If you want email campaigns that can engage your audience and have the ability to take potential prospects all the way through your marketing funnel and convert them to customers, then you need to spend time designing email templates for each of your email elements.
This is because newsletters, sales emails, promotions, and others all have different core purposes. Doing so may seem like a lot of work, but it’s well worth it as a successful email template not only can convert more users but it can also be used well into the future.
How to design sales email templates
Sales emails are some of the cleanest designed templates for B2B companies. They simply should resemble a professional email conversation -- one with spaced paragraphs, complete sentences, black lettering, and a clean white background. There’s no need for fancy graphics or photos here, just an intro, body, and signature at the end.
- Keep it brief and get to the point: The whole email should be 2-4 paragraphs in length, and each paragraph should only be 1-3 sentences. After all, forcing people to read a novel is a good way of killing your pitch.
- Use adequate spacing: There should be white space between every paragraph. An email that's just one big text blob is unappealing, unprofessional, and a great way for the reader to skip over important information.
- Use bullet points for your key points: Highlight what you want the reader to know in short bullet points (try to keep it down to 3). It’s much easier to find key information in bullet points than in normal text after all.
- Always include a CTA: Always give the reader a "next step" of some kind. This can be a link to a specific page or an ask for a simple reply back. Just make sure you give your reader something to do at the end.
Newsletter email templates
Newsletter templates can be a lot of fun to design. Unlike a basic B2B sales email template, here you can and should experiment with colors, images, and layouts. These are supposed to be eye-catching and highly engaging after all since the longer someone stays on a newsletter, the more likely they will do so again in the future.
- Break up newsletters by topic or paragraph: If you have newsletters that are simply long text blocks, spend the time to break them up by paragraphs or topics first. This can really help you out when making other template design decisions, but more importantly, it helps your reader engage in the email easier.
- Use color to separate different ideas/segments: Color is a great way to help separate sections in a visually appealing way. Most people also tend to skim letters and articles, and by separating key points or ideas by color, you’re more likely to catch a wandering eye.
- Use appropriate and engaging imagery: Pictures or icons are a great way of illustrating points in a newsletter while keeping the reader interested in the content.
Promotional email templates
Promotional emails have the purpose of drawing in potential customers and converting them. Therefore, your templates need to be bold and focused on the CTA more than anything else.
- Keep your CTA clear and in the top fold: The top fold is the part of the email that the reader sees first. Your CTA, whether it’s a button, link, or something else, absolutely should be here. Having your reader scroll for the promotion is a great way to lose conversions.
- Use colors/imagery to draw attention to your CTA: Many people design templates with banners at the top, and a colorful contrasting CTA button just below. This is a good strategy to draw the eye down to the CTA.
- Only focus on 1 CTA: Having multiple promotions or offers in an email is sometimes okay, but 90% of the time it’ll simply distract the reader from the promotion that can convert the most.
Company announcement templates
Company announcements are meant to show off the latest company updates – whether you’re sharing good news or bad. Therefore, your templates for these emails should be cleaner and more formal. They don’t have to be completely bare-bones, but typically it’s best to avoid a lot of bright, busy elements.
- Only include relevant images: Keep images focused on what the actual announcement is about. This keeps the overall tone professional while keeping the focus on your theme. Therefore, stock imagery should be avoided here.
- Include a CEO or team signature at the end: Many companies give an extra personal touch to their announcements by having the email written or signed by the CEO or specific department/team that was directly involved with the announcement. It helps make the company more transparent and friendly – which is a big plus when working with potential leads.
- Don’t forget a CTA: No matter what the news is about, always include a CTA of some kind. For new product announcements, this is a no-brainer, but there’s an opportunity to build some rapport even with bad news by providing a way for customers to reach out and address the issue.
Need help building out your email campaigns?
If you need help setting up an email system that converts, then we’ve got your back. We have been helping B2B companies with digital marketing needs for over 22 years. Whether it’s content, social, emails, or a combination, our experience can help you and your business achieve and exceed its marketing goals. To learn more, contact us today.