With more brands seeing the importance of email marketing in their overall business strategy, it’s no wonder that your target market’s inbox is already brimming with emails that are left unread, with links that are left unclicked.

How do you stand out from the noise? Aside from boosting your efficiency with email marketing software, you need to make your emails visually compelling and entertaining. Vision aces all the other senses when it comes to memory retention.

A picture will boost the recall ability of information by 65%. That means content with images gets 650% more engagement than just plain text. This stat must not be surprising because humans are naturally visual beings. Just think about it — we learned to identify pictures before we could even read or speak.

Here are tips for visually creative email marketing campaigns that will help you increase conversion:

1. Create your own infographics

Original visuals, like infographics, outperform other forms of visuals like videos, charts, and stock photography. Infographics are also the most shareable form of content.  It’s better to create your own than grabbing images from photo sharing websites.

With that, try to use more people in your imagery, rather than backgrounds or technology, since the eye is immediately drawn to faces rather than objects. And also, don’t be afraid to use your own images instead of using cliché and overused stock photos.

2. Limit the number of visual elements

The images should not distract the readers from your intended message. To do this, you need to limit the number of images and use visuals that match the content of the email. There is no hard rule on how many images to place but there should be a practical ratio between text and pictures.

The number and resolution of photos should not drag down the loading time. Email load time is crucial, and thus should not be sacrificed because users can choose to exit (or worse, delete) your email in just a few seconds because of slow loading time.

3. Use videos for product reviews

Four times more users prefer to watch a product review than to read it. If you want to include product reviews on your emails, it’s best to turn it into a video. The video will make the review more trustworthy and reliable because it has the human element.

Extra tip! Use a short but useful video that you can link to a longer one on your YouTube channel or website.

4. Add humor

Using cute and witty visuals is a great way to incorporate a bit of fun in your email. Just remember that it must still be aligned with the content and of course, with your brand. Its main goal should still be to amplify your message.

Extra tip! try to avoid subjects like religion, race, and politics, especially if they are not related to your brand.

5. Build your own visual library

Most marketers struggle with consistently producing visuals. As a solution to this, you need to include the images, infographics, and videos on your content calendar. It would be great if you could plan ahead for a year’s use so that you can produce high-quality visuals regularly.

6. Automate visual content

Save time by using different online platforms to make templates for your infographics and automate them so you don’t need to start from scratch every time. There are also ready-made templates for you which you can tweak a bit to suit your message and style.

7. Use Clear and Large CTA’s

If the client has clicked on your CTA without reading your message, you probably chose the right visual. The CTA has to be highly noticeable and obviously clickable. You don’t need to think of creative designs when it comes to your buttons because users might not think that it’s a CTA.

Extra tip! Make the CTA’s mobile responsive

8. Don’t use an image background

As much as visuals are appealing, they will lose the appeal if you use them as the background for your email text. Not only does this practice reduce the clarity of your text, but it will also slow down your loading time. Only use block colors that are in contrast to the text.

9. Use animations

Embed GIF’s to your email to make your message more vibrant. These moving elements are entertaining, but make sure, again, that they’re still aligned with your message. Do not add anything just for the sake of having a visual element. Every part of your email should lead to a higher click-through rate.

Conclusion

Visuals add life to your emails and can increase conversions if used properly. Remember the tips above when you create your next newsletter. Using visuals is also easier with an email marketing software that allows you to create your own campaigns, or tweak existing templates.

Author Bio

Kimberly Maceda is a Content Writer for ActiveTrail. ActiveTrail is a leading provider of professional-grade email marketing and automation software for growing businesses. She writes for some top online marketing sites and blogging advice on email marketing and marketing automation.