8+ Hot Email Design Trends in 2025 and Beyond
BeeFree just released their take on the hottest 2024 trends in email marketing that they can see flowing into the new year.
We will be covering some of our favourite trends that we have employed this year that align with BeeFree’s list. Although keeping up with trends is a fun and exciting way to try to stay relevant in a high-paced technological environment, we recommend you always ask yourself these questions before activating something you’ve seen online.
How to decide if a trend is right for you.
Does this trend align with our brand guidelines? Before embarking on a new email trend, you must ensure all messaging and communications align with your brand’s values and aesthetics. It is okay to try new things, but when they don’t make sense for your overall brand, it creates customer confusion, which makes them more likely to unsubscribe.
Is this trend appealing to our target audiences? Or more importantly, does it add value? Some internet trends can take more than they give, so make sure you not only strategize how to best implement a trend but it is also important to establish how you are going to measure the effectiveness of a new trend. We always recommend A/B testing new design trends and campaign topics on different email segments to see their impact on your subscribers.
Do we have the capacity to implement this trend? Some trends like GIFs and more graphic-heavy designs can be more time-consuming to create. If your company does not have the manpower to launch a trend on time, you may want to reconsider the frequency with which you use it or look for an additional boost of support through internal staffing, freelancing, or external agencies.
Without further ado, here is a simplified list of email marketing design trends from 2024 that you can expect to see more of in 2025.
1. Raw and unfiltered imagery
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that social media isn’t the only platform moving away from generic, classic stock photography.
To younger audiences, it has become increasingly important for brands to forgo their overly polished look and appeal in lieu of being able to “authentically” relate.
You can see a lot of this now in recent email campaign trends, where both the hero images and product images have little to no obvious filters and editing.
2. Chunky and weird text
Bold is in. Brands are switching away from the “Pinterest Girl” and minimalist fonts and typefaces in exchange for higher contrast, bold, and visually interesting options.
You can see a play on thickness, texture, and overall shape in many of your favourite newsletter brands.
Although this is a fun way for your campaigns to “pop,” this is one of the trends that might fall too far outside of your brand guidelines.
3. Deep and dark backgrounds
The cool factor of “dark mode” never really wore off for email campaigns. If anything, we have seen even more campaigns insured by the dark background and light text this past year.
There is something alluring and appealing to this design trend, the only real concern being that these campaigns and templates are notorious for switching up font colours and links being unreadable.
Because of this, we would recommend you test, test, and test again before sending these campaigns. Litmus and Email On Acid are two must-have pre-deployment email testing software you need if you are considering joining the dark side.
4. Colour-blocking
Readability is King when it comes to consuming content. The easier it is for people to pull important information from your email marketing campaign, the better your ROI.
If you haven’t tried colour-blocking - using two background colours in an email template or campaign blocks that hold different information - then you are really missing out.
Adding a pop of colour and a clear boundary line is an easy and effective way to break up longer, informational or persuasive email campaigns with hard-to-digest information.
5. Blast from the past
We really think that the growing popularity of Polaroid and film cameras, record players, and thrifting has sparked a cultural phenomenon in younger audiences who are interested in past generational tech and fashion.
This has splashed its way onto the front page of email campaign design, with retro photo editing and fonts that were put through the wringer back in the day.
Whether you’re using a font, getting new product imagery, or trying out new colour combinations, retro just might be the way to go.
6. GIFs that keep giving back
We all love the chokehold that GIFs have over us. They are a great way to show and say more than a single image would ever allow us to do. Like these examples, where the products are showing off a full 360 of the product.
If you haven’t spoken GIF in email before, we recommend you try it. Most of our client see a 5 - 20% increase in their click-through rates when we use the power of the GIF strategically.
This doesn’t mean you should use it in every campaign, as that would wear down its effectiveness really quickly. But sprinkling in its flavour every now and then is one way you can surely satiate your subscribers.
7. Wavy shapes
Looking for a way to make your campaigns more playful and youthful? Adding wavy shapes has taken email campaigns by storm this past year.
Although it’s not a completely new trend, we have seen it used more effectively as email headers, block dividers, and supporting graphic illustrations.
Whether you want to soften your brand image or email tone, wavy shapes are a relatively low-risk and low-difficulty option for you to test and try.
8. Hand models
There’s been a point in everyone’s life that wonders if they have what it takes to be a model. And with this recent trend, there’s a high chance that you can still spark your (hand) modelling career.
Your hands do it all - from cooking or serving up a hot dish to making your next big deal, the power is in your hands. And this came across even more powerfully in recent email campaign imagery.
We are really loving this trend because it’s an easy and effective way to display your products, adds relatability, and catches interest. We’ll hand it to all the brands capitalizing on this trend and encourage you to find a way to add this to your next campaign or photo shoot.
Summary
Sometimes it is easier said than done when it comes to following internet trends, but by adding one or two to your 2025 email marketing strategy, you just might see that spike in clicks that your designs have been lacking.
As always, it’s important to consider what your brand priorities are when introducing new trends and to ensure you stick true to your guidelines.
Now, all that’s left is for you to set up an A/B test with a sample of your audience or segments and to see how it goes!
