Everyone knows that images make an email more appealing, more entertaining and in some cases, easier to understand to the average reader. That being said, there are a lot of people out there who are weighing down their emails with images and backgrounds. Depending on how many images you decide to use and where you place them, you can greatly enhance someone’s experience with your email or ruin it completely. Below, you’ll find a few simple tips that, when used together, will help make sure your email is not in danger of image overload.
The Icing, Not The Cake
Before you start adding images to your emails with reckless abandon, ask yourself this question: what purpose is this image going to serve? The old email marketing adage, “Content Is King,” still rings true. If you begin to add images that take away from what’s most important, (the content of your email) then you begin to do your emails, your customers and your business a major disservice. Keep the focus on the written content and use images to spice things up, not the other way around.
Keep The Background Simple
Tempting as it may be to include a killer background image in your email, do yourself a favor and avoid it. Background images can make it difficult for your subscribers to actually read your email, not to mention the fact that people who use a mobile device to check their email probably won’t be able to see the image anyways. Keep your backgrounds light and your text dark - that way, the most important part of your email, the content, will shine through.
Big Images At The Bottom
While a fantastic image right at the beginning of your email may seem like a grand introduction, if the image doesn’t load properly, readers who have blocked images from automatic download may miss your message all together. Keep your most important content above the fold, and save the big images for the end of the email.
Alt Text
So what happens if your images are blocked or have problems loading? Space. A big empty space, that’s what. Luckily, alt text is there to save the day. Alt text, which is required in the HTML image code anyway, is a great place to add a description of the image; that way the meaning won’t be lost completely. And for those who archive their emails, an image’s alt text is the perfect place to sneak in a few SEO friendly keywords.
The All Important Test
I feel like all of my articles have been ending with the word “test” recently - and for good reason. If you don’t take the time to test your email on every platform, web browser, email client, OS and mobile device available to you, you won’t actually know what the email is going to look like when real people open it in the real world. It would be such a shame to spend valuable time working on an email that looks amazing, but that only half of your audience will actually be able to see properly. Take the time to test your work before you send out your email. Trust me, it will be time well spent.