Marketing Emails

Email is an outbound marketing campaign tactic used to engage and nurture our known contacts. Marketing emails are created in Eloqua using a modular email template system.

Marketing emails are modeled after the B2B site as they often direct traffic to that property. We replicate the website’s treatment of the header layout, logo treatment, type styles, call-to-action instances, and footers to build consistency and trust.

All emails share a common frame or set of layout elements.

Background color is always F7F5F2 (Neutral 10 in the Morningstar color palette).
Header contains the logo and “View online” link and can be versioned when appropriate.
Morningstar logo links to the B2B site. The logo can be replaced by family brand or acquired brand logos as appropriate.
View online link allows the email to be viewed in browser.
Email body includes text and imagery and allows for a variety of modular component configurations.
Footer contains links to our social channels, a recall of the Morningstar logo, and subscription management information.

Type Styles

Preset type styles and text sizes are built into components and templates. These sizes render well across both desktop and mobile views. For consistency, designers shouldn’t alter text sizes.

HTML code allows our brand typeface, Intrinsic, to render when possible. When Intrinsic isn’t available, email code will display backup typefaces.

CTA Variations

Best practice dictates using a single, primary call-to-action in marketing emails to focus the audience’s attention on the main action we want them to take.

A secondary CTA can promote an additional action. Use a tertiary CTA when the audience can choose from several actions of equal value, such as downloading a report from a list of research content. Inline CTAs can link to relevant information in context.

Examples of button options, showing a primary CTA, secondary CTA, tertiary CTA, and inline CTA. — Email CTAs should only appear as in one of the instances above. Do not alter the color or styling as these styles align to CTA styles on the B2B site.

In addition to the common frame, all emails are built with modular components that can be reused across all email types. Below are some commonly used components.

Headline and Hero Image

The headline and hero introduce the topic of the email. Designers can choose from the preset combinations below. In some cases, we can test combinations in different orders to determine what performs best. Read more about Eloqua best practices and A/B testing.

Example of an image-first email hero — Place the hero image directly below the header to capture audience interest with a visual. The hero image is always 600px wide and can vary in height.

Example of a headline-first email hero — Place the headline directly below the header and above the hero image to lead with a compelling headline.

Example of an image-less hero — We can omit a hero image on informational emails or when the body contains a lot of imagery.

Example of a webinar email hero. — Webinar and event headlines include the date and time of the event. Hero images are optional in this variation.

Content Blocks

Designers can combine modular image and text blocks to best suit the email content.

content block example of text module — Text modules contain body copy and can include bolded subheads and links as needed.

Example of the two-column insight card — Two-column insights card modules reuse the insights creative that appear on the B2B site.

Example of a content promotions - text left block — Content promotion - text left modules support an image and descriptive copy to the left.

Example of a content promotion - text right block — Content promotion - text right modules support an image and descriptive text to the right.

Example of a promotional module with dark background — Promotional modules can highlight a related webinar, event, or program.

Example of the alternative promotional module — Alternate promotional modules use a light background and an eyebrow that identifies the insight type (in this example, a webinar).

Speaker Blocks

Speaker headshots and bios are included in webinar and event emails to provide information about speaker and presentors.

Webinar version of speaker block — Webinar speaker blocks can include up to four speakers per row.

speaker block for events — Event speaker blocks can include up to four speakers per row. When there are fewer than four speakers, the column width stays consistent.

Our prebuilt Eloqua templates optimize layouts for common marketing goals.

Content Download Email

This email type can feature gated or ungated content. Use this template to deliver content after a user fills out a form or as part of a nurture series.