How Can We Create Well-Formatted Emails?

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There are many small components that go into crafting a compelling email message. One must always remember that their constituents get multiple, sometimes hundreds of, emails every day, so emphasis must be put on standing out in the crowd. This doesn’t necessarily mean doing something completely off the wall to be noticed but engaging them around the issues that brought them to you in the first place. To begin with, when a person opens up his or her email, the first things that they see are the “From” field, the subject line, and many times a preview pane (or on Gmail the first line of text). This is the cover of your email, so to speak, and many people DO, unfortunately, judge the email by it. Your “From” name should be something easily recognizable and consistent across emails. The subject line should be concise (rule of thumb is less than 50 characters) and intriguing enough for the person to want to open the email. Many times, this intrigue is best brought forth by a call to action. Something specific linked to the email but also reminding the viewer why he or she signed up to get emails from you in the first place. Remind them why they should care.

Many email clients use Preview Panes, which display a preview of the email without having to open it. The information that is caught in the preview, usually the top of your message, should therefore contain enough information so that the viewer knows what the email is about. This speaks to one of the keys to building a successful email: brevity. Because of the large volume of email that many people receive, scanning becomes the only option to keep up with it all. Which means you must create your email knowing that scanning will be the main mode of absorption. A person should be able to quickly view your email, understand the main points from your headers, get adequate information to be inspired, and easily be able to find and click on your action. The action can redirect them either to your web site to find out more or to a place where they can continue with the mission. The more it seems as though the email is selling something to people, the less seriously people will take it. Engage them on a cause level and then show them what they can do, rather than toting your own organization as a selling point. Many times, with nonprofits, the organization is not the point. Talk about the point. Pique interest first and get detailed later, even if “detailed” means redirecting to a webpage. The key to effective email is to be engaging, succinct, easy to understand and make it easy to take the next step.

While images and HTML make an email eye-catching and attractive, many people automatically block images in email or use mobile devices that don’t render HTML. Therefore, the images and styles that you use in your emails should be complimentary but not necessary for understanding the message of the email. Going even further, you should have a text-based link in your email for those who would rather see only text. In this instance, your concision is even more necessary. However, when you do use HTML and images, remember that the same email can end up looking very different based on the email client that your constituent is using. Be sure to test both the HTML version and text version in multiple email clients so that you know exactly what your subscribers will see. Knowing that your email is eye-catching in Outlook means nothing if your subscriber is using Apple Mail. Remember that when it comes down to it, your cause and information mean nothing to the viewer if the presentation is poor.

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Labels: Writing Good Messages, Effective Email