E-Mail Creative Checklist 2

Work with someone who takes the time to understand the business objectives when you are crafting your newsletter. I'd rather spend an hour on the phone with a designer going over campaign goals than a half hour doing a thumb-nail layout. The former approach yields better, more creative results. Be sure the designer understands e-mail and the online environment. One publisher I know used an in-house design team to create a Web site as a companion to its glossy publication. Great idea, until it realized each page took a ridiculous amount of time to load. What works offline doesn't necessarily translate well online or to e-mail. Don't get hung up if a designer doesn't code HTML. Having someone else code the design is inexpensive. It's well worth the small additional cost if your designer has a great feel for online design but prefers to work in Photoshop. Focus design efforts on areas that give you the most bang for your buck.

These include:

• Headers, especially those featuring a brand or logo
• A colored background behind a small but important part of the e-mail message to distinguish it
• A signature graphic, to make the e-mail appear more personal
• Don't spend your limited graphic allotment on things that don't help get the message across or that could actually damage the campaign.

These might include:

• Colored wallpaper or a background behind most of the text. It's often a spam-filter trigger and makes e-mail harder to read.
• Cutesy icons instead of bullet points.
• Graphics not absolutely essential to your message.