Recently a friend, who is an amazing print designer but new to online,  asked me how to make a large image appear in the body of an email. It was a request from a client of his, to send out as an ad to prospects. Email marketing has become so complicated that I felt I should give some additional, unsolicited advice. I didn’t want to overwhelm him, but I wanted to cover the most important elements of a good email campaign. Below is my response, did I leave out anything you think is critical?

Hi [friend's name removed],

You need to create an HTML file to reference the image which should be hosted on a web server. Then the HTML file should be sent out throughher email marketing service provider.

A couple of other things to keep in mind:

- Most email programs incorporate image blocking technology. So if you send the entire message as an image, a large portion of her audience may not see it. If you can recreate the image with the important parts of the message as HTML text instead of an image, she will get a better response. Additionally, an email that is one big image may set off spam filters and many people may not even get it. More info here:

http://www.mailchimp.com/articles/how_spam_filters_think/

and here:

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/2559/current-conditions-and-best-pr-1/

(This one’s a little old, blocking has increased since 2007, so the chart of email clients is off. However, the tips are still good.)

- When creating an HTML file for email purposes, it’s important to consider the audience. Certain email providers and software programs interpret HTML differently so something that looks good in Gmail will not look the same in Yahoo or in MicroSoft Outlook. It’s best to keep the HTML simple and not get too crazy with CSS. When using CSS it’s better to use inline-styles over linked style sheets. More info here:

http://www.blogopreneur.com/2008/10/17/css-styles-that-work-with-email/

- If she is sending this to multiple people, she needs to comply with CAN SPAM legislation. The policy requires among other things that a person receiving the email have the ability to opt out of receiving future emails from that company. This is typically done in the footer of the email. More info here:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm

Good luck. Let me know if you have any more questions about it.

T

Tagged with: advertising • email • Marketing • online

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