Anatomy of an eblast
How to create more effective emails that your audiences actually want to read. (And that your team can produce without losing it.)
TL;DR: For effective eblasts send after send, you need a system built with: modular components, not static templates; a chunked content strategy that mirrors your audience’s thought process; and writing templates that have guidelines embedded.
Your eblasts are a direct line to your most important audiences. But in today’s inbox overload, they must be exceptional to break through. It’s something many marketers in professional services struggle to do consistently and at scale.
The answer isn’t more time spent perfecting each send. It’s building a strategic system from the start so that every eblast hits the mark, no matter who’s executing it.
Here are a few of our best practices that will help you up your email game.
1. Use modular components, not static templates
Where do most templated eblast systems go wrong? Teams design a handful of beautiful templates, only to discover three months later that none of them quite fit the content they need to send. So they start tweaking. Then hacking. Then the system breaks down entirely. It’s a waste of time, and the outcome is often far from ideal.
As with website design, the days of static email templates are over. Successful modern eblasts are built from modular components that can be stacked like Legos in different orders, right from within the WYSIWYG editor of your eblast system.
Instead of designing a fixed layout for a newsletter and another for an announcement and yet another for an event invitation, the system consists of individual modules—a hero block, a text block, a pullqoute module, a CTA module, etc.—that can be assembled in different configurations depending on what each email needs to communicate.
This small shift in approach has four (yes, four!) major benefits:
- Flexibility with consistency. Your team can adapt the layout to content needs without breaking brand rules. Have a great quote from your CEO you want to make stand out? Use the pullquote module with her headshot. Have two CTAs instead of one? The system accommodates that.
- Speed without sacrifice. When your modules are pre-designed and pre-approved, building an eblast becomes assembly, not creation. Your team spends time on messaging, not layout troubleshooting.
- Optimized for digestion. A modular approach is synonymous with a chunked-content approach. That means your audience will have an easier time skimming and retaining the key takeaways.
- Variety for freshness. Varying the visual and editorial rhythm from email to email—something easy with a modular system—reduced audience numbness. No eyes glazing over or thinking they’ve seen it before.
To make these modules effective, they have to leverage UX, UI, and editorial best practices, including:
- Clear, succinct content that’s no longer than it absolutely has to be
- Visual interest created with a purposeful use of icons, images, colors, etc.
- A logical hierarchy that spoons out the proper context (more on that below)
But to be clear, once the system is properly set up, this mixing and matching of modules can be done with a WYSIWYG editor—no custom HTML programming needed.
2. Give each element a distinct purpose, mirroring the reader’s thought process.
You have about 3 seconds to grab the reader once they open your email. Given this, it’s tragic how many eblast templates get it wrong.
But it’s also easy to understand how it happens. Crafting the perfect headline. Struggling with what to say first, second, third. Every time feeling like you’re starting from scratch. All of it can be overwhelming—and such a slog.
The solve is setting a smart, universal content strategy for every element within your email system. It’s a little more work upfront, but pays off by making your eblasts both easier to write and more effective with your target audience.
The goal here is to create a communications hierarchy that feeds the reader bite-size chunks of content mirroring their thought process. As a question arises, it’s answered and their brain can relax and move on to the next question or decision.
For example, when opening an email from a known vendor, a client’s thought process could look something like:
- What is this? What am I looking at?
They are coming in cold and quickly need context/orientation. - Why should I care? / Does this intrigue me?
They need to know this is worth their time and something they’re interested in. - What’s the main thing I need to know/do?
They want to understand what the gist and the asks are. - What are the details? / I’m interested in learning more…
If they’ve gotten this far, or took action at #3, your eblast is a success.
In this example, a strong header module should answer their first three questions, and the rest of the email #4.
A chunked-content approach that follows this flow could look something like this:
Question #2 is an emotional one, so the visuals you combine with the headline can play a role in pulling the reader in. But you wouldn’t want the imagery to block the reader from making it to the answer to #3.
Establishing this communications hierarchy upfront makes your eblasts easier for your team to write and for the recipient to process.
3. Create a writing template with guidelines embedded
Finally, clear documentation is the backbone of a lasting eblast system. It connects strategy to execution, ensures consistency across teams, and keeps the build process smooth long after launch.
But this is not about creating a “brand guidelines”-type document for your eblasts.
We’re talking about a MSWord or Google Doc writing template that has the rules on the page where the author can use them. (Or embedding the rules into your ESP or CMS, depending on your workflow.) The purpose of each element is clearly articulated. Character limits and editorial styles are listed out. Tone and content tips are there as thought starters.
All this helps build a system that runs on rails: easy for anyone in your org to help write, resilient over time, and (most importantly!) valuable and engaging for your target audiences.
Need help getting started? Thinkso builds eblasts with content and design systems that make every send more strategic, scalable, and on-brand. Contact us.