They say that first impressions last. In the case of email marketing this can be the case, since one of the first things they encounter upon receiving your email is the email header.
Email headers serve as a gateway to capture the attention of your readers, because the hard truth is, very little of them will read it. Therefore, having an engaging, and well-designed email header would increase your chances of getting the attention of your subscribers.
A well-designed email header not only grabs attention but also sets the tone for the rest of your email content. It plays a significant role in improving engagement, boosting click-through rates, and strengthening your brand’s identity.
This blog will explore the essentials of email header design, from size recommendations to typography choices, layout techniques, and tips for optimizing headers for mobile and desktop viewing. We’ll dive into the principles that make for effective headers and provide actionable examples to inspire your next email marketing campaign.
Why Email Header Design Matters
Email marketing is riddled with various terms, error codes and messages. One of the basics in email marketing is proper email header design.
Understanding the specifics of email header designs requires entering through the science of it. Most specifically, through its psychology. When designing or crafting an email header you need to have a basic understanding of your audience’s psyche, “What do they want?”, “How can you possibly grab their attention?”. Here is the deep dive on why it matters.
Grabbing Your Audience’s Attention
When your subscriber opens their email, the first thing they will see is that header. Having a visually appealing header and a compelling message that attacks their psyche will capture their attention straight away.
Reflecting Your Content’s Tone
The design and style of the header reflect the overall tone of your email and provide a preview of your content. If the email content is primarily for professional purposes, it would be suitable to develop a formal email header design. On the other hand, if the email is for promotional purposes, most email marketers and content writers utilize a casual or fun email header.
Forcing Your Audience to Take Action
Once you get their curiosity, then you have to take their attention. But what happens next? Email headers not only attract curiosity and interest, it is vital for encouraging your readers to engage with your content. Whether it is for eye-catching visuals or a compelling call to action, your email header designs can do that for you.
Consistency of Your Brand Identity
Your email header design also represents your brand’s identity. Depending on your logo, chosen fonts, or selected colors, creating a distinct email header design is critical for your audience’s visual experience with the recognition that these designs are synonymous with your brand.
Improve Email Deliverability
Digitalization enables us to utilize various technological advantages, providing the opportunity to develop a well-designed header. However, this is not absolute; a well-designed header should also comply with email best practices. This ensures your content avoids email blacklists and is displayed correctly across multiple devices and email clients. Using email warm-up service platforms, such as Warmy.io, contributes to your overall email deliverability, from your email headers to the actual content.
Essential Elements of Email Header Design
Understanding the importance of the email header is the first step for creating the most effective and best email header. Once you’ve gone through the entire psychology of email headers, you can now study the critical elements of what constitutes a great email header design.
Email Header Size
The size of your email header is critical to ensuring that your email displays correctly on both mobile and desktop devices. While the dimensions of the header depends on your specific needs, there are some guidelines you can implement for it to work seamlessly.
- Width: The standard width for email headers is around 600 pixels. This size works well for most email clients. It ensures your header fits within the viewing pane without being cut off.
- Height: The height of the header will depend on your design. However, its size typically ranges from 100 to 200 pixels.
- Note: If the header is too large, it may push the email’s main content too far down, and if it’s too small, it may not be noticeable enough.
- Mobile Optimization: One of the most important, yet almost forgotten aspects of email header design optimizing it for mobile viewing. A large percentage of emails are being opened on mobile devices, it is therefore essential to design your header with mobile responsiveness in mind.
Typography
To make your email header visually appealing and readable, you will need to consider its typography. This involves, fonts — style and size—, contrast, and branding consistency,
- Font Size: Select a font size that is large enough to be readable on both mobile and desktop. The main header text should be around 22 to 28 pixels, ensuring the text is readable without overwhelming the recipient.
- Font Style: Using web-safe fonts that are compatible with most email clients are ideal. Fonts, such as Arial, Helvetica, and Georgia are simple, easy to read, and render well across devices.
- Contrast: Ensure there’s a strong contrast between the text color and the background color of your header. If the background is dark, use a light-colored font, and vice versa. This increases legibility and makes the header more eye-catching.
- Branding Consistency: If your brand uses specific fonts in its visual identity, incorporate those fonts into your email header. This helps maintain consistency with your website, social media, and other marketing materials.
Layout Techniques
Maintain a clean, organized, and visually balanced layout by considering its alignment, placement, and spacing. Here are some of the best tips you can follow.
- Alignment: Left-aligned text and logos tend to work well in most email clients and are easy to read. However, you can still experiment with centered or right-aligned designs for a more unique look.
- Logo Placement: It’s common to place the logo on the left side of the header, but it can also be centered or placed on the right depending on your design preferences. Make sure it’s not too large or overpowering—your email content should remain the focus.
- Call to Action (CTA): Ensure your CTA stands out without cluttering the space. Place it in a button or a highly visible area of the header. Make the button’s text clear, concise, and compelling.
- Spacing: Use whitespace effectively to give each element room to breathe. Adequate spacing between the logo, headline, and CTA will improve readability and make the header feel less cramped.
Mobile Optimization
Optimizing your email header for a mobile viewing experience can make you stand out. Most people utilize their mobile devices nowadays to conduct their business, communicate with peers, and read emails. Here is some information you might need to guarantee mobile optimization.
- Responsive Design: Use responsive email design techniques to ensure that your header adjusts to different screen sizes. This can include scaling images, adjusting font sizes, and repositioning elements for smaller screens.
- Font Size on Mobile: Implement larger font sizes to ensure readability. Try using 18 to 22 pixels for the main header text. This is important since many people view emails on smaller screens.
- Simplify the Design: Avoid overly complex images or large logos that may not display well on small screens. Focus on clean, minimalist design that adapts easily to mobile dimensions.
Branding Elements
Ensure consistency by developing an email header that reflects your brand’s personality. Here are some elements you might need.
- Colors: Incorporate colors from your logo or website design to help reinforce brand identity and improve recognition.
- Logo: Your logo should be prominently displayed in the header. Ensure that it’s scaled appropriately for mobile and desktop versions.
- Imagery: Use background images or icons that align with your brand’s style. For example, if you’re a luxury brand, you might want to use minimalistic, elegant images. If you’re in retail, vibrant, product-focused images can work well.
Testing for Consistency Across Email Clients
Email clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail all render emails differently, and your email header must look good across all of them. Here are some best practices to ensure consistency:
- Test Your Emails: Use email testing tools, specially Warmy.io to improve your email deliverability
- Avoid Complex Code: Stick to simple HTML and inline CSS when designing your email header. Complex code can cause rendering issues in certain email clients.
- Use Alt Text for Images: Always add alt text to your images. This ensures that even if images aren’t displayed, the recipient will still understand the content of the email.
Email Header Example
Let’s explore some inspiring email header example to spark your creativity:

Here is an email from Anybiz.io, the header showcased a simplistic design that incorporated the company’s logo. This can be effective for the following:
- Email Campaign
- Newsletter
- Company updates
- Events
How Warmy.io Contributes to Your Email Marketing
Now you can have the best email header in the business, but what is its use if it doesn’t reach your intended recipient? What if after all the trouble you did by understanding proper email header techniques, crafting your email newsletter or campaign, your emails just went straight to spam?
A tragedy, indeed, but a tragedy that you can avoid.
That is where Warmy.io comes into play.
Warmy.io goes beyond basic email marketing, it ensures that you have an effective email domain that sends out messages which can reach your audience’s inbox.
We also offer free SPF and DMARC records generators to improve your domain security that will secure your domain against spoofing and phishing attacks.
Try It Today!
Want to see the difference Warmy.io can make? Start by taking the free Email Deliverability Test to uncover hidden issues holding back your campaigns. With Warmy.io you can gain the following benefits:
Email Warmups
No matter how great your email headers are, if you have a new or inactive email and you send a lot of messages, email providers would usually consider your email as spam. This makes it difficult to build a positive sender reputation, and establish a connection with your audience.
Warmy’s warmups prevents your email from being marked as spam by gradually increasing the volume of emails you are sending. With our email warmups you can send up to 5000 emails per day, to give you that engagement boosts that you need.
Warmy automates this process, making it easier to establish credibility with email service providers.
Email Seed List
Your email header design might be ready, but are you certain with your email domain? To guarantee that your email is ready, you can try Warmy’s email seed list.
Warmy’s email seed list can be integrated into your email client. Our email seed list provides genuine email addresses from Gmail and Outlook, that acts as “seeds” that improves the testing of your email performance. You can send your campaign to these email addresses and confirm its deliverability, and address any issues if there is any.
DNS Records Testing
Some Internet Service Providers (ISP) blacklist an email server, due to spammy contents, or non-compliance with email etiquettes (i.e. Improper email headers). Warmy can verify up to 100 DNS testing per month, and ensure that your mail server ensures a healthy setting that will avoid your emails being blacklisted or spammed.
Inbox Placement Tests and Free Template Checker
Some email service providers have unique protocols when it comes to spam traps, filtering, and algorithms. Not to mention your IP and domain reputation.
Warmy offers an inbox placement test that helps you understand where your emails are landing, and to ensure the most reputable email domain, you can partner it with our free template checker to avoid spammy email headers or terms.
Premium Support, Dedicated Customer Success and Deliverability Consultant
Maintaining a reputable email domain can be challenging especially if you have a new or inactive email address. Internet services are strict with these, since a new or inactive email address does not have an established reputation, yet.
Our website offers a comprehensive and straightforward interface, but if in case you need assistance we offer 24/7 Zoom calls and chat support, with dedicated customer success support to help you achieve your goals, and, of course, an email deliverability consultant to improve your email deliverability.
Don’t just catch the attention of your subscribers, sign up for the 7-day free trial, or book a demo and witness your email engagement soar!