in it. This gives you the layout and individual component parts, which will help identify how it was constructed. On this basis you can build your template. An example of this approach is the mycustomer.com newsletter (Fig. 3) below, which I received in Outlook:

Fig. 3

As mentioned above, there are no strict rules on which template works best, you need to pick the one that best delivers your message and ensure you strike the balance between visuals and script.

* Note the clear column alignment with perfect balance between the news link directory - core text - images. It gives the impression of something factual and serious.