The Top-10 Best Email Practices Before Pushing "Send".

Feb 22 2008

Well thank you for the lead-in Rich. I love a good Top 10 list and I've got plenty of good stuff for this particular list. So, without further a due:

10. Clean Up Your Design

A poor design reflects poorly on your business. You may as well announce to your customers, "Attention: I do not have access to a proficient graphic designer.", because that's what it a poor looking email screams to your subscribers. Poor design screams louder than any call to action you may include no matter how well-formulated. Your overall design immediately sets the tone of the subscriber's experience. Design includes the layout of your email and the text and graphics within it. Ensure your layout is evenly spaced. Your content sections should have a even amount of spacial padding above, below, left and right. Your graphics should be optimized for fast downloads without sacrificing too much image quality. Design, including layout and graphics, are something EmailDirect includes for full service customers.

9. Check Your HTML

Poorly coded HTML can have two negative effects. Number one, content filters, such as Spam Assassin, examine your email's HTML code. If the HTML code of your email contains unnecessary tags, unclosed tags, foreign characters, etc, your email will receive a higher score. That higher score indicates a greater likely-hood that your email is Spam. Number two, bad HTML will cause rendering problems across email clients. For example, your bad HTML may render correctly in the Outlook email client but not the Yahoo! webmail client.

Proofing your HTML is typically something easily accomplished through any newer HTML editor such as Microsoft's Frontpage or Adobe's Dreamweaver. Another option is to validate you code at W3C (http://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_input), an international consortium which advocates for web standards. Validating your HTML through W3C does not mean your email will render properly across all the major email providers (Yahoo!, AOL, Hotmail). The validation should only be used to ensure your HTML does not contain bad HTML such as unclosed tags. To stay up to date with HTML and CSS support across all major email providers, Email-Standards.org is a great resource.

8. Write a Decent Subject Line

Taking the time to write a relevant and concise subject line will greatly enhance the chances your email will be opened by your subscribers. Be sure to tell your subscriber what to expect without giving too much away. A well written subject will peak the subscriber's interest and make them want to look inside. Avoid using platitudes (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/platitude). A platitude is a common word or phrase that is predictable and lacks the power to envoke any real emotion from your readers. 

7. Ensure Consistency in the From Line

The customizable from-line in your email should not be used for any other purpose other than to repeatedly brand your organization. That means, it needs to be the same every time. Using the same from-line with every email you send out increases the likely-hood that your subscribers will remember and recognize you. Recognition is the first step toward a subscriber opening your email.

6. Test Your Email

Testing your email to yourself and associates is a no-brainer. Testing not only ensures your email will render properly when it comes through but gives you a chance to see exactly how your email will appear to your subscribers. Click on each link to be sure they work properly. Observe the appearance of your email with the images off, then load the images and examine them closely to be sure they are lining up correctly. Having multiple test email accounts at major email providers such as Yahoo, AOL and Hotmail will help you identify any rendering issues your email may have. Extensive email testing is another service included in full service EmailDirect accounts.

5.  Ensure Relevancy

Before sending content to your subscribers, take a step back and examine what your subscribers expect to receive from you. What was the subscriber's incentive for signing up in the first place? Was it exclusive offers, free information or updates of some kind? Keeping your subscriber's interests in mind when deciding what to send will reduce the number of complaints your campaigns receive. A Spam complaint can be made in many ways but the most popular form of Spam complaints today is a simple click of the "Spam" button that most major email providers now employ. As the ratio of the number of people who receive your email to number of people who click on that Spam button rises, your chances of inbox delivery decreases. Bottom line- the more relevant your emails are, the less likely your subscribers are going to click on the Spam button.

4. Take a Step Back

During the design phase of your email, while you are deciding what text and images to include and how to arrange them; take a step back from your monitor and forget your reasoning for arranging the email the way you did. Now that you have forgotten why you included the sparkley graphic that blinks "Free Shipping", judge your email from an objective point of view. Does your email resemble a piece of Spam? Does it give you the feeling of a fast talking snake oil sales man? Visualize the Spam that you receive on a daily basis and do everything you can to avoid any resemblance whatsoever. Today, good email delivery hinges on something called Sender Reputation. One of the largest factors for Sender Reputation is the number of spam complaints you generate. As mentioned in #5, Spam complaints today are extremely easy to make. It only takes a click of the Spam button. Keeping that in mind, don't let your email be the victim of a hasty spam complaint based solely on first impression.

3. Consider Image Blocking

Image blocking is employed by just about every major email client today. This feature is turned on by default and prohibits your subscribers from downloading any images included in your emails until the subscribers clicks on the "Load Images" button. The reason for this feature is simple. The only automated way to know if a subscriber has opened your email is to deduce whether or not their computer has downloaded any images within it. Because this is the only way to track opens, it is the same method Spammers use. If Spammers were able to easily determine which email addresses were active, the Spam problem would be much worst.

For that reason, as legitimate email marketers, it is essential that we consider the image blocking feature when coding our emails. In HTML the 'alt' attribute of the image tag serves to display alternative text when the image cannot be displayed. So, use the alt attribute within your image tags and your 'alternative text' will display while the images are turned off. You can even style this text with fonts, sizes and colors. For example, instead of simply using: <img src="logo.gif" /> use this:

<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><img src="logo.gif" width="100" height="50" alt="The Name of Your Organization" /></span>

Notice the height and width of the image is also specified. This ensures that even while the images are not shown, the spacing for your images is still preserved. Using the alt, height and width attributes within your image tags will ensure your email is still legible even while images are not displayed.

2. Consider Personalization

Personalization is an easy way to immediately standout. Whether done in the subject line or the body of your email, personalization can only help. The deeper the personalization, the better. Be creative and if you're not already collecting information that you can utilize to create a more intimate dialog with your subscribers, start today. The most simple execution of personalization is addressing your subscriber by name. EmailDirect allows customers to collect an unlimited amount of information on subscribers. Another great feature is the 'default value' for records lacking the information you are using. So, if you start collecting name on your subscribers today, but already have 10 emails in your database without name, that's OK. With the use of a default value your subscribers without a name in your database could see something like "Dear Valued Customer" while your subscribers with name information would see their name. Brilliant!

1. Examine Your Call to Action

Last, but absolutely not least, is the examination of your call to action... or lack thereof. What is it exactly that you are attempting to motivate your subscribers to do? Are the text and images you are using the best combination for the job? Consider what elements of your email will be read and seen first, then second and so on. At the end, you should be left with a well thought out proposition that makes sense and hopefully creates urgency. An easy way to judge the effectiveness of your Call to Action is to send your email to an associate who has no idea what your email is suppose to accomplish. Then, simply ask that person if they can explain to you what it is you want them to do.

And there you have it, the top ten best email practices before pushing "send". Happy mailing-

Chris