Campaigns should be like building with Lego blocks, with your focus on content and engage with your subscribers.
Your emails should always reflex positively on your brand.
What to expect from a custom email template?
Learn how to analyse the right email template for you.
When looking for a template or developer to build you a custom email template for your brand you should expect:
Custom fonts are not always supported.
So a fall back font similar to your brand should be found, to help your brand be consistent when your desired font does not load.
Mobile friendly This is the number 1 priority.
if it's not mobile responsive it's not right, over 60% of emails are opened on mobile phones.
HTML / CSS framework is bespoke to your needs.
This should be 100% hand-coded by an email developer, to prevent bug or broken email on some inboxes
Fully Editable To speed up the campaign process.
This will be dependent on the email software you use to send, normally a good email developer can help you with this, if not contact me for help.
Extensively tested on this email inboxes
A good great email template is supported on most major email clients:
Email File Is important
Size Does Matter in email delivery.
If you have an email framework you need to consider its file size, here a few factors for a larger size.
1. The code size needed to support all Modules / Content blocks
The code size of the CSS is what controls – colours, image sizes, and responsive layouts.
Also, you need to consider the HTML size as this is bigger than normal web pages because of inline styling.
Typically I would not expect file size to be above 60kb, but you can send an email if this is larger.
Email file size above 80kb would not be recommended send, this is when email inboxes start clipping, This means not all of the content is visible
2. Image sizes
Image sizes are not part of your email file size but it does make differences to email deliverability and good inbox placement, small quality images mean better user experience, it’s that simple.
3. Custom font size
If you are using custom fonts, you need to ensure that your HTML email does not load slowly because the custom font is being overused or has a slow loading time, this is to ensure the experience of your subscribe is not affected.
Email Platform Testing
All emails need platform testing or it's like adding petrol to a diesel car, it only ends up in tears.
Another tip when buying/scooping/using the right email template, it's important to have this built for the correct email sending system.
These are called "ESP" meaning is an email service provider or "MTA" meaning is Mail Transfer Agent or Email Sending Platform.
For example, if you are using MailChimp you need to consider padding and Margin issue.
Also, interactive email is not supported on MailChimp because checkboxes are removed from the HTML.
But, also you need to consider how and where the (repeatable, editable, repeatable) tags are placed for reusable temples.
For instance, Salesforce marketing cloud email templates also work differently, you will need a platform expert to implement this.
This is because Salesforce modifies your HTML and effects your mobile design in Content Builder for the drag & drop.
Likewise, could be copy and paste WYSIWYG editors, WYSIWYG meaning is "what you see is what you get".
This is an out the box editor on most software like WordPress, Salesforce ServiceCloud, and MailChimp – many software uses WYSISYG.
The biggest and most common problem is these editors adds in code when editing you're newly copied in custom email.
custom email template round up
In conclusion, testing within an email platform you really need to ensure the right set up fits your needs.
1. If you want an ok email with little testing use an agency or a free HTML email template.
These types of templates will be free or cheap – great for smaller companies but you will replace these quickly.
2. If you want a quality email buy a custom email from an email developer.
It may take a day or two to prepare but your brand will see the benefits get quick Adhoc edits.
3. If you need a bulletproof framework that is next to perfect your need an email developer in house.
An in house email developer will work with your teams to help implement the strategy and email testing.
They will make your emails highly dynamic and train ECRM staff on to edit templates with no errors.
Finally, a good email template is one part of a great email campaign, this blog shows you how to start email marketing.
If you need help debugging an email template or need a custom email build do contact me.
