Design tactics for improving email deliverability

Did you know that the design of your email has a direct impact on its deliverability? According to email marketing solutions provider Bronto, thanks to preview panes and image blocking by default, a poorly designed email is less likely to be opened. In light of this, Bronto’s Todd Darling, software support associate, has put together some design best-practices that will help boost your open rates.

Careful coding
Darling writes that “an estimated 9 out of 10 HTML emails are not W3C HTML-compliant”, and that this can cause rendering and delivery issues. He also advises avoiding using dynamic scripts such as JavaScript and VBScript in your messages as email systems are wary of them due to security issues. More advice from Darling includes maintaining a balance between images—embedding your text and images into a single graphic is often an indicator of spam, he says. And always including an alternative text version of your email for email clients that are not receptive to HTML messages.

It is also important to keep your code clean and simple. This not only keeps the message size small, but also ensures it formats correctly in the user’s inbox. Whilst it is important to make emails look appealing, avoid using Flash, recommends Darling. “Relevant, concise copy, a compelling call to action, and clean simple design will create more reliable and consistent impact than a risky ‘flash in the pan’ mailing”. Instead, he advises to include video and audio elements in the landing page your email leads to.

Picture perfect
Don’t be tempted to link to images used elsewhere on your website. These images can be renamed, moved, or deleted, which will cause them not to display properly within your email. “By hosting your images with your email service provider--or at the very least, separate from your other website images--you will avoid problems with broken links showing up in your email and probably speed up the display of these images in your email.”

Quick off the mark
As well as a recognisable “from” line and an engaging subject line, Darling advises making the email preview page “disabled-images friendly”. Instead of images, use teaser text or a strong call to action so that customers can immediately see what’s in it for them of they open the email. “You have a very short period of time between open and delete, use it well.”

Testing, testing
“If you don’t have a distribution list for testing, stop what you are doing and immediately set up one for your email marketing,” writes Darling. When testing, remember to check the design displays correctly in different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) and different email clients (Outlook, AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail).

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