Archive for August, 2009
Check Your Transactional Email Rendering
Email readers such as Outlook 2007 may be doing a poor job of rendering your transactional emails. JangoMail has a rendering tool that can assist you in finding out if your emails are affected, but also be aware of these basic rules if you are writing your own HTML:
- Avoid background images. They won’t show up in Outlook.
- Avoid CSS floats.
- Be aware that animated GIFs will appear static in Outlook.
- Check the margins and padding as they often render differently in different readers.
- Avoid flash animations.
- Be aware that background colors in nested tables may not show up in Outlook.
- Use alt text on all images so that recipients can read your email when images are turned off.
- Look at your email with the images turned off and make sure the format remains. You may need to include height and width tags for your images, tables, etc.
- Use the JangoMail rendering tool to do a comparison of your transactional email display in Outlook and another reader.
Transactional Email Tips
10 Tips for Creating Transactional Emails
1. Include your company name and state your relationship with the recipient in the subject line (i.e. “Order Confirmation from JangoMail” or “Hair Appointment Reminder from JM Salons”)
2. Add a brief statement about why you contacted the recipient in your transactional email.
3. Include all details of the transaction: item purchased, price, expected ship time, appointment date, etc.
4. Link to the page most relevant to your customer’s transaction, appointment, reminder, etc.
5. Add your company’s contact information in the email.
6. Make sure important information is in text and not an image. Many recipients view emails with the images turned off.
7. Include a navigation bar similar to what you have on your site.
8. Add any terms and conditions relevant to the relationship.
9. Use your transactional email to upsell other services and products you offer. Just make sure that the information that is important to the recipient comes first.
10. Send a text version of your email.
Create Transactional Emails with JangoMail
Creating Transactional Emails with JangoMail is easy. You can try it out yourself by following these steps:
1. Sign up for a Free Trial of JangoMail’s email marketing software.
2. Follow the directions in JangoMail’s Transactional Email Tutorial.
