putting ourselves out there: email campaign
Posted by Andrew in Design, Recruitment on Sep 4th, 2008 | 4 commentsWhen it comes to our office’s email campaigns, I’ve taken on the role of designer. Unfortunately we don’t have a dedicated designer or webmaster on staff. Thankfully design is something that I really enjoy! I do not claim to have any legitimate educational background in design, however.
As you can tell, we are using a basic 2-column format with a ton of opportunities for prospective students to click through to items we believe are important. The main body area on the right includes information specific to the particular email we are sending.
So I’m putting it out there for my colleagues and readers of “Admittedly Dutch.” What do you like? What would you change?
NOTE: For a “working version” of one of our email campaigns, click here.
4 Responses to “putting ourselves out there: email campaign”
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Love the layout and the rounded edges, as well as the social media callouts in the bottom right.
The only thing I might change is ‘a message for prospective students’. I wonder if not having it there would free up the top banner with some blank space and make the message feel more personal? That makes it sound like a mass-mailing, which it is, but I think students like it to feel more personal.
Great work!
So your on Zinch? Be interesting to hear how that’s working for you. I know Brad’s a big supporter, but that’s really all I know.
@Bradjward — thanks for your thoughts! I never really thought about the “message for prospective students” thing, but I think you’re right, it does sound less personal and more sterile. I think I’ll bring that up to our email campaign team!
Aside from the design itself, the underlying code is crucially important. Test, test, test your design in a variety of e-mail clients, both desktop and Web-based. And, yes, test those Web clients in a variety of browsers. Just testing Yahoo isn’t enough – test it in various versions of IE and Firefox. At least the first time around, then periodically after that.
There are some tools to help out with this. CampaignMonitor uses ReturnPath’s rendering testing tool on a pay-per-test basis, which is convenient. It doesn’t cover all the major combinations, but it is a start.
E-mail coding standards and Web coding standards are *not* the same. If you use css, it is best used with caution as it presents a number of rendering pitfalls in e-mail.