‘Design’ Articles

This is by far one of the most commonly asked questions that we get here at Admail.net. Our users expect to see exactly what they have created in our editor to appear in their recipient’s email inbox. We completely understand this expectation and we also wish it could always work out that way. We’ve gone to great lengths to make our email editor as compatible as possible with every email client, but the simple fact is, it’s impossible to make any editor absolutely compatible for every email client simultaneously.

Each email client (Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, Apple Mail, Hotmail, etc.) renders the HTML it receives differently. This is very similar to how a different browser can change how a website appears to a user. In reality, each and every email client that receives your email will render it differently, no matter how slight the difference. I say this in part to alleviate some of the pressure you are feeling to have you email be perfect for every single recipient. It’s impossible. No one is going to see the intended email and the one they actually receive side-by-side, so if there are small differences, they will be none the wiser. That being said, we completely understand your concern and know that there is a level of deviation that is acceptable and one that is not.

Our email templates have been designed to be as compatible with email clients as possible. We have spent more time on compatibility with the major email clients, so if you are viewing the email in a particularly old or obscure email browser, that may be what is causing any display issues.

If you experience a major display issue, check the email in several email clients to see if the problem is occurring across the board. If it’s not, you should check your email client to see if it is up to date. As always, if a problem persists you are welcome to give us a call so we can help you through it.

At times simplicity is the most effective means of communication. To get your point across with an email, there are occasions when all you need is a simple white background email with text.

There is more than one way to go about creating a plain white-paper email, but the most simple way is to do a plain text email. A plain text email is just text. There is no HTML code included in the message at all. While this means that there are no complications and that your message is slightly (though likely by a negligible amount) more deliverable, it also means that your message will not be able to include links, images, or advanced formatting of any kind. Emails like this are useful if you think your clients will be viewing them on a mobile device, if their email clients don’t allow HTML code, or if you simply want to deliver a complication free, simple, but highly deliverable email.

The other way to create a email with a white background and text is to use one of our white-paper templates. These templates are created to be as simple as possible but still allow you to include links, pictures, font formatting and other content features only available with HTML code. Not only will you have more control over the content of your email, but you will get more information from Accu Trak when using a white-paper template as opposed to a plain text email. Clickthrough tracking is available only in full HTML emails.

Each method has its own pros and cons, you can use the information in this post to pick which is best for your campaign. No matter which you choose, always remember that content is the most important part of your email both for deliveribilty and effectiveness.

If you read our previous blog post “Creating Image Based Emails and Using Alternative Text and Slicing” you are very well informed about how to use alternative text and slicing to your advantage. You may be wondering however, what a good implementation of these tactics look like. We recently received an email from HP that we believe uses alternative text and slicing with style and class.

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We’ve covered a lot of ways to improve your email campaigns in our numerous blog posts. We get so many questions about best practices and how to improve campaign results that we thought that we’d gather up all of our best practices tips and put them in one place. Here is a list of our favorite “Best Practices”.

1. Write great subject lines.

Subject lines are the first things your customer will see and can be the deciding factor in how much attention they give your email. Don’t rush the writing of your subject line. Come up with several different ideas, and chose the one you think would appeal most to your customer. Be honest and avoid the hard sell,  also stay away from SPAM language and your subject line will support your well thought out campaign.

2. Don’t forget the preview pane!

The preview pane is the handy little window that exists in email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird. It shows a preview of the email before it is actually “opened”. It’s so useful in fact, that many people read their emails almost exclusively through this window. Create your email so that the most important part of your offer or message is visible in the preview pane. This means the top section of your email is very important as would be the case regardless since grabbing your reader’s interest quickly is your primary goal anyway.

3. Avoid SPAM language.

Chances are good that you’ve gotten a SPAM message in your email inbox. Have you ever noticed how they all seem to share the same language? SPAM stoppers have been designed to pick up on this recurring “language of SPAM” by using Bayesian style filters. These filters have been popular for years and use common “SPAM words” to block potential SPAM messages. Actually, it’s fairly complicated and if you’d like you can read more here. The general idea is that avoiding certain words and phrases can make your email more deliverable. We’ve compiled a list of some of the words to avoid in our Email and Spam Blockers FAQ.

4. Make it look good.

Despite the common advice to not “judge a book by its cover”, all people have a tendency to make snap judgments. Bad design can detract from the positives in your email and can ruin your campaigns potential for success. Not every email needs to be a work of art, but take some time and objectively view your email. Ask yourself, “Does it look like SPAM? Would I be comfortable giving my credit card information to this company?” Make your campaign look professional and your clients will be more apt to click your links and buy your products.

5. Treat your recipients like real people.

In the world of bulk email, treating your clients with a respectful and personal touch can be the difference between success and failure. Email has the tendency to be cold and impersonal. If you manage to find a way to break the mold and connect with your recipients, you will give them a refreshingly positive experience that is sure to drive results.

6. Focus on meaningful content.

Find out what your customers want and give it to them. Too many marketers get so wrapped up in their own product that they forget about the consumer. If you provide your recipients with something valuable, your campaign will be a success. Blatant solicitation without value is a waste of everyone’s time and your money.

7. Establish your brand.

If you are already producing content that your recipients actually want, the next step is to ensure that they don’t overlook your email. Maintaining cohesive design and messaging will make your email familiar and allow your recipients to pick your email out of a crowd. If they have a high traffic inbox, this strategy can be crucial to the success of your campaign.

8. Include an offer.

Including an offer is a fantastic way to attract attention. Avoid being misleading at all costs, if the customer feels lied to, you’ve just lost a customer. Exclusive offers are more attractive and have the potential of prompting recipients to forward the email to a friend. Free marketing doesn’t get any better than that!

9. Avoid large images.

Large images give your email a higher probability of tripping SPAM filters and may also ruin your email design. You may want to show off pictures in high resolution but an email is not the place to do it. Include a thumbnail of the image and have it link to the full sized image hosted elsewhere.

10. Ask to be on their list.

There is no better way to ensure that your future emails don’t wind up in a willing recipients SPAM folder than just asking nicely. Ask your customers to add you to their contact list and, in most email clients, your message’s delivery will be ensured. You can include this request in your first campaign or in all of your campaigns.

11. Know and follow CAN-SPAM regulations.

This one is simple, CAN-SPAM regulations are the law and if you break them you could find yourself with a hefty fine and a nasty mark on your reputation. Avoid these problems by understanding the regulations before starting any email campaign.

12. Study major email providers policies.

Professionals in any field always do their homework. They know more about their topic than anyone else and they use that knowledge to their advantage. If you want to be a pro in the email marketing world, you need to know the policies of the major email providers. You wouldn’t ship goods somewhere without knowing the docking regulations of the port, so don’t be uninformed of the rules and regulations of companies like Yahoo!, Google, or Microsoft.

Many email marketers choose to use image-based emails to create a seamless and professional look for their email campaigns. You can do this too, if you know the right way to do it!

For starters, you will have to accept that initially your images WILL get blocked by the majority of email clients. Your customers can choose to accept these images later, but on initial receipt, the images will be blocked. If you understand this and the implications and you still want to use this tactic, then you are ready to proceed.

When you decide to send an image-based email, a great way to ensure that your customers hear your message is by including alternative text. Including alternative text for images is always a good practice, but becomes especially important when there is no other content for your recipients to see such as in image based emails. Alternate text will show up when an image is blocked and your customer will at least be able to read that small part of your message. This text can assure recipients that the email is from a trusted source and they will be more likely to view the images after reading it.

It is extremely simple to provide alternative text for your images with the Admail.net system. All you need to do is include your alternative text in the “Image Description” when you add the image to your message. If you are going to use HTML code to construct your email, you probably already know that you can include alternative text through the “alt” tag.

Another way to keep your image-based emails manageable is to avoid using one large image file. It is more prudent to slice the image into several pieces and then construct the image out of these pieces. Why is this a commonly followed practice? For two reasons: Primarily, because it makes the message more likely to be viewed. Several small files allow for an opportunity to include more alternate text and reduce the chance of tripping spam filters. Secondly, slicing allows you to make each individual section of your image a clickable link. Remember, image map code does not work in most email browsers, so slicing becomes a great alternative. We encourage best practices such as slicing at Admail.net. That is one of the reasons why our default image upload size is 40kbs or less per image.

Slicing an image is a fairly simple process that can be carried out by your company’s graphic designer or anyone who is competent with photo editing software. You can also do it online here: http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/is/ Make sure you uncheck the boxes that say ‘enable links’ and ‘mouse over effect’ unless you are an advance user. After making any changes on this page, including unchecking these boxes, you must click the “process” button for the changes to take effect. Once you’ve made your changes, click download. You’ll be prompted to download a zip file which will contain your slices.

Now that you have a sliced piece of artwork that you would like to send,  you may be wondering how to turn it into an email. The best way to handle imaged-based email creation is to have an experienced website designer or someone very familiar with HTML create a simple layout and then import it into our system. Another possibility is to modify a template for your needs. Simply insert the images in the arrangement you would like them to be. We suggest that you use as few slices as possible to keep this manageable. Slicing the image in half is usually enough. Through our own testing we’ve found that anything over four slices begins to get pretty complicated. You may need to change individual image alignment to get images to lay flush against one another. When you have one image above another you’ll see that there will be a space between the two. Align the image on top with using the alignment tag “bottom.”

If you are unfamiliar with the more advanced editing features of Email Builder 2.0, we highly suggest that you experiment with the system. By right-clicking on the layout view of the template, you can access a host of options that let your modify the template. You can copy sections and you split them into additional columns. Padding changes can be made by right clicking and choosing the modify option in the drop down. After a little experimentation, you should have a firm grasp on the layout editor, if not, you’re welcome to call us and we’ll be more than happy to walk you through it!

A great example of alternative text and slicing done right.