{"id":24596,"date":"2024-01-23T15:51:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T20:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=24596"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:48:22","slug":"best-places-for-email-inspiration-and-examples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/best-places-for-email-inspiration-and-examples","title":{"rendered":"Email Inspiration: 16 Places to Look for Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
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Looking for some fresh ideas for your email marketing program? You might be in the beginning stages of coming up with a new email nurture or want to learn more about how your subscribers interact with a different email design<\/a>. After all, when they have a great experience with your emails, it has a positive ripple effect on your overall brand. So, where can you find email design inspiration and examples for new strategy, copy, design, and development ideas?<\/p>\n

Let us be your inspiration guide! I\u2014along with the rest of the email team\u2014dug into our bookmarks and found some treasures that have helped us along the way. And I hope they help you, too.<\/p>\n

Important questions to ask yourself about your email campaigns<\/h2>\n

When looking for some email inspiration, you can easily turn into a magpie\u2014be attracted to bright, shiny things! Here are some questions I keep in mind when I\u2019m looking for inspiration for Litmus\u2019 email design program<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Will this design work for your brand?<\/h3>\n

Just because something looks cool or has that wow factor doesn\u2019t mean it will fit your brand. When looking for inspiration, keep your brand guidelines and brand voice top of mind.<\/p>\n

Did the email actually produce results?<\/h3>\n

You just saw a really cool interactive email<\/a> in your own inbox, and it blew your socks off. But what you don\u2019t know is how it actually performed. Just because you liked it doesn\u2019t mean the senders\u2019 entire audience did, too.<\/p>\n

Will it resonate with your target audience?<\/h3>\n

You know your audience best. Especially if you\u2019re looking for email design ideas outside your immediate industry (and you should!) you\u2019ll want to keep in mind what your audience really cares about and how you can solve their problems. No matter how cool the email design is, you must answer the time-honored question: \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Best sources for email inspiration, ideas, and examples<\/h2>\n

Now, on to the fun stuff.<\/p>\n

Where do you find email inspiration? Everywhere. That\u2019s why I subscribe to all the emails! Your own inbox can be a treasure trove of inspiration. I for one have subscribed to more newsletters than I can think of. Seeing how other brands, businesses, and senders send email always gives me ideas. I\u2019m often left wondering how senders have achieved certain things or what their rationale was behind the timing. And I don\u2019t limit myself to specific industries or senders\u2014I will happily sign up to everything. My personal favorite brands to subscribe to are Todoist<\/a>, Thinx<\/a>, and YNAB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I also use Litmus Scope<\/a> to capture and save great emails for sharing with colleagues, fellow designers, and email geeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

You never know what email could inspire your next great email (or can inspire you to add personalization to email marketing<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Where to find great brands to subscribe to in the first place? Here are a few places Litmus\u2019 own email team gets their inspiration from:<\/p>\n

1. Email Galleries<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re not a fan of filling up your inbox with promotional emails, there are a lot of websites out there that collect the most inspiring emails for you without impacting your need to hit inbox zero every day.<\/p>\n

Just Good Copy<\/a><\/h4>\n\"email\n

Your email copy needs to sing as much as your emails\u2019 design. When I\u2019ve hit a bit of a block, I\u2019ll head to Just Good Copy for a bit of copy inspiration. Simply reading what others are writing in their emails is a great source of inspiration for me.<\/p>\n

Good Email Code<\/a><\/h4>\n\"email\n

The go-to coding resource for Carin, our Email and Content Growth Marketing Manager, is Good Email Code. In a nutshell, it\u2019s email code that just works. Great resource if you want to try something new, but unsure if it\u2019ll actually\u2026 well\u2026 work.<\/p>\n

Really Good Emails<\/a><\/h4>\n\"email\n

The entire team is a huge fan of Really Good Emails. I\u2019ll head to their website if I\u2019m working on a new initiative or email program, and I don\u2019t know where to start with it. What\u2019s great about their website is everything is already sorted into categories that you can easily search. Need some inspiration about a reactivation program? Boom\u2014it\u2019s there. A newsletter? You got it.<\/p>\n

You can even save your favorites into your own collections to reference later (kind of like Pinterest).<\/p>\n

Milled<\/a><\/h4>\n\"email\n

Want to see emails from brands\u2014especially in retail\u2014you aren\u2019t subscribed to? Milled can help. You can follow brands, and get updates on \u2018what\u2019s new from brands you follow<\/a>\u2019 in your inbox with collated email examples.<\/p>\n

Email Love<\/a><\/h4>\n\"email\n

Speaking of design inspiration, here\u2019s another website that\u2019ll get those design juices flowing: Email Love. They have a curated selection of very design-led emails.<\/p>\n

OnceDailyPharma<\/a><\/h4>\n\"pharmaceutical\n

Sometimes you need some very industry-specific inspiration. And for a regulated industry like pharmaceuticals, looking at what retailers are doing with their email programs doesn\u2019t really help. Hot tip from Carin: OnceDailyPharma has an entire category devoted to pharmaceutical emails for you to get some inspiration from.<\/p>\n

Litmus<\/a><\/h4>\n\"\"\n

Oh, did you know we have our very own email gallery at Litmus? Think of it like our team\u2019s personal swipe file gone public. Not only can you see some of our greatest hits (like that New Year\u2019s swag drop email<\/a> y\u2019all can\u2019t stop talking about) but some of our favorite brand emails, too.<\/p>\n

2. Analyze competitor campaigns<\/h3>\n

Legendary Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu said it best here: \u201cKnow thy enemy.\u201d Yes, I subscribe to all of our competitor emails and the rest of the big players in the email marketing industry, too. You can do this with a burner email address or a personal one so you can avoid detection. (Cue the Pink Panther soundtrack.)<\/p>\n

Unlike the retail industry, it\u2019s not like an email promoting an ESP is going to naturally land in my personal inbox. You\u2019ll want to make a list of your top competitors, partners, and major industry players and subscribe to keep an eye on what they\u2019re doing, both for your email designs and so you can better strategize promotional emails, nurture flows, and sales or discounts. Then each week or month, take a look at any trends you notice and report back to the rest of the team.<\/p>\n

3. Pinterest boards dedicated to email design<\/h3>\n

In between unnecessarily detailed kiddie crafts, road trip itineraries, family costume ideas, and DIY decor, you\u2019ll find a lot of great email designs on Pinterest if you know where to look. Our friends at Campaign Monitor<\/a> have a great selection of their favorite emails, for example:<\/p>\n\"\"\n

As well as the folks from other design-focused accounts, like digital marketing agency WebTek<\/a>:<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Most creators on Pinterest add to their boards constantly, so either make yourself a board to pin your own design ideas or add a weekly to-do to search for \u201cemail design inspiration<\/a>\u201d or similar phrases to find emails that pique your curiosity.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

4. Dribbble for email mockups<\/h3>\n

Dribbble<\/a> has long been a source of inspiration for web, UX, and UI designers. But it\u2019s also a great source of inspiration for email designers, too. Lily has been using it as her design inspiration go-to website, no matter what project she\u2019s working on.<\/p>\n

5. Email marketing blogs and newsletters<\/h3>\n

There are a handful of more email-focused websites that feed my constant need for email inspiration. Whether that\u2019s design, strategy, or things that make me go \u201chmmm,\u201d these are the newsletters that help keep me on top of my email game:<\/p>\n