Here are my tips on writing effective emails (as a designer working with a developer). First assume most people are using some sort of Microsoft exchange server for their email client, That means it’s behind a corporate firewall and any image files will not come through. You will have to manually download them. So designers who create emails with all image is about the worst possible thing to do (I know I have said this about websites also), but a designer really has to think like a marketer also.
Here are some other critical things to know about creative email.
1. First, define the goal. This should include; Benefits of product/service, desired response, design requirements, who is the audience, objective of the message, etc..
2.SUBJECT LINES ARE CRITICAL. You need to think like an email filter, you want your message to get through, so no caps, special characters, and test it on some free email clients. Make sure the subject line is relevant to the recipient.
2a. A subject line is like the title of a website when doing SEO. The important words come first. The subject line should also be clear on why one should open the email. ALWAYS think about relationships, not the message (remember good marketers/designers are working on long-term relationship efforts). Also try to get some else involved in writing the subject line, meaning not the person who wrote the copy. this is extremely helpful.
3. We all know of the ALT tag (I hope) if you do web design. The ALT tag is a description of an image. Make sure you use these and make them relevant. For example if you have an image of your company logo, don’t put log in the ALT field. Use something Company XYZ Logo in the ALT field, this is helpful when images are turned off. Also make your hyperlinks text, not image files. I know this goes against everything that is in a designers blood but…
4. One thing that is powerful is personalization. I know this one is kind of obvious, but many people still do not do this.
5. Be very cognizant of the snippet text. This is the first area of text that appears in your pre-header section of the email. What this means is you will usually see a subject line like : Save 50% today only. This is the subject line, then it is usually followed by some snippet text like, if you can’t see the message click her. This is not very effective. Good snippet text is help carry the message, so instead of what was stated above you might say, Get that 50% off promotional offer with XYZ Company today, see our rules online. This is much more powerful and get read more.
6. The message has to be relevant to the recipient, so what is that? It has to be timely, interesting, rewarding, meaningful. It’s like of like a blog. It can’t be totally self-serving. I know it’s tempting to be self serving, but make it worth-while for the recipient.
7. One thing that is powerful is personalization. I know this one is kind of obvious, but many people still do not do this. I have used a product called Personal URL generator, and it is easy to set up. It’s Called PURL. Which is Personal URL Generator.
8. TEST, TEST, TEST. The message must look the same across multiple email clients. Again, most clients disable images by default. I test my campaigns for people on many clients. I have accounts with say, thunder bird, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Outlook, AOL, Send the message to all these accounts so you can correct any layout issues before you actually send it. This is where many designers fail. If you do this, you will see very different messages coming through. Do this with images turned on and turned off. This can be very helpful. They do not design for email. So they are very set on the exact type-font they want and overall look of the mail, so it turns out to be one or two big image files, which is a no. no. Because the if you do not optimize the message, they just see a couple of little boxes with red X’s in them.
9. So how do you do this? You do a test only version. So imagine your message your message going through with the messages turned off by the client. You can get close to the same thing by actually using text and background colors (the colors might not come through, but the text will). It takes some effect, but your click-troughs will go up.
10. We all know of the ALT tag (I hope) if you do web design. The ALT tag is a description of an image. Make sure you use these and make them relevant. For example if you have an image of your company logo, don’t put log in the ALT field. Use something Company XYZ Logo in the ALT field, this is helpful when images are turned off. Also make your hyperlinks text, not image files. I know this goes against everything that is in a designers blood but…
11. Always have a call to action, and make it above the fold. Big arrows or circles , or something that really draws the user to click-through. The click-through should never go to your homepage. Create an appropriate landing page that reflects the email. Remember the subscribe to form on the landing page. Make sure you have a subscriber/unsubscribe area. An email is like a website, so top left is a good place for your logo, tag-line, etc.
12. If you CSS, use it in line, again a lot of clients will strip out CSS. Same with JavaScript, though it can be tempting, but you will almost assuredly get dumped into the spam folder.
13. Try using multimedia. Links to videos, (not embedded, it will be blocked. Use an image of a video player (that is clickable with a good ALT tag). At least the recipient will recognize its a video and link to the landing page where you put it, or use animated gifs, they can be very effective.
14. Using time constraints, ex: limited time only, just for you! or sale ends today! Or course this does make you message time sensitive to you. So you should always use follow-up emails. all can get higher click through.
15. Try some viral efforts. Like a forward to a friend. Blog about it, tweet, etc…(only if it is worth sharing)
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