Monday Buzz: Email Designs to Inspire You

Like marketing in general, email marketing is a science with a lot of art involved. (See my blog post from last week.)

Need some inspiration? You’ll find a ton of it at Really Good Emails  (opens in a new tab), a roundup site sponsored by MailChimp that shows off examples that effectively convey information and help drive good messaging.

A few of our favorites: CrashPlan’s colorful email digest  (opens in a new tab), Digg’s simple (but effective) digest  (opens in a new tab), and Pinterest’s many  (opens in a new tab) onboarding  (opens in a new tab) emails  (opens in a new tab).

Some of them are bold, but even the simpler ones succeed in doing one thing: keeping people interested in your product.

If you’re looking to rethink your email strategy, it could be a great place to borrow a few ideas.

Small Steps, Big Results

https://twitter.com/jmhoehn/status/498116197939179520

Conferences involve a lot of walking. A lot. Why not do something special with all those footsteps?

The ASAE Foundation’s Small Steps app  (opens in a new tab) turns exercise (or at the very least, fast walking from session to session at the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition  (opens in a new tab)) into charity. Thanks to a promised donation from Choose Chicago, the foundation will receive $25 for every mile attendees walk with the app on.

So go for a run! Besides making you healthier, it’s for a good cause. (ht @jmhoehn  (opens in a new tab) and numerous other walkers)

Other good reads

Emails at work tend to break your flow. Don’t let them, writes Crew’s Andrea Ayres  (opens in a new tab).

If you wish your networking were a little more like dating app Tinder, the app Weave might interest you  (opens in a new tab).

Want to encourage engaged volunteers? Idea Architects’ Jeffrey Cufaude breaks down “10 crimes against increased volunteer engagement  (opens in a new tab).”

(Really Good Emails screenshot)