Illustrations in email marketing: 7 ways to use them

Illustrations work in email when they explain something faster than words would: a three-step process, an abstract benefit, a feeling you want the reader to share. They fail when the email depends on them, because many inboxes block images until the reader allows them.

This guide covers seven ways marketers use illustrations in email, then the practical rules that keep an illustrated email readable for everyone.

Why use illustrations in marketing emails?

Illustrations give you control that stock photos do not. You can draw exactly the idea you need, in your brand's colours and style, and reuse the same characters across campaigns so readers recognise your emails at a glance.

They are especially useful for B2B and software companies. A workflow, an integration or a saved hour is hard to photograph. A simple drawing can show it in one look.

7 ways to use illustrations in email

1. Celebrate a milestone

People enjoy being congratulated. An illustration of a team celebrating works well for a customer's first year, a completed onboarding, a goal reached in your product or a year-in-review email. Keep the copy short and let the image carry the mood.

2. Let characters speak for your products

Speech or thought bubbles are an old comic device that still works. Draw a few characters who match your target audience, each with one line about why they like a product or feature. This suits companies with several products or plans, because each character can stand for a different buyer.

3. Show a process in three steps

Instead of a paragraph of instructions, draw the steps. "Connect your CRM, import contacts, send your first sequence" is easier to follow as three small panels than as text. This is ideal for onboarding and product education emails, where the goal is to get someone to act, not just read.

4. Tap into what your audience cares about

The strongest illustrated emails connect to an emotion the reader already has. A pet brand might draw a happy dog. A sales tool might draw a rep closing the laptop on a Friday afternoon with the pipeline in order. The drawing should show the outcome the reader wants, not your product's interface.

5. Turn an abstract idea into a picture

Some benefits are hard to explain: clarity, growth, peace of mind. A visual metaphor helps. An idea drawn as a seed that grows into a tree, or scattered notes turning into a neat plan, gets the point across without a long explanation. This works well for planning tools, financial services and consulting.

6. Show that there is more than one right way

Your customers do not all work the same way. An illustration that shows different working styles side by side, such as tidy and messy notes or different desk set-ups, tells readers your product fits how they already work. It builds common ground before you ask for anything.

7. Announce a new feature or option

Product updates are easy to skim past. An illustration that shows the new option in use, such as several payment methods coming out of one phone, makes the change obvious. Readers can see what is new before they read a word, then use the copy for details.

How do you make illustrated emails work in every inbox?

An illustration only helps if the reader sees it, or understands the email without it. These rules come from accessibility standards and from how the main email clients handle images.

Do not rely on images loading

Gmail shows images by default, but holds them back when it treats a sender or message as suspicious. Desktop Outlook is set by default to block automatic picture downloads from the internet. So put your headline, key message and call to action in live HTML text, not inside the illustration. Then the email still works with images off.

Write useful alt text

The W3C's guidance is simple. If an image carries information, its text alternative should give the essential information. If it is purely decorative, use an empty alt attribute (alt="") so screen readers skip it. For a three-step illustration, the alt text should list the three steps. For a decorative border, leave it empty. Read more about the alt attribute.

Avoid text inside the illustration

W3C advises against images of text, apart from logos. If text must appear in an image, the alt text should contain the same words. Text in an image also cannot be resized, searched or translated by the reader's email app.

Check colour contrast

WCAG 2.2 asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, and this applies to text that is part of an image. Illustrations often use soft pastel colours. If any copy sits on top of them, check the contrast.

Keep animation short

Animated GIFs can draw the eye, but use them with care. WCAG says moving content that starts automatically and runs for more than five seconds should be possible to pause, stop or hide. Email gives readers no pause button, so keep loops short and never use flashing effects.

Keep files light and test before sending

Large images slow down loading, especially on mobile data. Export illustrations at the size they are displayed, compress them, and preview the email in the main clients your audience uses, including dark mode, before you send.

How do you measure whether illustrations help?

Run an A/B test: send the same email with and without the illustration, or with two different illustrations, to two random parts of your list. Judge the result by clicks and conversions rather than opens. Apple Mail's Protect Mail Activity setting, for example, downloads remote content in the background, so senders cannot tell when a message was opened.

For more ideas on planning and improving campaigns, see our guides to email marketing strategies and email marketing in the sales funnel.