The newest member of the Emailcenter team (Simon) talks about the main issues to consider when trying to get your marketing emails to render correctly in Outlook 2007.

Over the past few weeks retailers have starting to send out the first of their Christmas related marketing emails. Although I am sure to have a new favourite by the time I am stuffed full on mince pies and watching the “Vicar of Dibley” on Christmas day, I have decided to share a couple that have already caught my eye.

One good

I doubt this email is personalised, unless the baubles change depending on the films you have recently rented! The fact that LOVEFILM have put the effort into customising the decorations makes me feel it is worth paying attention to this email.

The message is clear and to the point. The “Visit Shop” call to action and the time limit tells the customer what they need to do and when to do it.

It could be better though. The entire email is made up of images, when it would have been easy to turn the wording into real text, making the message clear even if images were disabled.

Read More

What is a web version?

You will often see at the top of an email a piece of text which says something like “If you cannot see this email properly click here”.

This will link to a version of the email in the browser and is often referred to as the web version.

Why is it needed?

Different email clients render emails in different ways. Some might mess up the formatting so it is not legible. This is certainly the case with some mobile email clients although thankfully this is quickly changing.

The other reason is if images are not displayed. While some recipients will know how to turn images on, it is sensible to give people this additional option.

Read More