| How2 Freshen Up your eMail Designs |  | |  | | | | | | | | introduction |  A REFLECTION ON YOUR ORGANISATION | | Your eMail communications are a reflection on your organisation and the design of your eMail templates will influence the perceptions, click-through rates and response-rates of your prospects. It could be time for a fresh approach! |  | | | two basic approaches | | SMALL CHANGES OR A RADICAL MAKEOVER | - Carry out a series of small changes over time, tweaking the look and feel so that it always looks familiar but slowly evolves over time. Your readers will recognise the design but will notice something "fresh" with every new communication.
- Carry out a radical makeover. Sometimes "a couple tweaks" aren’t enough - especially if your eMail template is ‘out-of-synch’ with the rest of your brand or you need to make people sit up and take notice.
Make a choice. Either way, whether you decide to make small changes or go for a radical redesign, an eMail campaign redesign can only benefit you as an eMail marketeer. | | | | width | | MAKE IT FIT THE eMAIL WINDOW | - Keep the width of your eMail template within 500 to 700 pixels
- No reader likes to scroll side-to-side just to read the message
| | | | | colour | | MATCH YOUR CORPORATE BRAND | - Always try and match your eMail campaign's colour-scheme to that of your brand and/or website. Not only does this create a visual link between them, but it helps your prospects associate those colours with your brand. As a consequence, this also creates an association with your products and services.
| | | | | content | | CONCISE AND WELL-POSITIONED | - Try to keep the content as short and to-the-point as possible. Outlook's preview pane can play a decisive role in how your prospect either skips your eMail message altogether or, crucially, clicks through to your site to make that sale.
- Keep all the important material at the top. Your brand; the gist of your message; and the call-to-action must all be positioned at the top of the eMail. Remember the preview pane in programs like Outlook can make or break your hard work.
| | | text | | USE DARK TEXT BUT AVOID CAPITALS | - Studies suggest dark text on a white background offers the best visibility for content on any screen and any resolution
- Keep CAPITALS to a minimum to try to avoid spam filters; to stop sounding as if YOU'RE YELLING and to improve readability.
| | | | | overall layout | | PRESENTATION IS AS IMPORTANT AS CONTENT | - How you present your content is almost as important as the content itself.
- The human eye is naturally drawn to things that are pleasing to the visual senses and a good layout makes it easier to read.
| | | | | cleanliness | | KEEP YOUR eMAIL DESIGN AS CLEAN AS POSSIBLE | - Try to keep your eMail campaign design as clean as possible
- Provide ample space around images; match the background of your images to the background of your eMail to offer a more seamless look; and, if using HTML, build a table structure to ensure proper alignment and spacing.
| | | text versions | | TEXT VERSIONS CAN LOOK GOOD TOO | - Text versions of eMail campaigns can be made to look good too! Instead of simply copying and pasting your HTML version's text. Make an effort to present the text version of your eMail campaign in a clear and readable way.
- Add dividing lines and extra spaces between paragraphs to help break up the content into digestible chunks.
| | | | | research | | CHECK OUT OTHER eMAILS | - Check out eMails in other campaigns. Subscribe to competitors' eNewsletters and decide what it is you like and don't like in their designs.
- Find out what draws you to them so you can generate new ideas for yourself. Identifying the elements that make an eMail look great to you is crucial in designing your own.
Reproduced below is our new eNewsletter design. Judge for yourself whether we’ve incorporated our own advice… |  | | | | | Sometimes a couple of ‘tweaks’ aren’t enough… |  | |
| | Keep all the important material at the top… | | |
| | | …Offer a more seamless look… | | |
| | | Check out other email campaigns – subscribe to competitors’ enewsletters | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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