What’s your favorite testing tip? Tell us!

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1. Subject line variations – Try using numbers, symbols and changing up your language to see which subject line gets the most opens
2. Call to action – Compare a button and a text link to see what gets more clicks. Try using different call to action words on your buttons to see which generates more clicks.
3. Headlines – Play with the language in your headlines to see which generates the most interest.
4. Product Images – Does one image of a product entice more people to buy? Try using a different product shot in your split tests to find out.
5. Layouts – Try sending the same email but in different layouts and compare your results.
6. Days and Times – Is your email better received on Tuesday or Wednesday? How about 9 a.m. or 7 p.m.? Try out some variables to see what your audience best responds to.
7. Content – Try sending two different versions of content or two different offers and watch to see which gets the best response.

What other split testing ideas do you use? Tell us!

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What size are Swiftpage email templates (specs and dimensions)?
Includes sample Swiftpage Connect template with ideal dimensions!

Why does my email in Gmail look different than in Outlook?
We get this question a lot. The post explains the differences between email clients (like Gmail and Outlook) and what you can do about it.

What is the average email open and unsubscribe rate?
Open rates vary so much across industries, but your average should fall between 20 and 30%. Read the post for more helpful info!

How do I add symbols or characters to my email subject lines?
Have you seen these little guys  ♥  ★  ☺, showing up in your inbox? Here’s how to use them in your emails!

Where can I get free images for my emails?
Biggest lesson from this post: Google images are NOT free. See where you can find free ones inside the post.

What size are the images for my profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter?
Social media profile appearances can be challenging. Here’s an easy guide to the image sizes on each site.

How do I add an attachment to my email?
Well, you can’t when you use an email marketing provider like us. BUT, there are good reasons for it. Read on!

What are some ways to make sure my email gets to the inbox?
So many ways to help improve your deliverability!

Can I add a Swiftpage Connect survey to my website?
Yes you can! Here’s the step by step to make it happen.

What is a Bounce?
So you had some bounces and want to know what that means? This post is for you.

Don’t see your question? Ask it below and we might use it for a future FAQ Friday post!

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What tips or ideas do you have to calculate or improve your ROI? Tell us!

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Here is a list of some HTML email programming best practices:

Use Inline Styles Only
External and internal style sheets will not display in most email clients. ALL styles should be placed inline.

Use Tables
We have to throw things back a little and program like its 1998! Float styles will not work so <div> tags are almost useless for layout. Use tables to lock all your elements in place. Remember to remove cell padding and cell spacing as well.

Example:
<table width=”600” cellpadding=”0” cellspacing=”0”>
<tr>
<td>Insert Content</td>
<td>Insert Content</td>
</tr>
</table>

Note: to reduce code example length, I will be omitting the cell spacing and cell padding code in the remaining examples

<body> styles are not universal
Not every email client will read a style set in the <body> tag. However there is a way to create a background color for your email by adding an extra table with a width of 100%.

Instead of:
<body style=”background-color:#000000;”>
<table width=”600”>
<tr><td></td></tr>
</table>
</body>
Note: <body bgcolor=”#000000”> is not universal either

Use:
<body>
<table width=”100%”>
<tr><td>
<table width=”600″ style=”background-color:#000000;”>
<tr><td></td></tr>
</table>
</tr></td>
</table>
</body>

Place Alt Tags on Images
Alt tags are great resources for two reasons in HTML emails. 1) Before images are downloaded, email clients will display the alt tag (character count depending) in the image area. 2) Images have value, so be sure to use an Alt tag so those using screen readers can learn of their value too. Use the Alt tag to add value to your message, not just describe the image.

<img src=”images/logo.jpg” alt=”Big sale today only!” />

Define Image Size
Use width and height to define the image size. This helps to display ALT tags before images download as well as help images to download faster.

<img src=”images/logo.jpg” width=”100″ height=”100″ alt=”My Company” />

What’s This Purple Border?
Any image that has a link applied to it, will display a border around it. Remove this border by setting it to “0”.

<img src=”images/logo.jpg” width=”100″ height=”100″ border=”0″ alt=”My Company” />

Compensate for Strange Image Padding
For some strange reason, certain email clients will add padding to your images. No clue why but there is a way to compensate for it by turning the image into a block level element.

<img src=”images/logo.jpg” width=”100″ height=”100″ border=”0″ alt=”My Company” style=”display:block;” />

Keep in mind that turning an <img> tag into a block level element will force a new line. So if you have side by side images, utilize <td> elements within a table to nest them.

Example
<table width=”600″>
<tr>
<td><img src=”images/logo.jpg” width=”100″ height=”100″ border=”0″ alt=”My Company” style=”display:block;” /></td>
<td><img src=”images/headshot.jpg” width=”100″ height=”100” border=”0″ alt=”Bob Smith” style=”display:block;” /></</td>
<td><p>Supporting text here.</td>
</tr>
</table>

Avoid Using Background Images
Never versions of Outlook do not display background images even after images are downloaded. Avoid using them as many people will not see them.

Using a Spacer GIF
A great universal way to create margins is to use empty <td> elements. However, some email clients will not recognize an empty <td>. To compensate for this, use a transparent GIF sized to the width or height required.

Example
<table width=”600″>
<tr>
<td width=”20“><img src=”images/spacer.gif” width=”20” height=”1″ alt=”" /></td>
<td>Insert Content</td>
<td width=”20“><img src=”images/spacer.gif” width=”20” height=”1″ alt=”" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
Note: spacer.gif has no content value, so the ALT tag has been left blank

Encode All Characters
The safest way to ensure your special characters will hold in all email clients is the hard code them.

Instead of:
<td>She & Him</td>

Use:
<td>She &amp; Him</td>

The above is just a base set of rules and principles to follow. I am still discovering new limitations and ways to overcome them with every email I create.

What have some of your challenges been? What solutions have you found for them? Are there any key rules that I have forgotten to share? Please comment below and share.

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1. Set up an SPF record.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is one way to help decrease the likelihood that your emails will be rejected as Spam. SPF Records are especially important when you are using an email service like Swiftpage Connect to send emails on your behalf. Using an SPF record essentially tells the email recipient that you are who you say you are. Our Support team can easily set up an SPF record for you, just click here to get started. Once your SPF record is setup on the Swiftpage Connect side, you do need to take a few simple steps to implement it on your domain. The Support team will send you these simple instructions once your SPF record is setup.

2. Send emails to test accounts to check delivery.
Before blasting our emails to the entire list, we regularly send tests of our emails in major email clients such as Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo. Sending tests to the major email clients not only shows you what your email looks like in each client, it also can show you whether your email lands in the inbox or is flagged as spam. To help with accurate testing don’t add your email address as a safe sender in the various email clients. To expedite the testing process, check out the email analysis service offered by Bright Peak.

3. Ask recipients to add you to their whitelist.
Staying out of the junk mail folder can be as simple as regularly asking your recipients to add you to their safe sender list. Each email client has a slightly different method to ‘white list’ your email, but most users are able to figure it out quite easily. In general if your email address is in their contact list OR they have listed you as a safe sender, your email will find the inbox every time.

4. Remove inactive subscribers from your list.
An inactive subscriber is anyone who hasn’t opened and/or clicked on your emails in the past 6 months to a year. The idea of removing contacts from your list can feel disheartening, but inactive subscribers are more likely to flag your email as spam. Before taking them off of the list, send an email to your inactives asking if they would like to continue to receive your communications. If they don’t respond, take them off the list.

5. Design your email to show that you are a trusted brand.
Recipients want to easily be able to identify who is sending them an email. Effective email layouts typically include a logo in the upper left corner and a consistent look and feel with each email received. Swiftpage Connect automatically includes your company name and address in the email footer which is another indicator that you are who you say you are. Sending your emails from a consistent email address also helps with recognition.

We would love to hear from you if you have any questions about deliverability or something else you’d like us to cover in a future FAQ Friday post. Comment below!

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How do you personalize your emails? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

So how can you implement it?

1. Pick one of your local sports teams to follow.
2. Decide on the type of deal you will offer such as a % off, $1 off for each 10 points scored or give a free item with purchase after a win.
3. Create an email template so you are ready to announce the deal after the next win.
4. Include easy redemption instructions and a promo code if applicable.
5. Wait for your team to win and send away!

What other marketing ideas do you have? Share them with us and we might feature them in a future Marketing Moment post!

Engagement/ Interest
By looking at your email reports you can determine what recipients are the most engaged with your brand and are most interested in what you are offering. The recipients who regularly open your emails should be segmented into a group of their own. Concentrate on building a strong relationship with these contacts as they will most likely be the greatest value to your business.

Geography
Segment contacts into different groups based on their geographic location. People living in the Southwest probably wouldn’t want to receive emails about the best snow tires or new winter jackets, just as customers on the east coast aren’t interested in attending a sale you are promoting at a location on the west coast.

By product or service purchased
Your business may offer a wide range of products to your customers. If you have sales data about what particular products certain recipients have purchased in the past, segment them by product category. You can then construct different campaigns that highlight similar products that may be of interest to each group.

Demographics
Separate your list into different groups based on the demographics of your recipients such as gender, age, lifestyle, etc. You may be saying to yourself, “I don’t have the information to segment my contacts in this way.” To obtain information to better segment your lists, you may consider requesting recipients complete a survey while advising them that the information will only be used to better serve their specific values and interests.

While some digging through sales data and interpretation of reports will be necessary to segment your lists well; an organized and well managed list will be extremely beneficial for your business.

We would love to hear some of the successful segmentation techniques you have used to better serve your recipients!

Growing Your List and SXSW

At SXSW, you need a badge or a ticket or some form of registration to get into everything. At the entrance to each panel, session and even party you’re asked to show ID, or scan your badge. While the motivations for this are many-crowd control, exclusivity, etc., a big bonus for those hosting and sponsoring these events is the opportunity to grow their contact lists. I.ve already received countless emails from different organizations and companies thanking me for joining them at various events.

While SXSW is a huge conference and people don’t always walk around with scannable badges, it’s a good reminder that there are a lot of easy to implement and minimally intrusive tools already out there to help you organically grow your contact list. Consider how you can implement electronic registration for your next event using a simple webform on a tablet, laptop or smartphone. Make sure to ask for email addresses in the process! You can even try the old business card in a fishbowl method with a sign telling people you will be using their email addresses for marketing. Not only will you grow your list, but you’ll be adding valuable contacts who are actually interested and taking action to attend your events. Further, you’ll have the opportunity to follow-up and thank them for attending.

Stay tuned to the blog next week for another inspiration from SXSW!

Did you go to SXSW? What was your favorite takeaway?