Email 101: The Basics

Want to learn how to make a really great email? Let’s start with the absolute basics: the 4 main parts of an email. There’s a ton of info on the internet about this, and I’m not sure if they are just trying to win you over by trying to sound smart, but I don’t do complicated. There are 4 parts to an email. Design-wise. We’ll cover subject lines and segments in another post.

Keep it simple in email design. It’s easy to remember, easy to make and you can always break the rules later on. Once you get basics down, you can give it as much or as little pizazz as you like, make it yours. I believe email design should be clean, so here is the basic framework that I use when creating an email. I’m breaking each section down into the bare necessities you need and how you can make it a little more fancy.

Every email is basically the same. Remember writing papers in school? This is like that, but with more images.

Header

Simple: This is the very top part of your email, where you put your logo. It’s important that you identify who the email is coming from so the subscriber knows.

Fancy: Add a menu bar or a skinny sale banner here, too.

Hero

Simple: The hero is one of the MOST important parts of an email. This is the image or text that appears on screen when the email is opened. This is the main idea, the purpose to this email.

Fancy: Use movement like a GIF with moving text & illustrations or even a stop motion video with images. Something to catch their attention.

*TIP: Test your email. Make sure the header, hero and the main CTA are visible WITHOUT scrolling. If they do one thing on this email, and never scroll, this should have everything they need.

Body

Simple: The body in an e-commerce email is the content portion. If you are having a sale, these are the products on sale. It’s the detail to the hero. Show an image of the product, a brief description (keep it short) and another CTA button for each or one for a collection on the same landing page.

Fancy: Add multiple collections and different sized displays. Incorporate more lifestyle photos here or cool graphic design features.

Footer

Simple: This the last part of your email, the footer. You must have an unsubscribe link that is easy to read by law. It is also required to have your company’s address and info. Most email service providers will help you put this in automatically.

Fancy: Add buttons for other categories for customers to shop. Advertise new releases, clearance, your app, SMS sign-ups or social media accounts.

That’s it. Pretty simple, huh?

Now that you have had a brief overview of the main sections, look at some emails. Notice what looks great and works really well and also what isn’t working. What makes you click to see more? There are a ton of ways to customize each of these to make it on brand and interesting to your subscribers.

Want to learn more? Stay tuned for the next few posts. I’ll be diving deep into each part to help you learn the secrets to creating a better performing email. Each main portion of an email has it’s purpose. You won’t want to miss these.

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