4 Fresh Modern Furniture Email Designs

Last year, for the first time ever, consumers did most of their shopping online vs. shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, with shoppers reporting making 51% of their purchases online. Even big purchases like furniture are more easily made via the web these days. With direct-to-consumer cost benefits and swatch samples and showrooms, modern furniture and home decor brands make online shopping appealing. Let's take a look at how four modern furniture brands are polishing their email designs.

Interior Define amps up white space, pares down text, and uses modern photography and illustration

Interior Define's aesthetic is immediately striking. Its furniture is branded as well-crafted, custom, and fairly priced, and its visual brand shows that. Even with the pared-down, modern look, the brand still feels friendly and fresh. Most emails employ a combination of beautiful, bright photography with custom typography and a bit of illustration.

There's hardly any text, and the content that is included is large and easy to scan. Plus, the text is always paired with visual content, too. In-between all that, white space abounds.

Bottom line: Each part of Interior Define's emails is strategic, working together to present the brand as smart and chic.

Joybird incorporates in-email explainer GIFs for quick communication

Like Interior Define, Joybird offers customizable, quality furniture and goods for the home. It's another modern, online-only brand that seems to shout "artisanal retail." Its visual brand is colorful, approachable, and features plenty of millennial pink couches. Joybird's emails pare down text and amp up visual communication for longer emails that include more photography as well as GIFs.

In another email, Joybird introduces its blog with more beautiful photography, as well as another video-preview GIF. A "get to know us" video is also a great way to build brand loyalty and trust.

Bottom line: Joybird amps up the friendly factor with clickable GIFs that invite readers into their brand.

CB2's modular listicles promote product pairings

Unlike the above brands, CB2 doesn't operate solely online. It's got brick and mortar stores, but it markets to a similar crowd as the new e-commerce brands. A few recent messages employed a listicle approach, guiding readers through step-by-step decor guides.

The email would benefit from live text (to stay out of spam filters and improve mobile viewing), but the interesting crops and layered colors work well.

Bottom line: Everyone loves a good list, but live text is a must-have for any well-designed email.

Parachute packs in user-generated content

Parachute is a bedding and home decor retailer offering goods "expertly crafted by the world's finest artisans." Like other modern brands, it positions itself as a better option than traditional chain stores, and it's primarily an e-retailer. The brand does a great job of incorporating user-generated content into its email marketing strategy, featuring real customer reviews and best-sellers against mostly-white backgrounds.

Another email takes user-generated content to another level, curating Instagram photos of real customers' pets enjoying their products for National Dog Day.

Bottom line: Curated user-generated content is a great way to showcase products. Readers get to see the items "in the wild," and you don't have to start at the drawing board of content creation (ask permission to share first, though!).

Wrap-up: How modern furniture email design stays fresh

Email is your direct line to consumers. This is why it's such a critical space to present yourself as a brand. And since most modern furniture and home decor companies don't have brick and mortar stores, it's all the more important for their online presence to make a statement. Take their techniques and make them your own with modular designs that look great and are responsive on mobile.