A common mistake with email images

Why do so many big brands do such a bad job of email build? There are some reasons for not following basic best practice, but most of those can be put down to laziness. And the upside for getting is write is considerable.

Let me explain ...

How it is supposed to look

H Samuel sent me this email, presumably to tempt me to buy some Christmas presents.

They have set the email out so that I can easily find the range of gift I am looking for, by defining their offer by audience and price.

Creative is OK, not exciting, but it does a job.

Clear calls to action with the add at the bottom.

Interesting that they are promoting Facebook so prominently on the key sales email of the year; shows how seriously businesses are taking it.

So far so good.

How it looked to me

My default view of emails is to have the images turned off, as it is for most people. it is the default setting on most email software.

Whilst I am a subscriber to this email, I have not added H Samuel to my safe sender list. It's something I very rarely do and open rates suggests not many other people do either.

Could it look any worse?

With the images turned off, there is:

• no creative
• no offer
• no calls to action

It doesn't perform at all!

Why do they do it

This is quite a common approach to email. It means that the creatives can design anything they like, without concerning themselves with whether their output is easy to build (building emails is more art than science).

It is easy to build and reduces the likelihood of display errors in some email software (they all render html slightly differently).

And they would argue that they get good open and click through rates; their regular customers want to see their offers, so they do download the images.

Why it matters

Whilst this kind of email might perform for their loyal customers, it will not perform for the less loyal who won't actually see their offer in the preview. The only thing that they can base their decision on is the from name and the subject line.

A well crafted and well built email will allow you to give maximum appeal to your most loyal customers (whether or not they automatically download your images) and will give your less loyal recipients a proper preview of what you have on offer.

[If you insist on the importance of creative for your loyal customers, split your list in 2 and send 2 versions. These brands have big lists; the waste here against a small marginal costs for getting is right is crazy.]

What you can do

Understand how html works within email software and build an email that works with it, not against it.

This is an example of an email that works with the images off.

- the underlying branding comes through
- the offers are prominent
- the calls to action are in place

More people will be engaged by the preview, which will increase open rates and click-thro's.

And, of course, with the images on, it looks great!

Don't be lazy, it's not hard to do it right!

Published by: Mr Tom Barnes

Published 16th December, 2010

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