What determines the email design trends?
It’s not just technology that develops very fast but also the preferences and tastes of your email subscribers.
2021 trends emphasize an emotional element and visually stunning graphics. A sender needs to appeal to readers’ hearts as well as their eyes.
As most of us have probably increased the use of email due to the need to work online in 2021, we want to discuss email trends of this year.
Let’s get started.
Trend #1: Bringing customer experience
The days of hard, cold selling are gone. Today, customers more than ever before expect to be treated like valued contacts from the outset.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people went online to make purchases for the first time in their life. To win more buyers, marketers had to ensure a memorable customer experience. This had to consider the tone of voice, messaging, and offering to help customers whenever possible.
The importance of having a well-designed professional signature in emails increased as it helps develop a trusting and long-lasting relationship with customers. A good one can be easily created with a reliable email signature generator.
See these email signature examples to understand this idea.
Trend #2: AMP for emails
AMP is an email technology that allows us to embed various interactive elements such as carousels, purchase buttons, forms, confirmations, etc., into our emails, letting people see all of the above without the need to open a new tab to visit a website.
Thanks to this technology, we can send more data than ever. Because AMP emails are dynamic, the message content can be updated within the email. These can be prices, webinar dates, etc. This way, email subscribers can always receive highly personalized content on-demand without even leaving their email clients.
Trend #3: Hyper-personalization in email marketing
Recently, hyper-personalization has become one of the main topics for discussion in the field of digital marketing.
How is it implemented in practice today?
Marketers use all the data about the client, analyzing their actions on the site and the Internet. For example, Grammarly, a well-known tool for text proofreading, first collects and processes activity information and then sends a personal report with the results at the end of the week.
When it comes to subject lines, it’s important to address recipients by name. That’s called personalization. When we talk about hyper-personalization, we specify not only the name but also other circumstances that will tell the client that the email was created specifically for them.
For example, “Great job! You have fulfilled 96% of your weekly plan!”
Trend #4: Increasing engagement with interaction
This is all about adding more interactive functionality to your emails. These include surveys, quizzes, image carousels, etc. Instead of sending a link to a poll or survey, you can build it right in the email.
Shall we even mention that it is essential to optimize everything for a mobile device?
Trend #5: Keeping dark mode in mind
More and more users are opting for the dark color scheme. Content that isn’t optimized for dark mode can be frustrating for them. That’s why it’s so important to enhance your campaigns to deliver dark-mode-friendly email experiences to your email subscribers.
What does it mean? What do you have to change in your emails?
For example, use the best practices to keep your company logo from disappearing against a dark background. Stick to .png image format to avoid unwanted background colors for recipients who prefer dark mode. And think about the colors of your call-to-action buttons to ensure a seamless experience for dark and light users alike.
By the way, you may have already noticed that popular email platforms such as Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook enabled dark mode a long time ago.
Trend #6: Video and animation
A modern consumer watches more than reads. By using animations and video, you can make your email more attractive and increase the likelihood of user engagement.
Trend #7: Minimalism
This trend is driven by time pressure. The recipient’s attention is ripped apart by social networks, instant messengers, chats, and email. The latter has a couple of seconds to surprise and make the recipients read further.
Many popular mailings are one-column emails that consist of 2-3 soothing colors and contain a minimum of illustrations and decorative fonts.
Minimalism simplifies navigation within the email and allows us to adapt designs to smartphones. This approach works great in mailings that are tailored to the text: news bulletins, digests, or long reads.
Trend #8: Neon in dark mode
In 2021, more and more brands embrace a futuristic style. This means even bolder, brighter, and more radiant color palettes that will allow them to stand out from the competition. Neon blue, purple, and hot pink shades are trending now. In general, the futuristic style will completely untie designers’ hands since no one really knows what we can expect in the future. So, dark mode and neon colors are perfect for conveying the concept of the world of the future.
Trend #9: Big, bold typography
We will notice that some design elements become smaller; others, on the contrary, get bigger and bolder. Big and bold typography is among email design trends in 2021. Keep in mind that this type of typography doesn’t match well with glaring colors. So, it is better to choose more neutral tones. Big fonts also need enough outer space.
Trend #10: 3D images
3D illustrations and graphics are becoming more and more popular. They can be seen on almost any website, and now they are starting to come to email design. Obviously, 3D imagery can be difficult and time-consuming to make, but if you have a graphic designer in your team, adding visual effects can greatly enhance your mailing.
Final words
Email still remains one of the most important means of communication between brands and their audience.
In 2021, it is all about appealing visuals, hyper-personalization, maximum interactivity, dark mode, bold typography, futuristic elements, and fantastic customer experience. Everything should make customers feel special and evoke an emotional response.