David Cummings on Startups

Quick Email Marketing Design Best Practices

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David Cummings

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Email marketing continues to be an effective part of integrated marketing. Amazingly, companies still don’t follow some of the simplest design best practices when it comes to building email creative. Here are some quick tips to follow:

  • The majority of email clients have images turned off by default, so design for that lowest common denominator
  • Test the design in the most prevalent email clients (e.g. Outlook, Lotus Notes, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, etc)
  • Seriously consider text-only emails, especially for B2B audiences
  • Remember to have calls to action throughout the email
  • Spend as much time on the subject line as on the email content
  • Invest in a good email marketing platform
  • Try using existing email templates as a foundation
  • Design for recipients to scan the message, with visual nuances like bold and bullet points
  • Know that the preview pane is only a few hundred pixels tall

What else? What are some other email marketing design best practices?

Comments

4 responses to “Quick Email Marketing Design Best Practices”

  1. David Favero Avatar
    David Favero

    David,
    I like your point “invest in a good email marketing platform.” I would add….use your good email marketing platform to A-B test your subject lines, calls to action and even your images. Run this A-B test through your first 10% of send and then watch your opens or clicks, then decide which works. Go with that….

    Also, look at your deliverability with a fine-toothed comb. Why are your emails going into spam filters? Then start asking the tough questions………

    Thanks David!

    DF.

    Reply
    1. David Cummings Avatar
      David Cummings

      Thanks David. Also, congrats on the new gig.

      Reply
  2. Michael Nourollahi Avatar
    Michael Nourollahi

    You make some valid points here. I wanted to add on to the text-only emails- everyone should consider that their email may opened via a mobile device, and the HTML can look horrendous for the people without Iphones and Android devices. Always test your email on a mobile device as well as the most prevalent email clients like you mentioned. Also, I would encourage footers that include an unsubscribe link as well as physical address (CAN-SPAM act).

    Reply
    1. David Cummings Avatar
      David Cummings

      Thanks Michael. Great points.

      Reply

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