by Lesley Cortright, Account Executive, Premiere Marketing Automation

Unless your three-year old nephew is Picasso, you would probably leave the creation of marketing collateral to a design expert. If that is your line of thinking, then you’d probably also agree that it doesn’t make sense to have your marketing, branding or interactive agency program your HTML email templates if they’re not experts in the field of email marketing.

In today’s world of email, leaving template programming to the email marketing experts is the best way to ensure delivery and action on the part of the recipient. Here is why:

1. Keep cascading style sheets (CSS) out of the header
CSS programming is not recommended for email communications, unless it is done correctly. Agencies are generally trained to program Web sites, not HTML email. Therefore, they tend to follow the same rules for creating HTML email templates as they would a Web site – using header CSS. While using header CSS works fine for Web sites, using the wrong context of CSS in email can be very damaging; when an email message is displayed within a Web-based email client, the header information is typically stripped out, rendering the CSS tags within the message body useless.

Email marketing experts know you should use inline CSS, which allows for the definition of the style sheet within the body of the message. If the header information is stripped out, the definitions remain and your creative renders properly.

2. XHTML is not W3C compliant
XHTML incorporates other markup languages into the code. According to
W3C.org, many browsers don’t render XHTML as proper HTML because it is
not as exact, thus creating conflict in code. In email, XHTML can cause
problems with un-closed tags and non-standard tag types and formatting,
which will also cause rendering problems across many ISPs. Email
marketers understand these challenges and can program around and
correct XHTML problems, ensuring the message renders and delivers with
accuracy.

3. Email is more science than art
Email is an ever evolving marketing channel with constantly changing
best practices, and agencies don’t always understand the customer
experience as it applies to the business rules for email. While
agencies know traditional creative, email creative is a different
animal and customers don’t interact with email like they do with any
other platform. Designing and implementing strong email creative is a
delicate matter. Email marketers are charged with ensuring things like
message rendering, layout, image use, properly coded and tested HTML,
filtering for Spam rules, and deliverability being the metrics email
marketers know matter most in the making sure the recipient has a
positive experience with the email campaign.

4. Make effective use of campaign technology
Many agencies bill email template creation on a per template basis just
like they would for traditional marketing collateral, not by
understanding the newest technologies available to help clients
streamline efforts. Email marketers create reusable templates with the
concept of making the template as flexible as possible to keep version
control and message programming time in check. By using conditional
content for images, text or links, clients are able to decrease the
amount of versions in a given campaign. The bottom line is many times
agencies are more concerned with their bottom line than they are making
the content the most relevant and efficient to the end user and client,
respectively.

5. Constantly changing ISP rules
Email delivery rules change constantly, and if you’re not in the space,
there’s no way to know what is happening with various ISPs (such as
Goodmail, feedback loops, whitelisting, blocking, etc.) that need to be
addressed to ensure message delivery. Email marketers are continuously
monitoring ISP rule changes, client blocking issues and proactive
deliverability measures, ensuring the client has the highest likelihood
of inbox delivery. While agencies may try to convince you they can meet
your deliverability needs, the fact is that they’re not in the loop
like email marketers are – not being in the loop puts your campaign at
risk.

6. Be W3C compliant
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium
where member organizations work together to develop standards for the
World Wide Web and HTML specifications. These standards should be used
as a basis for all HTML creative to determine the correctness and
delivery potential of the HTML code for a given message. This tool is a
huge asset to those in our field to catch error-filled code before it
goes live.

7. Be mindful of Spam filters
Email marketing experts understand the best practices surrounding Spam
filters and recognize the importance of creating message content with
Spam filtering rules in mind. These best practices extend from creative
concepts to final production. Products, such as Filter Advisor or
Analysis Pro, are available to our email marketing experts to check all
content, including subject lines, for Spam filter triggers to ensure
the likelihood of message delivery.

8. Understand creative motivation
There is nothing wrong with a little creativity, however, agencies
typically think about the look and feel of the campaign, versus the
functionality and adaptability to email. This becomes problematic with
version control as agencies lean towards using rights protected images
and new content with each campaign, versus repurposing copy and
creating their own images, or purchasing royalty-free images that can
be used over and over. It’s about being strategic in thought, not
dollars.

9. Mixing Flash and email
Agencies are notorious for wanting and trying to use Flash in an email.
Flash is generally seen as a major taboo in email for a couple of
reasons: 1) it’s impossible to know if recipients have Flash settings
installed and accessible on their computers – if Flash is not
installed, this diminishes the appeal and relevancy of the message 2)
many computers are automatically setup to block Flash, again
diminishing the likelihood of the Flash movie rendering and posing the
potential for your entire message to be blocked, therefore useless.
Email experts understand that creating animated gifs is a better avenue
to follow.

10. Test content for readability and ISP rendering
One of the major steps of showcasing new creative is to test new
templates through content testers prior to the first launch to ensure
the message will render properly in the major email clients. Agencies
tend to create email messages to have a similar look and feel as other
traditional marketing communication pieces (such as direct mail) – this
doesn’t always work in email and it’s important to design email for
readability, not just crafty looks. Testing is the #1 way to ensure the
message is readable and renders properly for your recipients.

While agencies are certainly a key partner for many marketing needs,
keep in mind email marketing is an evolving channel that should be left
to the experts.

Source: Subject Lines, Premiere Marketing Solutions’ educational newsletter