 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The goal of your message or offer is to stay in front of the prospects in the least intrusive way. We best describe it as putting out the welcome mat.
Laying out your email template:
Select from the 5 most popular email message themes:
- Basic
You want to just build a simple template with some organization and a little color.
- Event
You want to have people aware of a date sensitive function periodically.
- Newsletter
You want to build a message with 2 or 3 newspaper-type columns.
- Press Release
You have company related or product wise information to share.
- Promotion
You want to offer a coupon or a discount or share a new product line.
Fortunately ESP’s, through their Email Marketing Services, have a free and easy way to apply colorful graphic templates and most offer the five, main, email template categories listed above for you to select from. To get started right away, you could select a provided template and then alter it to fit your needs. These templates are designed for you to build upon the existing layout and customize them by uploading your logo, typing in your message or offer, adding some images, and building some links to your main website. The web link or hyperlink could be to your landing page, a product, a technical specifications, a shopping cart, or even a sign up page.
ESP’s also allow you to upload your own templates, as long as they are built in HTML. The webmaster that built or maintains your website can create your very own template in HTML. You can simply upload your custom-built HTML template into your ESP account. Then you can customize it within your ESP account anytime you want to, even without any knowledge of HTML programming.
Your template HTML note:
The Email Marketing Service's software in your account will allow you to make content changes to your template. The software works similarly to building a Microsoft Word document but with a lot more features. This interface will convert your template changes to HTML for you.
Email templates are broken down into 3 important sections and we've listed these in order of importance:
- Header
This is the banner across the upper top of your template.
- Body
This is the center section Content and images are placed throughout this section.
- Footer
This is your closing at the very bottom of the template.
Now that you have built your own template or selected a professional email template from an ESP, you are ready to begin the best approach to building your delivery email product.
Step 1: Header Logo
Your company logo and company name that you apply on all of your marketing materials (we discussed this earlier) should be placed at the top of your template. If possible, it should be placed to the left, because the human eye is trained to scan from the top left to the right. If you are utilizing a banner type logo that runs across the width of the page, then be sure to center it. People look at emails in a similar way that they look at a website, so, when you build your logo into your template, be sure to hyperlink it to your website's home page.
Remember that people you have worked with or communicated with are more likely to remember your logo or company name over anything else.
Step 2: Header Headline
The main headline or statement should also be placed at the top just below the logo or company name, on the left side or center of your template. This headline should clearly express what your company is, does, or offers.
Example: “Creator of the Finest Baseballs in the World”
Step 3: Header Action
The reason for sending your message or offer is the “call to action”. This is what you would like the recipient to do with your email. If you want them to click or visit an important action located in the lower portion of your message, then you need to write, small instructions explaining this action. This small instruction can be placed below the logo and below the headline on the left hand side of the template. But, if this prime area of the template is looking too heavy, then you can place an equally important component to the right hand side of your template and still obtain great results.
Step 4: Body Eye Catchers
An eye catcher is the anchor of your email in the form of a graphic image, icon, or a series of bullet points. These components are great for directing the recipient’s attention and capturing interest in your email message.
The goal is to place an icon or image, with some text next to or below it, describing what is important and that you wish to share with the recipients. It is a good idea to build the image and text within a box, perhaps with a color background tying these 2 together. These types of eye catching image, icon, and text combinations will encourage the recipient to read more of your overall message. One or more of these components can be used side-by-side and they should be placed just below the header and at the top of the body section of your template.
Your ESP allows you to host your image files so that they are available for you to utilize when creating your next template. The wording used in these boxes can direct the recipient to either chick on a hyperlink or point to something in the heavier content feature that is lower, inside of the body section of your template. Keep these images relatively small in proportion to the template to prevent from losing your recipient because they do not see the associated message. These images can also be clickable links to your website if your image and text push for a call to action.
Example: Buy a baseball today and receive 1 free or click the baseball to win it free.
Important Note:
The 4 steps above, when completed, should all be viewable in the preview pane (that is the 2 or 3 inch area that appears when you receive an email, before you click to open it). This procedure when presented correctly will give the viewer several visual hints about whom and what they have received including the time or date sensitive type of call to action.
Step 5: Body Content
Building the body section is the details of your message that are important to seal the deal. What ever you have placed down in this section can be anything from printable coupons, instructions, helpful tips, monthly group or organization news, or various products (say from a family of a particular product line).
Regardless of what you are going to offer, it is important that it be laid out properly and in a style that is normal to the reader’s familiarity with other current reading materials that they receive.
Examples: Like a news story you should use either a 2 or 3 column layout, or a family of products offerings should be laid out like a catalog.
Important Note:
For best results, the organization of your template is really important and ESP services offer tables that are made up of cells and columns (these are like content dividers) as part of the building process. This content organization helps structure a professional presentation that will help you gain the recipient’s trust and confidence.
Step 6: Footer
The message footer can be a couple of inches or less in height and the width of your template area which is located at the very bottom of the overall template. You should build this as a message box and add a color background, which is where the color should match the header color for continuity and to separate it from the body section of your template. What is really important here is to offer your website's main page address MyCompany.com, your physical mailing or business address, a link to your website's driving directions or map page, your phone and fax number, and your email address.
Your ESP will host your templates as you create them so that you can use them over again. This is important, because, once you have created your branding through colors, logo, font types, and other familiar characteristics, you will want to keep this theme for use on each campaign you send out, just making some minor changes to the template, while changing your messages or offers in the future. (Brand Retention)
Note:
Be sure to archive or print a copy of prior offers so that you know how to keep your offers new, exciting, and enticing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
