If you're using email as part of your marketing strategy or to gather online survey responses, there are a couple of email marketing design tips you may want to keep in mind:
• It's not all about the graphics. By default, many email clients, such as Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook 2007, block images. Each of them handle the blocked images differently. Gmail, for example, will display the Alt image tags, so readers can at least understand what they're not seeing.
When Outlook 2007 blocks images, though, it also blocks the Alt tag as well. The reader doesn't know what it the picture is or why it's important, just the fact that they can't see it.
• Don't fill the top of your email with a graphic. Because many email clients utilize a preview pane, the area at the top of your email may be the only part of the email that recipients see. If you just have a graphic (that may be being blocked anyway), it's hard to convince readers to continue reading to your message. If they are not scrolling through the email, they wont know you want them to complete a survey.
• Put your call to action in writing. As we explained in the first tip, some clients are blocking images by default. So, if you put a call to action hidden within a graphic, it won’t be seen by recipients with blocked images. If they can't see your "Complete our survey" button, they're certainly not going to do it.
If the information is critical to your message, do not put it in an image. Instead, use fancy text and colors to draw attention to your call to action.
• Never use cascading style sheets or CSS in an HTML email. Email clients, particularly Outlook, ignore them. If you use a cascading style sheet to define how your email will look, the result won't look anything like what you intended. Stick to inline styles.
Also, when designing emails, do not rely on new HTML rules. Though it's become more sophisticated over the years, email clients have not kept up.
We recommend HTML emails and use them in our own email marketing, but we also suggest testing your messaging to ensure it's getting the click-throughs you want (and need). You may want to consider using survey reminders and fewer graphics to ensure your message isn't being blocked multiple times by email clients. This will help boost your responses rate as well!
• It's not all about the graphics. By default, many email clients, such as Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook 2007, block images. Each of them handle the blocked images differently. Gmail, for example, will display the Alt image tags, so readers can at least understand what they're not seeing.
When Outlook 2007 blocks images, though, it also blocks the Alt tag as well. The reader doesn't know what it the picture is or why it's important, just the fact that they can't see it.
• Don't fill the top of your email with a graphic. Because many email clients utilize a preview pane, the area at the top of your email may be the only part of the email that recipients see. If you just have a graphic (that may be being blocked anyway), it's hard to convince readers to continue reading to your message. If they are not scrolling through the email, they wont know you want them to complete a survey.
• Put your call to action in writing. As we explained in the first tip, some clients are blocking images by default. So, if you put a call to action hidden within a graphic, it won’t be seen by recipients with blocked images. If they can't see your "Complete our survey" button, they're certainly not going to do it.
If the information is critical to your message, do not put it in an image. Instead, use fancy text and colors to draw attention to your call to action.
• Never use cascading style sheets or CSS in an HTML email. Email clients, particularly Outlook, ignore them. If you use a cascading style sheet to define how your email will look, the result won't look anything like what you intended. Stick to inline styles.
Also, when designing emails, do not rely on new HTML rules. Though it's become more sophisticated over the years, email clients have not kept up.
We recommend HTML emails and use them in our own email marketing, but we also suggest testing your messaging to ensure it's getting the click-throughs you want (and need). You may want to consider using survey reminders and fewer graphics to ensure your message isn't being blocked multiple times by email clients. This will help boost your responses rate as well!
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