Design/Templating
On this page:
A Note on Accessibility
When emails are designed well, everybody, including people with disabilities, can read and interact with them. Designing your emails from an accessibility-first perspective improves their usability by removing barriers that make them difficult for people to use. The U of A’s branding was created with accessibility forefront in mind.
Following the best practices below will also help ensure that your emails are inclusive for all so that your engagement rates are optimized.
A Note on Mobile Devices
Industry research shows that audiences are increasingly reading their emails on mobile devices, rather on desktop computers. As of 2019 , 60% of email campaigns are being opened on mobile devices, compared to 10% on desktops and 29% on webmail clients. Additionally, as of October 2022 , Apple is the most popular email client used by readers, with around 59% of readers opening up their emails using Apple devices, including iPhones and iPads. Here at the University of Alberta, 55% of the traffic being driven to our website through emails is coming from mobile devices and tablets, compared to 45% from desktop computers. What this all means is that you should take a mobile-first approach to designing your emails to fit the way that your recipients are interacting with them.
Emails that look great on desktop computers may look completely different on a mobile device. The font may look smaller, your images may display differently, and the layout may change, rendering them unusable. The general rule is that if your design looks great on a mobile device, it’s going to look great on a desktop too.
Following the best practices in these pages will help to optimize your emails for mobile devices, which in turn will optimize your engagement rates.
Brand Guidelines
The visual identity of the University of Alberta is guided by a “One University” strategy, a.k.a. a master brand strategy. The “University of Alberta” is our strongest and most recognizable brand and creates an institutional foundation for our visual identity and cross-campus alignment. Adherence to the branding visual standards in all of our communications ensures consistent and effective representation of the U of A brand to both internal and external audiences.
The Branding Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the correct use of the University of Alberta brand. Adherence to these visual standards will ensure consistent and effective representation of the University of Alberta brand to both internal and external Audiences. The document provides guidelines around logo use, fonts, the official University of colours, photos, and more. You can download the branding guidelines from Canto using your CCID and password. Click ‘Login using SSO’ and you will be redirected to the ‘UAlberta Login’ page. The Brand Guidelines can be found in the Documents Smart Album under Brand Resources. Other assets found in Canto include University logos, section backgrounds, photos, and videos.
Personalization
Personalizing your email campaigns is a proven way to increase your open and click-through rates. Personalization tactics include using a subscriber’s name in the subject line or body of the email, or changing the content of the email based on a subscriber’s location or other things you know about them. Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened .
Many email tools allow you to insert personalization tags into your email, like first name and last name, so that you can address your emails directly to your subscribers. Don’t overdo it with personalization, though, or it will be less effective.