What modular grid emails are
A modular grid email layout organises content into distinct, self-contained blocks or modules. These modules stack vertically and can be arranged horizontally within a fixed width, allowing for flexible content presentation and responsive design across different screen sizes. This approach helps maintain visual consistency while accommodating diverse content types.
This page is one slice of the Nitrosend email library. It holds 159 real emails from 98 brands, all of them collected out of two ordinary inboxes. Nothing here is a mockup.
Modular grid emails you can look at
Filter by industry, design style, layout or length. Open any one to read the subject line, what it is doing, and the prompt that rebuilds it.
What 159 of them actually do
Every email we collected in this segment used a modular grid layout. This shows a universal adoption of this structure among the 98 distinct brands in our dataset of 159 emails. The modular approach allows for flexible content blocks, which is crucial for the range of email types we observed, from promotional to newsletters.
Most brands use product grids within their modular layouts. We found 60% of these emails incorporated a product grid, suggesting a strong preference for showcasing multiple items visually. In contrast, only 19% included a hero image, indicating that a single dominant image is less common than a multi-item display. The median number of calls to action per email was 10, showing brands pack these modular layouts with many conversion points.
Promotional and instructional content often fills these modular grids. Promotional emails account for 38% of the collection, while newsletters make up 21%. This shows a clear focus on either direct selling or content distribution within these structured layouts. Brands like Pinterest and Product Hunt frequently appear, using these grids to deliver diverse content, often with an instructional tone.
High contrast and balanced visual density are common in modular grid emails. The majority (65%) use a high-contrast colour mood, making individual modules stand out. Visually, 55% have a balanced density, with 39% being image heavy, showing that brands are careful not to overwhelm the reader despite having many modules. George, our co-founder, observed that "Every modern ESP now ships an AI composer. They all produce the same email: hero icon, three-card grid, generic palette, 'Read more →' CTA, plain footer." This highlights a pattern of modular grid use even in AI-generated content, often leading to predictable structures.
None of this helps if the send never lands, which is a email marketing problem rather than a design one.
What to take from these
- Adopt a modular grid for every email. Our collection shows this layout is universally used.
- Integrate product grids into your design. 60% of brands use them to display multiple items effectively.
- Aim for a balanced visual density. Most emails in our dataset achieve this, avoiding extremes of image or text heaviness.
- Use high-contrast colour palettes. This helps define distinct content blocks, a common practice in the emails we observed.
- Include multiple calls to action. The median email in this collection had 10, indicating a common practice of offering many next steps.
- Address your audience directly. One third of brands personalise their greetings by using the recipient's first name.
Once the shape is right, the rest is getting the thing delivered.
What is in this set
By industry
159 emails from 98 brandsNext to this one
The same corpus, cut a different way: single column, plain text, two column.
Questions people ask
A modular grid layout arranges email content into distinct, reusable blocks that stack vertically and can align horizontally. It allows designers to create flexible and responsive emails that adapt well to different screen sizes while maintaining a consistent visual structure.
Yes, they are universally adopted. Every one of the 159 real emails we collected in this segment used a modular grid layout. This indicates it is the standard approach for organising content in modern email campaigns.
Not as often as you might think. Only 19% of the modular grid emails we collected included a hero image. Brands more commonly integrate product grids, which appeared in 60% of the emails, to showcase multiple items rather than a single dominant visual.