There is hardly anyone out there today who hasn’t subscribed to a particular website they like. A lot of people visit websites and like what they see and in order to keep in touch with what the website is up to, they subscribe to the website’s emails and newsletters. Things however turn ugly when they see some really annoying and uninteresting stuff from the website in their mail box. That is when they choose to unsubscribe. All of this happens when an ill planned email marketing strategy goes awry. If you fear the same for your newsletter you should ensure that your email marketing campaign is flawless.
Email marketers who have learned with time and have gained experience with email marketing know that the design of the newsletter template can either make or break the triumph of a campaign. If you wish for people to open your email and engage with the content, your email must have an email that is designed for users to easily consume and navigate.
You can avoid a disaster by simply following some basic tips and you don’t have to be a top notch graphic designer to create a great newsletter. By adhering to the following basic email design rules, you can succeed with your email marketing campaign:
1.Know where to start.
Before you begin with your campaign you must know where to begin with in the first place. You need to have a clear picture about how you are going to distribute your newsletters. You need to have software that offers really simple campaign and list management and can handle all the technicalities of sending lots of emails without you getting blacklisted for spamming.
2.Know your audience.
There are a lot of ways that you can choose in order to properly use a newsletter depending upon the business that you deal with. You can use it for notifying people about new services, offers, discounts and previews among other things. Make sure you do that in the right way. You need to figure out how the recipients would want to be addressed.
3.Decide a format and keep it focused.
Once you have figured out your audience you will have absolutely no problem working on deciding a format. You can construct a newsletter keeping in mind things like what email clients you want to support, whether you wish to provide a “view in web browser” option, which browsers and mobile devices you wish to support among others.
4.Exhibit your brand.
It is very important that your brand identity is easily recognizable in all of your correspondence to subscribers. When it comes to having good branding, placing your logo and company name in the email header is important and it is plain simple.Other things such as company social media handles should be visible and easily clickable within the email and make sure that your standard colors and fonts are utilized throughout the email.
5.Choose fonts wisely.
Speaking of fonts, always ensure that you use fonts that are web friendly when building your email. Common fonts such as Arial, Georgia, Calibri, and Times New Roman that render correctly for all recipients must be used. You also need to be sensitive towards the size of the font in order to improve readability on all screens, including those of smartphones and other devices. Make sure that your audience can actually read the email by making the body font size in the largest way possible.
6.Contact information has to be included.
By providing contact information to your subscribers should they have questions, comments, or concerns about your newsletter, you not only make them happy but also move forward towards uplifting your campaign. Usually, this information is included in the email footer and hyperlinks users to a separate landing page.
7.Provide a link to the online version of your email.
Always provide a link to an online version so that people can view your email in their web browsers if they’d prefer because your subscribers can view your email on a variety of devices. It is usually a great idea to put this link in the header of your email so that the readers can locate it easily.
8.Provide Plain Text and HTML versions.
There is large number of users who still don’t have the capability to use HTML viewers in order to read email messages. Also,provide a plain text version in or around the header, so as not to leave any subscriber behind.
9.Make a mobile-ready email.
Mobile device usage is at an all-time high. As such, email marketers need to make sure the mobile audience can view and read every single email they receive. To ensure that your newsletter renders on all devices, keep the width of your mobile newsletter under 550 pixels. Make use of the preview tool in order to make sure that the links are visible and there is enough space between lines of text and images so that the users can easily read and tap on links.
10.Offer the option to unsubscribe.
This is one of the most important things to do. You need to provide a way to opt-out of receiving future email messages. It is a good business practice to offer users the tool to unsubscribe. Moreover, it is also a requirement of the laws related to email marketing. Therefore, always ensure to include a link for recipients to unsubscribe within the newsletter footer.
A well-designed newsletter has the potential to drive in a lot of traffic for your business. Email marketing is a great way to achieve success for a business if done the right way. By adhering to and implementing these tips for your email newsletter design, you will be able to provide an informative, readable and amazingly unique newsletter for your subscribers. And without a doubt, it is going to be a success and an instant hit.
