The basic fundamentals of email are simple.
Subject
Offer
Action
Each and every piece of digital clutter that we send out needs to ask a question, give direction and show where to take the next action. Not many actions or asking many questions. But, just one. Like "why did you choose the blue Tahoe?" "Is blue the color you're looking for?"
In any CRM email builder I've seen the button that allows you to add grids. The grids then allow you to justify the width of the email. Because as mentioned above the majority I believe it's 65% of emails are read on phones your width of said boxes should never exceed 600pixels wide.
The grids also allow you to segment the areas so you can say this area here is for a photo. Embed the photo embed the click through and so on. I like to leave an empty box somewhere so that way the reps can add their own message without compromising the structure of the template I've made.
The other reason to use a grid even for a basic text email is it keeps the words from trailing off into one huge line which would mean horizontal scrolling and passing the native width of the screen.
For me I use a standard grid of 1col 5rows : most of the time I don't even use them all but just in case I want to add an image offer at the bottom I can do so easily. Again without disrupting the shell itself.
Anything more than
Subject
Offer
Action
Is a complete waste of time. The reason I say this is because we should assume that if we get a lead or something the person sending the lead has already done their research, found or social profiles and read our reviews.
So by the time they get to us they are looking to do business.
I would say keep emails direct, to the point and singular closed ended questions.
And always, always, always
Use your grids and max them at 600 width. You'll never have a problem rendering properly again.
