Key takeaways
- Email marketing remains one of the most effective digital channels and delivers the highest returns on investment among digital marketing methods.
- Images are essential: text-only emails are less engaging, visuals (images, video, emojis) grab attention and increase engagement.
- Images enable powerful storytelling and let you communicate emotions or messages quickly when attention spans are short.
- Visuals can express complex or abstract ideas faster and more clearly than long text explanations.
- Illustrations and images are adaptable, one image can be reused, re-edited and styled (icons, diagrams, flat, skeuomorphic, cartoon, low poly) to fit different campaign needs.
- Images are cost-effective customized or stock illustrations can deliver results without large budgets.
Introduction
We all know that email marketing is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. There really isn’t any debate to it, despite the claims of some bloggers and contributors that email marketing is dead.Email marketing has the highest returns on investment of any form of digital marketing. However, this does not mean that it is guaranteed to work for everyone. In order to see the phenomenal returns that email marketing can deliver, it is necessary to do it in the right way.Particularly as email marketing has evolved to become even more dynamic, emails that are only text-based do not have the same impact as they once did. Now, subscribers want are only engaged when different types of email media like images, video, and emojis, are used to grab their attention.One of the most effective forms of email media is an image. An email without some kind of imagery will look drab, boring, and will probably end up in the trash bin faster than you can say ‘spam’.
Why Are Images So Effective In Email Marketing?
Powerful Storytelling – Pictures can really do a lot of legwork when you are trying to express something. In an age where attention spans are less than fleeting, expressing a powerful sentiment or message quickly and accurately to subscribers is vital for the success of your email marketing. There is no better way to do this then with a carefully selected image.Simply Express Complex Ideas – If you need to express something quickly and it is a complicated idea, a text-based explanation isn’t the most effective way of connecting with your subscribers.“If you wish to represent an abstract idea or a metaphorical object, illustrations make the conceptualization easy and create a better replica of what you wish to express,” says Kevin George, contributor to Business2Community.Adaptable Applications – One image can have many applications depending on the context that it is presented in. One person can look at an image and derive a totally different meaning from another person.“Illustrations can be re-used and re-edited to match the changing requirements of your email campaigns. You can add icons, diagrams, symbols, and other smart art elements in your emails and give the design different forms like Flat design, Skeuomorphic, Cartoon, Low Poly, etc.,” George says.Affordable Media – When it comes to digital marketing, cost is king and finding a method of engagement with the lowest costs and biggest returns is critical for success.“Compared to other interactive elements, illustrations in emails are cost-effective and help in achieving the same results. You can even customize the stock illustrations available on the Internet… And you know what the best part is? Even if you don’t have a team, a single illustrator can design awesome illustrations,” recommends George.
Let Images Do The Talking For You
Particularly, when it comes to email marketing, less is more. There are very few readers who will go all the way through a lengthy body of text in your email. It is much more effective to use images to do the talking for you. Express your message quickly in a way that will resonate with your readers. After all, this is one of the ultimate goals of email marketing.
FAQ
Images are effective because they enable powerful storytelling, convey emotions or messages quickly in short attention spans and can communicate complex or abstract ideas more clearly and faster than lengthy text.
Use images to ‘do the talking,’ keep body text short and let visuals express your core message quickly so readers who won’t read long text still understand and resonate with the content.
Use images, video and emojis alongside text, noting that purely text-based emails no longer have the same impact as they once did.
Illustrations can be re-used and re-edited to match changing campaign requirements: add icons, diagrams, symbols or change the visual style (flat, skeuomorphic, cartoon, low poly) to give designs different forms.
Yes, illustrations are presented as cost-effective interactive elements, stock illustrations can be customised and a single illustrator can often create effective visuals without a large team.
‘Less is more’: keep emails concise because few readers will read long bodies of text, rely on images to express your message quickly and resonate with readers.
