Over the years we’ve built dozens of websites and run hundreds of email marketing campaigns. That equates to thousands of hours of design, coding and user testing. In that time, we’ve learnt a thing or two about getting digital content to appear consistently on different machines with varying screen resolutions, browsers and platforms and with different email applications.

So why do things end up looking different and what does it mean for you as a marketer? There are a myriad of factors that can affect how your recipients view your website or eNewsletters on their computers. We will explain a few of these in this post and what we do to overcome the issue.

Pixel width matters.

Why?
It’s all about screen resolution aka the number of pixels (short for picture elements) available on your users’ screens. Due to the many variants that determine how one views an email campaign, it is difficult to cater for everyone all of the time. So, as a rule we design for the masses.

Who are they?
Resolution                            % of Internet Users
Higher than 1024×768          30%
1024×768                           70%
800×600                              4%
Lower than 800×600          < 1%
Unknown                              3%

Note: These statistics were gathered from visitors to a website dedicated to web technologies, so there may be an over-representation of both higher resolution monitors and lower resolution handheld devices. Updated to January 2009 results.

Look at some of the most visited websites in 2009. What do they have in common?

* facebook.com
* au.yahoo.com
* youtube.com
* ebay.com.au
* ninemsn.com.au
* wikipedia.org
* News.com.au
* realestate.com.au
* commbank.com.au

All have been built with 1024 maximum resolution in mind.

Note: If you are one of the 70% at 1024 resolution the sites will take up all of your screen, here’s what you would see if you had a higher resolution.

What does this mean for my email?

Outlook, Apple Mail, Hotmail, Gmail all fit their various navigation panels and toolbars into the screen real estate. Meaning that at best you’ve got about 600 pixels in width to play with.

OK, so how long should my eNewsletter be?

Our scientific WAG model suggests users fall asleep, or at least lose interest, after 2000 pixels in length (just think “a couple” of scrolls of the mouse wheel).

Still not sure why fonts and layouts aren’t consistent?

The programs your subscribers use to visit webpages and read email can render different results. While standards have been put in place to help reduce the issue, other measures to protect email user privacy, increase security and reduce SPAM completely conflict with what the those standards set out to achieve.

For example, Microsoft Outlook now uses Word to display HTML while webmail solutions like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail all use the web browser but strip out different elements of email template code…and we haven’t even mentioned the version offered by ISPs like BigPond, Optus or iiNet.

What else do I need to think about when creating an email campaign?

* Are you going to print the email?
* What about people with ‘text only’ readers?
* Most email programs block images by default, are you getting your message across if people opt not to download images?

So there you have it, when it comes to creating a successful email campaign there can be a lot to consider. We wouldn’t blame you for thinking it all sounds a bit too hard. After all, that’s why we have a couple of resident geeks!

With these guys on the job, email is still an exceptionally effective way of staying in touch with your customers and prospects on a regular basis.

Connecting Images configures your email campaigns with all of the above considerations in mind to ensure that your digital communication looks great, gets read and achieves results. Give us a call today on (03) 9819 2566 to arrange to come in for a coffee and discuss your digital marketing needs.

“It’s one of the most cost effective and measurable communication tools available to business”

At Connecting Images we use a combination of print and email to keep in touch. We do this because we know an email is good for reminding you we are here and getting you to visit our website. Print on the other hand is perceived and more valuable and capable of holding the reader’s (your) attention longer.

How are you using email to communicate with your database? If you’re not Connecting Images can assist you with:

* Setting up a database to comply with privacy laws
* Crafting content and design for maximum readability
* Distributing your email campaign to avoid SPAM filters
* Monitoring and analysing the results to improved effectiveness

It is a case of horses for courses and email marketing is a cost-effective option if you wish to stay in regular contact with your existing customers and referrers and can also assist in driving traffic back to your website.

In addition to email marketing, for those working with a budget, you will certainly benefit from one of our FREE Fusion sessions. These sessions can be an invaluable tool in developing a strategy around how best to communicate with your target markets. Run by Mark Thornton, our new Managing Director, these sessions offer you the opportunity to explore all your sales and marketing options.

Differentiate yourself from the competition by keeping in touch with your consumers and contact us now to find out how we can help you increase your sales potential!

For more information on how to create effective email marketing campaigns view this post or give us a call on (03) 9819 2566 and arrange to come in for coffee and a chat.