First off, what is Really Good Emails? It’s a Internet website that tries to put together the best emails in the universe in one place. Really Good Emails (RGE for short) aims to be the best showcase of email design and resources on the web. We’re providing transparency into product email and customer email cycles that are not available anywhere else.

This post is a transcription of a talk from EiQ 2017 in Atlanta, GA

Our job is basically finding all the awesome emails that we see and people send to us. We put them in collections, organize and critique them. We are trying to be the epicenter of email marketers, designers, and developers.

People ask us a lot: “What makes a really good email?” It’s really not a secret. It’s on our website. So if you submit an email and it doesn’t get accepted, maybe you should read it I guess.

Here are the guidelines that we’ve come up with after reviewing thousands of emails:

What Makes A Really Good Email?

The email connects visual design with a good simple hierarchy.

with a good simple hierarchy. The content serves the customer more than the company.

more than the company. There is c onsistency across branding, website and app experience. (The website and email look and feel the same)

across branding, website and app experience. (The website and email look and feel the same) The campaign utilizes best-in-class technology (Brands should be pushing the envelope and trying new things in the inbox. That’s what is interesting to us and what we want to share with our audience).

(Brands should be pushing the envelope and trying new things in the inbox. That’s what is interesting to us and what we want to share with our audience). It’s enjoyable because it surprises and delights (Take the extra step. Even a boring transactional email can be fun to receive).

because it surprises and delights (Take the extra step. Even a boring transactional email can be fun to receive). The email is likely to perform well (Based on what we know about email marketing).

(Based on what we know about email marketing). It balances live text and imagery (All image emails in 2018 are no no’s).

(All image emails in 2018 are no no’s). It is accessible across devices and screens (Looks good on everything. and can be used by everyone).

Some of these are more important than others.

Verticals shouldn’t compare to their verticals. They should compare outside their vertical. It’s either good or it isn’t.

Those same people from above also ask: “That’s all good and great, but what are you guys really looking at? What do I fix in my emails to get on to your site?” Well I’m glad you asked. Every single email we look at, we also weigh different factors that go into our final decision. This is our internal checklist and maybe it will be helpful to you when your making your email. It’s what we think all marketers should consider before sending an email.

What Are We Looking At?

Subject Line

Pre-header text

Email Layout Patterns

Images

Typography

Whitespace

Mobile Optimization

CTA Design

Text CTA Ratio

Video

Animated GIFs (Does it add value)

Interactivity (An action taken in an email that triggers an event within the same email)

Personalization

Voice & Tone

Footer Finish

Legal

Want to see our critique process in action? Oh baby, you are in luck. Below are some tear downs of really cool brands that we like to feature. We get a lot of email submissions. Below are a few of the most popular ones and some of our all time favorites.