Building an Email Campaign
H O P P E R P E D I A ©
-Brian Hammons
June 14, 2010: 11,774 hits
Companies can track rates of email opens, forwards, and click throughs, which measure reader interest in products and topics. Customers, clients, investors, and employees are presented with information that's laid out like a web page, in a way that's more visually appealing, and much easier to scan and navigate, than plain text email
Important! Who can you email?
• People who have opted in to your list on your website
• People who have opted in to receive emails from you offline
• Your customers who have a prior business relationship with you (but if you haven't contacted them in ages, be sure to send a re-introduction email)
• People who opted in to receive emails from you at a co-registration site
• You're sending on behalf of your customer, and they comply with the above.
• People who purchased one of your products, or attended an event, and gave you their email address so they could receive updates from you.
• Your internal employee list (such as for company notices)
• Press releases sent to reporters who signed up at your website
HTML Overview:
HTML email is a very successful communications medium. Companies can track rates of email opens, forwards, and click throughs, which measure reader interest in products and topics. Customers, clients, investors, and employees are presented with information that's laid out like a web page, in a way that's more visually appealing, and much easier to scan and navigate, than plain text email.
Coding HTML email has become easier -- several email software providers, such as Google Mail, have improved their support for CSS. HTML email in the last couple of years include the formation of the Email Standards Project, which aims to test the compliance of email software to HTML and CSS standards and to lobby for continued improvements. Despite these advances, coding HTML email to display correctly is still difficult for programmers. Hopperface Productions staff uses the most up-to-date coding techniques and then test each completed email to maximize the consistency of display.
HTML Email Fundamental Difficulties:
What makes coding HTML email so difficult is the enormous variety of different software tools available for reading email, from desktop software such as Eudora, Outlook, AOL, Thunderbird, and Lotus Notes, to web-based email services such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Google Mail. Similar to the difficulty of ensuring cross-browser compatibility of web sites, HTML email software tools act like their own browsers and can display the same email in vastly different ways. Even once the programmer tests his /her emails in multiple provider software applications, the reader may still re-size their window while reading his/her emails and cause the designed display to change.
HTML Email Staff Protocol:
Whether our staff chooses to code HTML email by hand or to with one of our existing templates, there are two fundamental concepts required:
1. The use of HTML tables: Tables help to control the design layout and presentation. Some programmers are used to using pure CSS layouts for your web pages, but that approach just won't hold up in an email environment.
2. Inline CSS: We use Inline CSS to control other presentation elements within your email, such as background colors and fonts.
The quickest and easiest way to see how HTML tables and inline CSS interact within an HTML email is to download some templates from Campaign Monitor, and MailChimp.
