The good old email! Still the most effective messaging channel and offers a tough fight to the other contemporary communication tactics.
Not entirely convinced that email has that retaining power anymore?
Allow us to paint you a picture!
86% of professionals make email connection a priority. While 52% of responders said that email is their main communication tool, 93% of B2B marketers use emails for distributing content.
In the world of email marketing, however, everything rides on opens and clicks. That’s why email marketers are always testing ways to improve these metrics.
Usually, there are two major kinds of emails you can send and receive — plain text emails and email templates in HTML. Plain text emails (as the name describes) are simple emails that have no formatting, just text.
Sometimes, simple works best. Other times, you want something a little more extravagant.
For that added oomph, there are email templates in HTML that are easy to spot — Dynamic and beautifully formatted, with background colors, photos, and bulletproof buttons. They’re the eye-catching emails that grab your attention and the unique graphics help in better visual engagement.
If you are looking to create responsive email templates in HTML that leave a sure-shot impact, keep these tactics in mind!
Who are You Sending Email Templates in HTML to?
First off, know your audience, their preferences, habits, and what appeals to them.
Recognize what your audience is interested in
The first step to building successful email templates in HTML? Know your audience’s viewing habits so you know how it will be viewed through their eyes.
- Test your emails on every client you can find and accordingly, make some educated guesses about your audience’s interests.
- Will they be using mobile phones to read emails or locked-down corporate servers?
- Will they be using Yahoo addresses, Gmail, or Outlook.com?
- Depending on these factors, keep in mind what email clients you want to check with the most every time you send email templates in HTML.
Pro tip: Make certain your emails are responsive for easy viewing on mobile devices as, over the past few years, around 50% of recipients check emails on mobile devices now.
How to make HTML emails responsive for different screen sizes and devices?
Your email doesn’t look the same for every user. Why? Because it depends on the screen size the user is viewing your email on.
Your emails may look fabulous and well-formatted on a desktop but when viewed from a smartphone’s screen, they can soon turn into a real mess with all the overlapping images and texts.
To avoid this illegible tangle of text and images:
- Maintain a simple and clear layout
- If you want to develop a more intricate layout, (for instance, include floated images and multiple columns), ensure you are actively resolving how these elements will be arranged to suit various screen sizes.
A well-defined multi-column email on your desktop won’t work seamlessly on mobile devices. However, using media queries gives an idea of how elements will be displayed on various screen sizes.
Ponder over the overall user experience
To develop wonderfully responsive email templates in HTML, you can’t merely focus on your message’s format and structure. Focus on the entire user experience and how it will appear on various devices.
- The font size needs to be as easy to understand on mobile as on the desktop
- Make use of mobile-friendly CTAs or buttons instead of hyperlinked text
How long do your HTML emails take to load?
Think loading time doesn’t matter if the email is attractive and appealing to look at? You might want to think again. After all, it could be the fine line that predicts whether you lose a subscriber or gain a new customer!
Rather than solely focusing on attractive-looking styling options and wondering how to blend stunning visuals into HTML emails, think about loading time.
After all, it only takes just a recipient with a weak data connection to bid adieu to your email subscriber’s list.
Standard web fonts to the rescue!
- While custom fonts add life and vigor to a landing page, it adds a layer of entanglement when inserted in an email.
- When using fonts, utilize standard web fonts.
- Ensure that the email client a majority of your subscribers use supports a specific font.
Carry out constant testing
- Testing your email templates in HTML at every stage of development is most important.
- This makes sure it works functionally on different email clients, device types, and operating systems.
- Don’t wait until the very last minute to test out your email. Test your email as you work to detect inconsistencies between various email clients.
- Your ultimate aim should be to create the most consistent experience you can offer to your subscribers.
Use images only when needed
- It can be tempting to use images throughout the email but it is a sure-shot way to increase the loading time.
- However, use images only when necessary as it helps get the message across in a better way.
- Also, minimize file size as much as possible by using an image compressor.
Tip: Find an image compressor that can minimize the file size without compromising on the quality. In this way, the visual integrity of the email remains intact.
Think about using an HTML minifier
- An HTML minifier automatically gets rid of code that isn’t needed in an HTML file.
- Repetitive elements are taken away but the actual rendering of the email should be kept as it is so make certain you test it.
- Every line of code affects the loading time of an email so doing away with junk code actually ensures a shorter loading time.
Take care of end-user inconsistencies
Your email templates in HTML look different in your subscriber’s inboxes owing to many reasons— their operating system, security software, the version of their email client, and the one-of-a-kind user settings.
To handle these inconsistencies, plan in advance!
Design a plain text version of your email
- Create a backup email that renders in completely plain text as some email clients and user settings can’t load HTML.
- If your subscribers can’t load a plain text version of your HTML email, it can send a message to the subscriber’s server that the email is spam.
- If you’re coding an HTML email from scratch, create a multipart MIME message.
- A multipart MIME message comes with plain text and HTML version of the same email.
- It’s a process that needs the help and assistance of an expert developer such as Crafted Email.
Create a web page version of the email
- Even if your cleverly designed email renders badly when opened, for whatever reason, your subscribers can still be able to get the gist of the message.
- All they have to do is click on “view as web page” and see the email how you envisioned it to be.
- You have more control of the web version of your message as style elements render more consistently across web browsers.
Email should be easy-to-understand even without images
- Many subscribers turn off automatic image-loading so they do not see images when they open your email.
- Make sure images are not the only way you can get the meaning of your message across.
- Also, always add alt-text to the images you include so the alt-text loads even if the images don’t.
- Your subscribers can a good idea of what the visuals are all about.
Say no to HTML tags in bullet points
- No doubt, bullet points make your email copy look better, but use bullet points to a minimum.
- If bullet points aren’t loaded properly, they crop up as unrecognizable special characters.
- Rather than HTML bullet points, use plain text options such as dashes (-) or asterisks (*) so display issues are kept to a minimum.
So there you have it! Now, all that’s left to do is create email templates in HTML of your own!