The first step in the process is to select a template that will meet the needs of your communication. There are four basic structures to email templates:

It’s now time to return to being an email marketing critic of your own email inbox. There are messages that immediately capture your eye and others and create an instant urge to hit the delete button. Depending on the type of communications you are sending, each of the following characteristics might play a lesser or greater role in your final template decision, but they all are important.

The amount of content you plan to include is one of the key elements. While our goal is to keep content as short as possible, there are certain communications (such as newsletters from groups or organizations) where it is desirable to have a number of short articles. In these situations, a newsletter template is typically the best suited. In addition to typically having two columns for content, they also come with a table of contents block that makes it easy for your readers to quickly find content of personal interest.

Figure 9.2 Promotion template

Figure 9.3 Announcement template

Figure 9.4 Card template

Factors that make an email communication easy to read include not only layout characteristics but also how colors, fonts, and images are used within the layout.

If you are sending a communication with multiple topics or articles, it is important to recognize that you need to give the reader’s eyes a break between sections. You can do this by inserting a physical break in the content with a divider, inserting a small image, or just using white space. By inserting several line breaks in your message between sections, each section will stand out, and the reader will have an easier time focusing on your content.

When selecting an email template, I suggest you try and find a format that will work for the majority of your communications and then spend a little time customizing the look and feel of the communication so that you can re-purpose it every time you send. Remember, part of getting your email opened is having the recipient know who you are. If the look is familiar in preview window, your readers are more likely to open your campaigns.

Figure 9.5 Table of contents block

One of our goals in sending great email communications is to keep them short. There is nothing worse than a monthly email newsletter that only comes out once because the writer has used up all of his content ideas in the first fourteen-article newsletter. The same thing goes for promotional campaigns. Just because you can insert images for every product you have in inventory doesn’t mean you should. In fact, industry research has shown that over 50 percent of the items purchased from a promotional email are not the items contained within the message.

Figure 9.6 Templates can be used for almost any type of content.

Figure 9.6 demonstrates the sheer volume of preformatted templates available through Constant Contact. Most Email Service Providers also have template pickers to make the process of finding a template easier. However, don’t confine yourself to one category of template when searching for your template design. In some circumstances it’s a good idea to use promotional templates for short newsletters or event invitation templates for greeting cards. Feel free to explore and find the one that will best meet your needs.