In a previous post, Ryan took us through some of the things not to use when creating html for email marketing campaigns. To follow-up, he now goes through some things that work pretty well!
So, what kind of html should we use in our email campaigns Ryan?
Number 1: Do use nested tables to create your HTML email layout.
This may seem counter intuitive for modern web designers but you should look at HTML email as being several years behind the current web standards.
Sample Code:
Nested tables Code
Number 2: Also include a plain text part with your HTML email message.
If you send a HTML only message, some spam filters will block these messages, and some other recipients will only receive a blank message (those who have email clients configured not to view HTML emails). Therefore it is important to also include a text only part. GroupMail (and I’m sure other email clients) allow you to send text only and html emails together [more].
Adding Text Only Version to GroupMail:
GroupMail plain-text
Number 3: Define styling in your HTML email using standard HTML attributes
Standard HTML attributes include height and width for images, font style etc. If you use CSS it should also be defined directly within the HTML tag.
Good advice, anything else that might be useful?
Number 4: Test test and test some more.
The more testing you can do the better idea you will have as to what works for your needs.
What about images, should they be embedded or linked to?
Hmm, this is a little tricky. Personally, I use embedded images, but I ensure that the images are small and optimized to a web resolution of ideally 72ppi [That looks like another blog post to me!].
However, this is really is a personal choice and there are pro’s and cons for both, you can view some of these here.
Would you recommend any software for creating the html messages?
Well, GroupMail includes it’s own wysiwyg html editor which works pretty well, but if you want to go with something a little more robust, I’d recommend Adobe Photoshop for manipulating images, and Dreamweaver for the html.
Any final thoughts?
It’s a good idea to either create email accounts with as many of email clients as possible - create both web-based and desktop clients, or alternatively use an email analysis tool in order to test your html email across a number of popular clients (Email on Acid is really cool & free).
So there you have it .. some practical html tips for your email campaigns. If there is anything you feel we’ve missed, leave a comment!
