In its over 40 years of existence, email marketing has evolved from being basic to what it is today. A lot has changed with the evolution of the internet and the constant development of new channels and marketing platforms. One of the key things that should be studied is the design trends over the years. The importance of email marketing design cannot be overemphasized, as it plays a huge role in how the email is presented to your audience. It sets the tone of the email and contributes to the overall marketing metrics.

A study by Emma showed that email sends volume was at an all-time high in 2021 with over 10 billion emails sent. This shows how promising email marketing is and more brands are beginning to embrace it. While there were an estimated 319.6 billion emails sent and received daily around the world in 2021, it is estimated that the figure will increase to 376.4 billion daily emails by 2025. With promising statistics like this, how can you jump on the trend and make the most of your email marketing strategy? 

In this article, we have shared some of the email marketing trends to follow in 2022 to help you stand out from the crowd. 

Succinct and Simple Trends

This trend keeps emails as short and simple as possible while still passing the message across. You want to ensure that the most important information doesn’t get lost in clustered content. This is why it’s best to use the 80:20 rule for the ideal text-to-image ratio, where you have 4X more texts than images. As the human attention span increases year after year, you have to ensure that your readers get your message in the best possible way, even if it means keeping it simple. The end goal for your emails is to increase conversions and ultimately, your ROI. Have a primary focus for each email while keeping it short and sweet. 

Layout Design Trends

There are different email design layouts today and your choice of layout doesn’t have to be random. A common trend lately is to use the F-pattern email marketing design trend, as they are highly scannable and align with how emails are often read, from Left to Right. This is different from compartmentalized emails where you have different sections or compartments in your email. It is often used when you have different topics within an email. However, the F-pattern is gaining more traction, as it keeps the email as simple as possible. An example of both layout types is seen in the image below. 

At the end of the day, your layout choice depends on three key things – You, the email content, and what your readers would prefer. Use a layout that highly considers the reader and makes the reading flow as easy for them as possible.

Colors can also be helpful while designing your layout. For example, in a compartmentalized email design, you could use different colors for each compartment. The F-pattern email design, on the other hand, can use one or two colors. Color trends are explained in the next point.

Color Design Trends

The two most trending color designs in 2022 are:

• Duotone
• Multi-shade gradients

The duotone trend involves using two contrasting colors for your entire email. This has been found effective, as it eliminates distraction and allows the reader to focus on the content rather than unnecessary flashy colors. The two colors can be the font and the background color. 

Multi-shade gradients have gotten quite popular lately when dealing with colors, especially on the web. In email marketing, they come in handy by giving the emails a retro look and forcing the reader’s eyes to focus on what’s important. 

If you’re not confident enough to play around with color gradients, you can stick to duotone and a bit of multi-shade gradients. For example, you can have monochrome colors, wherein your background is white and your font is black but your CTA button has a multi-shade gradient. That balances it out. Below is an example that embodies this. 

Visual Content Trends

The effect of visuals on your content cannot be overemphasized and this has been proven in a study by Venngage. In this study, 49% of marketers rate visual marketing as very important to their marketing strategy; 22% consider it important, and 19% say that their strategy is nothing without visual content. Mixed media is your best bet in email marketing, where you combine high-contrast images with animations, GIFs, videos, and more. This will make the email exciting for readers. However, be careful to keep them to a minimum and wrap them around texts, as internet disruption could ruin the perfect visual you intend to create.

Hyper-Personalized Experience

Email personalization has been effective for years and will be taken to a whole new level this year and beyond. HubSpot Blog Research 2021 found that personalizing emails based on each recipient’s interests enhances curiosity and improves engagement. You can use customer data to personalize their experience with your emails. Something as simple as including the recipient’s first name in the email subject line can increase the open rate. 

Creating a personalized experience contributes to the design of the email and in fact, completes every other thing you might have done so far. Email segmentation is also one of the ways to personalize email content. In 2022, email personalization should be beyond just inserting the recipient’s first name, as effective as that is. 

Bottom Line

The email marketing design trends mentioned in this article are not all-exclusive but are vital to creating an effective email marketing strategy. These trends will not die out any time soon, so it’s best to incorporate them into your strategy as soon as possible. If you’re struggling to find a working email marketing strategy for your brand, we can help you with that at MailDrip. All you have to do is opt-in via the form below and you get a free template.