Bronto Blog

Are your email messages delivering brand and design intact? The answer would probably surprise you. In our recent Email Rendering Quiz, marketers were quizzed on how often they were using best practices when designing their messages. Here’s a recap of the responses as well as advice on how to ensure your messages deliver as intended.

• CSS - Only 24% of respondents are currently using inline styles for their email formatting. While embedded CSS or an externally linked style sheet can work, the only widely email client supported CSS is inline styles. Inline styles also provide the flexibility to make variations in style throughout the HTML message.
• Alt Tags - 40% never use alt tags in their messaging. Always add ALT tags to your image tags to ensure the viewer knows its content, regardless of whether the image renders. Using ALT tags also satisfies accessibility issues, conforms to W3C HTML 4.01 specs, and allows the disabled to read and receive their emails.
• Image/Text Ratio - 19% of responding email marketers design their emails with the image as the predominant message. It’s important to keep a balance between text and images. Not only are filters on the lookout for email messages with only images, if images don’t render well within the recipient’s client, your message may be lost. Instead, create a message that balances text and images so that regardless of how the email renders, your message is received.
• Text - We were impressed with the number of respondents that are including a text version, 47% to be exact. We would still like that number to increase, so why not consider multi-parting your message? Now don’t get us wrong, creating a text version is definitely a must. However, most e-mail service providers offer an option so that messages can include both an HTML as well as a plain-text version. When both versions are included, they are sent together as your messages go out. This approach allows you to keep the benefits of formatting and branding.
• Testing - Only 50% of respondents always test their email messages. You should conduct tests for the major ISPs (Outlook, AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) as well as other email providers that make up a large portion of your email lists. Try making a checklist of items to test: CSS, image blocking, url links function properly, and more.

Interested in learning more, or seeing how your email campaigns render? Take our quiz today!

Sally Lowery
Online Marketing Manager at Bronto