Your email header is prime real estate—it’s the first thing people see, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. When the design looks sharp and on-brand, with your colors, logo, and fonts, it instantly tells people you mean business. You don’t have much space, so make it count: be clear, be bold, and make sure your message lands at a glance.

This article will explore exactly how to create an email header design and provide 13 great email header design examples to inspire you.

The Role of Email Headers in Marketing

Email headers are often the first thing readers notice when they open an email, and that’s what makes them such an important marketing asset. It’s the place to position your company logo and other key elements that encourage readers to dive into the email content. 

Additionally, keeping a consistent brand look across email headers helps build familiarity and trust with your audience, which can lead to more conversions and sales.

What Is a Good Email Header?

A good email header captures attention by using the right visuals and effectively communicates your brand’s identity through elements like logos and colors. 

Essential Elements of Email Headers

Creating a professional email involves several key components that work together to strengthen brand recognition and engagement. Let’s review the essential elements of an email header to help you get a better understanding and knowledge of what to look for in your designs.

An email header usually starts with the company name and logo, which helps you instantly recognize who the message is from. A clear heading follows, letting you know what the email is about right away. Adding a personal touch, like a tagline saying “Hey, Alex,” makes you feel appreciated and part of the conversation. Sometimes, there’s even a CTA inviting you to click a link or explore an offer.

Altogether, these elements create a welcoming start that grabs your attention and makes you want to read more.

The Importance of Email Header Design

Email headers can really make a difference in how well your emails perform. Headers help your emails stand out and become familiar to your subscribers. This can significantly impact email marketing metrics like open rates and engagement.

13 Tips for Great Email Header Designs + Examples

Capturing your audience’s attention from the start begins with designing an effective email header. It not only sets the tone for your email but also reinforces your brand’s identity. Using creative layouts and personalized elements can make your emails more engaging and memorable. Consistency in design helps maintain brand recognition, while incorporating links and calls to action can improve user experience. Here are 13 tips with examples to guide you in creating standout email headers:

1. Include a Logo and Company Name

Featuring your logo and company name in the email header is an excellent way to emphasize your brand identity.

⭐Yelp provides a good illustration prominently featuring their logo and company name.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Placing Yelp’s logo and company name at the beginning of the email immediately strengthens brand recognition and trust. The straightforward design keeps the focus on Yelp, making it easy for customers to identify and remember their trusted source for local business reviews.

2. Relate to Your Audience

Connecting with your audience on a personal level can make all the difference in how they perceive your brand.

⭐A noteworthy example of this approach comes from Netflix. The brand uses personalized messages like “Here’s what you’ve watched” with user-specific recommendations.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Talking directly to the user about their interests makes them feel special and understood, which strengthens engagement.

3. Make Sure Your Design Stands Out

To make your email headers stand out in busy inboxes, use images, animations, and colors to catch attention and establish your visual identity. A simple design with the right font ensures readability and focuses on key information, guiding readers toward desired actions while conveying your brand’s message effectively.

⭐YouTube stands out as a great example of including striking visuals in their “Year of YOU” campaign.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Eye-catching images draw people in and match YouTube’s creative vibe, making the email visually appealing and consistent with the brand’s identity.

4. Optimize Your Email Header Size for Different Devices

The email header size is key for design and reader engagement. With most emails opened on mobile, a responsive design is a must. Use HTML header templates and test headers on various devices to ensure they display correctly. For desktops, aim for 600 pixels wide and 150-200 pixels high; for mobiles, 320-480 pixels wide and 100-150 pixels high.

Make sure logos and CTAs are clear and readable. A well-sized header maintains a professional look, enhancing readability and interest. Focus on a balanced design to highlight key elements without overwhelming the viewer.

⭐ Grammarly uses a clean, responsive header design that looks good on all devices.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Grammarly’s design keeps the text and images centered, regardless of the device the reader is using. Both the text and images are fully readable and strategically positioned, ensuring nothing distracts the eye while reading on either mobile or desktop.

5. Add a Navigation Bar

Some brands incorporate a navigation bar at the top of their email headers to make it easier for readers to explore the content.
⭐ Drizzly serves as a great example for including a navigation bar for seamless browsing.

✅ Why It’s Effective: This approach allows users to easily click through your content, making the experience more visually appealing and intuitive for navigation.

6. Keep the Industry in Mind

Your design reflects the industry in which your company operates, so customize email headers for the respective industry. Creative businesses might use bold colors, while financial firms may opt for classic styles. Understanding your audience and adding elements like logos and social media links can make your emails more engaging and true to your brand.

⭐ Koala Eco utilizes simple visuals with eco-friendly colors and a bee image to emphasize their commitment to natural products.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Koala Eco is a great example of keeping the industry in mind because their simple visuals and eco-friendly colors, paired with a bee image, perfectly convey their commitment to natural and sustainable products.

7. Keep It Clear and Simple

Keeping your header clear and simple ensures that your message is immediately recognizable and easy to understand.

⭐ When it comes to minimalism and simplicity, IKEA is king. The brand features minimalist header designs with just the logo and a sleek image.

✅ Why It’s Effective: The clean design lets the brand stand out, appealing to IKEA fans who love simple and functional style.

8. Use Your Mascot

Incorporating a mascot, such as an animal or other character that represents your brand, into your email header can create a memorable and personable connection with your readers, making your brand more relatable and recognizable.

⭐ Tradegecko uses the Gecko in their email headers, which is a great example of how incorporating a mascot can make the brand more relatable and memorable, helping to establish a friendly connection with readers.

✅ Why It’s Effective: The mascot is instantly recognizable and adds a friendly touch, which helps build a loyal audience.

9. Use Animations

Using animations in your email header can capture attention and add a dynamic element to your message, making your brand more engaging and lively.

⭐ Known for their playful approach, Duolingo exemplifies how subtle animations, like their owl mascot flapping its wings, can capture attention and add a dynamic element to your message.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Fun animations are engaging without being too much, reflecting Duolingo’s playful approach to language learning.

10. Customize Your Header for Every Campaign

Your email header isn’t just a static space for your logo or navigation—it’s valuable space for driving home your message. Adapting it for each campaign can make a big difference. From seasonal visuals to campaign-specific taglines, customizing your header keeps your emails cohesive, timely, and more engaging.

⭐ Disney updates their headers to match each campaign—not just with branding elements, but with visuals and messaging that reflect the theme.

✅ Why It’s Effective: By customizing headers to fit different themes, you keep your content fresh and engaging. It shows off your brand’s creativity and adaptability, ensuring each email feels relevant and exciting—just like how Disney keeps its audience captivated with imaginative storytelling.

11. Assign Different Purposes to Header and Footer

Assigning different purposes to your header and footer can strategically guide your audience’s actions, maximizing engagement and enhancing user experience by offering clear calls to action in distinct areas of your email.

⭐ GoPro uses a “Shop Now” CTA in the header and a “Subscribe” CTA in the footer, effectively guiding users towards immediate action while also encouraging ongoing engagement, making it a strong example of strategic CTA placement.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Clearly distinguishing between the header and footer with specific CTAs helps guide the reader’s journey, encouraging immediate action while also nurturing ongoing engagement with GoPro’s community.

12. Show a Featured Product or Service

Featuring a specific product or service in your email header can draw immediate attention and attract your audience. This technique effectively promotes key offers or highlights that align with your marketing goals.

⭐ Nike features free shipping offers in their email headers, effectively drawing attention to a key incentive. This encourages customers to complete their purchases, demonstrating a smart use of promotional messaging.

✅ Why It’s Effective: Putting a product or offer front and center catches the eye and gives readers a reason to click and explore more.

13. Include an Incentive

An incentive placed in your email header can quickly engage your audience, providing a persuasive reason for them to interact with your content.

⭐ Casper places incentives in the header, grabbing attention and encouraging customers to act, which is a smart way to increase engagement.

✅ Why It’s Effective: An enticing offer immediately grabs attention and encourages readers to dive deeper into the email, increasing sales and engagement.

An email header is key to shaping a brand’s identity and building trust with readers. The right visuals and tone encourage readers to explore the content further. Crafting engaging email headers with visually appealing elements, like graphics and concise text, can effectively draw the reader in and increase interaction with the audience.

But don’t forget: it’s important to optimize headers for different screen sizes to ensure they connect with various audience segments and work well across devices. Encourage readers to follow best practices and look for inspiration from examples. Highlight how versatile email header makers can be in creating graphics not just for emails but also for social media. 

A simple, well-designed header can improve user experience and guide readers toward desired actions, making it a powerful tool for capturing attention and communicating the brand’s message. To take your email marketing to the next level, explore SiteGround Email Marketing, which can help you create and manage effective email campaigns effortlessly.