This document summarizes an email marketing presentation on designing effective emails. It provides tips on keeping email design simple with tables and inline styles, testing across clients, keeping content brief, and ensuring deliverability through list hygiene and authentication. Design considerations include width, fonts, links and allowing for degradation. Metrics show shorter subjects and more links increase engagement, while larger lists see reduced rates.

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EMAIL MARKETING WITH
BLACKBAUD NETCOMMUNITY
Presented by:
Kaine Costello, Enterprise Account Manager
Chris Bell, Web Developer & NetCommunity Consultant
Email Design and Deliverability

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LET’S GET STARTED…

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SIMPLE, EFFICIENT, AND EFFECTIVE EMAIL
DESIGN

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• Email Clients, such as Outlook, Hotmail and Gmail still often render
their emails in very different ways
• There are web standards set for Browsers by the W3C but this has not
extended to email clients
• Therefore one must expect a large degree of variation in the rendering
of your emails across various email clients
• The easiest way to mitigate this is starting with a simple design and
only adding what you need
• Then test, test, test!
WHY KEEP IT SIMPLE?

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EXAMPLE *PROVIDED BY CAMPAIGNMONITOR.COM

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• Use tables to build the layout of your email as divs and style sheets
are not fully supported
• Keep things simple but err towards nested tables to create complex
areas of the email
• Use inline styles as CSS style sheets are still not fully supported.
• If you choose to use CSS style sheets consider how the email will
display if the style sheet is stripped out.
• Understand that the email clients will make many presumptions about
anything you do not specify
EMAIL CODE BASICS

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• Branding – usually your logo and colours
• Reasonable, relevant subject line. Don’t be caught as Spam!
• Short content with images to engage and multiple links to entice click-
through
• Contact information
• Opt out
• Test it!
WHAT ARE THE DESIGN BASICS?

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A SIMPLE, EFFICIENT EMAIL DESIGN

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• You will be in many situations where you need more than the simple
template
• Plan ahead
• Add only what you need to avoid problems. An email newsletter is not
the same as a printed newsletter.
• If you can, code the html instead of using the WYSIWYG
• Keep it even simpler if you are using the WYSIWYG or use a template
• Know the limitations of emails and plan for them
• Test!
BEYOND THE BASICS – CODE AND COMPLEXITY

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• Use tables, support for divs is limited
• Use inline styles, support for style sheets is limited
• Keep email width 600px or less
• Err towards nesting tables in creating your layout but only do this as
needed or you will overcomplicate things
• Do NOT use JavaScript – your email will end up as spam
• Avoid shorthand
• Avoid spacer images
• Do not use floats
• Test, test, test!
A SHORT SAMPLE OF THE LONG LIST EMAIL
LIMITATIONS

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A COMPLEX
BUT USABLE
DESIGN

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• Do you need it? If not, get rid of it.
• Do you really need it? If not, get rid of it.
• This includes colours, fonts and formatting
• Simplify, simplify
• Allow complex features to degrade gracefully
• Examples include alt text for images that do not show and
background-colours for background images that do not show
• Understand that someone, somewhere will not see it the way you
intend and work to make the email communicate anyway
IT DOESN’T WORK!

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YOU DON’T
WANT THIS:

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• The average email metrics for associations include a 98.15% delivery
rate, 32.36% open rate, 21.08% click rate, and a .051% unsubscribe
rate
• Shorter subject lines continue to outperform lengthier subject lines.
Subject lines with fewer than 10 characters saw the highest open rates
at 51%
• Emails containing more links had higher click-thru rates
• Email engagement decreases as the list size increases
• Statics above and below provided by informz
A FEW EMAIL DESIGN STATISTICS

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WHERE IS EMAIL READ?

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• Can be complex. There are technical considerations for creating a true
responsive email design that are beyond this presentation. Many
require style sheets or access to the body tag for which there is not
broad client support.
• But there are some simple considerations:
• Decrease you width. Even a small decrease in width can make
elements fit easier into narrower windows.
• Reduce your content. Many mobile devices cut off content.
• Increase font size and give links space.
MOBILE AND RESPONSIVE CONSIDERATIONS

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ENSURING YOUR MESSAGE IS SEEN

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DELIVERABILITY
• Sender Reputation
• Spam filtering
• Blacklist Operators
• Smart Inboxes
What impacts deliverability?

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STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY
• Rise in sender reputation means data quality is of the utmost
importance
• Permission System – Make sure they want your email
• Verify data
• Validate
Improve Data Collection

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STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY
• Explosion in Phishing and Spoofing
• Create Subdomain/Email Domain for Email Send
• Implemented Sender-ID/Sender Policy Framework (SDF) Record
• Domain Keys Indentified Email (DKIM)
Authentication

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STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY
• ISPs use external companies for data to screen lists against
• Metrics used:
• Broadcast Volumes
• Spam Complaints
• Bounce Activity
• Spam Trap Activity
• Blacklisting
Monitor Your Reputation

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STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY
List Hygiene
• Data Audit before first send
• Bounce Management Programme
• Spam Traps
Complaint Feedback Loops
• Allows senders to retrieve spam complaints from each ISP

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STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY
• Monitor Blacklists
• Reduce Complaints:
• They didn’t subscribe
• They didn’t recognize you
• They forgot they signed up
• You send too many emails
• Information isn’t interesting or relevant
• The unsubscribe function isn’t easy to find
• Reactive vs. proactive
Monitor Blacklists/Reduce Complaints

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STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY
• Monitor Inbox vs. Spam folder
• Ideal time to monitor display in different inboxs
• Email on Acid
• Split Testing
• Analysis and Segmentation
Pre-Broadcast Screening

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THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!
Be sure to check the website for the recording posting
Let your Account Manager know if you have any questions or
would like to schedule a session with one of our BBNC experts!