Email Myths Debunked
Many “experts” in this industry constantly insist that image-heavy, all-graphic emails are a “no-no”. Some specialists infer that no one will get the chance to read image-heavy emails because some ESPs will block them, or mark the emails as spam and no one will read them. The experts’ advisement is to simply “Just say NO to graphics”. Well, I hate to disagree, but this is not true across the board. Some email campaigns benefit from graphical emails. It just depends on the situation, the demographic of your audience and what your goals are.
One of the most rampant myths deals with ensuring that the most important and compelling content is near the top-left of the email, so it will appear in the preview area. Although this statement is correct in theory, many times your email design just won’t comply. Testing various layouts and designs with your audience in mind is the best way to ensure high open percentages and high click-through ratios – not matter what content is in the top left corner.
Another popular myth pertains to the email length. “Make sure your email is short and sweet, since no one has any time in their day to read more than a paragraph’s worth of copy.” This couldn’t be further from the truth since it does not apply to all messages across the board. As Teresa Caro acknowledged in this week’s Email Insider, “The value of some products cannot be conveyed in just a few sentences.” Effective email campaigns usually have an informative header, which also catches the eye. Then the copy does the rest for those who want more information.
The moral of these legends is to use best practices, metrics, and guidance from the experts as a frame of reference, but don’t consider their advice to be absolute. You need to adjust your email for your target audience and for what you want to achieve. Most importantly, test, test, and test some more.
Posted by MindComet on Nov. 20, 2006
I would respectfully disagree.<BR><BR>Do you have any metrics to back up that it’s a myth? <BR><BR>My proof is that if I open an email with all images from a source that I’m not sure about - I have no idea what the content is since the images are blocked. As a result, I delete the email for fear it’s from a spammer. That’s proof enough for me.<BR><BR>A combination of images and text will result in better conversions. I work full-time for an ESP and we’ve proven this over and over. At minimum you should advise that your users utilize alt tags (alternative text) as a best practice.
Posted by Doug Karr on 12/11/2006 09:27 PM