So, if a picture is worth a thousand words, why does Instagram have captions?! Seriously.

Sure, images can make you feel all the feels. They can serve as evidence (or blackmail). They can make you regret ever teaching a kid how to use your smartphone and having to delete hundreds of useless pictures… But they aren’t language. And that’s okay!

We’re not going to bore you with a philosophical essay on the way your brain processes images and digests the written word. And we aren’t going to offer you a course on photography. Nah. We just want to talk about how words and images work in tandem to create a narrative. And, of course, how that relates to emails — so that you can make sure your images and words make the best possible impression!

Opening an email isn’t like standing in front of a piece of art at the MOMA and slowly letting it sink in. Email, on average, gets between three and eight seconds of view time and is (usually) not accompanied by a glass of champaign and a friend. Three seconds is about all the time a reader will take to decide if they’re compelled enough to stay and read or to click on to the next one. So, a catchy image is the hook, but it’s also much more than that.

When an image is used correctly in an email, it’s the focal point. It sets the mood but also creates curiosity. It highlights a common connection to the viewer. And, most of all, it supports the message and the call to action.

Supporting Images with Text