Section 1

Creative Best Practices:

Design, Copywriting and HTML

Programming

Deliverability Optimisation: The Road to the Inbox

From: PriceMinister HighTech Subject: Spécial Vacances : lecteurs MP3 et caméscopes

From

Company name is

prominently featured in

« From » for instant

brand recognition

In this Issue

No Quick links to

summarize content for

easy navigation

Customer Service

No summary services

offering users

convenient organised

content

Layout

Utilises wireframe

layout – crisp, clean

and scalable for

dynamic content

generation

Subject Line

Consistent for

recognition while also

communicating value

Header

No Reminder to « Add

To Address Book » to

ensure future delivery

to the Inbox

Preview Pane

3rd party ad in the

preview pane area

does not push to open

No text in this area

(when images are

blocked, it makes

nothing visible)

Feature

Featured products are

NOT based on past

purchase history

Call-To-Action

Response mechanisms

in text and Image

format to ensure

readability when

images are blocked

Body Content

Content is NOT

dynamically generated

based on purchase

behaviour and

preferences

Law Compliance

Footer must include

opt-out, physical

address, link to email

preference centre and

privacy policy

Header

Link to hosted Email

version for increased

audience and ROI

Text

Usage of balanced

ratio between text and

Images in HTML for

increased optimised

scoring but NO full text

version

Content analysis details: (0.2 points, 5.0

required) pts

0.2 HTML_90_100 BODY: Message is 90% to

100% HTML

0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included

in message

Deliverability Optimisation: The Road to the Inbox

From: Kingoloto via PriceMinister Subject: Gagnez 1 an de loyer et pleins de cadeaux

From

Company name is

prominently featured in

« From » for instant

brand recognition and

identification as 3rd

party Email

Layout

Utilises wireframe

layout – crisp, clean

and scalable for

dynamic content

generation

Subject Line

Use of « Gagnez »

could lead to Spam

categorisation

Header

No Reminder to « Add

To Address Book » to

ensure future delivery

to the Inbox

Body Content

Content is made of

80% of images

Law Compliance

Footer must include

opt-out, physical

address, link to email

preference centre and

privacy policy

Header

No Statement of

origination, particularly

sensitive in the case of

3rd party Emails

Text

Usage of unbalanced

ratio between text and

Images in HTML for

increased optimised

scoring

Content analysis details: (1.4 points, 5.0 required) pts

0.1 NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP URI: Uses a dotted-decimal IP address in URL

0.2 HTML_90_100 BODY: Message is 90% to 100% HTML

0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message

1.2 MIME_HTML_ONLY BODY: Message only has text/html MIME parts

Keywords

gagnez

cadeaux

gratuitement

loterie

cliquez ici

offres

SpamCheck: 1.4/5

- Use of IP address in

image sources: http://62.233.47.7

- pure HML, no text

version

Deliverability Optimisation: The Road to the Inbox

From: Alexandra de PriceMinister Subject: Le Petit Electro soldé : jusqu'à 50% de réduction

From

Company name is

prominently featured in

« From » for instant

brand recognition

Customer Service

No summary services

offering users

convenient organised

content

Layout

Utilises wireframe

layout – crisp, clean

and scalable for

dynamic content

generation

Subject Line

Consistent for

recognition while also

communicating value

Header

No Reminder to « Add

To Address Book » to

ensure future delivery

to the Inbox

Featured Promotions

Promotional offering

BELOW the preview

pane.

Feature

Featured products are

NOT based on past

purchase history

Call-To-Action

Few text Image format

to ensure readability

when images are

blocked

Body Content

Content is NOT

dynamically generated

based on purchase

behaviour and

preferences

Law Compliance

Footer should include

opt-out, physical

address, link to email

preference centre and

privacy policy

Header

Link to hosted Email

version for increased

audience and ROI

Text

Usage of balanced

ratio between text and

Images in HTML for

increased optimised

scoring but NO real

text version

HTML

No alt in img tags in

case of blocked images

Creative Best Practices: The Address Book

Most Email clients and webmail used rely on the address book to « let you in ». But just like the new Windows Live!, even Email delivered to the Inbox have images disabled by default. Only senders in the address book have images displayed.

You should encourage your subscribers to add your Sender’s address to their address book using the button provided and through all mediums:

Place instructions on your Email confirmation and thank you pages.

Add instructions to your site FAQs on how to add an address to the address book in major Web based Email clients

Add instructions to your data collection webform: « To ensure future delivery of your newsletter, please add this address to your address book: email@vp.emv1.net »

New Windows Live! Webmail « Add contact » function to ensure

image display and delivery to the Inbox

Creative Best Practices

Special focus on the use of Cascading Style Sheets: You have 3 basic choices when it comes to constructing the style of your HTML code email template:

Inline HTML:

No style defined Every line of code has to be defined

Internal CSS: (Cascading Style Sheet) Stylesheet added to the header of the HTML template and defines how the rest of the html document will be rendered. Email recipients receive the CSS within each email.

External CSS: (Cascading Style Sheet) Stylesheet file resides on webserver and is called when the email is opened.

But according to a research test performed with 36 different email clients comparing Internal & External CSS vs. Inline HTML - Inline HTML had the best 'render right' rate of 94%.

Creative width and layout:

Set your width between 500px and 600px

Simple Layouts and Tables Work Best: no complex colspan or spacer gif driven spacing

Section 4: Outlook 2007 Overview

HTML email rendering:

Outlook 2007 will stop using Internet Explorer to render HTML emails and instead use Microsoft

Word rendering engine, which means in summary:

Very basic CSS support (CSS level 1)

No support for background images

Poor background colour support

No support for CSS float or positioning, HTML

tables only.

No support for web forms

No support for Flash, or other plugins (a red cross will be displayed)

No support for replacing bullets with images in unordered lists

No support for animated GIFs (only static)

Creative Best Practices

List of things to avoid:

Text & Case related:

Upper case letters in both Subject Line & Message Body

Upper case HTML tags

Punctuation in Subject lines

Don’t use consecutive exclamation marks or question marks in Subject Line & Message

Body

HTML Keywords in image names: as they can be replaced by « void » in Lycos Mail

E.g.: <img src="http://img.mysite.com/header.gif" width="234" height="23" alt="my image"> would be replaced in

Lycos by: <img src="http://img.mysite.com/VOIDer.gif" width="234" height="23" alt="my image">

Creative Best Practices

List of things to avoid:

HTML Coding common mistakes: Images source using an IP address (eg: http://65.25.65.14/image.gif)

JavaScript code: filtered by corporate firewalls and deactivated by most Web based Email clients

ActiveX and Flash (works in MS Outlook by not compatible with most Email clients)

Internal or External CSS (<link> or <style>)

Pure HTML(no text version)

Too many Images

Too many nested tables: increases the size of the HTML and raises readability issues with Email clients like Lotus Notes

Too many columns or rows merging (‘colspan’ or ’rowspan’ attribute) for Lotus Notes compatibility

HTML Image background attribute: compatibility issue with Yahoo! Email client E.g: <td height="51" colspan="4" valign="bottom" background=“http://images”>

Big fonts

<DIV> and <LAYER> HTML tags Basic colors like « blue » or « red »

E.g: <font color="red">

Spaces in image source names, E.g: <img src="http://img.mysite.com/my image.gif" width="234" height="23" alt="my image">

Use Bitmap Images, not very optimised for displaying on the Web E.g: <img src=http://images/myimage.bmp width=“12” height=“10“ alt=“my image”>

Creative Best Practices

List of English Keywords to avoid:

advertisement

money back

cards accepted

removal instructions

extra income

"!« , "!!« , "$$" and "$"

free

000

Dear friend

for free?, for free!

Guarantee

satisfaction

absolute

more info

visit

SPECIAL

PROMOTION

one-time mail

order today

order now!

money-back guarantee

100% satisfied

friend@,

public@,success@,

sales@, success@,

mail@, @public, profits@,

@savvy, hello@, @mlm.

success

mlm

///////////////

check or money order

Diet

Weight

Cash

promo

debt

obligation

Income

credit

mortgage

win, won

degree

mp3

generic

congratulations

opportunity

cheap

horoscope

must be 21

xxx …etc

List Hygiene Best Practices

Marketers apparently don't realize how much data quality is the start of quality Email

delivery. As an example, spam complaints can influence message blocking and filtering.

Here is a list of mandatory data quality practices in order to maximise Email delivery:

Data collection webform: make sure Email address syntax verification is done.

Require confirmation of the email address on the opt-in form on your website: a

confirmation Email and proper bounce processing is also a very good way of

ensuring Email address validity

Process and remove Hard bounces after 1 or 2 attempts using the Hard Bounce

Quarantine System provided by Campaign Commander

Process and Remove people complaining (FeedbackLoop and other Emails sent

to abuse or customer services).

Make sure the Unsubscribe mecanism is always working and monitor your

unsubscribe rates

Acquisition campaigns: make sure you choose your list broker thouroughly and

that unsubscribes are beeing honoured

Section 2

Links and online Tools

Links & Online Tools

Newsletters and Best Practices:

B to B: http://www.btobonline.com/

ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com

DM News: http://www.dmnews.com

EmailSherpa: http://www.emailsherpa.com

eMarketer: http://www.emarketer.com

Ezine-Tips: http://emailuniverse.com/ezine-tips/

MarketingProfs: http://www.marketingprofs.com/

Marketing Sherpa: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/

The Newsletter on Newsletters: http://www.newsletterbiz.com/

Spam Laws: http://www.spamlaws.com/

Web Marketing Today – WilsonWeb:

http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/email.htm

Email Marketing Reports: http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/