Marketers go to great lengths to make their emails look more visually appealing. One of the most preferred ways to do this is to embed images into your emails. Images make your emails look interesting as compared to plain text, capture the reader’s attention and prompt them to take action. They also make it easier to convey your message.
However, embedding images in emails isn’t always easy with different email clients. Firstly, you must choose the right format and size to ensure that they are displayed correctly in your reader’s inbox. Secondly, when you try to add an image, it usually gets uploaded as an attachment. So, how do you embed the image within the body of the email in between the text or email copy?
In this guide, we’ll discuss why embedding images in emails is important and how you can embed images to make your emails look visually appealing and get the most out of them.
What does embedding an image in an email mean?
Embedding an image in emails means including images in the email body and making them appear within the email copy instead of being attached as a separate file.
The embedded email images seamlessly blend with the email content, enhancing the visual appeal and delivering an engaging experience for readers. While there can be many use cases of embedding an image into your email, here are a few that are most common:
To display the product when you’re launching a new product
To display the coupon with coupon code when you’re sending a coupon or offers
To display the banner of the event you’re sending invites to people for
To display testimonials of satisfied clients
The image below shows an email with an embedded image in the email body.
This is different from attaching an image to your email. When you attach the images, the get appear at the bottom of the email and are usually not displayed unless downloaded and viewed separately. Here's what an attached image looks like in an email.
Moreover, you can customize the size of embedded images using content blocks and adding links to images. When used strategically, embedded images make a huge difference in the reading experience.
Which email clients support embedded images?
| Email Client | Renders Image by Default | Renders ALT Text | Renders Styled ALT Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gmail | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outlook | No | Yes | Yes |
| Yahoo | No | Yes | Yes |
How to embed images in an email
Embedding images in an email depends on how you create an email. There are three ways to do so. Let’s go through them so you can have your pick:
1. Coding an email
When coding an email manually, you can embed images in two ways:
CID image embedding: This content-ID method is a straightforward way to embed images in emails. It involves attaching an image to the email and using its content ID to reference it in the email message. The CID URL then identifies the content ID of the attachment and displays the embedded image.
Here’s how you can do it.
Step 1: Write the HTML content of your email and include the <img> tag where you want the image to be. You must use the CID reference in the src attribute.
<html>
<body>
<p>Send interactive emails with Mailmodo</p>
<img src="cid:Mailmodoimage" alt="Embedded Image">
</body>
</html>
Here, cid:Mailmodoimage references the content ID of the attached image.
Step 2: Attach the image with the content ID.
img = MIMEImage(img_file.read())
img.add_header('Content-ID', '<unique-image-id>')
msg.attach(img)
It is important to note that this method has its limitations. Images embedded through CID may not display properly for all email clients, so your email may not look consistent for all readers. Gmail and Yahoo often fail to display CID-embedded images effectively. Additionally, this method increases the size of your emails, making it tough to deliver. Larger emails tend to take a long time to load, which can be frustrating to your readers.
In-line embedding: Also known as base64 encoding, inline embedding involves inserting images directly into emails. To use this method, you need to convert your image into a base64 string. You can use online tools such as Base64 image encoder to create a base64-encoded string for the image.
From the dialog box that appears, you can copy the base64 string that shows up for use in <img> tag and paste it into the src attribute of <img> tag in the HTML code of your email.
This method ensures the image loads faster and displays smoothly, making your emails look better and more engaging. However, not all email servers are compatible with base64 code emails. For instance, Microsoft Outlook stops these kinds of emails from displaying properly as it blocks inline embedded images.
2. Using a template builder
Many email marketing platforms provide user-friendly interfaces that allow you to embed images effortlessly without writing any HTML code. We’ve taken an example of Mailmodo that offers a drag-and-drop template builder and shown you how you can do it:
Step 1: Click on Create new template.
Step 2: Click on Start from scratch.
Step 3: Go to Quick Add and drag the image block and drop it in the email template.
Step 4: Select the desired option to add an image. You can choose to upload the image from your computer, add it from the gallery, fetch the image from a URL, get stock images, or get GIFs and stickers.
When you choose to insert an image from a URL, you can opt for the dynamic URL option and specify a personalization parameter. In this field, enter the corresponding column header from your contact list, which will be used to extract the relevant image URL for each receiver.
Step 5: Select the image that you want to upload and click on Insert.
You can customize the image by adding ALT text, borders, linking image to URL, changing alignment and aspect ratio. Once done, click save and your image will be added to your email body.
Try Mailmodo’s Template Builder Today
3. Using email clients
Email clients such as Gmail and Outlook offer user-friendly options to embed images. Here’s how you can do it on Gmail.
Step 1: Click on the Compose button in your Gmail account.
Step 2: Click on Insert photo icon.
The Insert Photo dialog box appears. It gives you 4 options to add images - Photos, Album, Upload, and Web Address (URL).
Step 3: Choose the photos that you want to upload. Select the inline options and click on Insert.
The image will be added inline to the email body.
Conclusion
Embedding images in emails works better than simply attaching images. Test and find out which techniques work best for your email marketing campaigns. Ensure the images are in the right format and compatible with various email clients. Following the above-mentioned methods of embedding images can make your emails look great and noticeable and increase your engagement rates. It also adds to the overall design of your email and helps you stand out from the competition.
If you want to learn more about designing better emails, check out our resource below.
