The 2007 Email Rendering Report

The eec's just released their 2007 Rendering Report. The report includes creative examples from Sears, Disney, Citibank and more, as well as trends, statistics and secrets to rendering success.

Executive summary:

Today's current email landscape is tricky. Images and links in emails are often stripped out due to email reader restrictions, reputation scores, or coding errors. The Email Experience Council recently conducted a review of 1,000 emails from both B2C and B2B marketers to assess the renderability of the messages. Email content reviewed included product sales, multiple product offers, newsletters, and event invitations. 21% of the emails reviewed appeared completely blank when images were turned off, or stripped inside a variety of email clients. An additional 28% showed relevant copy, but had no working links.

Over the years, a number of professional companies have designed technologies that help marketers test for optimal rendering. Additionally, best practices have been released to define ways to create a successful email. Our review indicates that over 70% of companies still seem to struggle with success in this area.

Working with a professional company to test your image rendering across multiple email clients often helps to increase response up to as much as 87%. This report offers an objective comparison of the current professional companies who offer rendering services. It also lists some of the top secrets to email rendering success, as provided directly from the email industry's most well respected experts.

While creating this report, the Email Experience Council uncovered a significant area of opportunity for the future of image rendering: emails built for smartphones. While some marketers have identified ways to successfully deal with the rendering challenges inside the email inbox, most marketers have not yet addressed the issue of rendering on handheld devices. The use of PDA's, Blackberries, mobile phones and other mobile email devices is still low, yet adoption rates and usage are on the rise (especially for B2B marketers). The eec believes that identifying a way to ensure your email renders well in these devices will become a critical aspect of communication. To cast your vote on whether rendering companies should begin testing for smartphones, please go to www.emailexperience.org.

You can order the full report here ($219.00 - members have access to this report at no cost).