That beautiful email is probably shit
📧 The email looks beautiful and may get applaude but would it really sell? Instagram unlocks new tools and WhatsApp launches ads, and more!
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In this newsletter, you’ll find:
📧That beautiful email is probably shit
📱 Instagram Just Gave Every Account New Tools, And WhatsApp Quietly Became an Ad Platform
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📧That beautiful email is probably shit
You know the one. Full-width hero image. Immaculate typography. Brand colors dialed in. The designer sent a Slack message when it went out because they were proud of it.
It converted at half the rate of the plain-text you sent three weeks earlier. Nobody talked about that part.
Design isn’t decoration. It’s traffic control.
Every layout decision is a decision about where the reader’s eye goes next. When design gets treated as aesthetics, that path gets built around what looks good rather than what converts.
Multiple hero images because the product range deserves representation. A brand story block because the copywriter worked hard on it. Two CTAs because there are two things worth promoting this week.
The reader opens the email and faces twelve decisions. Most don’t make it to the one you actually wanted them to make. Not because they’re uninterested. Because you gave them too many places to look.
Why plain-text outperforms beautiful emails
The plain-text email isn’t winning because readers prefer ugly. It’s winning because it removed every visual decision except one. Nothing to look at but the words. The words lead to a link. The link is the only place to go.
Richness and conversion pull in opposite directions. Most email templates are built to serve the former while being measured on the latter.
Every visual element either directs attention toward the CTA or competes with it. There’s no neutral.
The mobile fold problem is killing your click rate
Most email templates are designed on a desktop. Most emails are read on mobile. That gap is where a significant portion of the click rate disappears.
On a desktop, your CTA sits comfortably in the upper half. On a 375px mobile screen, that same CTA is below three product images, a headline block, and a paragraph of copy the reader has to scroll past before they know there’s somewhere to click.
Sixty percent of readers who open on mobile won’t scroll past the first screen. That’s not a content problem. That’s a placement problem.
Before any email goes to design, answer one question: Does the CTA exist on the first screen of a 375px phone?
Visual hierarchy is a copywriting tool
Font size, weight, and contrast create a reading sequence. If your CTA button carries the same visual weight as your product headline, you’ve told the reader’s brain they’re equally important. That decision is the friction you’re trying to eliminate.
The CTA should be the most visually dominant element in the email. Everything above it builds the argument for clicking. Everything after it should not exist.
Design is the traffic cop. Build the layout accordingly.
📱 Instagram Just Gave Every Account New Tools, And WhatsApp Quietly Became an Ad Platform
Three platform updates this week that affect how brands show up, get discovered, and reach audiences across Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Breakdown:
1. Instagram lets you control how your grid looks - Users can now edit thumbnail images of posted content as they appear on the profile grid. Full grid rearrangement is still in development. Controlling profile presentation affects first impressions and attention.
2. Every public Instagram account now gets creator tools - Insights, scheduled content, and trending audio are now available to all public accounts. Trial Reels unlock at 200 followers. Channels and Live unlock at milestones. Monetization stays exclusive to professional accounts.
3. WhatsApp just opened up to advertisers - Status Ads appear between user status updates and are skippable with a swipe. Promoted Channels get highlighted placement in the directory. Ads are limited to the Updates tab as private chats stay ad-free and fully encrypted.
From emerging channel to strategic signal, WhatsApp has been nearly impossible to advertise on until now. That’s a lot of relatively uncontested space across 2 billion users. Getting in early, before costs rise and competition increases, is the move worth considering right now?
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