Email Marketing Design Tips To Improve Your Open Rates

 To attract subscribers' attention, email marketers should recognize that the preview pane of their subscriber's email application is the initial opportunity for their content to make an impression. Regrettably, those who do not consider a snapshot preview in their content design suffer from lower-than-expected open rates, as their subscribers are less likely to open the message in full.

Here are four simple steps to ensure that your next email message preview pane design attracts the attention it deserves:

Initially, it is important to note that prior to Outlook 2003, the preview shown to subscribers ran horizontally along the bottom of their screen. In Outlook 2003, this view is a vertical slice showing the left-hand side of your content.

As a tip, try taking a blank sheet of paper and revealing the top third of your text message and then the left third. Does what you see in both instances seem interesting enough to entice your subscribers to click on it?

Secondly, by allowing for the thinnest of newsletter mastheads, you should try to cram as much content as possible into these viewable snippets. Furthermore, if this content accurately conveys the message of your email, the chances of subscribers opening it increase even further.

Thirdly, avoid having too many images cluttering the preview space. By default, my version of Outlook 2003 suppresses all images sent to me in HTML messages. All I see is a sea of red crosses, which tells me nothing about the message. (I tend to leave these messages until later, which CAN become NEVER! Your subscribers may well do the same.)

Lastly, smart newsletter designers use images sparingly in this top part. Even better, they build their masthead using not images but HTML text and color to effectively convey their message. As a consumer, I am far more tempted to break my train of thought and dig deeper into that juicy piece of content I can see.

Therefore, by treating the preview pane of your newsletter as a quick-peek mini-summary for your subscribers, you are on the right track to gaining a new client!

In essence, the faster your readers are intrigued by the first lines of your email, the more they will read them.