Steps to make Your Emails More Interactive [Expert Tips + Examples]

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As a Millennial, my experience with email has been quite interesting.

For a while, is actually where I obtained chain mail that I was forced to forwards unless I wanted something terrible to happen to me or my family. Then, it was where We sent junk email messages from brands I actually didn’t care about.

Today, I look ahead to checking my e-mail and hearing through my favorite brands everywhere from the news as well as the marketing world to product launches and sales.

As this marketing channel is constantly on the evolve, one thing customers are looking for is interactivity. It makes emails more enjoyable to read, and on the brand side, is a great way to convert customers.

Let’s dive into how to use interactive elements in your email messages and examples of brand names getting it right.

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Therefore , why the push for interactive emails? Ashley Riordan, development marketing manager from HubSpot says these days, users expect more.

“When you consider your own inbox – work or individual – the amount of emails we get in a day is a lot, ” mentioned Riordan. “Interactive emails, whether it’s a individualized element or media feature, help appeal to readers’ attention, established your email out from the crowd, and cut through that noise. ”

She suggests calling this era: email second . 0. Interesting email content isn’t enough – now really about taking this one step further to involve your own audience in the email messages they receive.

Studies show that people are welcoming this change, it’s marketers who are reluctant.

“91% of consumers want interactive content, but only 17% of online marketers provide it, inch said Megan Moller, director of content marketing at Litmus. “That could be a missed opportunity as competitors for subscribers’ interest is at an all-time high, and online marketers report seeing a 200% improvement within click-through rates when you use interactivity. ”

The possibilities are not precisely endless, but most are pretty extensive. You can include interactivity in e-mail by adding a form, fake video, embedded video, animated GIFs, or even carousel.

Nevertheless , Moller adds you need to make sure these elements will work for your target audience.

“Don’t simply add them regarding interactivity’s sake. Not all email clients support interactivity – even though there is growing assistance of AMP designed for email, ” the girl added. “Discover what environments (email customers, devices, and more) your subscribers take with a tool like Litmus Email Analytics, so you can know which interactive strategies are usually possible with your subscribers. inch

3 Reasons to Create an Online Email Newsletter

We know interactive components make emails a lot more engaging and can raise your conversions. But when would you usually use them? Theoretically, you can implement all of them anytime but here are a few of the most popular methods to leverage interactive components.

1 . Emphasize new product features.

Want to announce improvements to your products or tease upcoming products? Why talk about this when you can just display it.

Understand this example from Canva.

Canva interactive email example

The graphic design platform regularly sends out emails to clients to share new functions. By adding a simple GIF like this, users can easily understand the new function and get excited about what they could create over the platform.

Here is another great example through Later.

Later interactive email example

2 . Tease an upcoming event or even announcement.

Let’s imagine you’re preparing for a large sale or forthcoming event, you can use interactive elements to create a few buzz and anticipations around your offers.

Adidas interactive email example

Adidas created a remarkable GIF in honor of Mom’s Day, which displays a woman running along with her two children in some Adidas equipment.

It’s a great illustration of how to use GIFs in emails to pull the reader within while staying within your brand’s visual identity.

3. Raise your email engagement.

Sometimes, you may not have anything special to promote, but you want to improve your metrics.

Perhaps your clickthrough or even open rate is definitely low, and you want to encourage your clients to participate. This is a great reason to add some interactivity to your newsletter.

The Daily Carnage interactive email example

Take The Daily Carnage, a daily e-zine that covers everything marketing.

Along with every newsletter comes a question of the day that will relates to a topic protected in the email. When you submit your answers, you can see how other subscribers answered problem.

This accomplishes two things: It gets users engaged and excited about the information and it helps the team at Carney learn more about their target audience.

Interactive Email Examples

GIFs

GIF interactive email example

GIFS are the ideal middle point among images and videos.

A can weigh straight down your email plus make your launching speed slow. In order to add some movement to your email but have a tendency want to go so far as embedding a video, GIFs are the way to go. In addition, they’re attention-grabby.

“Compared to a stationary image, GIFs are more eye-catching and therefore more click-catching, ” said Riordan.

In HubSpot, we’ve got great success using them.

When giving welcome messages for brand spanking new contacts, we’ve discovered that emails showcasing GIFs have a clickthrough rate that’s twice as high as email messages without.

Along with capturing subscribers’ interest, they also convert.

Quizzes

HubSpot interactive email example

As we covered in the previous section with The Daily Canage, you are able to increase your newsletter’s wedding rate by which includes quizzes and polls.

At HubSpot, we saw the 5% increase in open rate and a jump in unique keys to press after adding the “Question of The Day” poll to one of our own newsletters.

Below is how it works: Users have to answer today’s “Question of the Day” to see the poll comes from yesterday’s question. This approach, says Marketing Manager at HubSpot Clint Fontanella, creates this particular cliffhanger effect that will keeps users involved.

“This has been our most productive test because it gave readers something in return for nothing. It offered them information plus a little excitement plus competition, in exchange to them visiting our blog, ” said Fontanella, which used to manage the particular Service Blog e-zine. “It also gave them a reason to come back every day. By taking part in today’s question, they might see yesterday’s outcomes. ”

Countdown Timers

Want to get your audience enthusiastic about an upcoming event or even sale? Consider countdown timers.

Countdown timer interactive email example

Image Supply

A countdown timer is a great way to create a sense of urgency and develop anticipation. While this may need some HTML understanding, it can be well worth the period.

In 2020, Riordan wanted to enhance registrations and construct some buzz around a webinar series. She ran a 50/50 test variation with one email which includes a countdown timer in the header image and another with no.

The version with the countdown timer drove 30% a lot more registrations.

A timer isn’t just useful for upcoming occasions or sales, you can use them for:

  • Product or internet site launches
  • Free trial notifications
  • Landmark celebrations

Personalized Calculators

When we think of personalization within email, we generally think of adding the subscriber’s name in the subject line plus email body. However , there are ways to take it one step further. HubSpot interactive email example

This site grader by HubSpot, for instance, is an online tool that sends prospects a customized report of their site performance along with particular recommendations and resources for improvements.

This is a great lead generation tool that can bring you one step nearer to turning a customer into a customer.

Interactive Email Design Dos and Don’ts

Do retain it to one interactive component per email.

While it may be appealing, make sure you don’t overdo it with your interactive elements. A good guideline is one per e-mail.

“Your e-mail recipients will likely be drawn to the interactive component which is the objective, but also means that other areas of your email could be overlooked, ” mentioned Riordan. “Try to center your e-mail around one online factor, whether that will be a poll, video, or GIF. ”

She provides, “You don’t want to compete for attention in your own email – the interactive component should be the main message. ”

You afraid to test.

With any kind of new strategy a person implement, there will be the learning curve.

You may have to try out a couple of interactive elements before you decide to figure out what works best. And even when you determine the right strategy, it may change depending on the type of email you’re sending and the goals you wish to achieve.

For instance, let’s say you want to generate more sales to get a product. You’ve tried embedding videos of satisfied customers and adding photos of positive reviews but it is not going to yield positive results. After that, you find that generating lifestyle GIFs of the product increase conversion rate by 10%. You use that strategy from then on.

However , as your goals change, so will the methods you try. Be flexible and always be prepared to test out various methods.

Do prioritize accessibility.

While you incorporate interactivity into the email, don’t forget to keep accessibility in mind. This ensures that visually reduced, deaf, and hard-of-hearing users can enjoy your emails without any problems.

Here are some tips to bear in mind:

  • Include descriptive alt text in each image, GIF, or some kind of interactive element.
  • Use colors that contrast well. Utilize this tool to check when you are on the right track.
  • Style your email with “Dark Mode” in your mind.
  • Add captions and transcripts for your videos.

Interactive Email Templates

1 . Litmus

litmus interactive email template

Litmus makes email marketing simple.

The platform provides a ton of online features and equipment that you can customize based on the viewport (i. electronic. device) and e-mail service. This includes hover effects, animated PNGs, and dark mode targeting.

Additionally , the platform works to get small to middle size businesses as well as enterprise-level companies. Pricing ranges from $99/month in order to $199/month, with custom pricing available for larger-scale organizations.

2 . MailChimp Mailchimp interactive email template

MailChimp is one of the top email marketing platforms out there, known for its user friendly interface.

On the platform, you can find more than 100 campaign layouts designed by professionals. All you have to do is fill in the gaps plus hit “send. ”

You can use the drag-and-drop feature to add interactive elements anywhere in your email as well as import custom HTML templates.

MailChimp offers a free version for those who are just getting to grips with email marketing and goes all the way up to $299/month.

3. Stripo

Stripo interactive email template

If you want to skip code when creating your email newsletter, find the layouts you need at Stripo.

All you have to do is head to the website, find a template you prefer and customize it. It integrates along with over 60 email service providers, making it simple for you to transfer your own design.

You can begin using Stripo for free. To take advantage of their premium features, you need to subscribe to a month-to-month or yearly plan for $10/month to $34/month.

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