#CNX14 - Propelling Your Career with Mentors & Sponsors
Designing for your subscribers
1. DESIGNING FOR YOUR SUBSCRIBERSTips and Tricks to Increase Email Marketing ROI
2. PERFORMANCE-DRIVEN DESIGN Design is the visualization of a business plan. More than a pretty picture, great design requires an actionable plan and measureable goals. Design should acknowledge the subscriber experience.Put yourself in your subscriber’s shoes and understand how they will interact with your communications. Design and technology are seamlessly integrated.Emails should be designed and coded to display properly in the various ways a subscriber will view it. A comprehensive testing strategy is essential to ensure success.
3. AGENDA Business Planning Checklist Subscriber Experience Performance Driven Design Design Considerations The Mobile Inbox General Coding Considerations What elements are supported in email? Tools for creating HTML Email client-specific recommendations
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. It all begins with theFrom Name – 73% of subscribers click “Report Spam” or “Report Junk” based on this field. *Email Sender and Provider Coalition FROM NAME IS YOUR FROM NAME EASILY RECOGNIZABLE?
10. SUBJECT LINE 69% of subscribers click “Report Spam” or “Report Junk” based on this line.* IS YOUR SUBJECT LINE RELEVANT AND INTERESTING? *Email Sender and Provider Coalition
11. SUBJECT LINE 69% of subscribers click “Report Spam” or “Report Junk” based on this line.* IS YOUR SUBJECT LINE RELEVANT AND INTERESTING?
12. Images are disabled by default more than 50% of the time.Isyourkey message visible, relevant and enticing in this space? PREVIEW PANE: IMAGES OFF WHAT IS YOUR EMAIL SAYING WITH IMAGES OFF?
13. PREVIEW PANE: IMAGES ON What’s your open rate? Only subscribers that turn images on trigger an open.Are you giving them a reason to keep reading? AVERAGE PREVIEW PANE DIMENSIONS: 300px by 300px
15. ABOVE THE FOLD Does your content above the fold provide motivation to respond? Are you persuading subscribers to scroll? DON’T CRAM EVERYTHING ABOVE THE FOLD… INTRODUCE CONTENT ABOVE THE FOLD
16. COMPLETE EMAIL Seconds – not minutes – to view an entire email Only 11%* of those who open will scroll below the fold! EVEN IN THIS VIEW THE ENTIRE EMAIL IS NOT ONSCREEN AT ONCE *The Nielsen Norman Group
17. Subscriber experience doesn’t end with the inbox CLICK THROUGH Don’t ignore the transition to your website, landing page, or other marketing collateral. Ensure the products in your email are available on your site - better yet, map the individual products from the email to a product page.
19. Website Email Visual recognition of the brand across all media channels creates a seamless brand experience, creating trust to engage and transact. BRAND SYNERGY
20. Wireframe Preview Pane Above the Fold Create a content hierarchy, arranging each content element (text and/or image) and associated call to action with appropriate weight. CONTENT HIERARCHY
21. Headlines utilizing size and color hierarchy Secondary calls-to-action Primary call-to-action Maximize response by creating a visual hierarchy, using design techniques to guide the subscriber's eye through your email based on the content hierarchy. VISUAL HIERARCHY “Quick Bites” or summaries
22. Preheader Teaser Text Forward to a Colleague In This Issue Read More Link Subscriber Q&A Lifestyle Imagery Use of Background Color Link to External Video Recovery Module Use design techniques to engage the subscriber through a mix of emotive and rational imagery and content. Smart use of images, borders, buttons, links, charts, colored backgrounds, etc.should be applied and tested. ENGAGEMENT TECHNIQUES
23. Optimized Design Non-optimized Design Main call-to-action in prime placement HTML text in web safe fonts If an email is created primarily with images, it will not display effectively when images are blocked. Designed with image-blocking and preview pane viewing in mind. Ensure your design efforts are viewed as intended once they hit the inbox. Emails that are created with the subscriber experience in mind will have a greater chance of success. RENDERING RESULTS
24. *Fingerprint from Litmus, February 2010 Only comprehensive testing will validate successful rendering of design and ensure functional performance prior to sending to the subscriber inbox. TESTED QUALITY *ExactTarget via Fingerprint from Litmus, Feb. 2010
25.
26. Include a 3-4 sentence teaser for articles with a “Read More” link instead of including the full article
27. Introduce your main call-to-action within the preview pane and other important content above the fold
28. Develop a visual hierarchy for headings, subheading, and body copy for easy scan-ability
37. There are no standards in place for displaying emails on smartphones
38. Most mobile devices display a “stripped down” version of the HTML portion of an email, NOT the plain-text version
39. Optimizing your emails with HTML text in web-safe fonts will benefit smartphone users as well
40.
41. EXACTTARGET DESIGN RESOURCES Design Tipsfor Outlook 2007 Email MarketingDesign & Rendering: The New Essentials Email Design Checklist Email Designfor Lotus Notes CareerBuilder.com Case Study
42. EXACTTARGET DESIGN RESOURCES Design Team Blog New posts weekly! blog.exacttarget.com MarketingExperiments Maximize Agency ROIthrough testing Design Team Tweets @ETDesign twitter.com/etdesign
43. DESIGN CENTER ON 3SIXTY Resources FAQs Creative Library Template Source Code Free Button Libraries 3sixty > University > Design Center
A subscriber’s inbox is a noisy place, filled with the clutter of messages, folders and other distractions. Definition of Spam not only extends to relevance, but also to subscriber expectations surrounding frequency. Think carefully about the subscriber’s relationship with the from name you choose, whether it’s your company name, a business unit, or a sales representative.“A message from the John…” Story – From name was too long in gmail!
Old Navy sent out an email with the subject line “20% off all adult purchases”SO – what’s the best subject line? TEST. Do a simple A/B split testing static vs. changing, promo vs. info, etc.
Old Navy sent out an email with the subject line “20% off all adult purchases”SO – what’s the best subject line? TEST. Do a simple A/B split testing static vs. changing, promo vs. info, etc.
You don’t have to fit every call to action, copy block, and button here! In this space, create an experience subscribers want to continue.
ET tracks opens this way.
And if they want to view more…is it for the right reasons?
“…A well-designed email means nothing if the landing pages don’t work well.” – Chad White
Keep imagery consistent with your brand.
Keep in mind that the design to the right ISN’T necessarily a bad design – it’s poorly optimized. However, optimization is the first step of email design that the subscriber experiences.
*Data collected from over 250 million email recipients using our Fingerprint analysis tool.
How our expertise in performance-driven design increased conversions by 88%
