Non-Profit Tips

This is an excellent, excellent article about what you need to do when sending out e-mail and e-mail newsletters. You need to read every single bit of this article, but here’s a very quick summary:

1. Never use images for important content.
2. Use alt text for all images and always add the height and width to the image.
3. Add a text-based link to a web version of your design at the top of your email.
4. Ensure your most compelling content is at the top (and preferably to the left).
5. Test your design in a preview pane, full screen and with images turned on and off before you send it.
6. Ask your subscriber to add your From address to their address book at every opportunity.

More importantly, the author provides great commentary on how to implement this guidelines. There’s also a wonderful chart that shows which ISPs block e-mail images.

Email Design Guidelines for 2006

Technorati tags: Email Design Guidelines | non-profit