Email Marketing 101

Posted: February 27, 2009

Believe it or not, one of the most underused marketing tools by small businesses are email communications.  They can be used to up-sell, keep customers informed of product updates, publish company newsletters, etc.  If executed effectively, email communications will provide tremendous value to sales, SEO and loyalty.

Email MarketingThe first thing needed for an effective email is an emailservice provider (ESP).  A small investment can go a long way here.  From Constant Contact to StreamSend, ESPs provide a cheap solution to get your email to the prospect.  Additionally, these ESPs provide tools (i.e. - contact upload, WYSIWYG) and templates to help get an effective email campaign underway.

Once a provider has been selected, the email design needs to be developed.  A little up front hard work is going to go a long way here.  Decide on a header and footer for the email.  Most ESPs let you drop in graphics for these two content areas.  The header graphic should contain your logo, important website links, an introductory pitch and a call to action.  All these items need to be in the email preview pane...approximately 300px in height.  The footer should contain a graphic that conveys the email is done.  It can include any additional website links, a forward to friend link, legal information, etc.  Putting a little extra work into these two sections will allow you to reuse the look and feel going forward and keep consistent branding within your email communications.

Start in black & white and outline the copy that is going to go into the email.  Don't be verbose and keep copy to a minimum.  Additionally, write copy with a 'call to action' in mind.  The email is a gateway to a landing page or to your site.

Lastly, don't be afraid to use tables.  This is the opposite of web site design best practice.  However in email design, tables allow the creator to have more control over their content.  Alignment of the email and of the content is much easier.

Examples of these best practices at work can be seen in my portfolio.

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Jonathan Redburn is an independent user interface consultant from Washington, DC. He started his career in 1999 when he opened Redburn Creative, a small design shop focusing on Flash and interactive design. Almost ten years later, he continues web design as well as expanding his services into a variety of other creative avenues from email communications to search engine optimization.