The ideal ratio between images and text is a key formula when designing an email marketing template. It is responsible for ensuring that the message is read and produces the desired impact on the recipient. If there is too much text, it can be boring; if there are too many images, it can affect deliverability. To find the right balance, you need to consider the objective of the campaign and take care of the visual aspect as much as you care about getting it to the customer's inbox.
Why you should take care of the ratio between text and images in your campaigns?
The main problem you can encounter if you insert more images than text in your email marketing campaigns is to be considered a spammer. The quickest way to achieve this is to send a single photo, without any text. Even if you use an alternative text that describes it, the probability of going to the spam folder is too high to make this mistake.
The opposite extreme, when sending 100% text, can also alert anti-spam filters: writing a too commercial copy often involves the use of certain words that are also used by spammers to try to persuade users (including exclamations, percentage discounts and free promotions of all kinds). The result is that deliverability drops and in the long run it also affects email marketing results.
Another reason to take care of the ratio of images to text in your campaigns is to provide a good user experience. If photos win out in the ratio, there may be recipients who have them blocked or take a long time to download, making them unpleasant to read. In addition, accessibility must be taken into account and may complicate the understanding of the message if you do not take into account how to write the ALT tags.
In fact, if the email marketing strategy includes publishing campaigns to be indexed by search engines, the optimisation has to consider both text and images. Therefore, the ideal is not to have only one photo and not too much copy, but a good balance between the two to take advantage of both options to appear on the results page. The same happens when searching in the email manager itself.
What ratio of image to text to use in campaign design
Before making any design decisions, consider the purpose of the campaign. For example: a notification does not need the same type of template as a promotion for a new product launch, so the former will probably have much more text than the latter.
The recommended minimum for any email message is 400 characters. From there, depending on what you want to tell, you will need more or less length and, therefore, you will have to pay attention to find a good balance between image and text. However, you should not look at it as a mathematical number and think that it is literally half and half. In fact, there are other options to explore:
- The most recommendable proportion is 60% / 40% in favour of the text so that it can be as attractive for the images as for the copy. In this sense, it is the most balanced percentage and with an acceptable loading time as there are not too many images, as would be the case if the ratios were reversed. Moreover, when text and images complement each other to create a clear and direct message, the click-through rate is higher.
- Sometimes, it is advisable to reduce the number or size of images to 70% / 30% in order to add more textual information. If the images are blocked by the user, the message is still understandable by itself and still gives enough information to get clicks. Thinking about readability on different devices, this percentage adapts well to mobile, as images do not have as much presence in the design.
- The 80% / 20% ratio is the safest to pass the anti-spam filter and not affect deliverability. It should also be taken into account that, by having few images, messages with more text work better for users who use screen readers and for those with a slower connection speed. When there is a lot of text in the footer for legal reasons, such as legal contest rules, this is usually the most transparent option.
Performing an A/B test is the best way to check which option is more attractive to the user and thus increase the click-through rate and conversions.
