Putting the final touches on your latest promotion, invitation or newsletter? Here are three simple rules of thumb to make sure your emails look great before they go out the door.
1. Make it yours
No matter why you are emailing, your audience needs to know that the message is coming from you. Recognition not only helps you keep down spam complaints, but if you are trying to make a brand for yourself, it’s extra important. So, make sure that you:
Include your logo. Take the time to put it at the top of your email and resize it to make it fit appropriately.
Match your colors. Whether it’s the colors in your logo or the colors on your webpage, you should make sure that the color scheme remains consistent.
2. Make it appealing
There’s a reason why people spend so much time on their designs. Layout is key! Make sure that the look of the email is solid enough to show off your important content.
Keep column height equal. If you are using a multi-column design, don’t let one column go on-and-on while the other remains small. The white space doesn’t look great and the email starts to look unbalanced.
Be consistent. This works as far as alignment, font size, and font color. You don’t want to make every single block in your email use a different font or color. That gets distracting.
3. Make it easy to read
Possibly the most important thing you’ll want to do is make sure your great content is easy to read. To do that you’ll want to:
Avoid word walls: Lots of long paragraphs of information can be kind of hard to get through. If you’ve got a lot to say, think about creative ways to break it up like using a read more link, putting in an image, or including a bulleted list.
Organize your information: Having information that’s logically organized can also make it easier for readers to quickly identify what interests them most and keep them reading the email. Think about using a table of contents block, using subheadings, or including paragraph breaks.
When your emails are uniquely yours, good-looking, and easy-to-read you’ll be providing your customers with a great email experience.
What questions do you have about making your email campaigns look great? Ask them at Constant Contact’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/constantcontact.
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Gina Watkins is a leading expert on e-marketing for small business – and has a real passion for helping businesses to succeed. Her ongoing series of dynamic lectures are filled with real-world examples, humor and results-driven wisdom garnered from more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience. In addition to owning her own business, she is an award-winning direct marketer, has been featured on WUSA Channel 9’s Mind Over Money show, Dr. Gayle Carson’s Women In Business radio show, Morgan State’s Briefcase Radio program, and in numerous other media. In her role as Constant Contact Regional Development Director, she’s presented to more than ten thousand seminar attendees about the keys to success with easy, affordable, highly effective technology tools that grow trusted business relationships.