Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen…I’m going to go a little “techie” on you today.
But fear not, my friends. I’ll be there to walk you through it from start to finish. Think of me as the I.T. nerd in your office…but with a heart.
It’s time we spoke a bit about email design. In my line of work, I receive a lot of marketing emails from a lot of different companies. Most look great. But it’s important you know that, as with me, good looks are merely a small part of the total package. There’s a whole lot more involved in creating an effective email campaign.
Are you a Gmail user? If you’re not, get a free account – for testing purposes. See, Gmail is one of several email programs that block all graphics by default unless the mail recipient specifically requests to turn them on in a particular message. For many users, that means they will never see pictures in the emails you send, only text.
This has major implications for your email campaigns.
Let’s say your ad agency has designed a killer ad. You love it, and can’t wait to send out an email that looks just like it. So your agency designs a glamorous email that mirrors the ad – with similar graphics, fonts and colors. It’s gorgeous.
But when someone opens it on Gmail, it looks like this:
click the image to enlarge
(identifying information crossed out to protect the guilty)
Unless the recipient clicks on the “display images below” link, that recipient will see a completely blank screen.
Attractive, huh?
Why is this happening? Think of this email as one big, fat Jpeg photo. The designer of the email essentially chose to design a glorified print ad, then copied and pasted it into an email. Many designers like to take this route since it gives them maximum flexibility and creative control over the look and feel of their emails.
However, with images blocked by default in many popular email readers, many recipients will never see the message. To make matters worse, the chance of this type of email getting nailed by spam filters is much, much higher.
Unfortunately, there’s really no way around this image blocking problem. But there is something we can do to give ourselves a fighting chance.
Take a look at another email below. This is what the email looks like in all its glory:
click the image to enlarge
But even with images blocked, the message still shines through:
click the image to enlarge
When we design marketing emails the right way, recipients are more likely to get the general idea of the message – with or without images enabled. Their interest may be piqued enough to click on either the “display images” button or on one of the links in the message itself. But at the very least, you can be sure that recipients will be able to read the general idea of your message, instead of looking at a big blank screen.
The downside? Well, some of the fonts and other items in the email may not lay out exactly as you’d see them on a printed page. Sure, these inconveniences may annoy you as a marketer, but let me assure you, the trade-off is worth it.
Bottom line: Email design is not the same as print design.
I realize most of you don’t design your own emails…but you can make sure your campaigns meet your standards. So before you send out that next fancy campaign designed by your agency, test it on a Gmail account without images. You may be surprised by what you see…or more accurately, by what you don’t see.
And if you don’t like what you don’t see…well, perhaps it’s time to Go Stampless…
What’s the best marketing email you’ve received? Tell us about it in the “comments” section below.
Tags: e-mail design, e-mail marketing, email design, email marketing, Gmail, home building, homebuilding, image blocking, internet marketing, real estate
