Web Marketing all-in-one for Dummies®

Chapter 4. Constructing an Effective Marketing E-Mail

In This Chapter

• Creating From and Subject lines

• Creating and laying out e-mail content

• Branding your e-mails

Deciding how to design and lay out your e-mail content is possibly the most important step in executing your e-mail marketing strategy. Designing your e-mail content entails choosing a format, such as a newsletter or event invitation, that matches your message and placing your content in visually appealing arrangements.

E-mail design is important because consumers tend to scan e-mails instead of reading them in their entirety. If your e-mails aren't easy to scan, no one will pay attention long enough to grasp your message or take action.

In addition to making your e-mails easy to scan, good e-mail designs enhance your business image by giving your e-mails a consistent and professional brand identity. Brand identity makes your e-mails more inviting and recognizable to your audience and tells your audience that your e-mail comes from a trustworthy and familiar source.

In this chapter, I show you how to organize and design your e-mail content so that your audience can easily scan and understand your message. I also cover branding your e-mails to enhance your business image and identity.

Tip

Designing your e-mails to maximize scannability and identity requires HTML. If you aren't an HTML programmer, check out any e-mail templates that your E-Mail Service Provider (ESP) provides. E-mail templates allow you to start with a familiar e-mail ...