One question that I’ve been asked numerous times is “How do I create a custom e-blast?” Well, there are a few solutions available at a variety of skill sets and budgets. You can either use a service that allows you to use templates or custom designs, or you can do one that’s totally custom.
If you have a tight budget and decide that you want to use a service, you could pick a service such as Constant Contact to fulfill your e-blast sending needs. With a service such as Constant Contact, you can select from an assortment of ready-made templates to add your message or newsletter to and import your email mailing list and send away. With a paid service such as this, you can still have a custom template created and uploaded into your account for you to use over and over again as you wish. With a service such as this you can typically find a monthly recurring fee typically based on the number of email addresses in your list you plan on using. You’ll be able to send as many email campaigns as you wish in that month.
Another option, with is best suited with a looser budget, is a completely customized e-blast generator and template branded with your brand’s image. The advantage to creating your own would be to have a seamless brand presence, and you could avoid a monthly re-curring cost and limit to the number of emails on the list you intent to use and grow.
The first step would be to write a program that convert the HTML from the e-blasts and encode it into a form readable through email. This program would also properly embed images in the email to prevent attachments in the email from becoming attachments. A well thought out e-blast program would contain a place to input the e-blast/email subject line, a reply address, and allow you to input as many email addresses as you have without limit.
The second step is to design the e-blast template to be used and then program the template with the correct web standards which are compatible with many email programs… from online ones such as Yahoo! and Microsoft Hotmail, to desktop versions such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Entourage, Apple’s Mail and many more. An experienced web designer will be able to correctly program the e-blast template to be compatible with these mail reading programs and guide you through the correct mix of graphics and text on the e-blast to avoid spam filters. A good template design has a mix of graphics and text as necessary. If a template’s text is all a graphic, you will find yourself with a few problems. First of all, it will limit you on being able to easily change the content, and reuse the template design later, and second, you’ll have a greater chance of getting caught in spam filters because most spam these days have converted to image only to try to avoid spam filters.
The third step is to put your e-blast together just the way you want it and to send it to only yourself first as a test. You’ll find it much easier to test your work and your programmer’s work before sending it out to your entire mailing list to avoid an unprofessional presentation with mistakes, or worse yet, one that doesn’t encode properly and comes back looking terrible. Fix any issues and re-test and re-test, and re-test until it is exactly perfect. Then send the final one away to your entire list, and feel free to include yourself.
There are many great features and functions you can include to mimic the functionality of some of the paid services, and other great features you might not have thought of. A great feature to include when designing and programming your site would be to include a line of text with a link to your e-blast viewable on the web, preferably in a special section hosted on your website in case their mail program has a problem displaying your e-blast. Consult with an experienced programmer and designer who have worked with e-blasts before to help you make the right choice. If you’re in search for one or both, check out Design Carter and contact us to discuss your project needs to create a professionally designed, and professionally developed e-blast and e-blast generator.
For a beginner’s survival guide, please download the HTML Email Design Guide that I found on MailChimp.
Did you find this post interesting and helpful? Check out How to create a custom e-blast part 2.
