When composing an email marketing message or email newsletter, beware. What you see on your computer screen may not be what the recipient will see on his or her monitor. Here’s how to remain from looking like an dumb.

Whichever one of four points can produce problems: word wrap, font, automated formatting and HTML tags.

1. Word wrap

You might be composing your email marketing message in a word processor or text editor, or in your personal email program, such as Outlook.

But, you can’t be sure what program the recipient is implementing. Persons and email addresses easily could be reading your communication on a dozen new systems, all of which have their specific quirky ways of displaying messages.

A large amount email customers will automatically wrap lines at a set amount of characters. If the lines in your recent message are longer than acceptable by the recipient’s email client, your message will end up equivalent this:

You will write a compelling, beautifully composed marketing message, however because your lines are also long, the recipient’s email program will cut them off and create annoying
“orphans.” Your message will be difficult to read, and you will look like an dumb!

The solution to this problem is to wrap your own lines at some logical length, probably 60 or 65 characters. Place a return at the end of every line.

2. Font

You might be composing your message in the default font for your word processor or e-mail program. But you require to realize that the recipient’s email client may be using a different display font. As a result, what they see on their monitor can be much different from what you see on yours.

For the purpose of this discussion, fonts come in two flavors: proportional and fixed-pitch. With a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, each character has equivalent width. With a proportional font, such as Times New Roman, the width of characters can differ. So a sentence typed in Courier will habitually come out long than one typed in Times New Roman.

This can cause a problem if you’re relying on characters to begin effects such as lines. Your line may come out also short or also long, based on the differentiation between your composition font and the recipient’s display font.

Font width can as well initiate problems if you should characters to line up a particular method — for example if you are doing a table.

This is a trouble that’s tricky to work around. The best solution is to maintain things as effortless as possible, and look at your communication in both proportional and fixed fonts to see if any significant problems come up. Frequently, you are most secure if you compose in a fixed font.

3. Automated formatting and HTML tags

A message composed in a word processing program will contain several unseen formatting codes, that can show up in odd ways if you only paste the message into an email window and send it. For example, you can end up with an annoying “=twenty” at the end of each line.

Likewise, if you seek to send out your message in HTML, many recipients will see all the HTML tags, making the message hard to read. If you’re going to send HTML electronic mail, build certainly that all your recipients are able to receive HTML-formatted email, or that you have technology that can deliver the right format to the right user.

Frequently speaking, you are safer if you to generate a plain-text message, compose it in a program that produces pure text, such as Notepad. Microsoft Word does not start pure text documents, even if you “Save As …” text.

If you desire to use Word or another word processor to start a text manuscript, first save the document in text, then close it and open it in Notepad (or other text editor). At this time save it again in Notepad. Notepad will now save a genuine text document, with no formatting. Close the document and re-open it in Notepad. You will at this time have a pure text document to send out. Paste this into your email window or Web form to send it out.

In synopsis, to evade editing problems, take these precautions when creating email communication:

•Begin documents in plain text

•Limit your lines to 60-65 characters, including spaces, with a tricky return at the end of every line

•Compose in a fixed-pitch font

•View your communication with both proportional and fixed pitch fonts to identify any formatting problems

Adrian Faletti is VP of Consumer Realtions for WentMail Email Marketing. He leads a team of professionals who remain on top of the changing web panorama of the Email Marketing and autoresponder world.

Tagged with: • • • •

Filed under: Internet Marketing

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!