Fall is here, which means that businesses and consumers alike are emerging from the summer lull and kicking back into full gear. This is the perfect time to revamp your email marketing efforts, and one way to do this is to give your email design a makeover. If you’ve been using the same template for your newsletter for months or even years on end, it might be time to improve your email design, or simply switch things up and give your subscribers something fresh to keep them engaged.  Play around with some of these email elements to keep your email design from getting stale!

Layout
One good way to give your email design a new look is to change the layout, and a major element that you can experiment with in this respect is a sidebar. A sidebar can be a great way to highlight snippets of news, events, promotions, and the like. You can also experiment with having a top banner, menu buttons to your website, or social media buttons. Try some different placements for some or all of these elements and see if they garner a boost in engagement. If you already have a sidebar, try switching up which content goes where.

Color
Have you been using the same color scheme for years? It might be time to try some different colors, even if they aren’t in your normal palette. Switching up your colors can be a pleasant surprise for subscribers who have grown, let’s just say it, a little bored with your email design. Just don’t switch your colors up too often – overdoing it might interfere with your branding efforts.

Length
Have you tested different email lengths yet? If not, how will you know if you’re inundating your readers with way too much detail, when all they want is a preview? Or, on the flip side, they may be craving more information or detail that you’re not giving them. Different audiences have different tolerances for email length, so experiment! Try including 3 articles instead of 2, or see if including excerpts rather than entire articles makes a difference.

Now, before you go off and throw your old email design out the window, one issue must be addressed: consistency. We always say that consistency is key in email marketing; how can you update your email design and remain visually consistent for your subscribers?

First of all, if your email marketing is still in its beginning stages, I would not recommend changing up your email design just yet. If your subscribers aren’t used to your emails yet, your first priority should be getting them to recognize your brand in their inbox.

However, if you are already well-established in email marketing, you should feel comfortable with making changes and improvements to your email design occasionally. The single most important thing you can do here is tell your subscribers what changes you are making. If you are making a major layout change, let your subscribers know so that they can get excited for it, and also so that they are prepared when the change happens! The last thing you want to do is pull the rug out from under their feet when they’re not expecting it. Subscribers can be very forgiving when you make changes to your email design, especially if it improves upon the old design, but you must keep them in the loop!

Happy Fall, and have fun giving your email design a fresh start for the new season!