Level up your email designs with Canva

Unique, polished designs help customers connect with your brand. Before you start designing, ask yourself:

• What would elevate this campaign?
• Which design will be easiest to read, no matter where or how customers view it?
• What communicates my goal clearly and draws customers to my CTA?

Watch the video below to learn more about how to utilize Klaviyo and Canva integration.

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2 paths to design your emails

Take advantage of Klaviyo and Canva integrations in one of two ways.

1. Images: Add polished images to your already-existing email campaigns.
2. Email templates: Use Canva’s design capabilities to create your entire email from scratch with email templates.

Think about your audience, then consider these two paths to design your emails. Choose the best way to design your email based on your use case:

Images

Design single assets to add or replace your designs, including logos, background images, headers, and more. This is a simple way to refresh your email without changing the entire layout. Then, think of these use cases:

• Seasonal or holiday releases: Change your assets to match seasonal moments. Switch up a header to promote winter-related products. Refurbish an existing asset to promote your most popular products during a holiday sale, or a competitive push like BFCM.
• New product highlights: Create new assets that highlight new products in your existing emails. Make use of product images, badges, or banners to call out what's new without redesigning the whole email.
• Testing what resonates: If your emails aren’t drawing in your customers, try swapping out an asset. Take advantage of A/B Testing and create variations of your emails and see which makes the more effective campaign. Get started with A/B Testing here.

Email Templates

Design email templates that cover the content of your entire email, including your logo, images, and even your copy. Make use of email templates when what you need is a blank canvas, or an entire overhaul of your content. Think of these use cases:

• Brand refreshes: Change things up by creating custom templates for your brand. Put more eyes on what you have to offer with a complete brand refresh.
• New campaigns: Launch a new campaign with a fresh start. Take a look at previous campaigns and see what works and what doesn’t.
• Major sales events: Build a fully custom email for your next big sale, from layout to copy. Make the moment feel like an event, not just another promotion.

Email design best practices

Once you've decided which approach fits your use case, it's time to begin designing. Keep these best practices in mind so your Canva creations perform once they land in your customers' inboxes.

Personalize with on-brand designDesign mobile-firstDesign with accessibility in mind

Personalize with on-brand design

Every email should draw customers to your product. To keep them engaged, use these best practices:

• Include a call-to-action: Be sure there is a clear CTA that tells customers what action to take, and how they should take it. Include the direction, and a button that directs customers to your product.
• Use a 60% text-image ratio: Image-only emails hurt your deliverability and may never reach your customers’ inboxes. Ensure your email meets inbox provider requirements by making sure your email has at least 60% text.
• Keep assets on-brand: Personalize your assets that reflect your brand. By having a certain look and feel, you make your brand easily identifiable by your customers.

Design mobile-first

Different screens can affect how images are viewed in your emails. Be sure to:

• Keep screen size in mind: Mobile screens are smaller than desktop screens, so large images can appear distorted or load slowly. Resize images appropriately for mobile devices, ensuring they load quickly and look clear on all screen sizes.
• Preview emails on different devices: Klaviyo's email template editor lets you switch between desktop and mobile views. Design your emails with mobile viewing as the priority, then confirm that images are sized and aligned well for both desktop and mobile displays. You can even set different images for desktop and mobile if needed.

Design with accessibility in mind

Accessibility considerations ensure that everyone can access your Canva designs. Follow these tips to create accessible, inbox-friendly emails. To improve readability, follow these best practices.

• Choose colors that reflect your branding: Colors appear differently to different users and on different devices.
• Use high contrast: Canva lets you combine visuals and overlay text on images. Use high-contrast colors for readability, including for colorblind users, and consider darkening images first. Whenever possible, add text in the body of the email rather than as an overlay to improve accessibility.
• Preview assets in dark mode: ‍Many users view emails in dark mode. When transferring images from Canva, use the transparent background option to improve appearance. Preview emails in dark mode whenever possible to check your designs.

TIP: Alt text can also be added to your email templates in Canva.