E-Mail Marketing Part 4 - What to Send & When to Send It (Part Two)

For a brief overview of the topics discussed in this article, please see Part One of this topic in our E-Mail Marketing Series: IV. E-Mail Marketing - What to Send and When to Send It (Part One)

Should I use video, audio, Flash or JavaScript elements in my e-mail creative?

This depends on a couple of factors. If your list is social, young and consists of early adopters, you will grab their attention more with video or audio than with compelling graphics and copy alone. Keep in mind that this is also the generation that will not wait for your e-mail to load, so if you do include something, keep it lightweight. However, it may be a smarter move to host the video, audio or advanced elements on your website and link to them from your e-mail creative.

Also be aware that some desktop e-mail clients require a user to actively select to view ActiveX settings (flash object tags), images and advanced functionality. Always make your creative compelling to someone with the capability to view audio, video and Flash as well as someone with a text-based client.

Finally, you should NEVER use JavaScript in any e-mail Creative. I have seen many campaigns go to the Delivery Manager that have to be re-coded at the 23rd hour – all due to a graphic designer not understanding the technical side of the equation. Many e-mail programs will not load JavaScript content due to security settings. Just don’t try it. It does not work.

What is my Branding Message/Call to Action?
What is my Color Scheme?
What are my Size Limitations?

First of all, if you are not sure what your Branding Message or Call to Action is, please do some research into your own product or Brand before trying to communicate its message to your e-mail list. In terms of theme and color scheme – look at your website and other external communication. What themes and colors are prevalent? Do you have an official color scheme? Carry those or coordinating colors to your e-mail message. A user on your list will feel more engaged if they click on your e-mail creative and land on a page that seems familiar and what they would have expected to find based on the design, color and theme of the e-mail.

In order to make sure your e-mail looks good in as many e-mail clients as possible, sign up for accounts at all the major providers (GMail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, AOL Mail (or AIM), Thunderbird and be sure to have access to an Outlook Express, Outlook and Windows Mail account. If you can get access to a Mac for testing, even better.

An e-mail creative should never be more than 80KB (remember your Rich Media? Include that weight here as well!). For the same reasons described above under Rich Media, no one is going to wait for your e-mail to load and open. It needs to open instantly, give the message and compel the user to react.

Its dimensions can vary greatly, depending on the audience and what you have decided in terms of content and copy. As a general rule of thumb, e-mail advertisements should not exceed 400 wide by 400 tall (longer if it contains more copy). No one likes to scroll to read something. Please take into account that some users view your e-mail in a left or right pane or bottom pane; you may be lucky enough to get some real estate on a crowded web-based e-mail client’s page, but this can sometimes be your tightest fit. Design for the e-mail client that gives you the least amount of space to work with. This ensures you are covered for the ones with lots of space.

What is my promotion, how do I communicate it and track the ROI?

The final step of the creative brainstorm is to consider the promotion. What exactly are you trying to sell, tell or give to your list? What kind of communication is your list most receptive to? Will they understand and act on your message? All of these items are important sub-questions to ask yourself about e-mail marketing and your list in particular before your design plan can be complete.

In short, be concise. Do not say more than you need to but say enough so that your audience can understand the same 5 Ws and 1 H that are taught in Journalism 101:
• Who (are you?)
• What (is the product?)
• Where (do I go for more information?)
• When (do I have to act? – Is this a limited time offer?)
• Why (do I/should I care about this?)
• How (does it work? There have to be some details!)

If your ESP supports it, using personal identifiers, such as First Name, Last Name, Order # or other details obtained during the sign-up process, in your e-mail creative can be a very effective way of connecting with your user immediately because you appear to “know” them. This can be a disastrous faux pas, however, if your database is incomplete and e-mail creative incorrectly coded so that these fields appear empty or malformed.

Lastly, nearly as important as your message, is how you consider the campaign a success. Define what a conversion is on your website. Define the path you want to lead your visitors on from e-mail to conversion and take steps to make it happen. If you need help, please consider a professional e-mail marketing consultant.

Next Up in our E-mail Marketing Series – Part V – Whitelist, Blacklist, Spam Complaints, Oh My!