Should Images Be Added to Marketing Newsletters and Emails?

Images are processed by our brains sixty thousand times quicker compared to text. Along with this, a huge ninety percent of the information that is transmitted to the human brain is visual. So, it makes sense to use newsletter images to add a layer of support to your message and motivate your readers to take action.

Keep reading to find out more about how you can get the results you want by adding images to marketing emails and newsletters.

Illustrate Your Product or Service

The best use for images in a marketing email or email newsletter is simply to illustrate your product or service. You could go into great detail about your product writing about it and how it works, or you can just show a single embedded image. An image can help you make your message clearer and easier to understand.

Make Your Brand Stand Out

If you are selling a product that you are proud of, then use images as a simple and effective way to just show off. Images can be an ideal way to make your brand stand out from the crowd and show your subscribers the amazing products that you have on offer, to encourage them to choose your brand instead of others.

Share Good News

It’s not all about product images, either – you can share good news with your subscribers through the use of images in your marketing emails and newsletters.

For example, if you’re showing off a new design of your website or you have hit a milestone on social media, a screenshot can be the easiest and most effective way to share this with your subscribers, without the need to write walls of text describing it.

Set the Mood

Using images in your marketing emails can be an ideal way to set the tone and the mood of the message. How you want your subscribers to feel when they open an email message will impact the type of images that you choose.

Colourful, happy images can be ideal for getting your subscribers excited, for example, while on the other hand, more serious or monochrome images might be a better choice for some news.

Engage With Readers

Images in email newsletters and marketing messages can be a simple and effective way to engage with your readers further. You can do this with graphics, for example, by adding an image with a list of tips, instead of just listing them as text. This adds visual appeal to the message and engages readers without being too overwhelming.

Tips for Using Images Effectively in Email Marketing

When it comes to using images in your email marketing messages and newsletters, it’s clear to see that there are many different uses and benefits. However, it is important to consider how you are going to use images effectively. Images that are too big or too small, for example, are going to have the opposite to the desired effect and might even put your subscribers off. It’s also important to remember that many people today view their emails on a smartphone, so you need to ensure that the overall design is responsive so that images easily fit in the frame and are clear to see and understand. Some tips to consider include:

Choose the Best Image Size for Email

The way that you format your images will have a big impact on the reader’s experience. When image files are too large, they can take a while to load, which will leave readers staring at a blank space. As a result, this can impact engagement or even cause you to lose subscribers.

Image Size Optimization – How to Get the Best Image Size for Newsletter

Before you add images to your emails, you should perform image size optimization to ensure that they are the right size.

Most of the time, the recommended size is 200 pixels or fewer, with an optimal width of around 600 pixels. Images should be no more than 500KB in terms of size; the smaller, the better.

Best Image Size for Mobile Viewing

It is also important to bear in mind that many people today view their emails on mobile. Because of this, you should ensure that images are sized correctly and easy to see on a mobile and that they load quickly when the email is opened by the reader.

It’s also worth considering that you’re not limited to using just one image size in your emails. To keep the emails looking unique and fresh, you can create a visual hierarchy by combining images of different sizes.

Best Image Size for Email Signature

Adding an image to your email signature is a little different compared to adding an image to the body of the email. In the email signature, you may want to add your company logo, for example, for branding purposes and consistency.

Ideally, this image should be smaller than the others, and just large enough to be easy to see and read without drawing attention away from the main email body.

Finding the Right Stock Images

Finding the right images for your email marketing campaign is often the first step. Stock websites are a great source of high-quality images with both subscription services and free sites where you can find millions of photos and graphics that you can use free of charge for marketing and commercial purposes.

Once you have found the images you like, you can then customise it further by cropping it, changing the colours, adjusting the settings, or adding text.

Although stock images can appear quite generic, they are an ideal way to add more professionalism to the email’s appearance, especially when used in combination with other design elements like colour blocks and call-to-action buttons.

Take Your Own Photos

While stock images can be useful if you don’t have a lot of time, they are not always the best choice for marketing campaigns to promote a new product.

You may find that you need photos that show the products you sell, and in this case, creating original photos is a must.

Thankfully, there are lots of ways to do this and today’s smartphones have made it easier than ever for even small business owners on a budget to take great product photos.

Alternatively, you can also work with a professional photographer to take the photos in a studio.

Use Illustrations and Graphics

Some things that you might be marketing, like services or software, might be difficult to produce images of since you can’t really take a photo of them. In this case, illustrations or graphics can be your best friend, to illustrate what your service or software does without just filling the email up with a block of text.

You can make emails more visually interesting along with being informative when you incorporate illustrations. If you want to go down this route, you can find pre-made illustrations available to purchase from many stock image libraries.

However, it is worth working with a professional designer or illustrator who can create illustrations that are unique and consistent with your branding.

Choose Images That Align With Your Branding

Whether you go with stock images, illustrations, or taking your own photographs, it’s important to bear in mind that all images you include in your marketing campaigns need to align with your brand image.

All marketing materials that you use need to be consistent with your company’s image and identity, as it is the visual aspect of your marketing materials that make your brand easy for customers to recognise and help you stand out from the competition.

Make Sure Images are Formatted Correctly

There are several different formats that you can use to create digital images including JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, EPS and more. However, it is important to bear in mind that not every email service provider or email marketing tool will accept every image format. Because of this, it is best to use popular image formats for your images.

The most widely accepted and popular options to consider are JPEG, PNG, and GIF. GIF is slightly different to JPEG and PNG in that it is usually the best choice for a simple illustration such as an icon or logo, or for animated graphics, as this format is only able to display a limited number of colours.

Finding the Right Images for Email Campaigns

When it comes to email marketing campaigns, the use of relevant images can significantly enhance your message and engage your target audience. Stock photos are a quick and easy source (going back to the holiday booking example, you can get them at SimplyBeach), but for a more authentic touch, consider creating your own visual content that aligns with your brand identity. Social media posts from your company can also be repurposed as images in emails. Always ensure that the image quality is high and the image format is compatible with various email clients to avoid downloading issues.

Creating and Embedding Images

Creating images that resonate with your email marketing strategy involves more than just selecting a pretty picture. The image width should be optimized for both desktop and mobile devices to ensure a seamless user experience. You can embed images directly into the email template using CID image embedding, which allows the images to display even when the email client is set to block images from downloading. Alternatively, you can attach images, but be mindful of the image file size to avoid spam filters.

Navigating Technical Challenges

Email service providers and email clients have different ways of rendering images in emails. Some email clients may not support embedded images, requiring the images to be attached instead. To ensure that your images don’t end up in the spam folder, it’s crucial to incorporate alt text to describe images. This not only aids in accessibility but also helps in case the images don’t load properly. Keep the file size minimal to ensure quick loading times and to stay in the good graces of spam filters.

Aligning Images with Branding and Strategy

The images you choose should not only be high-quality but also align with your company’s branding and email marketing strategy. When using product images, make sure to remove background distractions to maintain a professional and cohesive look. Whether you’re using attached images or images embedded directly into the email, make sure they complement the rest of your email content. Incorporate images that are relevant to the subject matter and that enhance your overall message. This will make your email campaigns more effective and engaging, increasing the likelihood of higher interaction rates.

There are many different benefits to using images in your email marketing messages and newsletters. Keep these best practices in mind to get the best results.