Email Marketing Campaigns: 7 Visuals to Improve Conversion Rates

Creating email marketing campaigns that convert can seem like a challenge. How do you keep subscribers engaged with your content?

The secret is to use powerful visuals that give users a reason to read your email, click on your CTA, and reach your conversion goals.

An arresting design, like the below example, may look hard to achieve. But brands can use an email maker to design attractive drip campaigns that convert.

When combined with informative and unique storytelling, you can vastly improve your user retention and conversion rates.

But what are these visuals? And why are they an important component of email marketing? In this guide, we share why you should use visuals in your email and which ones work best.

Text emails can convert, but not when you have multiple stories to share. Regardless of what email apps or the email client your subscribers might be using visuals can help to share your store with more vibrancy than text. But as many marketers know, it's difficult to get access to high-quality visuals. Is it worth the effort to invest in visuals for emails? Here are three reasons why you should.

1. Visuals Attract and Hold Readers' Attention

When was the last time you stopped reading an email because it was just too long? There was no break for your eyes. What would have made it easier to finish that email? Visuals.

Look at this company newsletter, for example. It uses illustrations and icons to break the monotony of the text. This improves readability and gives users a reason to finish the email.

Note how the icons tell the reader what they need to know, so even if they skim over the text, they don't miss any information. This is why visual storytelling has become a crucial part of marketing—it creates a connection between brands and their audience.

2. Visuals Help Users Process Complex Information

Some email marketing campaigns have a lot of information and data to share with customers. It can get confusing or overwhelming for them. By using visuals, you make data easier to absorb.

The human brain processes visuals faster than text. We also build connections between visuals that are placed together, stacked, or gradually change in size.

For example, look at the way True Bill uses charts to share bill data with their customers. It puts the numbers in context, thus alleviating confusion.

3. Visuals Encourage Users to Click On the CTA

An engaging and visually appealing email makes your content stand out. It also helps guide the reader to your call to action.

This email example has a background image that strongly contrasts against the text box in the center. This helps the reader see the call to action better and gives them the impetus to click it.

Types of Visuals to Use in Email Marketing Campaigns

There are numerous kinds of visuals to use in an email drip campaign so your audience completes your email goals. Here are the seven types of visuals that convert.

1. Infographic Email Marketing Campaign

How do you create an email marketing campaign that keeps your audience engaged? Use visuals like infographics that combine visuals, text, charts, and storytelling.

An email infographic, like the below example, uses illustrative icons to make it easier to skim and draws the eye down through the content.

Infographics pack in a large amount of information while being accessible to a larger audience. Plus, since infographics are usually vertical, they're ideal for viewing on mobile devices.

2. Chart Email Marketing Campaign

Another way to keep your audience interested in every part of your drip email is to use charts, graphs, and data visualizations. Data has become one of the most exciting types of content, especially with the amount of data shared over the past year.

If you have data to share with your audience, don't send an email with numbers or blocks of text. Visualize the data for them so it's easier to understand and act on.

Don't know how to decide on the right data visualizations? Follow these chart selection guidelines to pick visualizations that suit your message.

3. Product Photo Email Marketing Campaign

Your product and what you offer your customers are what drive your business. That should form the core of your newsletter campaigns.

In this drip campaign example from Dollar Shave Club, their products are front and center. They've highlighted what the customer has bought, along with what they could need.

For companies with tangible assets, it's best to include photos of your products in your emails. If you can take pictures of your products in use, even better. Brands that offer services can share photos of people, preferably real clients, to create a connection with their audience. Use diverse images to reach a broader customer base.

4. Video Email Marketing Campaign

When you're email blasting to your list, you need to give them content that stops them in their tracks. One of the ways to do that is by adding a video in emails. The video doesn't need to be long, adding even a simple thank you video in the email can be effective enough. Like infographics, videos break down complex topics and leverage audio and visuals to engage the audience.

If you don't have an in-house video team, you can still use a phone to capture visuals. There are online video editors available to spruce up the visuals and transitions.

There are many email marketing examples of brands using videos. In this example, The Salty Donut celebrates its one-month anniversary with a highlight video.

While videos are engaging, not all email clients support them. If you add a video and it doesn't play in the email, that reflects poorly on your brand.

It might be worth it to invest on basic video editing and graphic design skills since it's best to insert an image and link it to the video. Even if it takes the subscriber away from the email, it is still encouraging them to interact with your content, which is a conversion goal.

5. Illustration Inspired Email Marketing Campaign

Photos, videos, and data visualizations make for attractive emails. But there's another type of visual that often gets overlooked in the email blasting arena—illustrations.

For example, Magic Spoon has created a strong brand identity that is intrinsically tied to its quirky illustrations, as is evident in this welcome email.

The illustrations add whimsy to the brand message and immediately draw the eye. This is not a brand that takes itself too seriously and that is reflected in the content.

The primary challenge with illustrations is how to create them. If you don't have an in-house designer, you can hire a freelance illustrator or use an online tool. You can also find many email templates for free online. Many of these come with illustrations, look professional, and help to engage your audience.

6. User-Generated Content Email Marketing Campaign

User-generated content in email marketing is a great way to show social proof and source content without having to create it from scratch.

Public Rec sourced images from their staff for their email drip campaign during the pandemic. It's an unusual but memorable way to showcase your products and company culture.

You can get user-generated content for your emails through contests on social media or your website.

GIFs Inspired Email Marketing Campaign

Animated GIFs are universally recognized and liked by customers and brands. They add an element of movement to visuals in emails without the complexity of creating videos.

There are numerous email marketing campaign examples that use GIFs because it's becoming more popular among brands of all sizes.

For example, here's how Crossword incorporates a GIF in its header.

The design is simple but encapsulates the core of the brand. It's just odd enough to catch the user's attention, which is exactly what you want a visual to do.

Visual Email Marketing Campaigns Boost Conversions

Users receive dozens of promotional emails a day. Standing out from the crowd can be challenging if you don't diversify your email content.

The best way to boost conversions from your email marketing campaigns is to hold subscribers' attention long enough for them to reach the CTA and click through.

To do that, you need to create email drip campaigns that incorporate a variety of visuals, like infographics, photos, videos, illustrations, and GIFs, as outlined in our guide.