7. Large header banner
• Design for the preview
pane
• Keep important content
“above the fold”
• Ask
– Is it meaningful?
– Can you get the message get
across without it?
– Does it have to be an image?
9. Unclearcall to action
• Display above the fold
• Make it prominent
• Avoid conflict
• Show it is clickable
– underlined link
– button
• Be transparent
– Describe exactly what links click through to
29/01/15 9
12. Too many images
• Images don’t display offline
• Imbalance of images and text adds
to spam rating
If it doesn’t have to be an image don’t
make it one
29/01/15 12
14. Hard to read copy
Make content scannable
• Ensure it’s easy to read
– Font style
– High contrast
• Break up text with:
– Headlines
– Bullets
– Hyperlinks
– Bold
16. Underutilised subject lines
The subject line is seen by everybody
• Make certain it’s integral to email
message
• Keep it short
• Mention company name
• Avoid spammy words and
UPPERCASE words
29/01/15
18. Version A Version B
Header Banner
Call to Action
Images
Copy
A/B Test
Want to know how and why big B2B
brands invest in their visual styling?
Investing In Visual Property: a useful,
downloadable Base One guide
Only appreciate tail when its open
No point having a killer offer if no-one reads the email
Open – full argument of why email is important
Understood – it’s free/it’s time limited/it’s exclusive? Avoid disappointment
Clicked – ready to commit
Who uses outlook?
Who uses preview pane?
Habits in how we use email
Users are making judgements:
From someone I know/trust?
Interesting
Important?
Cold email has more to prove – trust for newsletters
B2B considerations - Who uses Outlook?
Images turned off – how many see your email like this?
If you don’t read & delete enough times some email inboxes learn that you aren’t interested & move future emails to junk
Server IP address that gets blocked – so applies to all emails sent from that server – other departments suffer not just you!
Process
Doesn’t look authentic
Doesn’t work
Is it pushing content down the page?
Does it need to be that big?
Does it only serve a purpose when you look at the email as a whole?
Want to be sure you know who the email is from – with images (logo) turned off
After questions – might still need a banner but not such a big one.
Conflict – splitting users with multiple calls to action?
Do buttons work?
Transparency – you’ll see a form, a download, a webpage, etc...
Email from Adobe
Mobile – image size is an issue
Background images & gradients don’t work in key email clients (i.e. Outlook)
Neilsen Norman Email Newsletter study (2010) - only 25% of users read, not skimmed, parts of email
Avoid italics – not as easy to read online
50-60 characters ideal
Related to the email as a whole - Easy to search for
Not thought of last
Company name = trust
Spam – congratulations, free, debt, credit (Porn, Viagra, Large)
Can use personalisation but not just for the sake of it
300 recipients, via silverpop, link back to website
David Thomas, Base One Creative Director presents guide to effective visual branding.
A – 78 characters
B – 68 characters
Open rate
A – 14.81%
B – 28.15%
Click through rate
A – 3%
B – 8.2%
Per delivered
URL link – 58%
Text link – 25%
Button – 8%
Header Banner – 8%
Larger Header Banner
Unclear calls to action
Too many images
Hard to read copy
Underutilised subject lines
Larger Header Banner
Unclear calls to action
Too many images
Hard to read copy
Underutilised subject lines