73% of marketing professionals don’t just use email marketing, they believe they couldn’t do their jobs correctly without it.

Pardot reports that 73% of marketers believe email is “crucial” in 2015. An additional 79% stated that email design and content are the most critical components for successful outcomes.

As email continues to rise in popularity, the shrewdest organizations are investing more heavily in high-quality email marketing design. If your organization lacks a design-savvy HTML whiz, that’s doesn’t mean you’ve lost. Here are six ways any marketing pro can instantly design a better newsletter without coding skills or a massive budget:

1. Don’t Be Too Text Heavy

Your email marketing shouldn’t feel like a giant wall of text. Remember, 37% of Americans feel like they’re experiencing email overload on a daily basis.

Share enough content to provide some serious value to your readers, but don’t overload them. Break up longer content with text formatting, and be sure to balance your text appropriately with images, dividers, sidebars, and other visually-rich elements.

2. Avoid Too Many Images

Your images are not a tool for communicating critical information. Researchers estimate that only 40-45% of individuals who open your emails will unblock your images. Overloading your emails with excessive pictures won’t get the message across any more effectively, and it could even trigger email spam algorithms.

3. Test More

Nearly every marketer will experience an email issue at one point or another during their career. Fortunately, thorough testing can prevent many embarrassing mishaps. Test extensively using your email platform’s desktop and mobile previews. Invest in a tool like EmailReach to preview how emails render on various email service providers, including spam testing and HTML verification.

Create and Send Engaging Newsletters From Gmail

4. Invest in Design Elements

If your organization is going to be limiting your use of images in your email communications, ensure the ones you’re incorporating are truly top-notch. Invest in a branded, visually-appealing banner for the tops of your email newsletters or design it yourself in a user-friendly tool like Canva.

5. Utilize Grids

Providing a high-volume of content to your clients doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice design. In fact, digest-style email newsletters can make for immensely valuable resources. The secret to design a better email newsletter is to use grid views, such as two column content previews that balance images with text.

6. Use Templates

Email marketing templates don’t need to look pre-packaged or generic. Many are highly-customizable and will look downright professional if you take a few minutes to make them your own. Add your own text, images, links, banners, and company colors, and it will appear to have been developed in-house.