GETTING STARTED
- Follow CAN-SPAN Act of 2003:
- Never use deceptive headers, from-names, reply-tos, or subject lines
- You must always provide an unsubscribe link – if hosting your unsubscribes with Clutch, use {{optOutLink}}
- Remove recipients from your list within 10 business days
- Unsubscribe link must work for at least 30 days after sending
- You must include your physical mailing address in every email
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Add a permission reminder to the footer of your email. For example, “You’re receiving this email because…”
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Use a trustworthy and recognizable “From Name”
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Choose a smart reply-to address. Avoid using variations of “noreply@brand.com”
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Optimize your subject line. Be useful and specific by using timely topics and urgency. Avoid using promotional or spammy language – keep it straightforward
EMAIL DESIGN
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Organize your content appropriately. Everyone should easily be able to decipher main CTAs from secondary ones
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Relevance is key. Keep content short and to the point, there is no need to cram a bunch of information into your email
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Make sure to only use JPGs or GIFs in email. Upload and host all images in the Asset Management tool in Portal
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Don’t design an email that’s essentially one large, sliced up image. Although these emails looks pretty, they perform poorly. Keep in mind the 60/40 text to image ratio
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Use ALT text for all images – since not all email clients show images automatically, it is important to optimize your emails for images-off viewing
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Create email designs that are optimized across all screen sizes – mobile, webmail and desktop
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Quick guideline for designing a mobile email : minimum font size of 16 px, CTAs should be at least 46 px squared and able to be clicked with one thumb and should be easily readable with one eye
EMAIL DEVELOPMENT
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Safe to use: static table-based layouts, HTML tables, template width of 600 px – 800 px, simple inline CSS, web-safe fonts
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Use with caution: background images, custom web fonts, wide layouts, embedded CSS
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Do not use: JavaScript, <iframe>, Flash, embedded audio + video, forms, <div> layering
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Some webmail clients will strip the <body> tag from emails, be sure to place background colors in both the <body> tag, and also in the container <div> or <table> cells
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Take advantage of the pre-header space. This is limited to around 100 characters
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When adding the “View In Browser” link to your emails, use [weblink]
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Sans Serif web safe fonts: Arial, Arial Black, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Verdana
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Serif web safe fonts: Courier, Courier New, Georgia, Times, Times New Roman
TESTING EMAILS
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TEST, TEST, TEST! Set up accounts with all of the browser-based email services, and send emails to yourself. They’re usually free, so it’s easy to set up lots of test accounts
QUESTIONS?
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Have any questions about what you read or want us to check out your HTML? Send a note to us at managedservices@clutch.com
