In today’s world, we can use applications that allow us feature rich content. E-mail applications have come a long way in recent years and a large number of offline and online applications deal easily with HTML based E-mails. But, it isn’t a simple case of creating a HTML template and sending it out, there are some things to consider if you’re going to do this for the first time.

E-mail width

HTML E-mails aren’t that dis-similar to HTML web pages although there are some differences that you must be aware of. In this time of big widescreen monitors it’s not always the case that users will have their e-mail preview windows stretched across the screen. So it’s important to design within a smaller confined area to ensure maximum viewing pleasure. A standard look to run with for a HTML E-mail is in the region of 620-720 pixels wide. As for height or length, well that depends on the amount of information you need to get across, there is no golden rule, but how bored will your reader become after scrolling down for ages and ages.

E-mail subject lines

This is the killer line that’ll make someone click on it to see your message, this is one area where spam filters are hot on and the best place to look to see what kind of subject lines and keywords you want to try and avoid using is in your own mail spam folder. In here you’ll see all the references to Viagra, free this and that, these keywords trigger the spambots, so be wary of what you use and ensure you test throughly.

Testing, testing, testing

Whilst we can appreciate that mail programs like Microsoft Outlook rule the nest due to the dominance of Windows, we cannot forget the other offline and online apps out there such as Thunderbird, GMail and Hotmail. Don’t assume that an HTML E-mail blast will look perfect in all mail programs because it looks good in Outlook, sign up for all the free mail accounts you can and during your testing phase, hit these accounts with your blast to ensure you can test across as many platforms as possible. It’ll be worth it in the long run especially if the blast conveys a key new product or service.

Spam Testing

You can use online tools to test your HTML E-mail blast. They’ll give you a report and/or score to show the likehood of your blast ending up in the spam folder. Here are a couple sites you can try out

http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/ – Spam Check
http://www.programmersheaven.com/webtools/Spam-Checker/spamchecker.aspx – Programmers Heaven – Spam Checker

Remove Me Link

At some place in your E-mail you must provide a way for your subscribe to stop receiving E-mails from you. This part of the E-mail does not merit a big image or reams of text, merely a small neatly tucked away sentence giving them the offer to unsubscribe.

You could forward them onto a web page, where you could hit them with one final offer to entice them to stay, maybe a money off offer or something along those lines, then allow them to click the link to unsubscribe. If possible give them a textarea field to give you a reason why they don’t want to receive them, this could offer valuable feedback to enable you to tweak your Newsletter design going forward.

Images

If you decide to use images in your Newsletter blasts, try to keep them small and to the point. Image placement is key especially when you consider the number of users who regularly use preview panes to quickly view E-mail content. If your image dominates the preview pane, then you may have lost your opportunity to get them to scroll down. Image filesize is also key, smaller images load faster. Spread them throughout your E-mail to break up large amounts of text.

Mailing List

The final point, please ensure you are only mailing people who have subscribed to your list or have agreed to receive marketing communications from you. Avoid using any found lists or E-mailing people out of the blue, it’ll be instant unsubscribe and could land you in trouble for being a spammer.

So some of this points are really key in hitting the right note with HTML Newsletter blasts. They may not be as glamorous as the new fangled Social Media sites, but Newsletter are still a key marketing weapon in a Marketeers armoury. We’d still recommend you test until you are exhausted as the Newsletter still needs to portray your company and more importantly your brand.

Enjoy putting some Newsletter templates together!

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