Super-handy checklist for smooth email sending
- Thu, December 22 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
Before you hit send on that mass email, stop! Jono Smith of Event360 recently had an excellent post on ensuring your emails are excellent - and actually get read.
His full post is here. I thought I’d share some of his tips on email rendering He notes that proper email rendering is key, as email recipients tend to view your email in five separate stages—judging each one individually before deciding whether to move on. They are, and I quote:
• From Name: Your email fights for attention in a crowded inbox, and according to the Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC), 73% of subscribers click “Report Spam” or “Report Junk” based on the content of the ‘from’ field.
• Subject Line: After weighing the appropriateness of your ‘from’ address, subscribers then move their attention to your subject line. The ESPC notes that 69% of subscribers base their decision to send your message to the spam folder on the subject line.
• Preview Pane:Your email doesn’t necessarily have to be open for your recipients to view the content. When present, many recipients use preview panes to get a quick look at your message before opening. As such, it’s important to make sure your call-to-action is visible in the preview pane.
• Opened Email (Pre-Scroll): So, your recipient clicks on your email and it opens in a new window. But how many of those recipients view the entire email including the content “below the fold?” The answer is surprisingly few.
• View Full Email: You’ve enticed your recipient to view your entire email, but what will they see when reading your entire message? Nielsen Norman Group’s usability study determined that users, once engaged, spend an average of 51 seconds on each newsletter in their inbox. With such a short time frame, how do you want your subscribers spending their time?
This is a great five-step checklist. I’d also add the test of reading your email campaigns in different browsers.
Testing is always wise. Better to find the mistakes before you make them!