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Unleashing the Full Potential of Email Design

A common misconception about Email Design is assuming that it is just like Web Design. It is important to remember that while emails can utilize HTML and CSS features, it certainly does not function like a website. With an email, there is limited space and restrictions that you are allowed to work with, so your design must make the best use of these limitations.

Take into consideration your own email habits. Do you sit there and go through and read each email thoroughly? Or do you, like many others, skim through emails quickly to determine what is worthy of your attention? With such a short span of time to capture and drive your main points to your audience, your designs must be concise and to the point.

With all these restrictions and disadvantages, it would seem that your email would be very limited and lacking. The trick to utilizing email design to its full potential is to finding that right balance between functionality and aesthetics. Here are some quick helpful tips to get around those pesky limitations:

1) Keep design simple.

Do not overload your design with heavy images, tags, and code! It will only bog it down or increase the chances of errors.

2)   Use inline styles.

Most email clients do not process CSS styles in headers.

3)   Make a Plain text version.

Allow users the option of viewing it in plain text, since not everyone allows HTML emails to come through their mailbox.

4)   Assume images will be blocked.

Never design an email with all images, unless you want to risk people opening a big blank email. You want users immediate access to your email, with or without images showing. This means having real text for headers, links, content that will load immediately.

5)   Utilize your Alt Tags.

Another added solution to the image-blocking problem is to utilize Alt tags. Alt tags give users a better idea what imagery is included in the email, especially when images are blocked by default.

6)   Go back to Tables.

As old-fashioned as it is, tables are very powerful when designing for email. It keeps your email presentable and organized, as most email clients do not process Floating styles. It is also smart to always define the height and width for each cell to ensure that the layout remains intact.

7)   Keep emails no wider than 600 pixels.

With varying monitor sizes from user to user, it is a good idea to keep email designs to a max fixed width. It can be pretty annoying to have a horizontal scroll bar just from opening an email!

8)   Testing, 1,2, 3.

After you’ve designed and coded your email, test it. Several times. What looks good in one email client can look completely different in another, so it’s best to cover as much ground as you can before sending and realizing little errors after.

Emails have grown to be quite a popular form of communication. As the common goal for the majority of businesses is to keep their audience coming back, emails are a great and useful way to not only keep people informed, but to also continue to strengthen your brand and identity. With websites focusing more heavily on functionality and converting traffic, emails pick up where websites leave off. It provides a much more personable method of reaching out and helping develop a stronger relationship between a company and its clients over a period of time.