Grow – Email Template Sample
To show how the new ‘Grow’ website will influence other media such as HTML email I have designed a sample.
While social media such as Twitter and Facebook as rocketed in the last couple years I feel there is still a place for promotional newsletters. There is the “emails should be text only” camp and there is the “emails should be just as pretty as the website” camp. I belong to the latter. I’m not alone, quite a few web design heavyweights have recently been involved in creating a range of templates for MailChimp. Showing the good old HTML email isn’t dead yet.
Marking Up and Styling a HTML Email
A different approach has to be taken when coding a HTML email from coding a web side. You can forget all about semantic markup, and all that fancy CSS shizzle is out to. When taking on an HTML email you have to code like it’s 1999.
It all stems from the sheer number of email clients we use, each with their own little quirks. CSS support can vary wildly among the different clients. It’s generally not a good idea to position structural elements with floats, Outlook the most widely use email client doesn’t like them. It’s a lot safer to go old skool and use HTML tables.
It’s not all bad news, most of the text formatting elements of the CSS2 spec is widely supported among clients.
When approaching a HTML email keep in mind it has to work without images. Most clients hide images by default until their explicitly told otherwise, it’s therefore not a good idea to put all your text in one massive image. Apart from risk of the client opening a seemly empty email, the email may never reach the client, getting blocked by spam filters on it’s way in.
Legal Issues
To comply with the Can-Spam Act 2010 your email must contain an unsubscribe link, company email address, telephone number and a reference to when and how the customer signed up to the email. If your business email doesn’t contain these things it’s technically breaking the law.
Using Mailchimp
Mailchimp is great way to have all that legal jargon handled automatically so you can get on with the task of designing the emails. I’ve used it with Artsekta and other businesses in the past. Even the most computer illiterate individual can use Mailchimp. Mailchimp also has the bonus of automatically posting to Twitter and Facebook, saving your client time.
The analytics Mailchimp provides after each email has been sent can be really valuable.
Grow Template
Here’s a screenshot of my ‘Grow’ template, if you want to see the markup have a look here
