Email Aesthetics - Secret to Email Marketing

September 7, 2008

Its an old, old saying, but its true: you only have one chance to make a good first impression. And in email, the first impression is always visual. A consumer Looks/Sees before he/she Reads.

Imagine walking by a grotesquely garish storefront with all kinds of things hanging off the front porch, every floor painted a different color, and odd music playing through loudspeakers. Would you want to walk in the front door? No way! Youd assume that the owner is a kook, at best, or a deranged axe murderer, at worst.

Did you ever have an ugly looking email land in your mailbox? You know what I am talking about: an orange background and yellow borders, multi-colored text in all sizes from gigantic to microscopic, a message that looks like it was created by a crazed six-year-old? If you did, I bet you didnt feel the urge to read it. You probably just wanted to delete it as quickly as possible.

You want your email message to be friendly and inviting, not bizarre and scary. Given below are some suggestions. They are just suggestions, not hard and fast rules and they will go a long way towards making recipients eyes say come on in! to your message.

Dos and Donts FOR Attractive Emails

Dont use Colour fonts in your message. Leave that to junior high girls who want to write about Britney and Justin.

DO use Black text on White background. When youre speaking in black-and-white, people will give their full attention to your message without being distracted by your color scheme.

Dont use uncommon fonts. If someones system doesnt recognize the font youve selected, they could see gibberish instead of your brilliant message.

DO use the email marketers` favourite fonts: Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New.

Dont use flashing buttons or banners in your email! Your prospects have undoubtedly gotten their fill of bells and whistles when they haveve surfed the internet. They dont need more from you.

Get Hyper with Email Hyperlinks

An email hyperlink is just techno-talk for a link in your email to a website, or email address. Sounds simple enough, and it is unless you try to contact a prospect on AOL who may not be able to receive clickable links.

Dont worry. Theres a fix for this: simply type mailto: in front of your email address (no space in between, and include the : )

Always Use Signature Tags

Today, its common practice on the Internet to tell people about your product or service with a Signature Tag, which is 3-6 lines of text that is automatically added to every message you send.

If youd like to add a tag to your messages, simply open your email program. Find the Signature Tab located in the Tools/Options menu in Outlook Express. Follow the simple instructions for creating a signature file. Easy as pie and the results will amaze you.

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