At Response-Link, we want your email campaign to be as successful as possible. To ensure that your
email can be viewed
by as many potential customers as possible, we have compiled a guide to help you produce an efficient, compliant email for your campaigns
Email HTML Construction
1. Many email browsers still have difficulty correctly rendering CSS elements in HTML email templates, especially the positioning elements such as <float>. We therefore recommend you only use HTML tables to position your email content.
2. A common mistake is forgetting to upload images to a web server and then referencing them on your computer drive rather than the hosted address. Whilst this may sound a little complex, what it actually means is that images need to be on the Internet and not on your computer as they won't be visible in your email. An example of this is as follows:
<img src="C:/documents/images/image1.jpg"> - This is incorrect
<img src="http://www.imagehostingsite.com/images/image1.jpg"> - This is correct
3. It is recommended that your email contains the same structure as an HTML web page to ensure it is understood and rendered properly. This does not need to contain every element that you would include on a web page but
should include a document declaration, a <head> containing the charset and the actual contents (in a table) in the <body> section. Typically the page structure should be as follows:
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/>
</head>
<body>
TABLE CONTENT GOES HERE
</body>
</html>
Design & Usability
It is worth remembering that your email will only have a few seconds to engage the viewer and prompt them to act on your message. With this in mind, we would suggest giving careful consideration to the following elements of your email:
1. Whilst a visually stunning set of images in your email may look impressive on your computer, give thought to the following implications:
- A growing number of people now receive their email on mobile phones and devices other than their PC. To conserve download times and bandwidth, most emails will be stripped of images and show the text-only version.
- For added security, many email browsers will automatically block images requiring the user to physically click an 'allow images' button. For this reason, you should always start your email with a message in text so the recipient can immediately identify what your message is about.
- As a general rule, images should only be used in an email to compliment the text, not the other way around. A well-written textual email with a few choice images has a greater chance of success than an image-laden email with a minimal amount of text.
- There will always be a small number of recipients who are visually impaired and use text-readers and font-enhancers. Neither of these tools work with an image.
2. A very subtle yet effective method for encouraging recipients to click-through to your website is with the use of textual hyperlinks. A hyperlink is basically a link from one webpage or email to another and these links can contain specific words or phrases. Hyperlinks can be strategically placed throughout your sales message to encourage click-throughs to your website, for example:
Take advantage of our <a href="http://www/yourwebsite.com">FREE OFFER</a> for a limited period.
Would appear in the email as follows...
Take advantage of our FREE OFFER for a limited period.
Not only are these textual links more natural but they can be used to take the visitor to the most relevant page on your website, thus increasing the likelihood of a sales conversion.
If you need any further assistance with creating effective email templates, please call us on 01252 338126 or contact us.
Matt Lee Joins Response Link
Matt is the latest member to join the Production team at Response Link. With a BA (Hons) Degree in Advertising and Brand Management and experience in representing Saatchi & Saatchi, we are very excited to have Matt on board the Response Link team.
New Year, New Customers?
If your New Year's Resolution is to attract more customers, there is no better time to take advantage of online lead generation. With over 85% of the UK population now having access to the Internet, the opportunities to develop your customer base have never been greater.
Response Link is Movin' on up!
In November, Response Link relocated to larger offices so we can now provide prospective and existing clients with an even better service in 2011 as our team grows. Our address and telephone numbers have not changed so it is business as usual!
Sarah Barker joins Response Link
Sarah has 10 years experience within the media industry, spanning display and classified advertising, direct marketing, and the generation of consumer enquiries. Working closely with both clients and agencies, Sarah puts particular emphasis on the quality of client service, and is experienced in both new business development and account management.
Triggered emails
Triggered emails sent on clients behalf help to increase conversions to enquiries generated online - delivering an email communication into a consumers inbox when they are sitting at their computer with their inbox open is tricky, but with Response Link's triggered email system, they can deliver your email communication immediately after the consumer has re-confirmed their request for your information, increasing the likelihood that your message is going to be noticed.
Live lead email notification
A new facility to provide an instant email notification to clients that an enquiry has been generated is now available. This facility will deliver an email to a nominated email address the instant that an enquiry is re-confirmed, this will allow clients to follow up an enquiry instantly meaning that they can be in contact with prospective customers literally moments after their initial request for information.
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