10 ways to make images in Mailchimp work better for you

Hello Future-Chimpologist

The subject of images comes up a LOT in my day to day as I work with clients on their Mailchimp accounts. I have rarely come across a client that has been using more than 2 o 3 of these tips, despite them being incredibly useful at a) make your life easier and b) making your emails work harder for you.

So here are 10 tips to make images work more effectively and efficiently for you in Mailchimp:

Tip 1 - Give your images useful file names that mean something and help you to search for them

Say you’re creating an email and you want a particular image of a banner with a red tractor that you KNOW you’ve uploaded into Mailchimp before. You COULD trawl through your 2,912 images to find it. Or you could just type “red tractor” in the search bar. If the file name has that term in it, you’ll find it in seconds.

It’s easier to have meaningful image names before you upload them into Mailchimp to start with, but you can also change them by clicking on an image > View details > Edit.

Tip 2 - Organise your images in folders

Again, a useful way of finding what you need quickly and easily, especially in combo with Tip 1. Your folders might include e.g.

  • Brand assets

  • Team photos

  • Banners

  • Product photos

  • Hero images

  • Lifestyle images

  • Sponsors

  • etc.

Tip 3 - Upload images in the right size to start with

Images work best if they are in the correct size BEFORE you put them into Mailchimp. They should be:

  • 800-1200 px wide

  • max 10mb

  • Ideally transparent .png in format which tend to work better on dark mode, but failing that .jpg, then animated .gif, or .pdfs for downloads.

You CAN make images smaller / crop within Mailchimp but it has a nasty habit of adding a black line along two edges, and you can’t make them bigger, so where possible get them right before you upload them in the first place.

Tip 4 - Avoid / minimise use of infographics

By “infographic”, I mean an image that contains information in text. Why should you avoid them?

  • The images in your email may not show at all for some recipients, meaning that vital information might be missing from your email if it’s part of an infographic

  • All images are scaled down on mobile. That means the text in your infographic will be scaled down too, and probably too small to read.

Tip 5 - Alt text is vital

Every single image you add to your email should have Alt text. Why?

  • If the image doesn’t download (e.g. because they email is being viewed on Outlook on desktop or they have rubbish mobile signal), the Alt text may well show instead.

  • It makes your email accessible to the visually impaired.

Tip 6 - Think carefully about your image orientation

  • Portrait images will typically display larger on all devices, but can really add to the length of your content and mean the call to action (CTA) is a long way down and might be missed.

  • Landscape images and banners take up less vertical space and mean your CTA is reached sooner, but can appear tiny on mobiles when they are scaled down.

  • Square images might be the best compromise but can still push your CTA down.

Tip 7 - Take care with “staggered columns”

By staggered columns I mean:

  • Row 1- image on the left + text on the right

  • Row 2 - image on the right + text on the left

  • Row 3 - image on the left, text on the right etc

This looks great on desktop, but when your email is on mobile, it will stack the columns and put whatever is in the left hand column of each block on the top. That means a mobile will display:

image, text, text, image, image, text, text etc.

This only applies if you’re using Mailchimp’s native new or legacy builders. Coding can help you control the mobile display.

Tip 8 - ALWAYS add a link to every single image

Some people click on buttons, some on linked text, some on images. Don’t let a lack of links impact the success of your email.

Tip 9 - Try Mailchimp’s Creative Assistant

This is a bit like a simple version of Canva - it’s a useful way of jazzing up and branding images without leaving Mailchimp. I have to confess I very rarely use it as I already use Canva and Photoshop but but it’s probably worth a play with, especially as it uses the brand kit from your website.

AND LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST…

Tip 10 - It’s ok to send an email without any images at all!

Just because you CAN insert images, doesn’t mean you actually have to. Some of the best emails can be very simple with just text. Of course it depends on what you’re selling, but don’t just use images for the sake of it.

Need help?

If you need any help or advice on this or any other topic relating to Mailchimp or email marketing for your own business’s specific needs, get in touch.

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Claire Witz