email design can impact the customer journey in ecommerce

Copywriting is usually the starting point and ending point of any discussion on persuasion within an email message. Your email design can also encourage customers to click through and convert.

Do you know if your email copy is persuasive or sales-oriented?

Imagine the last time that you tried to convince a family member or friend to do something. You didn’t simply present rational, reasoned arguments in a letter. You may have changed the tone of your voice, waited for a good moment to make your point, or created a different scene.

You don’t have to resort to email tears to convince your subscribers to take action. Your email design can enhance your copywriting and encourage conversion.

Why “skimmability” isn’t sufficient anymore

The attention span and the screen size for reading emails are both shrinking. 60 percent or more of email opens occur on smartphones or tablets. Your email messages will be more likely read on a 6-inch mobile screen rather than on a laptop, tablet or 22-inch monitor.

The smaller screen means less patience in reading the whole email. According to the latest statistics on read-time, from 2018 to 2022, the average read-time fell by four seconds.

I’m an optimist and would like to think that the shorter reading time is due to more efficient email design. We now have mobile-friendly layouts with single columns, larger images, and shorter text blocks. A thumb swipe is faster than a mouse, and readers may miss important points if they don’t standout.

You have to choose images and copy that are more carefully to tell a story or promote a product. Design must also work harder to ensure that your readers understand your message, can visualize it as intended and are compelled into action.

Emails that are easily skimmable is the most common advice I hear. If someone opens your email, they can scan it in two to three seconds and grasp what’s important (Victory No. In other words, someone who opens your email (Victory No. 2). However, skimmability does not guarantee action.

This is the time to use persuasive design. You can use it to highlight important features, direct the eye towards essential information, make clicking as simple as possible, and to keep the reader on the email for longer, increasing the likelihood that they will view your entire offer or other important information.

Email design: Overt and Covert Persuasion

Email designers can employ both obvious as well as subtle methods to draw attention to important points in an email.

Overt Persuasive Design uses obvious design elements such as images, animation, and layout to draw attention to important content, like the call-to-action, price changes or offer copy. The design is based on the principle of cognitive simplicity, which measures how easily our brains can absorb information.

Covert Persuasive Design uses a lot of the same elements that are used in overt design, but they’re subtle visual cues instead of attention-grabbing elements. This design method is more complex, and relies on a set of psychological principles that motivate customers to take action.

The use of overt and covert design elements to create persuasive messages is not mutually exclusive. Combining them into a single message can actually make it more persuasive. You can target two types of readers – those who want to be engaged but need a little push and information, and others who require more information.

Below are a few examples of persuasive design tactics that use cognitive biases in order to guide customers.

1. The principle of least effort

The concept states that people naturally choose the route of least resistance. This allows them to achieve what they want with the least amount of effort. This idea is the basis for moving towards streamlining email content to make it easier to scan.

It is important to remember that the job of an email is not to convert the reader within the email. It sets the scene and encourages the reader to move on to the next step. This is usually clicking to the website to convert.

A designer can achieve this goal by using visual cues to guide readers to the information they need, and to influence them to take action.

It can be very obvious to draw attention to the CTA or benefit. Do you really want to hit your readers over the head with that message?

A design cue that is implicit or covert can be made more effective using the positioning of the text and the line of sight. This will direct the reader to the intended objective. Readers can feel like they discovered a call to actions, image, or copyblock on their own, rather than feeling forced. This can be more convincing than an email airhorn.

You can see in the example below that a persuasive design does not require a complete template redesign. To keep the eye on the text, a simple tactical reworking from a left- or right justified block to a centered one is all that’s needed.

Source: MailCharts

2. Persuasion tactic: anchoring and visual cues

The human tendency is to make decisions based on the first information provided (the “anchor”). First impressions are important.

The initial price of a retail product can be used to set the value for the sale price. This is a common discounting technique, but the most effective way to do it is by incorporating other persuasive elements that highlight the anchor text.

Subject. Would you like to save $219 with just one click?

Sender. Depositphotos

Why it works The anchor text set the price for the photo collection to $299. The layout places the $80 discount immediately next to the deleted copy. The discount is obvious to even the math-impaired. They know how much money they will save because the subject line already tells them. So, they open the email expecting a large discount.

The highlighted image of the percentage off above the copy reinforces value expectations, but if the image is blocked the email copy will convey the value.

Other design elements draw attention to the offer and encourage customers to take action. On either side of the box with the copy and offer, there are two pastel-colored blocks that show stylized human faces. They are looking at the CTA and offer.

Visual cues. Mixing overt and hidden visual cues can increase the persuasive power of a design.

• Overt The bright red bar at the top of the message and the CTA button that matches it stand out against the pastel colored blocks and blue background surrounding the white copy block.

• Covert : These pastel color blocks represent stylized human faces that are looking at the copy. One set of silhouettes aligns with the CTA.

It is easy to overdo it with visual cues. However, using a combination of overt and hidden elements creates an email that has a more powerful persuasion effect, while not making the reader work too hard.

Source: Authors’ collection

3. Persuasion tactic : Cognitive ease

Cognitive ease is a measure of how quickly our brains are able to process information that’s associated with a concept. Arrows are directional devices that we’re familiar with, so it is almost instinctive to look at what the arrow points at. It’s an obvious visual cue.

You can also use subtle cues that help your brain understand what is important. It takes less brain processing to surround a copyblock with white space than to position a CTA in one color on a background of contrasting color.

Subject line. Last chance! Enjoy up to 70% on your order

Sender. Kate Spade

Why works. Is Kate Spade running a huge sale? Why, yes! Yes, indeed! This email is a clear indication that the biggest clearance sale of the year will be taking place.

Kate Spade’s emails all used variations of this black-gray and white design. This email was sent on the final day of the sales. It added another visual cue that drove home the urgency to act — the scrolling bar across the top, saying “LAST DAY!” LAST DAY!

If the large gray arrow with the words “This Way to Early Savings”, pointing to the offer, wasn’t enough to grab your attention. Is it too much? It might just be enough for super-scrolling people to stop and take a look.

Source : eDataSource

4. Persuasion tactic – Hick’s law / Paradox of Choice

Hick’s law states that the more choices you give to people, the longer they will need to make a decision and the more difficult it becomes. If you give people too many options, it can lead to “decision paralysis,” or “the paradoxical choice.”

It is easier to see alternatives on screens with a single column email design. Brands that cram their emails full of offers, invitations and bargains or account information can distract from the primary purpose.

Hick’s Law does not prevent you from offering your customers choices. If your emails often combine CTAs, product promotion, dynamic content modules or account information, you’ll need an email design to help readers quickly find the information they are looking for.

You can test to see where you are going from the “just right balance” of options to “too much.”

Subject line. Design sessions 100% FREE: Spots are going fast!

Sender. Pottery Barn

Why it works. Pottery Barn’s broadcast emails are packed with a lot of information. The message itself has eight content modules, not including the admin centre in the footer.

This email design, however, gives each module its own distinct look that differentiates it both from modules preceding or following it. It also keeps the overall impression from being overwhelming.

Source: MailCharts

5. Persuasion tactic: The von Restorff Effect

The Von Restorff Effect, also known as the isolation effect suggests that an object that sticks out is more likely remembered. A person who examines a shopping list that has one item highlighted green will remember it better than the other items.

This principle can be applied to the button that calls for action. Make it easy for readers to read and find the CTA button if you want to tell them what to do.

You could also group products by combining them with another product in a color, size, or shape that is different. Use a black and white image, but colorize a part. It can be enough to make the scroll stop.

Subject line. Forty Carrots frozen Yogurt

Sender. Bloomingdale’s

Why it Works : The subject line of this email caught my attention first. What? “Out for Delivery.” Why would I want to order froyo on the go when I live in such a hot climate? After I opened the email I figured it out. Bloomie’s, you are a master.

The von Restorff design effect is best used with moderation. The novelty wears off fast. This email works partly because the white call to actions, bordered with a 1-point rule in black, stand out against the colorful backdrop.

Perhaps I should have chosen a CTA Button color that contrasted the colors of the spoons, but white stands out more than a “ghost” button, white and black with a white backdrop, or the same colour as the background.

Source : eDataSource

6. Rule of three: Persuasion tactic

Rule of 3: People remember things better when they are in groups of three. You know like “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” “Lights Camera Action,” or my favourite, “Test Test Test.”

The Rule of 3 is a good way to ensure that your email messages are varied enough to offer your customers a variety of options, without overloading them with choices. (See Hick’s Law/the Paradox of Choice above.)

Rule of 3 is a great fit for gift guides and campaigns with similar themes. If you send your customers a long email with a lot of options, they may not read it all. Your email may end up being clipped by Gmail.

As in the email, you can add more variety by grouping three items in three different categories. Create a hero picture with three products and rotate through different versions. There are many possibilities, but by doing everything in threes, you can keep your options manageable.

Subject line. Mother’s Day gift guide by personality type

Sender. Sabon

Why does it work? Threes are everywhere. Three products are shown in the hero image. Three content modules are further down, each of which has a different theme. Each of the two modules has three products. The guide includes 10 products, including the standalone product in Module 2.

This design ends with a fourth, blue-background module that clearly marks the end of their three main product suggestions for Mother. This module displays eight additional products. This is a total 18 products in a single email. If 18 products were presented in a simple layout, it could cause MEGO (My Eyes Glow Over). The design is so good that they all stand out.

Source: MailCharts

Final thoughts: Test designs often and first.

These examples of persuasive design are only a beginning. You can use them to get you thinking about how to redesign your templates so that they are more conversion-centered.

Before you make any changes, test your prototypes and see if your new design will help customers understand your message.

The success of any design change depends on a number of factors, including your audience’s quirks. The pyramid design that I shared with you in the Snowe e-mail (example no. If you look at the example above, I’d test it with a different design in order to see if it can influence my brand audience. Some people may not care about it, particularly if they are reading their emails on a big screen and don’t have to scroll to read the entire message.

This is also true of the Kate Spade email mentioned in No. The von Restorff Effect. Does it encourage more email subscribers to visit the sale?

These examples should help you to understand that your email design is more than just pretty or trendy. What elements of your email design prevent your customers from converting to your business?

The first MarTech post How persuasive emails can influence ecommerce customers journey was published.