More than just an expression of your brand or a collection of graphics and text, great email design requires an actionable plan and measurable goals.
Most solutions start with a problem: What’s your current challenge? Meeting this challenge typically entails answering a few other questions first:
• Who are you mailing, and what do you know about them?
• Why are you sending this email, and what value does it bring?
• What do you want subscribers to do?
• How are you going to measure success?
Then, by defining a clear call to action in your communications, subscribers will know how to respond, and you can more accurately measure against your own campaign goals.
Design for subscriber experience
The nature in which subscribers engage with email has always provided a unique set of challenges. Assuming your email even arrives in the inbox, the subscriber experience begins as many emails fight for attention in a crowded inbox, competing against toolbars, ads, mailboxes, folders, calendar items, to-do lists, and more.
Unlike with print media, subscribers don’t read emails as a static page. Many marketers make the mistake of printing off their email designs and reviewing them as a printed page. Instead, put yourself in your subscriber’s shoes and review the email as they will—through a series of interactions experienced in their inbox.
• “from” name. This is essential! Deliver trust with a recognizable name, which is usually your brand. Emails from CEOs and other important company executives may sound like a good idea, but do your subscribers identify with these individuals the same way your internal customers do?
• subject line. Make your subject line relevant and interesting, and test various copy and content strategies. Keep it short and sweet to maximize impact on mobile devices.
• preview pane. This horizontal or vertical strip is the first impression more than half of your subscribers will see. To add insult to injury, images are blocked nearly half of the time. Maximize this space with compelling content, and consider a preheader strategy (see below).
• above the fold. A throwback to newspaper publishing days, the term still applies to email. The modern Web has conditioned users to scroll, so introducing content above the fold to encourage that behavior is key.
• full email. After all of the above, your subscriber may finally have opened the email! Reward him and capture his attention with on-brand copy, relevant content, and a mix of emotional and rational imagery. Recall your goals: Are you addressing the who, why, what, and how of the message?
• clickthrough. Subscriber experience doesn’t end with the inbox. Make sure your landing pages deliver on expectations, and keep sign-up forms simple.
Consider a preheader strategy
This tiny space above the branding and navigation in the graphic header of your emails is the first thing the subscriber sees, but it’s often the last thing a marketer’s mind. There are three to five items to consider adding to your preheader, depending on your goals and business needs:
• “Add to address book.” This whitelisting request is best highlighted in your welcome series before moving the content to your footer. If a new subscriber isn’t adding you in those first interactions, chances are they never will.
• “View as a Web page.” An alternative to viewing the email in their inbox, this option is a must-have. It allows subscribers to view your message in their browser, which is capable of displaying images and rich media more consistently than their inbox environment is. Test variations of this language; “view with images” or “view in browser” are common variants.
• teaser text. Sometimes called a secondary subject line, this should be the first thing in your preheader, since this text is pulled into Outlook, Gmail, and iPhones as snippet or AutoPreview text. Teaser text can announce time-sensitive deadlines, discounts, or important announcements, or it can reinforce your call to action.
• “View on a mobile device.” If you have compelling evidence that suggests your subscribers are reading your emails on their mobile device, you may want to consider if creating a simplified version optimized for smartphones is worth your efforts. Testing is key!
• unsubscribe. Yes, really. Some businesses find that spam rates go down when an unsubscribe option is introduced in the header. Consider testing this strategy if you’ve suffered from deliverability issues or spam complaints.
Don’t equate beauty with performance
The design process must go beyond instinct or intuition and instead rely on the measurement of performance. A beautiful design is not always a successful design. Rather than choosing the email design you think looks better, design with the subscriber in mind, and choose the design that performs better.
Justine Jordan is senior design consultant at email services provider ExactTarget.
