Episode 35: From Click to Close: Why UX/UI Makes or Breaks SEO & Email
Tim and Robbie explore how design shapes performance across SEO and email. From mismatched brand rollouts to clunky landing pages, they show how UX/UI can either build trust or drive people away. You’ll learn why consistency matters, how to balance form with function, and what it takes to create a seamless brand experience across every touchpoint
“You don’t want your site to feel like 2005 threw up all over it.”
Objectives
In this episode, you will be able to:
Understand why UX/UI isn’t just a design issue — it directly affects SEO rankings and email engagement.
Spot the dangers of inconsistent branding across pages, channels, or redesign rollouts.
Learn how to balance form and function when making design choices that impact conversions.
See how email templates should match intent — content vs. product vs. hybrid — for maximum impact.
Recognize the importance of brand guidelines and centralized assets for scaling marketing.
Hear why small details (like dashed borders on signup forms) can sometimes drive huge performance gains.
Get key takeaways for ensuring your marketing ecosystem “sings in harmony” instead of leaving customers confused.
Transcript
Tim Lowry: Okay, so Robbie, I’ve really been pondering this one for a while. What makes a site great—something people actually want to use? This is a UX question. I’m ready to answer: all you need, on every page, is big JPEGs. Long JPEGs. Just throw them in there.
Robbie Fitzwater: Make it in Paint, no live text. And if possible, iFrame it into a magazine—maybe toss in a gif or two. It’s going to work, it’s going to perform well. I’m in. Let’s do this!
This is Tim and Robbie with the Content Community Commerce Podcast. We talk about the convergence of content, community, and commerce. Today we’re tackling a topic Tim knows well, I know a little, and while we don’t directly play in this space, it impacts everything we do: UX and UI.
Tim Lowry: Yeah, it gets its head in our cookie jar pretty quickly. Everybody interacts with it in some way, and while we don’t “own” it, UX and UI affect how people engage with a brand across the site and other channels.
Robbie Fitzwater: Exactly. For email and SEO, so much of what we do is writing checks that the website or platform needs to cash. We need a clear understanding of what’s good, what’s not, and how to keep things moving.
Tim Lowry: Five years ago, this wasn’t such a big deal. Now, it’s non-negotiable. If your UX is bad—if your design is bad—it affects all of your marketing. Not just what’s on your site, but everything else your name is on.
Robbie Fitzwater: Right. It’s about the total brand experience. Every digital touchpoint shapes someone’s perception of your business. And without alignment, the brand can start to look inconsistent or sloppy.
I used to lead social media for a major university. At any given time, there were hundreds of programs and departments with their own accounts. The further you went down, the sloppier it got. Sometimes you couldn’t tell if you were on the university’s official Facebook or “Brad’s basement conspiracy theory page.” It was chaos.
To fix it, we had to build enough trust that they’d use the templates and guidelines we provided. The challenge is always balancing function and form.
Tim Lowry: And if you tie it back to SEO and email, it matters even more. For SEO: you can drive great traffic, but if the experience is terrible, people bounce. That hurts rankings.
Robbie Fitzwater: For email: we’re taking people straight from their inbox to your site. If they click a beautiful, well-crafted email and land on a clunky, outdated page, the whole experience feels disjointed. It kills trust.
Tim Lowry: Exactly. I’ve seen phased redesigns where deeper pages still use the old color palettes and typefaces. As a user, you wonder, “Is this even the same company? Is this product discontinued?” Those cracks matter.
Robbie Fitzwater: For email, we always try to align the goal of the email with the intent. A content email can be playful and story-driven, teasing someone to dive deeper. A product email needs to be action-oriented—clear CTAs, multiple buttons, product detail pages ready to close the deal.
We also build templates—product rollout, content, hybrid, and even plain text—so the intent always matches the format.
Tim Lowry: And for SEO, we need strong brand assets. If I don’t have good product or lifestyle imagery, I can’t produce high-quality articles. Stock photography doesn’t cut it. Vendors, agencies, PPC partners—we all need access to the same brand assets.
Robbie Fitzwater: That’s why we lock in brand guidelines early: fonts, imagery, color palettes, button styles, everything. If those aren’t set, we can’t scale hundreds of emails across campaigns and automations.
Tim Lowry: And different businesses require different design approaches. A consumer brand’s blog and emails will look very different than a B2B financial site like NerdWallet. You’ve got to match the expectations of the audience.
Robbie Fitzwater: Exactly. And over time, you keep testing—what works stays, what doesn’t gets cut. Even something small, like dashed borders on a signup form, can drive massive improvements. Clients might not love how it looks, but they love making money.
Tim Lowry: So, key takeaways:
Don’t let form outweigh function—or vice versa. Balance both.
Match design with intent. A content page shouldn’t look like a product detail page. An email promoting a new product shouldn’t look like a blog teaser.
Keep brand guidelines centralized and consistent so every touchpoint feels cohesive.
Robbie Fitzwater: UX and design aren’t just about your website. They cascade into every piece of marketing. Cohesion builds trust.
Tim Lowry: Thanks for joining us. If you liked this, leave us a review. Five stars… or at least three and a half.
