E-mail Marketing

Give 'Em a Good Tease

Whether your email campaign's audience is B2B or B2C, most recipients use a preview pane to decide whether they want to read the message or hit delete. Reggie Brady suggests several ways to maximize your preview pane's effectiveness. Here's the overview:

Include your logo and a headline above the body of your email. Traditionally the location for housekeeping items such as "Add us to your address book" or "Click here to view online," this space is wasted without a headline to highlight a product, service or offer. Other items to include in this valuable real estate:

• Personalized salutations. People are drawn to their own names.


• Your toll-free number. "Today, the customer is in control," says Brady, "and should have as many options as possible to conduct business in their channel of preference."


• A secondary offer. Don't crowd too much text into a small space. Relocating "Add us to your address book" to the footer could free up room for an additional offer.

Link to an HTML version of your email's content. "I am astounded to see how many marketers who rely on images in their emails ignore this," Brady writes. "[I]mage blocking represents a major challenge and it is likely that many recipients will not see your message as you planned."

The Po!nt: Says Brady, "What readers see in [the preview pane] can influence their decision to open your email." Remember this, and you'll increase the odds that readers get your message.