Unleashing 2023's hottest email design trends

Email marketing is still an important channel for businesses to engage with their clients. As we progress further into 2023, it's important to stay current on email marketing trends if you want to create effective and engaging campaigns. One way to have your emails stand out this year is to use some of the most popular email design trends.

In this article, we'll look at some of the most popular email design trends for 2023. Incorporating these trends into your email designs will allow you to produce more eye-catching and engaging campaigns that are relevant to your audience.

Why is email design so important?

A well-designed email can catch the attention of your audience, increase engagement and eventually lead to more conversions.

Did you know that email design can help you build your brand identity and produce a cohesive visual representation of your brand? That’s why your design should reflect your brand's values, message and general look and feel. All of your campaigns should have a consistent look and feel to help your customers recognise and trust your brand.

Delivering a good user experience through email design is important. An email that is well-designed is easy to get around, read and understand. Emails that are visually appealing and include relevant copy are more likely to be opened and read by users.

Email design trends for 2023 that you can use in your own emails:

1. Use interactive elements

Interactive emails are becoming very popular because they are engaging. A study shows that 60% of email users are likely to engage with interactive emails. The best thing about interactive emails is that they manage to hold the attention of your audience long enough for them to take your desired action.

Here’s an example of interactive elements that you can use in your emails:

• Surveys: Surveys are interactive elements that let users give feedback on a good or bad experience while using your product or service. They can be used to collect information that will help future campaigns be more effective.
• Image carousels: Image carousels are a collection of images that rotate either automatically or manually. They can be used to display a variety of products or services.
• Forms: Forms let email users enter details like their email address, name or other personal information. They are usually used to gather information or to let users sign up for something.
• Videos: Videos are interactive in that viewers can pause, rewind or play them to watch particular sections of your video content.
• GIFs: GIFs are animated images that can be included in emails. They are usually used to make emails quite fun and engaging.

By including these interactive elements in emails, you can create engaging, personalised experiences for your audience that drive higher open and click-through rates.

Image Source: Litmus

2. Show floating products

You’ll love this one! Nowadays, more and more brands are using images with floating products in their emails. These interactive elements can allow your audience to view your products in a more dynamic and engaging way.

This is a fantastic way to make sure that your product is a great focal point and centre of attention.

Image Source: Pagerie

3. Use grid layouts

This is an interesting way to display your products in a cell grid or boxes. The best thing about this layout is that it allows you to display a number of different products all in one email. This style of design is very reminiscent of what people expect to see from magazine’s.

Here’s how to optimise grid layouts:

• Have consistent sizes: Making sure that your boxes or cells are the same size will make your email design more neat and appealing. 
• Have an order of prioritisation: If you want to draw attention to a particular product or piece of content, this is when you can think about putting it in a larger or more noticeable cell.
• Have clear CTAs: Each cell should have a clear call-to-action (CTA). You can make this a button or text link that sends your subscriber to a landing page or product page.

Image Source: Behance

4. Use mixed dimensions

The purpose of emails with mixed dimensions is to grab the recipient's attention and make the content more interesting and visually appealing.

Having mixed dimensions in an email design creatively merges professional photography with fun, engaging graphic elements. This has a rather unusual effect that encourages visitors to pause and have a closer look at the design.

Image Source: Amass

With this kind of design, you can get quite creative, incorporating everything from doodles and icons to cartoons and watercolour brush strokes. It’s all about invoking some sort of emotion in your audience. It’s also really fun, which is sure to delight and excite your subscribers.

5. Optimise animated product displays

If you want to highlight key features of your products, having animated product displays can be great for you. These allow your audience to see your product in action.

Here are some tips for creating effective animated product displays in emails:

• Use high-quality visuals: For the animation to grab the recipient's attention, it must have professional graphics and be eye-catching.

• The shorter the better: Keep it short and simple! Animated product displays should be short and to the point. Perhaps they can be no longer than 15 seconds long. Remember, you want your recipient not to be overwhelmed with too much information. They should quickly understand the key features and benefits of the product

  

Image Source: A24

6. Use video content

Video content has become a very popular and effective tool for email marketing and there are several reasons why you should consider using it in 2023. According to a finding by Wyzowl on video marketing statistics in 2023, 91% of businesses use video content as one of their most effective marketing tools in 2023.

Videos can:

• Increase engagement: Videos can capture the attention of your audience and keep them engaged for longer than just plain text or static images. This can potentially lead to higher click-through rates and increased conversions.

• Improve communication: Because videos can communicate more information in less time than text or photos, they make it easier to communicate complicated ideas.

• Increase brand awareness: Videos are more likely to be shared on social media, increasing your reach and helping to attract new customers.

  

Image Source: Fable

Key takeaways

We cannot overemphasise the importance of having appealing email designs. A well-designed email can help you stand out in your recipients’ inboxes and minds.

These are only a handful of the email design trends for 2023 that you can incorporate into your own emails.

Email design is important for the success of your email marketing campaigns, brand recognition and user experience.

Let us know which email design trend you’re hopping on this year. Leave a comment below.