It’s been a busy 5 months since going full-time freelance, and there’s a lot of news coming soon, including a new website, new client announcements and much more.
In the meantime however, I thought I’d announce a new side project that has finally seen the light of day. Introducing The Email Design Gallery at http://emaildesigngallery.com. I created this gallery as a showcase for all of the fantastic email designs out there, specifically as a way to help get the medium of email design more widely-recognized across the web community.
When designing and coding email designs, more often than not you’re forced into using your browser to render the HTML code you’re working on, and have to wait until you’re ready to test across multiple inboxes to find the per-client issues (looking at you, Hotmail, Gmail and Outlook 2007). Working towards that point is probably the most important in the development phase, as the better you create your base file, the less likely it is you’ll have to tweak and hack to accommodate those pesky email clients.
I think these guys are new kids on the block – and are more than welcome!
SpamMeltdown.com offer sources of inspiration to designers of HTML email. Instead of just talking about email design, they’re going one better and showing real-life examples of emails from monster retailers and brands. What’s more, they’re then analyzing and dissecting those campaigns and providing very insightful feedback. Check them out at www.spammeltdown.com, or check out their highly useful post on Welcome Messages at http://spammeltdown.com/post/Welcome-Messages.aspx
Apple, are you listening? According to a survey by the EEC (Email Experience Council) and reported by The DMA, most retail email marketers (57%) are still sending image-only or heavy image-based email campaigns to their subscribers. Interesting considering the fact that image-based campaigns are known to trigger higher spam scores and reduce open rates based on their large size and, of course, don’t get seen if images are turned ‘off’ in the email client.
The guys at Email Standards Project have completed the assembly of ‘the Gmail Grimace‘, a worldwide appeal for email folks to display their feelings about Gmail’s bizarre lack of CSS standards support.
Show your appreciation for the Gmail Grimace project – watch the video, run through a range of emotions, pick one, and visit the ESP site’s ‘What you can do‘ page, and take it from there. Really, it’s the least you can do.
Like it or not, HTML email marketing campaigns are a core requirement for any successful email marketing program. Not only do they offer the first rule for successful online marketing – metrics – but they also offer a host of benefits that you simply can’t get from using text-only email messages. Things like brand loyalty and identity reinforcement, better product placement and promotion, and increased flexibility within the email to name a few! Of course, HTML campaigns will always have its detractors, and this audience have their own valid reasons not to condone HTML email, but in the interest of the advantages listed above, this format of email is unquestionably crucial in today’s multi-channel, multi-brand, and highly competitive marketing environment!
So, here’s a list to help all email marketers design the ultimate email. You’ll find information, inspiration, downloads, tools (free & paid) and further reading. Of course I haven’t selected everything out there or this post would be a mile long, but if you feel I’ve missed any important ones, feel free to leave a comment.
It’s been a busy 5 months since going full-time freelance, and there’s a lot of news coming soon, including a new website, new client announcements and much more. 
When designing and coding email designs, more often than not you’re forced into using your browser to render the HTML code you’re working on, and have to wait until you’re ready to test across multiple inboxes to find the per-client issues (looking at you, Hotmail, Gmail and Outlook 2007). Working towards that point is probably the most important in the development phase, as the better you create your base file, the less likely it is you’ll have to tweak and hack to accommodate those pesky email clients.
I think these guys are new kids on the block – and are more than welcome!