You're a big fat fibber

It's not that important

Author

Gavin Hewitson
September 07, 2025

In partnership with

If you are talking to an email marketer and they are telling you how important email design is when it comes to conversion rates… they are FIIIIIIBBBBBING

In This Email, You Will Find:

  • You're a big fat fibber

  • My YouTube growth

  • Resources to help with your email marketing

You're a big fat fibber

It’s one of the most overhyped parts of email marketing.

Design.

I know this sounds weird coming from an email marketer, but I can tell ya right now, the design of your email is one of the least important parts of your overall email marketing strategy, and yes, I have numbers to back this.

I have seen the ugliest emails convert at double the rate of some of the most beautiful emails I have seen.

And it’s annoying when I see other marketers talk about how important design is… it ain’t… You fibbing… You lying… and you know it.

The reason design is so overhyped, and it comes from us, email marketers, is that it is the easiest thing for us to show clients when it comes to them evaluating the quality of our work. If the design looks good, everything else must be good as well, right? And honestly, I think there is some merit to that, but I would not let a good email design be the biggest indicator of how good the strategy is behind the email itself.

Now I am not saying ‘design dog s*** emails and everything will be fine.’ What I am saying is don’t overcomplicate it.

The fundamentals of CTA above the fold, a clear image ideally with people in the header image using your product if you have it, and some social proof, is going to get you 95% of where you need to be in terms of design. The real value in an email is going to be in the timing, the offer, the segmentation and the positioning of your offer to that segment. That’s where the conversions happen.

Now I am also not going to discount the brand alignment factor here as well. Your branding should align across all channels, but going into say, ‘should we move this CTA one pixel to the left…’ is a poor allocation of your time and resources.

Focus on other things.

Now, check out my email designs here: click here

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My YouTube growth

One of the things I am most proud of is my YouTube channels.

For the past 4 - 5 months, I have been posting two videos a week on my email marketing YouTube channel, and I am going to be expanding to 3 starting next week.

I have seen a really steady increase in both views and impressions, and I have, at the time of writing, climbed to 753 subscribers. My goal is 1k by the end of the year (we will get there).

You should check it out if you haven’t. I post a bunch of what I think is really honest content on email marketing in general.

YouTube has been one of the hardest channels to grow, and I think that is the case for everyone, and for that reason, it is one of the most effective out there. The social proof that saying ‘I have a YouTube channel’ builds is second to none. Yes, we get leads from YouTube, but more importantly, the leads we get from elsewhere, once they see our YouTube, are much more likely to convert.

I recommend everyone in B2B start posting on YouTube, even if it is for a short period of time, just having that content out there that you can refer people to will help your business immensely.

My Referral Program

Resources to help with your email marketing

 Check out some of the guides I put together:

  • Master outline of every flow of an e-commerce business needs: click here

  • ChatGPT prompts for 6 automations: click here

  • Editable design files that you can copy and paste for your own business/agency: click here

  • Make more profit with your next email sale: click here

  • My strategy for making money as a consultant: click here

  • 639 different swipe files for email and sign-up forms: click here

Thanks for tuning in!

 Cheers,

Gavin