How To Construct A Great Marketing Email

Building great marketing emails is like building great ads: you’ll need strong copy, design, and segmentation.

However, constructing a great email takes a bit more work because:

• emails are more structured than display ads
• emails have more content than ads
• emails need more personalization
• emails are intended to get the reader to click on the CTA

This post will guide you through the structure of a marketing email, what makes an email great, and how to construct a marketing email using blocks.

The Structure of a Marketing Email

Most of the marketing emails you receive follows the same structure:

• logo at the top
• headline or hero image
• body copy
• CTA
• footer

Why? Because this structure is easy to read, and each of its elements has a clear purpose:

• Logo: it lets the reader know who this email came from
• Headline: this either hooks the reader into the email contents, or provides some insight to what the email will be about
• Hero Image: the main image of your written content, which usually compliments your headline
• Body Copy: the main message of your email
• Call-To-Action: the main button that you want your reader to click, related to your email contents
• Footer: the part of your email that contains your opt-out language, physical address, and any other important content (social buttons, policy banners, website navigation menus, etc.)

Additional Elements in Emails

Even though all emails follow a similar structure, not all emails have the exact same elements — otherwise email marketing wouldn’t be very interesting.

That’s why there are other elements used to construct an email, which fall under two categories: copy and design.

• Copy elements – elements that enhance the writing of an email to make it easier to read
• Design elements – elements that enhance the visuals of an email to make it look more appealing

Here are some examples:

Copy Elements	Design Elements
Tables (like this one)	Product Images
Lists	Social Icons
Customer Reviews	Banners
Testimonials	Trust Icons

Sometimes it’s easier to read a list than a long paragraph.

Other times it’s better to show your social icons, than to describe it in your copy.

As marketers, we use the right copy and design elements to make it easy for people to understand our message.

Keep It Short

In today’s digital world, we’re competing for customer attention — and their attention span is short.

So whenever you build an email, keep it brief and get to the point.

Your email should convey your message as quickly possible, with just one CTA.

Multiple CTAs are acceptable when your email is long, and emails should only be long when the message is a newsletter or a blog share.

Email Building Blocks

Now that you know how to construct an email using basic layouts and elements, let’s talk about email blocks.

Most email service providers let you build emails by assembling copy and design elements as individual blocks.

Email blocks can be customized using a drag-and-drop editor or by writing code.

Every copy and design element the email is customized as individual blocks…

• the hero image is set to be as wide as the whole email
• the headline is highlighted from the body copy
• the font and color for the copy, headline, and title of the email are distinguished from eachother
• there’s a list of template blocks on the left-hand side of the builder

Email blocks are an easy way for anyone to build and customize an email!

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3 Advantages of Email Blocks

Many agencies write briefs to build entire emails at a time, just like for display ads — this is a huge mistake.

Since emails are much more structured than typical ads, the best email marketers use briefs to build the new blocks they need, and reuse other blocks!

Here are the three main advantages to using blocks to build emails:

1. Email blocks are reusable

Many ESPs let you save your email blocks so that you can reuse them in other emails. This can save a lot of time when building future campaigns or automations.

Many email blocks can be reused…

• logo block
• footer blocks
• customer review blocks
• product blocks

2. Email blocks are easier to work with as a team

If you’re collaborating with other people to build an email, whether as an agency or an internal marketing department, it’s easier to write a brief for individual blocks than an entire email.

3. Email blocks are easier to optimize

Good A/B testers only test one variable at a time, which is why constructing an email using blocks is perfect for long-term optimization.

Summary Notes

• Marketing emails are more structured and personal than display ads
• All marketing emails follow a similar layout
• Email marketers make their messages stand out by using different copy and design elements
• The best marketing emails are short and easy to read
• Email marketers use blocks to build emails efficiently and effectively

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out reallygoodemails!

However, the best emails aren’t just the ones that look amazing, but also drives the most sales.

It takes many years of experience to craft a good email, which is why marketing agencies rely on our white label email marketing services to build great emails, while they focus on delivering the results to their clients.

Learn more →