Creative Best Practices
Copy and design that works.
We can help you with creative and production, but you have to do some work too. Start with proven direct mail pieces and offers if you have them, then follow these guidelines:

• Use your company or brand name in the "from" line; from lines help people evaluate which emails to open and which to delete.
  
  
• Write a great, compelling subject line and keep it short — most email clients cut off subject lines beyond 50 characters (typically six words or less).
  
  
• Place your logo in the top left quadrant of the page and grab attention with your headline.
  
  
• Keep promotional emails short with concise copy; know your audience and create content to match their preferences; make it easy for them to find the key, relevant information and take action.
  
  
• Promote offers that your customers will respond to and value; keep offers fresh; if using a free gift premium, make it a good one.
  
  
• Optimize above-the-fold space, typically between 300 and 500 pixels; less than 50 percent of your email recipients will scroll below-the-fold.
  
  
• Understand the preview pane experience and include pre-header text that includes your primary offer with a textual call-to-action link above the HTML email template; whether viewing on a mobile phone or on Microsoft Outlook's horizontal preview pane the pre-header text is the first thing read.
  
  
• Make sure that your emails have a healthy balance of 50 percent images and 50 percent text and make sure the main graphic reinforces the offer.
  
  
• Address image blocking; many recipients are using Microsoft Outlook with the default setting to not show images in emails; include text stating the offer so that it will be visible even if images are turned off or blocked in the recipient’s email client.
  
  
• Add text to have recipients view your email via a web page; this is especially attractive to anyone receiving your email via a hand-held or mobile device. “If you cannot see graphics in this email, click here to view it as a web page.”
  
  
• Design a plain text email version for AOL users and other subscribers who can’t view HTML emails.
  
  
• Verify that your primary message and call-to-action render successfully across all major email clients, and check all links.