Oh sure, I'm always talking about making sure you use good photos on your blog posts and web pages. And that's great advice (if I do say so myself.) So now here's some more great advice (I'm being so humble today.)
Use great photos in your email campaigns, too!
I know, it sounds so simple, right? But unfortunately a lot of people cram their emails full a boring text and don't think about using the same kind of photo engagement that they do in their blog posts. Giving a little thought to that, though, can help with your email conversion rates. So let's look at three tips for using photos in your email campaigns.
#1 - Use Pictures of People
If pictures in your emails are good, then pictures of people are even better. People like to look at other people. They connect with them on an emotional level and, therefore, they will connect with your business, your brand, or your content on an emotional level.
Find photos that express the emotions you are trying to convey. Do you have an active product? Show someone running or playing sports. Are you working with animals? By all means show a photo of a person with an animal.
How about the lighting? Should it be relaxed and soothing? Bright and cheery? What about applying a filter to the image to enhance the mood?
A good option is using photos of people looking into the camera. Do you remember the National Geographic cover of the Afghan girl looking into the camera. If you don't, check it out at Wikipedia.* That was a haunting photo that connected with many people. Haunting may not be what you're going for, but engaging is and eye contact engages. Plus, eye tracking research (as demonstrated in this Business Insider article) shows us scientifically that people look to the eyes of other people, even in photos.
Note: I didn't want to include the photo here even though discussion of the photo as an art form might make it fair use. I'm not sure about that and didn't want to violate the photographer's copyright.
#2 - Put Your Pictures Above the Fold
As a former newspaper journalist (back in the 1990s when the Internet was even a fad,) we were always concerned with what was "above the fold" in the paper. We wanted the important stuff up there and especially a good photo that would be eye catching. Make sure your eye catching photo is in the upper 25% to 50% of your email so that people will see it as soon as they open the email. The photo will engage them and lure them into reading your content.
Sure, some people will have images disabled in their email. So use the ALT tags on the images to give good (but brief) descriptions of the images for those people who won't be seeing them.
#3 - Design for Mobile
Over 33% of all email is being read on a mobile device of some kind or another. Text based links can be hard to click on phones for some people. Since their eyes are already drawn to your photos, make these clickable buttons. Include a call to action on top of the photo to help elicit that click.
The Quick Takeaway
Images aren't just for your blog posts, they're for your emails, too. Crank up the readership of your emails by using great photos.
If you need some help finding (or creating good images,) check out a few of my past blog posts:
- 6 Ways to Get Engaging & Free Photos
- Turn Quotes Into Engaging Images
- My Three Favorites Places to Buy Images