E-commerce Link: Easy-to-read E-mail

Make your e-mails work harder and smarter for better results

July 2007 By Regina Brady

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I sign up to receive a good deal of e-mail communications. Some of the messages I receive are perfectly crafted, some are lackluster and others could be dramatically more effective with some simple fixes.

Here are a few ideas you can incorporate into your e-mail campaigns to make sure they effectively convey your message and produce better results.

Where Are the Images?

More than 60 percent of e-mail recipients have reported some type of image blocking. ISPs routinely block images. This also is a problem for B-to-B marketers because recent versions of Microsoft Outlook have image blocking as part of its default settings. So, rather than viewing your carefully crafted campaign, recipients may see the dreaded red “X.”

In its study, “The Best and Worst of Email Marketing in 2006,” Forrester Research reviewed e-mails from a variety of well-known consumer and B-to-B marketers and found that 40 percent of the e-mails were impossible to understand without graphics. Don’t let this happen to your program.

To overcome this challenge:

• Make sure you include a link near the top of your message that allows people to click through to a Web version of your e-mail.

• Include both text and images in your e-mail. You should aim to have at least 60 percent of your content in text. It takes more preparation time to create text in HTML, but the end result is that more of the message and product information will be viewable if the images are blocked.

IBM’s e-mail newsletter ForwardView (shown, below) is an example of a well-crafted message from an image-blocking standpoint. Even though the images are suppressed, the content readily is accessible.

• Encourage recipients to add your e-mail address to their address book and safe lists. A perfect way to call attention to this tool is in your welcome message, but you also can include this as a prompt in your regular mailings. In a recent study, Epsilon found that 65 percent of consumers either sometimes or always add trusted senders to their address books.

• Use ALT tags to name your images. These tags commonly are used on Web sites so that when a person moves over an item, the name of the item appears. This feature also can be used in e-mails. For example, you might restate your key promotion copy in the ALT tag. This is not a perfect solution: Only some e-mail clients will display ALT tags, but it will improve the user experience for some of your recipients.

Capitalize on Your Preview Pane

The vast majority of individuals at businesses enable the preview pane in their e-mail browser, and slightly more than 25 percent of consumers also use the preview pane. The preview pane usually is controlled by the user and will vary in size—but as a general rule, you should work with the top two inches of your e-mail, and, in particular, focus on the top-left portion of your display. Remember, information that appears in the preview pane can be an important factor in getting your e-mail opened and read.

The rules of the road are changing. In the past, conventional wisdom was that you should include administrative items such as “Click here to view HTML” and “Add us to your address book” in the preview pane. Now, you may want to include headlines to support your subject line, additional personalization or even a newsletter table of contents.

The Wine Enthusiast, for example, makes effective use of the preview pane in its e-mail. The company includes a marketing headline that complements the e-mail subject line and is followed by the standard administrative details. I also like that it includes its toll-free number as part of its e-mail header.

Home, Office or On the Go?

Think about your audience and where they may be when they’re reading your e-mails. I may be one of the few people on the planet who doesn’t use a PDA or other mobile device to stay current with my e-mails, but many people do.

You may want to take advantage of the auto-sensing or sniffer technology available from many e-mail service providers. Your message is sent in both text and HTML and a small piece of code is embedded in the e-mail. The code “sniffs” whether to display text or HTML for each recipient and the appropriate version of your message will render.

While this technology is not foolproof, you might consider implementing it if your audience is made up of heavy mobile device users. If they’re reading on a mobile device, they’ll have fewer problems reading your message. If viewing your message on a laptop, your full HTML version might be available.

You can improve the impact of your messages by employing a few of these ideas. The better you make the experience for your customers, the more rewards you will reap.

Regina Brady is president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and e-mail marketing consultancy. She can be reached at (203) 838-8138 or via e-mail at reginabrady@att.net. You can visit her Web site at www.reggiebrady.com

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